WEBVTT - Sideshow 4: A Living Curiosity 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.120 The farm hands knew that the Old Testament had spoken 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:18.200 about a race of giants, but Cardiff, New York was 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.360 a very long way from the Promised Land. So you 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.639 can imagine their surprise on that cool October morning in 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:29.120 eighteen sixty nine when the men accidentally unearthed a petrified 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.480 body of a massive ten foot tall man. He laid 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:35.879 flat on his back, as pale and chalky as soft plaster. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:38.720 It was easy for the workers to recall the Bible 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.839 story of Goliath being struck down by David slingshot. The 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:48.000 resemblance in their mind was striking. The laborers couldn't believe 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:51.280 their luck. They thought it was a weird and wonderful discovery, 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.320 and they set off to let the world know. But 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.200 none of this was by happenstance or happy accident. No, 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.840 it was all part of a heavily choreographed and brilliantly 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.479 engineered plan drummed up by a fellow named George Hull, 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:08.720 one that involved a handful of years, a couple of 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.680 thousand dollars, and a big chunk of gypsum. You see, 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:16.080 George was a skeptic by nature. He didn't believe in God. 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.840 He certainly didn't believe in the Bible and definitely didn't 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.520 believe in giants. This life was all there was, he thought, 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.600 and anyone trying to convince people otherwise were fraudsters. So 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.440 George came up with an idea to hoodwink the faithful, 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.399 and he picked the perfect time too. Charles Darwin had 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.479 just published his Origin of Species, and the world as 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:41.800 we knew it had been thrown into flux. George roped 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.880 in a cast of characters, a Chicago marble dealer, some sculptors, 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.560 and a distant relative by the name of Stub Newell. 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.160 The latter just happened to own a farm in upstate 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:53.920 New York, which would prove to be the perfect resting 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:58.680 place for a faux fossil. Visitors soon began pouring onto 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:01.400 the property. Men left to work, and women brought their 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.160 babies along. They showed up to the farm in droves, 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:08.400 trying to catch a glimpse of this fossilized giant. Stubb 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:13.160 erected a big white tent and charged admission. Soon businessmen 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.960 and investors came knocking, all wanting a piece of the action. 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:20.320 And while the experts and naysayers certainly had a few 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:24.200 things to say. Stubb stuck by his story this was 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:29.240 the real deal. Inspired by the publicity, P. T. Barnum 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:32.240 tried to buy the giant, but when Stubb turned him down, 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.400 Barnum changed plans and simply made his own copy of it. 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:39.280 And when that new handcrafted petrified giant corpse was ready, 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.080 he put it on display in his American Museum in 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.560 New York City. That first fraud gave way to others too, 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:49.280 and soon even more copies were cropping up. But ultimately 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.520 the story unraveled when a guilt ridden sculptor decided to 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:56.240 come clean, and the Cardiff Giant was eventually put into storage, 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.440 where it would languish for years to come. This time, 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:03.320 at least, the skeptics had won the day, and it 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:07.480 demonstrates that universal truth that everyone loves a good narrative. 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.160 It's part of our nature as humans to look for 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.920 story and to cling onto it for dear life. Story 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.440 helps us anchor ourselves in reality, and it gives us 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:21.320 something that most people can never get enough of, hope, 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.679 But for many that's never anything more than just a dream. 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.799 Hope is a wonderful target to aim for, after all, 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.480 that's why they call it shooting for the stars, but oftentimes, 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:36.400 happily ever after is too far out of reach, and 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.920 few individuals throughout history have had farther to stretch for 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:44.119 their lofty goals than one person in particular. But despite 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.080 a life filled with challenges and obstacles that would make 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:50.280 most of us give up and settle for less, she 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:57.560 managed to do the impossible. I'm Aaron Manky, Welcome to 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:17.400 the Side Show. Stealing a horse and wagon was an 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.640 impressive feat, especially since the culprits were both just a 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:24.200 hair over two ft tall. Mercy and her sister Minnie 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:26.520 had just wanted to go for a joy ride, so 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:30.039 when a peddler stopped by their family home in Middleborough, Massachusetts, 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.680 the sisters saw their chance. They climbed up into the 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:35.479 driver's seat and took the reins in their tiny fists. 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.320 But they underestimated the horsepower in front of them and 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:41.719 never thought that the beast might make a break for it. 