PT Barnum Had Many Gray Areas Which The Movie ‘The Greatest Showman’ Ignores

PT Barnum was one legendary American circus owner and he is known for his works all across the globe. Hugh Jackman was successful in showing PT Barnum’s life through his movie “The Greatest Showman” which released recently. The movie is all about songs and dances. It gives us an impression that all was good with PT Barnum.

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1Barnum also had gray areas which was not shown in the movie

Barnum was also known for his promotional skills. He is known for his famous act of leading 21 elephants across the Brooklyn Bridge to prove to the people that it was safe. The act was inspired with the thoughts to promote his circus as well. The movie is also now been criticized to capture only good moments of his life. As a matter of fact, PT Barnum had also many gray areas which the movie has not showcased. It is said that his human and animal stars lived very troublesome life.

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2Human attractions of PT Barnum’s circus

Here, in the picture, Lavinia Warren was shown who married Tom Thumb. Tom worked as an entertainer at the circus. Tom was only 33 inches tall. Tom’s family is shown in the picture. Both of them were dwarfs. There was one entertainer who was more than 7 feet tall. Her name was Anna Haining Swan Bates.

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3Barnum once imported elephants in cramped ship

It is also said that it Barnum who created this myth that because of its thick skin, elephants could not feel pain. And, this was used as a premise for treatment of animals with cruelty. There was an incident when he imported nine elephants, which included a calf, from Sri Lanka in a very cramped ship. The space in the ship was so limited that the animals could breathe properly and could not take a single step. It was tragic that one of the elephants had died when the ship reached America.

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