Word: barnumism
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...sheet music, letters, documents, clippings"--everything pertaining to the theater in any form fills the theater section of the Houghton stacks. Old poster and playbills of Kean and Booth, the playbill for the Ford theater on the night of Lincoln's assassination, are some notable examples. One piece, P.T. Barnum's first advertisement, tells of his original sideshow: "Joice Heth . . . born on the island of Madagascar on the coast of Africa in 1674 who has now arrived at the astronomical age of 161 years...
Separate Tables. A piece of superb showmanship by Playwright Terence Rattigan, the Barnum of the inner life, who exhibits some arresting emotional specimens in a seaside boardinghouse. Excellently acted by Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, David Niven, Wendy Miller, Gladys Cooper...
Separate Tables. A piece of superb showmanship by Playwright Terence Rattigan, the Barnum of the inner life, who exhibits some arresting emotional specimens in a seaside boarding house. Excellently acted by Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, David Niven, Wendy Hiller, Gladys Cooper...
...they are, but only to accept people as they seem. The fact is that Playwright Rattigan does not appear to care very much about human beings; he cares about theatrical effects. Nevertheless, his effects are far more subtly effective than those of a mere external showman. He is the Barnum of the inner life, one of the few living writers who can convince an intelligent audience that a platitude is an attitude...
...came running with promises not to raise prices; local police pitched in to protect M-G-M props; the country club and five hotels and motels were turned over to the movie folk. Nothing so exciting had happened to the green, hilly little Ohio River town since P. T. Barnum brought Jenny Lind to sing in the Pork Palace...