Barnum
ms as THE MOST FAMOUS COMMENTATORS
I If OF RADIO RECALL HIM TOOAY
(fovakLCakteA;
|. s TELLS ABOUT
| "A Fortune, Mer-maid"
j See the 20™ Century Picture with
E feE ER V
MBfS-RZTfaTe d and © 1935 by UNITED ARTISTS CORPORATION
■figN [G YOU believe in mermaids?
Myil If so, do you think you could take your mermaid,
mix in a little advertising and add a dash of your best
Imagination and with the combination make yourself $3,000
a month?
True, you might be considered a lunatic if you tried. If
atou tried and failed, your failure would cause no surprise,
fcvoke no sympathy. But if, by some strange quirk or fortune,
|vou succeeded, then you most assuredly would be classed as a
rrugged individualist” and a loud call put in for a code for
[mermaid= t
A let a juuu; man from New Eng
land, with a deep sense of religion,
Mt a smart sense of the gullibility
If human nature, once took these
Biree ingredients, combined them
Ind upon the mixture, founded a
Bortune, became the pioneer of
Bodern American advertising and
■arved for himself an everlasting
licfae in the American hall of fame.
■ The young man was P. T. Barn-
Bn. The imagination was his own.
Hm advertising he created himself
Kt titillating, in subtle manner, the
lancies of the New York news
papermen of the middle 1800’s
(newspapers weren’t particular in
.those days of the source of their
lews, as long as it was news) and
the mermaid was a hideous mummi
led creature he bought from the
iwner of the Boston Museum in
Ibe summer of 1842.
was purchased originally by
sea captain who commanded
trading vessel plying
Bong the coasts of China and Ja
san. He was convinced that it was
1 preserved mermaid found off the
•oast of Japan by Japanese sailors
fend the more he contemplated the
♦bject, the more he wanted it. Fin
lily he appropriated $6,000 of the
dtip’s funds and bought the mer
maid. His employers punished him
hr making him work out the bill.
■ finally he died and the only thing
Ike left to his son was the mermaid.
I The son, finding himself with
,hore leave and like his indiscreet
lather, without a penny in his poek
its, drove a hard bargain with the
of the Boston Museum
B exchange for the mermaid. Barn-
Em, with an eye to the bizarre and
Rie eccentric, decided the mummy
Iras a veritable gift from heaven
Ind bought it —though not before
Ke had had this gruesome oddity
Examined minutely from tip to tail.
Eoaxer that he was, Barnum was
Biobody’s fool.” His boyhood days
Bad experiences in New England,
Bnning store, selling lottery tick-
Bs, and publishing a newspaper,
Bid turned him into a typical
■Yankee trader ”
I Mermaid Fools Experts
B The examination of the mermaid
his experts disclosed not the
highest sign of joint or artificial
Manufacture. The creature was but
three feet long, with an unbroken
gpiue extending from the base of
the skull to the tail. The shoul
ders were covered with hair.
I The face was ugliness personified,
fcith bestial teeth. Two skinny
arms, hands and fingers like those
|>f any human, and a fish's body and
fcsh-like tail, completed this strange
Eiicture. Barnum’s mermaid, it is
Blear, was not of that saucy, allur
ing variety of fish-like maidens who
Eeaported themselves at the ex-
Kense of the unfortunate sailors of
Ekncient Greek mythology.
J Still, this discrepancy with the
Popular ideal didn’t deter Phineas
T. Barnum, as is only too clear in
United Artists 20th Century pro
duction, “The Mighty Barnum.” He
bought his mermaid and decided to
L siake the American public believe
I|d mermaids, too.
| He had just put every penny he
Bad and pennies he didn’t have into
She purchase of Scudder’s American
Bluseum in New York —the museum
Erhich afterward became Barnum’s
Kjnerican Museum, Broadway and
B"" Streets, an institution which
Bj> visitor to the growing metrop
ever failed to “take in” among
Hie sigtos. It was just such a cu-
Hosity as this mermaid —the Fejee
Btermaid he cryptically called it —
Bhat he needed to get the names of
Bimself and his museum before the
■public.
I Distinguished Stooge
A So Barnum went to work. Soon
Betters appeared in the local press
my Fertilizer Needs
Kore Planting- Time
planting time, every farmer
Iwce an inventory of the crops
to raise and determine the
IlMi kind of fertilizer needed,
B C. B. Williams, head of the
Bllege agronomy department.
mm enable him to buy or mix
ItQiaer and have it ready be
■k) so as to avoid delays that
■result from waiting until the
HR is needed, he said.
L guide to the fertilisers needed
■ns has given the following mix
rfor use on one acre of land:
l cotton in the coastal plain area,
from out-of-town correspondents.
All conveyed the news that a Dr.
