In September 1850 P. T. Barnum brought Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale,” across the Atlantic to tour America. He risked everything, even mortgaging his home, to guarantee the famous soprano her extraordinary fee of $150,000. Determined to turn a profit, he generated a blizzard of publicity. He salted the crowd that greeted her at the New York dock with dozens of his own men. Some 20,000 onlookers gathered outside her hotel; city firemen paraded past her window.

Some thought it crass when Barnum auctioned the best seats at her concerts to the highest bidders. A hat maker named John Genin, a friend of Barnum’s, shelled out $225 to buy the very first ticket in New York, and his hats became the rage across the country. In other cities, entertainers and businessmen outbid one another to buy the first ticket and bask in the resulting notoriety. Here was the essence of Barnum, melding high and low culture with relentless publicity, instant celebrity, a profitable dash of controversy, and a good time had by all.

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