CLOSE OF THE CAMPAIGN.
PENITENT TICKET PURCHASERS--VISIT TO THE “HERMITAGE”--“APRIL FOOL”
FUN--THE MAMMOTH CAVE--SIGNOR SALVI--GEORGE D.
PRENTICE--PERFORMANCE IN A PORK HOUSE--RUSE AT
CINCINNATI--ANNOYANCES AT PITTSBURG--LE GRAND SMITH’S GRAND
JOKE--RETURN TO NEW YORK--THE FINAL CONCERTS IN CASTLE GARDEN AND
METROPOLITAN HALL--THE ADVISERS APPEAR--THE NINETY-THIRD
CONCERT--MY OFFER TO CLOSE THE ENGAGEMENT--MISS LIND’S LETTER
ACCEPTING MY PROPOSITION--STORY ABOUT AN “IMPROPER PLACE”--JENNY’S
CONCERTS ON HER OWN ACCOUNT--HER MARRIAGE TO MR. OTTO
GOLDSCHMIDT--CORDIAL RELATIONS BETWEEN MRS. LIND GOLDSCHMIDT AND
MYSELF--AT HOME AGAIN--STATEMENT OF THE TOTAL RECEIPTS OF THE
CONCERTS.
After five concerts in St. Louis, we went to Nashville, Tennessee, where
we gave our sixty-sixth and sixty-seventh concerts in this country. At
the first ticket auction in that city, the excitement was considerable
and the bidding spirited, as was generally the case. After the auction
was over, one of my men, happening in at a dry-goods store in the town,
heard the proprietor say, “I’ll give five dollars to any man who will
take me out and give me a good horse-whipping! I deserve it, and am
willing to pay for having it done. To think that I should have been such
a fool as to have paid forty-eight dollars for four tickets for my wife,
two daughters, and myself, to listen to music for only two hours, makes
me mad with myself, and I want to pay somebody for giving me a
thundering good horse-whipping!” I am not sure that others have not
experienced a somewhat similar feeling, when they became cool and
rational, and the excitement of novelty and competition had passed
away.
While at Nashville, Jenny Lind, accompanied by my daughter, Mrs. Lyman,
and myself, visited “the Hermitage,” the late residence of General
Jackson. On that occasion, for the first time that season, we heard the
wild mocking-birds singing in the trees. This gave Jenny Lind great
delight, as she had never before heard them sing except in their
wire-bound cages.
The first of April occurred while we were in Nashville. I was
considerably annoyed during the forenoon by the calls of members of the
company who came to me under the belief that I had sent for them. After
dinner I concluded to give them all a touch of “April fool.” The
following article, which appeared the next morning in the Nashville
_Daily American_, my amanuensis having imparted the secret to the
editor, will show how it was done:
“A series of laughable jokes came off yesterday at the Veranda in
honor of All Fools’ Day. Mr. Barnum was at the bottom of the
mischief. He managed in some mysterious manner to obtain a lot of
blank telegraphic despatches and envelopes from one of the offices
in this city, and then went to work and manufactured ‘astounding
intelligence’ for most of the parties composing the Jenny Lind
suite. Almost every person in the company received a telegraphic
despatch written under the direction of Barnum. Mr. Barnum’s
daughter was informed that her mother, her cousin, and several
other relatives were waiting for her in Louisville, and various
other important and extraordinary items of domestic intelligence
were communicated to her. Mr. Le Grand Smith was told by a despatch
from his father that his native village in Connecticut was in
ashes, including his own homestead, etc. Several of Barnum’s
employees had most liberal offers of engagements from banks and
other institutions at the North. Burke, and others of the musical
professors, were offered princely salaries by opera managers, and
many of them received most tempting inducements to proceed
immediately to the World’s Fair in London.
“One married gentleman in Mr. Barnum’s suite received the
gratifying intelligence that he had for two days been the father of
a pair of bouncing boys (mother and children doing well), an event
which he had been anxiously looking for during the week, though on
a somewhat more limited scale. In fact, nearly every person in the
party engaged by Barnum received some extraordinary telegraphic
intelligence, and as the great impressario managed to have the
despatches delivered simultaneously, each recipient was for some
time busily occupied with his own personal news.