Griffin, of the London Lyceum of
Natural History, would visit New
York within a few weeks, en route
to London, oarrying with him “a
most remarkable curiosity, a real
mermaid,” which he had found in
Pernambuco.
Eventually Dr. Griffin, in reality
a trusted aide of Barnum’s, arrived
in Philadelphia. With a show of
well assumed reluctance, the bogus
scientist permitted Philadelphia re
porters to glimpse his mermaid. It
was enough. The newsmen wasted
no time in writing columns nbotr
this amazing monstrosity.
So, by the time Dr. Griffin ar
rived in New York, the fame of
himself and his possession had
spread far and wide. And greeted
by many people curious to see the
mermaid, the doctor again showed
much reluctance to reveal the mum
my and pretended that contractual
obligations with the London Lyceum
Barnum had an eye to the bizarre and eccentric. j ;
! 1
prevented him from showing it pub
licly in New York.
In the meanwhile, Barnum had
prepared 10,000 copies of a pamph
let describing the mermaid. He
called upon the editors of three
large New York dailies and in
mournful tones, explained that he
had hoped to prevail upon Dr. Grif
fin to exhibit his mermaid —but the
doctor was adamant —he wouldn’t
yield, so the pamphlets were no
good to him any more. Thus, out
of the goodness of his heart for the
journalistic profession, he, Barnum,
was offering his pamphlets to the
editors to print.
All were delighted and only the
next day, when the various papers
came out on the street, each bear
ing a different picture of the mer
maid, did the editors understand
how they had been thoroughly hum
bugged.
By this time the public interest
had reached fever pitch. The pub
lic had seen the papers and read
Barnum’s out of town letters. In
addition, Barnum had let loose a
flood of pamphlets as handbills on
the streets. Finally advertisements
appeared that Dr. Griffin had re
lented and after all would consent
to exhibit his mermaid for one week
at Concert Hall on Broadway, hired
specially for the occasion by the as
tute Barnum.
The crowd was immense when
the doors of the hall were thrown
open. Men, women and children
streamed inside. Dr. Griffin told
scholarly tales of the South Seas
and the curious throngs gazed in
tently at the shriveled up, tluwe
feet-long, Fejee MermaJC Sfctf
Or the grower may mix hi- own fer
tilizer from 238 pounds of 16 per cent
superphosphate, 70 pounds of cotton
seed meal, 80 pounds of sulphate of
ammonia and 38 pounds of muriate of
potash. The latter mixture has the
same fertilizer value as 500 pounds
of 4-8-4 ready mixed.
In the Piedmont, he recommends
500 pounds of 4-10-4 to the acre drill
ed in before planting. Or a mixture
of 304 pounds of 16 per cent super
phosphate, 52 pounds of cottonseed
meal, 83 pounds of sulphate of am
monia, and 88 pounds of muriate of
potash.
For tobacco, on light and less pro
ductive soils, he recommends 800 lbs.
of 8-8-6-per acre drilled inj before
planting, or a mixture of 388 (pounds
I ffent supejrsulpliate,, 70 tts.
THE CHOWAN HERALD. EDENTON, N. C„ THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1935.
were convinced they were looking
upon the real thing.
Later, the exhibit was moved to
Barnum’s American Museum. And
to help things along, Barnum, con
vinced there was no limit to the
ways and means of “packing 'cm
in,” ordered an IS-foot banner, de
signed as a mermaid, to be stretch
ed across the face of his museum
on the outside, so as to attract
’■’ore patronage.
Stooge Revolts
i
.iiut even Dr. Griffin couldn’t
stomach this colossal deception and
he threatened to walk out on Barn
um, if the latter persisted in carry
ing through his pennant scheme.
Barnum backed down, because he
could not afford to lose the “doc
tor.” And in portraying the life
of the promoter and famous show
man, Wallace Beery makes his 20th
Century picture, “The Mighty Barn
um” a living vivid chronicle of a
famous American's rise to fame.
How successful P. T. Barnum
was in this early venture in hoax
ing the public is attested by the fact
that prior to the arrival of the Fe
jee Mermaid, his museum had been
grossing but $1,200 a month, where
as, during the four weeks that fol
lowed, Barnum’s Museum took in
$3,341.93.
And the mermaid? Real? Os
course not. Barnum never actually
found direct proof of its origin, bat
he did believe it came from Japan.
For he found in a scientific re-
search paper by a German author,
dealing with Japanese customs of
the 19th century, an account of how
a Japanese fisherman joined the
lower half of a fish and the upper
half of a monkey so deftly and
neatly that the joint could not be
detected.
The Japanese fisherman then told
his fellow countrymen that he had
caught the creature in his net, but
that it had quickly died. However,
he added, it had spoken a few mo
mentous words—begore gasping its
final breath.
