European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 16, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Sid Schapiro Hen visiting the newly expanded and refurbished Barnum museum in Bridgeport Conn. Don t look for the most famous of Barnum esque statements. There s a sucker born every minute according to those who should know Barnum never said it. I be never seen anything lying it to him even closely asserted Paul Rosenthal. A writer and museum consultant and it would have been out of character for  though Phineas Taylor . Barnum. The 19th Century impresario built his career on coaxing the Public he left that people always enjoyed these kind of jokes and he would Tell them about it said Rosenthal. Who helped design the exhibits and wrote the explanatory labels. His autobiography even tells people How they were  so instead of that bit about suckers what you la find is another Barnum quote the bigger the Humbug the better the people will like  i think the most perfect Barnum joke is the Man eating Chicken " said Rosenthal because it also shows How he knew that people could have fun being  the carnivorous Chicken was an exhibit at Barnum s american museum which he ran Lor More than 25 years in new York until it burned Down in 1868 visitors eager to see the much promoted Man t eating  said Rosenthal would go into a room and see a Man eating a Chicken. Right away you knew you were being hoodwinked. Then the real fun was to watch the line of people going in and to see their reaction in turn. Many of the museum labels and several exhibits reflect a similar Light spirited approach. One thing we All agreed on was that since Barnum was a museum Man you should make some attempt to do it the Way he would have done it Rosenthal said. So on Reading Aboul the Mummy or. Palm identified As an egyptian priest about 2,500 years old one learns that he has since retired from the Priesthood and now has a steady position at the Barnum museum under Glass but not under wraps. Palm was donated in 1896 by Barnum s second wife Nancy to the Barnum Institute of science and museum of Humbug history which originally occupied the three Story Sandstone museum building on main Street. Funded by Barnum it opened in 1893, two years after the impresario s death at age 80. The Institute was supplanted in 1968 by the Barnum museum devoted to Bridgeport history and circus subjects. But when the people s Bank of Connecticut announced in 1984 its relocation to new corporate Headquarters to be built adjacent to the museum Community leaders began to envision a much livelier larger place in which to Tell the world about Barnum and his adopted City after More than three years in the works the Barnum museum recently unveiled its spruced up facilities focusing largely on the me and limes of . Barnum the versatile King of Humbug and hyperbole. For Barnum. Who gave the world the greatest show on Earth the museum has been tabbed a showplace for the great  situated about 55 Miles from new York the museum beckons circus buffs Barnum buffs history buffs victoriana buffs and anyone who loves a Good joke. Barnum the citizen served As mayor of Bridgeport in 1875 and 1876, and he was also a state legislator a City planner end philanthropist. He was even a newspaper editor in Danbury Conn. We have tried very hard to balance Barnum the Humbug and Barnum the serious Man said Linda Altshuler the museum s executive director. We did t want to make him a Saint nor did we want him to be thought of simply As a  the Barnum museum s collection includes 5,000 original artefacts including Barnum curiosities document books manuscripts photographs and Memorabilia. In addition to personal relics there is also a velvet Suil that three foot tall Gen Tom thumb wore before the Queen of England. The Bridgeport born midget Charles s. Stratton was discovered by Barnum who escorted him to several performances for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1844. The museum also displays the certificate from Tom thumb s marriage to the midget mercy Lavinia Warren bump in Grace Church in Manhattan on feb. 10,1863. Before 2,000 spectators and a beaming Barnum. The wedding caused a near riot among the curious crowds that gathered to catch a glimpse of one of the biggest celebrities of the Day. There Are also maps of Barnum s travels including the itinerary of Tom thumb and the tour of the Soprano Jenny Lind the swedish Nightingale whom Barnum brought to the United states in 1850. And there s the piano she used in her White House concert before president Millard Fillmore. There Are photographs of jumbo the monster elephant the Gigantic pachyderm Barnum first sent on tour in 1882, in addition there Are Matthew Brady photographs of the Barnum sideshow stars Anna Swan the Nova Scotia  Jane Campbell the fat lady and mme. Josephine Fortune cd Oqullia Barnum s bearded lady. And there Are likenesses of Chang and eng who performed for Barnum and added the phrase siamese twins to the language. Sid Schapiro. A stars and stripes new York Bureau Retiree is a regular contributor. Bombeck when i heard the rolling stones the who and other Rock n Roll Staples of the 60s were Back a chill went through my body. They were the ones who created the music that Shook the Walls of our teen agers bedrooms and rendered us. Their parents sterile in the next room. They were the ones who seduced our Young away from our bosoms with their Long hair spinning lights and lyrics that did t translate to anything human. For More than a decade they influenced the Way my children dressed the Way they talked and the Way they viewed life. It happened so quickly. One Day my children were in front of the to set singing a i a. See you next week. Be a Why because we like you they blew a kiss Here. To us i the next thing i knew they were in a Cornfield watching seven people screaming yeah yeah Over speakers the size of the pan am building and they had tears streaming Down their laces. I lost them for the next 10 or 15 years of my me. These groups were the Only voices my kids listened to i could have been Marcel Marceau in concert Lor All they knew. Rock music was the first sound they heard every morning As they prepared to go to school the first thing to blast out of the car radio it was the first thing to to reprised every evening. The sound continued to be led into their Heads by earplugs even As they slept. As a Mother i tried to Compromise. The monkeys. Seemed like a Bunch of Nice boys. My children laughed at me out loud i bought them a carpenters album one Christmas i found it the other Day. The cellophane is still intact. There was something about this music that was theirs and theirs alone something their parents did t begin to understand and probably never would something that set them apart and kept intact the Gap that parents try so hard to close and kids seek to Widen. I m ashamed to admit it. But i be used the music of thai Era As a dumping ground for every shortcoming my kids Ever had from too Many cavities to forgetting my birthday. My grown son went to the who concert recently and came away saddened that none of them was 17 again. It was painful to look Back. The songs did t fit the bodies singing them. The seals were harder than he remembered. The Long lines to the restroom were tedious and he had to go to work the next morning. Look at it this Way if my kids can forgive rockers for growing older and not taking them with them then i can forgive them for shoving me Oil Center stage for 15 years. C 1969 Erma Rembock Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday september 16,1989