The Greatest Showman Fact Vs. Fiction Is Zac Efron’S Character, Phillip Carlyle, Based on a Real Person?

The Greatest Showman Fact vs. Fiction Is Zac Efron’s character, Phillip Carlyle, based on a real person? • No. • The fictional character was created so that the film could have the interracial love story between Phillip and the trapeze artist Anne Wheeler (Zendaya). Is Zenday’s character, trapeze artist Anne Wheeler, based on a real person? • No. • The character was created for the relationship between her and Phillip. Was P.T. Barnum nearly broke before he opened his museum? • Somewhat true. • He wasn’t laid off from a clerk’s job. • He owned a general store, but when Connecticut, his home state, banned the lotteries, he had to sell the store as it was the main source of income for the store. • He moved to New York and had limited success as a showman running a variety troupe; Barnum’s Grand Scientific and Musical Theatre. • In 1837 there was a financial crisis in the United States which led to 3 years of hard times for Barnum. • He found success after purchasing and reinventing Scudder’s American Museum, and renamed it Barnum’s American Museum. Were there really protests over P.T. Barnum’s shows? • True. • Theatres in general were considered morally suspect. • The nature of his show fueled outrage in some people. Did the Theatre Really Burn Down? • Yes. • On July 13, 1865. • The origin of the fire was never discovered. • After the fire, he quickly reopened the American Museum at another location. • That one burned down in 1868, leading him to enter the circus business. Did P.T. Barnum almost have a love affair with the Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind? • No. • The reason she agreed to the American tour was because Barnum offered her a lot of money to do it. • However, she didn’t keep a dime of it and never intended to. Jenny Lind (cont’d) • She donated all of it, $350,000, to an endowment of free schools in Sweden. • $350,000 = roughly $10 million today. • She did quit the tour with Barnum as her management, but continued the tour under new management. • She did so because she was uncomfortable with Barnum’s relentless marketing of her. Did Barnum bring the dwarf Charles Stratton into the Circus when Stratton was 22 years old? • No. • Stratton was only 4 years old when he was recruited by Barnum. • Stratton and Barnum were actually distant cousins. • Stratton did go by the stage name of Tom Thumb . … plus • Was P.T. Barnum really a champion of acceptance and tolerance? • Many would argue against it. • Does actress Rebecca Ferguson, Jenny Lind, do her own singing in the movie? • No. • Loren Allred, who was a finalist on the third season of The Voice did her vocals. • Did P.T. Barnum’s wife, Charity, leave him? • No. • He had a deep love for her” ...(I) became the husband of the best women in the world.” • They remained devoted to each other until her death in 1873. They were married 44 years. • Was Charity the only wife of P.T. Barnum? • No. • Barnum’s 2nd wife was Nancy Fish whom he married the year following Charity’s death. • Barnum remain married to Nancy until his death in 1891. • Is the Barnum & Bailey Circus still in business? • No. • High operating forced the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey to close on May 21, 2017. • It had been in continuous operation for 146 years. .

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