Word: barnumism
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...putative purpose of last week's occasion was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Actors' Fund, a showfolks' charity created in 1882 by such stalwarts as P.T Barnum and Edwin Booth, and raise money to build a nursing facility next to the Actors' Fund home in Englewood, N.J. The first 90 minutes of the show were a smooth arc of excitement and unapologetic razzle-dazzle: a lyric Try to Remember by Harry Belafonte, a monologue delivered at giddy white heat by Robin Williams ("What excitement backstage-everyone's standing around in little pools...
...there are a couple of amazing, astounding acts. Philippe Petit, the French tightrope walker, does all that can be done on a tightrope but fall asleep; the Gaonas, who may be the best trapeze artists in the world (and who for many years appeared with the Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus), force oohs and ahs out of the most jaded spectators; and the Back Street Flyers, six male acrobats from Harlem, show that the most plastic instrument on earth is the human body...
With the publication of P.T. Barnum's autobiography in 1855, says Lindberg, the con man in America went public. The rush to grab land, swindle immigrants and kite stock gathered momentum. As a great showman, Barnum hoodwinked the suckers and made them like it. Who could hate a man able to move crowds by changing the exit sign to one that read, "This way to the Grand Egress." His book ratified cynicism as entertainment, if not instruction...
Outsiders have always had a special appetite for the Tug Fork's bloody contretemps. Back in 1888, the New York World sent a reporter to have a look at the combatants. The World man's Barnum instincts were keen: he almost persuaded Devil Anse to decamp to New York City and charge gawkers $500 a week just to have a look at an authentic feudist, Winchester in hand...
...Russian immigrants, Kay started his career in 1944 orchestrating On the Town, the first Broadway musical of his friend Leonard Bernstein. They later collaborated on Candide (1956 and 1973) and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (1976). Kay had three shows currently playing on Broadway: Evita, A Chorus Line and Barnum. Several of his best scores were musical Americana commissioned by George Balanchine for the New York City Ballet, and include Cakewalk (1951), Western Symphony (1954) and Stars and Stripes...