General Tom Thumb: How Charles Stratton Rescued P.T. Barnum from Ruin
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General Tom Thumb: How Charles Stratton Rescued P.T. Barnum from Ruin

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In 1863 Charles Sherwood Stratton, two feet eleven inches tall, stood on a grand piano at New York's Metropolitan Hotel greeting about 10,000 wedding guests before visiting Abraham Lincoln at the White House. This episode follows Stratton, born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1838, a healthy baby who stopped growing at six months, a condition now attributed to pituitary dwarfism. P.T. Barnum signed a contract with his parents, trained the four year old to sing, mime, and banter, and named him General Tom Thumb, dressing him as Napoleon.

A European tour beginning in 1844 brought performances for Queen Victoria, and by about age seven Stratton was starring in full length plays reviewed for his timing and diction. He moved to a share of box office receipts, bought a mansion, an island estate, and a steam yacht, and became a Freemason in 1862. When Barnum faced bankruptcy, Stratton lent him money and became his partner. He married Lavinia Warren, survived the 1883 Newhall House fire in Milwaukee, and died of a stroke six months later at 45.

  • Why doctors in the 1840s had no way to explain his condition
  • Starring roles in Hop o' My Thumb and The Seven League Boots
  • A 1847 collection for Irish famine relief organized aboard ship
  • Manager Sylvester Bleeker carrying the couple to safety from the hotel fire
  • A funeral of more than 20,000 people and the life size statue Barnum placed on his grave

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