“By and by each began to tell his neighbor his good or bad tidings;
and each was, of course, rejoiced or grieved according to
circumstances. Several gave Mr. Barnum notice of their intention
to leave him, in consequence of better offers; and a number of them
sent off telegraphic despatches and letters by mail, in answer to
those received.
“The man who had so suddenly become the father of twins,
telegraphed to his wife to ‘be of good cheer,’ and that he would
‘start for home to-morrow.’ At a late hour last night the secret
had not got out, and we presume that many of the victims will first
learn from our columns that they have been taken in by BARNUM and
All Fools’ Day!”
From Nashville, Jenny Lind and a few friends went by way of the Mammoth
Cave to Louisville, while the rest of the party proceeded by steamboat.
While in Havana, I engaged Signor Salvi for a few months, to begin about
the 10th of April. He joined us at Louisville, and sang in the three
concerts there, with great satisfaction to the public. Mr. George D.
Prentice, of the Louisville _Journal_, and his beautiful and
accomplished lady, who had contributed much to the pleasure of Miss Lind
and our party, accompanied us to Cincinnati.
A citizen of Madison had applied to me on our first arrival in
Louisville, for a concert in that place. I replied that the town was too
small to afford it, whereupon he offered to take the management of it
into his own hands, and pay me $5,000 for the receipts. The last concert
at Louisville, and the concerts at Natchez and Wheeling were given under
a similar agreement, though with better pecuniary results than at
Madison. As the steamer from Louisville to Cincinnati would arrive at
Madison about sundown, and would wait long enough for us to give a
concert, I agreed to his proposition.
We were not a little surprised to learn upon arriving, that the concert
must be given in a “pork house”--a capacious shed which had been fitted
up and decorated for the occasion. We concluded, however, that if the
inhabitants were satisfied with the accommodations, we ought not to
object. The person who had contracted for the concert came $1,300 short
of his agreement, which I consequently lost, and at ten o’clock we were
again on board the fine steamer “Ben Franklin” bound for Cincinnati.
The next morning the crowd upon the wharf was immense. I was fearful
that an attempt to repeat the New Orleans ruse with my daughter would be
of no avail, as the joke had been published in the Cincinnati papers; so
I gave my arm to Miss Lind, and begged her to have no fears, for I had
hit upon an expedient which would save her from annoyance. We then
descended the plank to the shore, and as soon as we had touched it, Le
Grand Smith called out from the boat, as if he had been one of the
passengers, “That’s no go, Mr. Barnum; you can’t pass your daughter off
for Jenny Lind this time.”
The remark elicited a peal of merriment from the crowd, several persons
calling out, “That won’t do, Barnum! you may fool the New Orleans folks,
but you can’t come it over the ‘Buckeyes.’ We intend to stay here until
you bring out Jenny Lind!” They readily allowed me to pass with the lady
whom they supposed to be my daughter, and in five minutes afterwards the
Nightingale was complimenting Mr. Coleman upon the beautiful and
commodious apartments which were devoted to her in the Burnett House.
The crowd remained an hour on the wharf before they would be convinced
that the person whom they took for my daughter was in fact the veritable
Swede. When this was discovered, a general laugh followed the
exclamation from one of the victims, “Well, Barnum has humbugged us
after all!”
In passing up the river to Pittsburg, the boat waited four hours to
enable us to give a concert in Wheeling. It was managed by a couple of
gentlemen in that city, who purchased it for five thousand dollars in
advance, by which they made a handsome profit for their trouble. The
concert was given in a church.
At Pittsburg, the open space surrounding the concert room became crowded
with thousands of persons, who, foolishly refusing to accommodate each
other by listening to the music, disturbed the concert and determined us
to leave the next morning for Baltimore, instead of giving a second
concert that had been advertised.
Le Grand Smith here paid me off for my “April fool” joke. He induced a
female of his acquaintance to call on me and reveal an arrangement which
she pretended accidentally to have overheard between some scoundrels,
who were resolved to stop our stage coach on the Alleghany mountains and
commit highway robbery. The story seemed incredible, and yet the woman
related it with so much apparent sincerity, that I swallowed the bait,
and remitting to New York all the money I had, except barely enough to
defray our expenses to Baltimore, I purchased several revolvers for such
members of the company as were not already provided, and we left
Pittsburg armed to the teeth! Fortunately, Jenny Lind and several of the
company had left before I made this grand discovery, and hence she was
saved any apprehensions on the subject. It is needless to say we found
no use for our firearms.
