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... Barnum was, first and foremost, a showman. ... He also always managed to adapt his exhibitions and advertising to the prevailing modes of taste. ...
Although he would be most remembered for his part in the creation and spectacle of “The Greatest Show on Earth”, Barnum’s career had already spanned several decades, over which time he acquired experience and skills in the management and presentation of different exhibitions. Barnum was the first to see that it was possible for show business to be a capital enterprise, and also the first to recognise the power of celebrity. ... Through Barnum’s clever marketing and management, she was presented to appeal to a wide range of people from all sectors of society, becoming the first big celebrity, with the first line of celebrity retail merchandizing. In this sense she joined Barnum’s other exhibitions and institutions to become one of his “market-driven, publicly-consumed commodities”, an aspect of her public character that she lost when she, unsuccessfully, tried to go solo.
In the rapidly industrialising America of the second half of the nineteenth century, there was created a mass market for show business. The newly built transcontinental railway played a part in the expansion of both business and entertainment, allowing train travel from the East to West coasts, thus creating and uniting the new mass market.
Approximate Word count = 1077
Approximate Pages = 4.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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