Voting Station

P.T. Barnum

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Circus Performer

The Resume

    (July 5, 1810-April 7, 1891)
    Birth name is Phineas Taylor Barnum
    Established 'Barnum's American Museum' in New York City
    Established 'The Greatest Show on Earth' traveling circus (1871)
    Co-founded 'Barnum and Bailey's Circus' (1887)
    Authored 'The Life of P.T. Barnum, Written by Himself'

Why he might be annoying:

    As publisher for his hometown newspaper he made numerous enemies. He was arrested three times for libel.
    When his first wife died after 45 years of marriage, he soon married a woman who was 40 years younger than he was.
    He disguised ordinary people and promoted them to the public as freaks (including a five-year-old boy as the world's smallest man and an 80-year-old woman as George Washington's 161-year-old nurse).
    He attempted to buy the 'Cardiff Giant,' a supposedly frozen body of a real giant. When his offer was refused, he built his own and claimed that his giant was real while the other was a hoax (a court case later proved both 'giants' were fake).
    On his death bed he asked a newspaper to run his obituary in advance so he could read it.
    He could be described as the Jerry Springer of his day.
    To keep people moving out of his museum at he end of the exhibits was a sign stating: This Way to the Egress. Most visitors did not realize egress is a fancy word for exit.

Why he might not be annoying:

    As a teenager he had to support his mother and five siblings after his father died.
    He performed for heads of state such as Abraham Lincoln and Queen Victoria.
    He was excellent at promotions, showmanship, publicity, and management.
    He satisfied the public's taste for the outrageous, improbable and strange.
    He became a self-made millionaire.
    Regarding negative press he said, 'I don't care much what the papers say about me, provided they say something.'
    He didn't say: 'There's a sucker born every minute' (the quote was said by a competitor of his).
    The woman who portrayed George Washington's nanny was actually a former slave who he helped free.

Credit: Call me Calvin


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 33 Votes: 24.24% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 19 Votes: 15.79% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 18 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 26 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 23 Votes: 52.17% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 91 Votes: 48.35% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 30 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 33 Votes: 60.61% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 80 Votes: 57.50% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 105 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 208 Votes: 42.31% Annoying
    In 2004, Out of 111 Votes: 46.85% Annoying