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Author Lehman, Eric D.

Title Becoming Tom Thumb : Charles Stratton, P. T. Barnum, and the dawn of American celebrity / Eric D. Lehman.

Publication Info. Middletown, Connecticut : Wesleyan University Press, 2013.

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Bristol, Manross Branch - Non Fiction  CONN. AUTHOR B THUMB    Check Shelf
 Manchester, Main Library - Non Fiction  B STRATTON, CHARLES    Check Shelf
 Windsor, Main Library - Adult Department  B-THUMB, T.    Check Shelf
Description xxi, 246 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
Series Driftless Connecticut series
Garnet books
Driftless Connecticut series.
Garnet books.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references ( pages 241-242) and index.
Contents Prologue: playing The palace -- The boy from Bridgeport -- At the American Museum -- Prince Charles the First -- Buttons, bullfights, and balloons -- Hop o' my thumb -- Heart of a child -- On the New York stage -- The measure of a man -- The wedding of the year -- The long and short of it -- A very strange honeymoon -- Tom Thumb's America -- Around the world -- At the helm -- A marriage and two funerals -- The great fire -- At Mountain Grove.
Summary When P.T. Barnum met twenty-five-inch-tall Charles Stratton at a Bridgeport, Connecticut hotel in 1843, one of the most important partnerships in entertainment history was born. With Barnum's promotional skills and the miniature Stratton's comedic talents, they charmed a Who's Who of the 19th century, from Queen Victoria to Charles Dickens to Abraham Lincoln. Adored worldwide as "General Tom Thumb," Stratton played to sold-out shows for almost forty years. From his days as a precocious child star to his tragic early death, Becoming Tom Thumb tells the full story of this iconic figure for the first time. It details his triumphs on the New York stage, his epic celebrity wedding, and his around-the-world tour, drawing on newly available primary sources and interviews. From the mansions of Paris to the deserts of Australia, Stratton's unique brand of Yankee comedy not only earned him the accolades of millions of fans, it helped move little people out of the side show and into the lime light. -- Publisher description.
Subject Thumb, Tom, 1838-1883.
Entertainers -- United States -- Biography.
Dwarfs (Persons) -- United States -- Biography.
Circus performers -- United States -- Biography.
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891.
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891. (OCoLC)fst00051018
Thumb, Tom, 1838-1883. (OCoLC)fst00103949
Circus performers. (OCoLC)fst00861671
Dwarfs. (OCoLC)fst00899973
Entertainers. (OCoLC)fst00912655
United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
Genre/Form Biography. (OCoLC)fst01423686
ISBN 9780819573315 (cloth : alk. paper)
0819573310 (cloth : alk. paper)
9780819573322 (ebook)
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