We reached New York early in May, 1851, and gave fourteen concerts in
Castle Garden and Metropolitan Hall. The last of these made the
ninety-second regular concert under our engagement. Jenny Lind had now
again reached the atmosphere of her legal and other “advisers,” and I
soon discovered the effects of their influence. I, however, cared little
what course they advised her to pursue. I indeed wished they would
prevail upon her to close with her hundredth concert, for I had become
weary with constant excitement and unremitting exertions. I was
confident that if she undertook to give concerts on her own account, she
would be imposed upon and harassed in a thousand ways; yet I felt it
would be well for her to have a trial at it, if she saw fit to credit
her advisers’ assurance that I had not managed the enterprise as
successfully as it might have been done.
At about the eighty-fifth concert, therefore, I was most happy to learn
from her lips that she had concluded to pay the forfeiture of
twenty-five thousand dollars, and terminate the concerts with the one
hundredth.
We went to Philadelphia, where I had advertised the ninety-second,
ninety-third, and ninety-fourth concerts, and had engaged the large
National Theatre on Chestnut Street. It had been used for equestrian and
theatrical entertainments, but was now thoroughly cleansed and fitted up
by Max Maretzek for Italian opera. It was a convenient place for our
purpose. One of her “advisers,” a subordinate in her employ, who was
already itching for the position of manager, made the selection of this
building a pretext for creating dissatisfaction in the mind of Miss
Lind. I saw the influences which were at work, and not caring enough for
the profits of the remaining seven concerts, to continue the engagement
at the risk of disturbing the friendly feelings which had hitherto
uninterruptedly existed between that lady and myself, I wrote her a
letter offering to relinquish the engagement, if she desired it, at the
termination of the concert which was to take place that evening, upon
her simply allowing me a thousand dollars per concert for the seven
which would yet remain to make up the hundred, besides paying me the sum
stipulated as a forfeiture for closing the engagement at the
one-hundredth concert. Towards evening I received the following reply:
“TO P. T. BARNUM, ESQ.
“MY DEAR SIR:--I accept your proposition to close our contract
to-night, at the end of the ninety-third concert, on condition of
my paying you seven thousand dollars, in addition to the sum I
forfeit under the condition of finishing the engagement at the end
of one hundred concerts.
“I am, dear Sir, yours truly,
“JENNY LIND,
“PHILADELPHIA, 9th of June, 1851.”
I met her at the concert in the evening, and she was polite and friendly
as ever. Between the first and second parts of the concert, I introduced
General Welch, the lessee of the National Theatre, who informed her that
he was quite willing to release me from my engagement of the building,
if she did not desire it longer. She replied, that upon trial, she found
it much better than she expected, and she would therefore retain it for
the remainder of the concerts.
In the mean time, her advisers had been circulating the story that I had
compelled her to sing in an improper place, and when they heard she had
concluded to remain there, they beset her with arguments against it,
until at last she consented to remove her concerts to a smaller hall.
I had thoroughly advertised the three concerts, in the newspapers within
a radius of one hundred miles from Philadelphia, and had sent admission
tickets to the editors. On the day of the second concert, one of the
new agents, who had indirectly aided in bringing about the dissolution
of our engagement, refused to recognize these tickets. I urged upon him
the injustice of such a course, but received no satisfaction. I then
stated the fact to Miss Lind, and she gave immediate orders that these
tickets should be received. Country editors’ tickets, which were offered
after I left Philadelphia, were however refused by her agents (contrary
to Miss Lind’s wish and knowledge), and the editors, having come from a
distance with their wives, purchased tickets, and I subsequently
remitted the money to numerous gentlemen, whose complimentary tickets
were thus repudiated.
Jenny Lind gave several concerts with varied success, and then retired
to Niagara Falls, and afterwards to Northampton, Massachusetts. While
sojourning at the latter place, she visited Boston and was married to
Mr. Otto Goldschmidt, a German composer and pianist, to whom she was
much attached, and who had studied music with her in Germany. He played
several times in our concerts. He was a very quiet, inoffensive
gentleman, and an accomplished musician.
I met her several times after our engagement terminated. She was always
affable. On one occasion, while passing through Bridgeport, she told me
that she had been sadly harassed in giving her concerts. “People cheat
me and swindle me very much,” said she, “and I find it very annoying to
give concerts on my own account.”
