113
SPOTLIGHT ON HISTORYSPOTLIGHT ON HISTORY
Promoting a Star: P. T. Barnum and Jenny Lind
S
tar making requires not only a charismatic per-
former but also imaginative promotion. One of
the great selling jobs in history took place in
1850, when the impresario P. T. Barnum presented
Swedish soprano Jenny Lind to the American public.
Initially resisting Barnum’s proposal for a U.S. tour,
Lind set her fi gure at the then-astronomical sum
of $187,000, paid in advance. Barnum managed to
raise the money and then, having secured her ser-
vices, set about creating a demand for them.
Well before Lind’s arrival, Barnum launched a
publicity campaign that stressed the singer’s virtu-
ous Christian character and the prestige of opera
singing. W hen Lind arrived on September 1, 1850,
a crowd of thirty thousand greeted her ship in New
York H a rb or— t he fi rst of a series of mob scenes
orchestrated by Barnum and his agents. Barnum’s
report of huge, enthusiastic gatherings created the
impression that Jenny Lind tickets were always at a
premium. He auctioned off, with great public fan-
fare, the fi rst pair of tickets to a Lind concert in each
city where she appeared, inviting cities as well as
individuals to vie with each other’s display of the
value they placed on the arrival of Lind and her art.
In another masterstroke, Barnum fed “Lindoma-
nia” by announcing that she would donate to char-
ity her share of receipts from her fi rst U.S. concert.
Thus Lind’s arrival, persona, travels, and deeds
were received not simply as an artistic or commer-
cial venture but as news, reported throughout the
country. Avid expectation, curiosity, and competi-
tiveness moved people to buy tickets and shaped
their reactions to her performances.
By peddling recitals of a foreign opera singer,
Barnum created a cultural sensation that was alsoa commercial bonanza, involving not only concert
tickets, sheet music, and pianos but also such Lind-
endorsed products as gloves and stoves. Having
taken a major fi nancial risk, Barnum turned a profi t
of more than $500,000 from his connection with
Lind.KJenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale,” whose 1850–52
U.S. tour was an artistic and marketing triumph.172028_05_106-131_r3_ko.indd 113 23/01/13 8:20 PM