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:44.920 So when their older brother finally found them a mile 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.320 from home, he gave them a piece of his mind. 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:51.159 Despite the lecture, though they couldn't help us squeal with glee. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.960 And these antics were part and parcel for the tiny 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:59.480 package that was Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump. By all accounts, 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.800 she was a completely unremarkable baby. She made her world 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:06.159 debut on Halloween of eighteen forty one, the fifth child 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:08.839 in her family. Born to parents who were seasoned in 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:12.680 matters of birthing and rearing, the Bump family was made 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:16.320 of solid Yankee stock, comprised of folks descended from not two, 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:20.440 but five Mayflower passengers, and by all accounts they eked 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.919 out a quiet New England existence, one dictated by the 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.640 church bells and the seasons, with each change in the 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:30.000 weather a cause for celebration or a warning sign of 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.279 things to come. As her first year went on, Mercy's 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.880 parents noticed something unusual about her. It seemed, in the 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.960 strangest of ways, that she had simply stopped growing. They 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:43.799 kept a watchful eye as one year turned to the next. 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.880 What she lacked in size she made up foreign spirits, 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.800 growing into a tiny, yet precocious child. But even so, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.160 the smallest and youngest Bump was able to keep up 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.040 with the rest. She went to school and did her chores, 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.720 all with the help of a small step ladder her 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.760 father had built for her. And when her sister Minnie 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.000 arrived seven years later. The family recognized something in her, 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:10.040 she too, was going to stay small. Looking back, historians 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:13.200 think it's likely that both sisters suffered from a pituitary 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:18.040 disorder resulting from their ancestors in her marrying. Mercy graduated 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.119 from school at sixteen and remained in the schoolhouse to teach. 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:25.000 She was universally adored. It said that her students would 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.840 pick her up and carry her over deep puddles and 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.360 ferry her along on a sled during the snowfall. Life 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:36.080 and all it offered Mercy was good, so when her cousin, 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:38.880 George Wood showed up at the family's home after her 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.760 first year on the job, she didn't take much interest 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.960 in the offer that he put on the table. George 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.719 was working for the Spalding in Rogers North American Circus, 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.480 an outfit that floated show boats along the Ohio and 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.960 Mississippi Rivers. He had seen the great success of P. T. 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:59.839 Barnum's General Tom Thumb, another proportional dwarf, and thought that Mercy, 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.320 all thirty two inches of her, could likewise be destined 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:07.760 for the stage. But George's idea of showcasing Mercy wasn't 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.040 a novel idea. In fact, there is a long global 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.000 history of people living with dwarf is um being sought 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:18.840 after for entertainment. They loom large in folklore and myths worldwide, 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:23.920 with pictorial histories found across ancient cultures. Powerful rulers were 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.240 said to have collected little people like baseball cards, as 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:30.360 if they were mere two dimensional characters and not living, 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.720 breathing humans. History tells us that for upwards of five 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:37.080 thousand years, they were often held in some degree of bondage, 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:40.280 thought of as property, and fulfilled the roles of either 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:44.720 servant or entertainer. But as the world changed and courts declined, 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:48.360 people with dwarfism began appearing at fairs, taverns, and other 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.080 venues where folks of all kinds went to seek a 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.560 reprieve from their daily lives. By the time George's offer 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:56.960 came to Mercy, it was an era when women were 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:00.240 expected to be good wives and mothers. Did she want 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.600 to give up her quiet life, one in which she 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.640 was safely tucked into her little town, for a life 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.720 aboard a floating circus cruising along the banks of the 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:12.880 American frontier. Did she want to say yes to something more. 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.679 It turns out that she did so with her parents 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.840 blessing Mercy decided to make a go of it. She 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.760 had the privilege of making this choice, something that not 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.320 many women around her did, and with that she re 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.520 christened herself with her two middle names for the stage, 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:33.160 and in doing so, she was reborn as a star. 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:49.560 Lavinia Warren. It was eighteen sixty and the floating palace 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.920 was never going to outsail the war doct in New Orleans. 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:56.400 The Mississippi River waters ran beneath her, a watery spine 0:08:56.520 --> 0:09:00.360 binding the shores of a fracturing nation. Lavinia and her 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.680 troop had a good run, but George began to feel uneasy. 