I was always supplied with complimentary tickets when she gave concerts
in New York, and on the occasion of her last appearance in America, I
visited her in her room back of the stage, and bade her and her husband
adieu, with my best wishes. She expressed the same feeling to me in
return. She told me she should never sing much, if any more, in public;
but I reminded her that a good Providence had endowed her with a voice
which enabled her to contribute in an eminent degree to the enjoyment of
her fellow beings, and if she no longer needed the large sums of money
which they were willing to pay for this elevating and delightful
entertainment, she knew by experience what a genuine pleasure she would
receive by devoting the money to the alleviation of the wants and
sorrows of those who needed it.
“Ah! Mr. Barnum,” she replied, “that is very true, and it would be
ungrateful in me to not continue to use for the benefit of the poor and
lowly, that gift which our kind Heavenly Father has so graciously
bestowed upon me. Yes, I will continue to sing so long as my voice
lasts, but it will be mostly for charitable objects, for I am thankful
to say I have all the money which I shall ever need.” Pursuant to this
resolution, the larger portion of the concerts which this noble lady has
given since her return to Europe, have been for objects of benevolence.
If she consents to sing for a charitable object in London, for instance,
the fact is not advertised at all, but the tickets are readily disposed
of in a private quiet way, at a guinea and half a guinea each.
After so many months of anxiety, labor and excitement, in the Jenny Lind
enterprise, it will readily be believed that I desired tranquility. I
spent a week at Cape May, and then came home to Iranistan, where I
remained during the entire summer.
JENNY LIND CONCERTS.
TOTAL RECEIPTS, EXCEPTING OF CONCERTS DEVOTED TO CHARITY.
---- New York, $17,864 05 No. 46. Havana, $2,931 95
---- “ 14,203 03 47. New Orleans, 12,599 85
---------- 48. “ 10,210 42
No. 1. “ 12,519 59 49. “ 8,131 15
2. “ 14,266 09 50. “ 6,019 85
3. “ 12,174 74 51. “ 6,644 00
4. “ 16,028 39 52. “ 9,720 80
5. Boston, 16,479 50 53. “ 7,545 50
6. “ 11,848 62 54. “ 6,053 50
7. “ 8,639 92 55. “ 4,850 25
8. “ 10,169 25 56. “ 4,495 35
9. Providence, 6,525 54 57. “ 6,630 35
10. Boston, 10,524 87 58. “ 4,745 10
11. “ 5,240 00 59. Natchez, 5,000 00
12. “ 7,586 00 60. Memphis, 4,539 56
13. Philadelphia, 9,291 25 61. St. Louis, 7,811 85
14. “ 7,547 00 62. “ 7,961 92
15. “ 8,458 65 63. “ 7,708 70
16. New York, 6,415 90 64. “ 4,086 50
17. “ 4,009 70 65. “ 3,044 70
18. “ 5,982 00 66. Nashville, 7,786 30
19. “ 8,007 10 67. “ 4,248 00
20. “ 6,334 20 68. Louisville, 7,833 90
21. “ 9,429 15 69. “ 6,595 60
22. “ 9,912 17 70. “ 5,000 00
23. “ 5,773 40 71. Madison, 3,693 25
24. “ 4,993 50 72. Cincinnati, 9,339 75
25. “ 6,670 15 73. “ 11,001 50
26. “ 9,840 33 74. “ 8,446 30
27. “ 7,097 15 75. “ 8,954 18
28. “ 8,263 30 76. “ 6,500 40
29. “ 10,570 25 77. Wheeling, 5,000 00
30. “ 10,646 45 78. Pittsburg, 7,210 58
31. Philadelphia, 5,480 75 79. New York, 6,858 42
32. “ 5,728 65 80. “ 5,453 00
33. “ 3,709 88 81. “ 5,463 70
34. “ 4,815 48 82. “ 7,378 35
35. Baltimore, 7,117 00 83. “ 7,179 27
36. “ 8,357 05 84. “ 6,641 00
37. “ 8,406 50 85. “ 6,917 13
38. “ 8,121 33 86. “ 6,642 04
39. Washington City, 6,878 55 87. “ 3,738 75
40. “ 8,507 05 88. “ 4,335 28
41. Richmond, 12,385 21 89. “ 5,339 23
42. Charleston, 6,775 00 90. “ 4,087 03
43. “ 3,653 75 91. “ 5,717 00
44. Havana, 4,666 17 92. “ 9,525 80
45. “ 2,837 92 93. Philadelphia, 3,852 75
CHARITY CONCERTS.--Of Miss Lind’s half receipts of the first two
Concerts, she devoted $10,000 to charity in New York. She
afterwards gave Charity Concerts in Boston, Baltimore, Charleston,
Havana, New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia, and donated large
sums for the like purposes in Richmond, Cincinnati, and elsewhere.