The mermaid, he said, had pre
dicted a few years of prosperity for
Japan, and then subsequent years
of a fatal epidemic which would
sweep the land. The only remedy
offered by the dying creature, ex
plained this Japanese fisherman,
would be possession of a likeness of
the prophet.
Whereupon thousands of Japan
ese bought crude likenesses of the
mermaid. Finally it fell into the
hands of a Dutch trader, who sold
it to a shrewd American, who, in
turn, exhibited it to the ignorant
and gullible alike in Europe thirty
years before Barnum tried the
same trick in the United States.
And Barnum was quite convinced
that this mermaid was his mermaid
and he secretly hailed the Japanese
fisherman as a blood brother in the
gentle, but subtle art of spoofing
the public.
Can you, then, take a mermaid,
a little advertising and a dash of
your best imagination and make
$3,000 a month? Certainly you can
—even in 1934 —providing you’re
another P. T. Barnum.
of cottonsead meal, 44 pounds or
animal tankage, 50 pounds of nitrate
of soda, 39 pounds of sulphate of am
monia, 24 pounds of muriate of pot
ash, and 134 pounds of sulphate of
potash-magnesia.
On heavy or more productive soils,
Williams recommends 800 pounds of
3-10-6 or a mixture of 488 pounds of
16 per cent superphasphate, 70 pounds
so cottonseed meal, 44 pounds of ani
mal tankage, 50 pounds of nitrate of
soda, 89 pounds of sulphate of am
monia, 24 pounds of muriate of pot
ash and 134 pounds of sulphate of
potash-magnesia.
The local cheese factory at JNorth
Wilkesboro has increased the prices
paid for milk with a corresponding
increase In deliveries at the'plant.
... HH *-•
MODERN TOURIST
CAMPS DEMANDED
Motorists Want Stopping Place to
Have All Conveniences
The motor tourist no longer is con
tent to pitch himself and family into
any sort of a wayside camp for the
night. He is demanding accommoda
tions, conveniences, sanitary arrange
ments, etc.
In more prosperous times the tour
ist was content with what offered by
the wayside. For that matter, he
was always prepared to pitch a tent
and look out for himself, even pay
ing a fee for the privilege.
It was during this era that cabins
and inns sprang up by the thousands.
Farmsteads were converted to this
purpose, many of them clean and at
tractive, but offering none of the
comforts to which the city dweller
was accustomed.
Now, the Better Housing mover
ment of the Federal Housing Ad
ministration provides opportunity for
the modernization of such lodgings.
Grounds can be cleaned up and j
landscaped. Walks can be repaired j
and new ones put in. Extensions l
3 SALT! 4 SALT! 4 SALT! j
|| FOR THE TENTH YEAR WE ARE AGAIN HANDLING §
I The Myles Meat Salt |
§ You should buy MYLES SPECIAL MEAT SALT because it re- I;
quires less per 100 pounds of me at . . . the initial cost is cheaper, 1
g and it is one of the purest Salts ... running as high as 99 84 100 per |
|j cent PURE]—packed in 100-pound white cotton sacks. By using |
S MYLES MEAT SALT you may re st assured that your meat will be 1
B satisfactory in every respect.
Carload Arrived This Week ... Get Your Supply At Once g
j BROWN BROS. 1
By Eden ton, N. C. Phone 70 jj
| Announcing .... I
| New Low Rates |
HOTEL HIMTONS
[jjij o
| Edentc-n, North Carolina 4
I Under New Management m
9 Room with Tub and 1
Shower Bath [
$1.50
3 Breakfast Prices: 256 to §©s* 1
< , jP§ j
I Mr. Lovejoy also announces 0 • • m
| A Special Luncheon for Business fl
I Men and Business Women will I
I he served in the main dining I
I room, daily except Sunday for I
135 c I
KB y
I Lovejoy Hotel System!!
True Southern Hospitality -:- Courteous Service Alwaydjfl
I EDENTON, N. C. ■
to garages may be made and exist
ing ones repaired.
The interior of the camp build
ings proper should be overhauled.
Wherever possible, running water
should be installed, and baths, show
ers and toilets provided. At the end
of a hard day’s drive, this is of first
importance to the tired tourist. Then
furniture can be repaired and linen
mended.
After everything else has been
done, the entire place, including
fences on the approach to the place,
can be given a coat of paint in at
tractive colors.
~BAYVIEW |
-JL-Lb barber shop
! ERNEST L. WHITE, I’rop.
Barber Service That Pleases j/j
i SHAVE : .15c. SHAMPOO 35c j
j HAIRCUT 35c MASSAGE 35c ;*
j j 101 East lying Street Edcnton, N. C. j.
| ! 2
Dr. J. W. Selig
OPTOMETRIST
Will be in his office on
the third floor of the
Citizens Bank Build
ing, Edenton —
FRIDAY, JAN. 4
8 A. M. to 1 P. M.
V >
PAGE SEVEN