There were also several Benefit Concerts, for the Orchestra, Le
Grand Smith, and other persons and objects.
RECAPITULATION.
NEW YORK 35 Concerts. Receipts, $286,216 64 Average, $8,177 50
PHILADELPHIA 8 “ “ 48,884 41 “ 6,110 55
BOSTON 7 “ “ 70,388 16 “ 10,055 45
PROVIDENCE 1 “ “ 6,525 54 “ 6,525 54
BALTIMORE 4 “ “ 32,101 88 “ 8,000 47
WASHINGTON 2 “ “ 15,385 60 “ 7,692 80
RICHMOND 1 “ “ 12,385 21 “ 12,385 21
CHARLESTON 2 “ “ 10,428 75 “ 5,214 37
HAVANA 3 “ “ 10,436 04 “ 3,478 68
NEW ORLEANS 12 “ “ 87,646 12 “ 7,303 84
NATCHEZ 1 “ “ 5,000 00 “ 5,000 00
MEMPHIS 1 “ “ 4,539 56 “ 4,539 56
ST. LOUIS 5 “ “ 30,613 67 “ 6,122 73
NASHVILLE 2 “ “ 12,034 30 “ 6,017 15
LOUISVILLE 3 “ “ 19,429 50 “ 6,476 50
MADISON 1 “ “ 3,693 25 “ 3,693 25
CINCINNATI 5 “ “ 44,242 13 “ 8,848 43
WHEELING 1 “ “ 5,000 00 “ 5,000 00
PITTSBURG 1 “ “ 7,210 58 “ 7,210 58
-- ----------- ---------
TOTAL 95 CONCERTS. RECEIPTS, $712,161 34 AVERAGE, $7,496 43
JENNY LIND’S RECEIPTS.
From the Total Receipts of Ninety-five Concerts $712,161 34
Deduct the receipts of the first two, which, as between
P. T. Barnum and Jenny Lind, were aside from the
contract, and are not numbered in the Table 32,067 08
-----------
Total Receipts of Concerts from No. 1 to No. 93 $680,094 26
Deduct the receipts of the 28 Concerts,
each of which fell short of $5,500 $123,311 15
Also deduct $5,500 for each of the
remaining 65 Concerts 357,500 00 480,811 15
----------- ----------
Leaving the total excess, as above $199,283 11
Being equally divided, Miss Lind’s portion was $99,641 55
I paid her $1,000 for each of the 93 Concerts 93,000 00
Also one half the receipts of the first two Concerts 16,033 54
-----------
Amount paid to Jenny Lind $208,675 09
She refunded to me as forfeiture, per contract, in
case she withdrew after the 100th Concert $25,000
She also paid me $1,000 each for the seven Concerts
relinquished 7,000 32,000 00
------- -----------
JENNY LIND’S net avails of 95 Concerts $176,675 09
P. T. BARNUM’S gross receipts, after paying Miss Lind 535,486 25
-----------
TOTAL RECEIPTS of 95 Concerts $712,161 34
PRICE OF TICKETS.--The highest prices paid for tickets were at auction
as follows:--John N. Genin, in New York, $225; Ossian E. Dodge, in
Boston, $625; Col. William C. Ross, in Providence, $650; M. A. Root, in
Philadelphia, $625; Mr. D’Arcy, in New Orleans, $240; a keeper of a
refreshment saloon in St. Louis, $150; a Daguerrotypist, in Baltimore,
$100. I cannot now recall the names of the last two. After the sale of
the first ticket, the premium usually fell to $20, and so downward in
the scale of figures. The fixed price of tickets ranged from $7 to $3.
Promenade tickets were from $2 to $1 each.