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.000 Abraham Lincoln had recently been elected president and won the 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.400 electoral College by less than forty percent of the popular vote. 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:14.480 More significantly, he didn't win a single Southern state. The 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.920 country was picking sides, and each was taking up arms 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.600 to prove it. Georgia Lavinia decided to make a run 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.040 for the north, booking the first train out of town 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:28.840 to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Their car ferried both people and ammunition alike. 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:31.440 What they didn't know then is that Vicksburg would go 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.640 on to witness one of the bloodiest sieges of the 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:37.120 impending war, but for now, the cousins were just trying 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:41.600 to get through and get home. With rest on her mind, 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.280 Lavinia had planned to ride out the Civil War back home, 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:46.719 but that was before one of P. T. Barnum's men 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:50.160 came knocking. Barnum had her tales of Lavinia's success on 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:54.280 the show boats and wanted her to join his ranks. However, 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:58.920 to his surprise, she categorically refused, but Barnum wouldn't take 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.520 no for an answer. He invited Lavinia and her parents 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:06.040 to visit his sprawling estates in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:08.520 continued to court her with the lure of a weekly 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.200 salary and the promise of far flung adventures. And you 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.840 know what, Lavinia had a change of heart, so she agreed. 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.720 Barnum got right to work. He ordered up reams of 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.440 fabulous dresses and jewels, designing a wardrobe fit for a 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:27.560 tiny queen. By spinning his stories, working his magic, and 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.800 emptying his bank account, he was going to mold Lavinia 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:34.520 from a show girl into a celebrity. But to understand 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.400 his impulse, we have to look closer at this moment. 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:41.480 The previous generation of Americans had fought for freedom from 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:45.280 the English crown, but Queen Victoria's influence was so strong 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.920 that it crossed the pond, and upper crust Americans took note. 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.040 Had she been alive today, she probably would have been 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:57.000 a social media influencer. And Victorian America was changing too. 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:00.800 The cities were growing, the fires of industry burning hot, 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.679 and social settings that were once rigid began to tremble. 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:07.560 The ideals of the Victorian Age brought a sense of 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.040 control to white, middle and upper class Americans as the 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.880 country around them changed. Decked Out in corsets and pearls, 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.360 top hats and tails, they enacted the rituals they thought 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:22.920 would keep them safe and empowered and lavinia while Barnum 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:25.560 saw her as the perfect canvas upon which to craft 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:29.680 the ideal Victorian aristocrat, one who could be kept stateside 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.360 for their own viewing pleasure. Of course, the night of 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:35.960 her official entrance to high society took place at New 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:40.280 York City's magnificent St. Nicholas Hotel, and it's was dazzling. 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.640 She dripped with charm and diamonds, dressed in a get 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:47.200 up that would cost over fifty two dollars today, and 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:51.800 the press went wild. She was suddenly a diminutive debutante 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:55.680 of the highest regard. The New York Commercial Advisor called 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:59.600 Lavinia one of the most extraordinary little ladies at any 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.439 time scene in this age of extraordinary beings. The New 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.640 York Tribune wrote extensively about Lavinia, noting her to be 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:12.000 bright and sweet, eyes, brilliant and intelligent, her form faultless, 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.360 and her manner to be that of a woman of 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.280 the world. And The New York Sun was bold enough 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.480 to suggest that she could even challenge the riotously successful 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:24.560 career of Charlie s Stratton, otherwise known as General Tom Thumb. 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:27.640 Charlie had signed on with Barnum at an early age 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:31.720 and had become a global sensation, and Charlie, as the 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:36.040 story goes, was quite smitten with Barnum's new star. He 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:39.679 took Barnum aside and asked him to play matchmaker. Charlie 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:43.360 even promised exclusive rights to publicize their wedding if Barnum 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.920 were to foot the bill. Ever, the step ahead, Barnum 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:50.920 began planting the seeds with Lavinia. Their courtship began in 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:54.360 earnest Charlie got to work wooing Lavinia the moment she 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.400 stepped off the train to visit him in Bridgeport, where 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.480 he picked her up in a miniature carriage. Over the 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.360 course of the afternoon, Lavinia spoke of her upcoming trip 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.840 to Europe. So Charlie got bold and asked would it 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:11.120 be more proper for them to go as man and wife? Surprisingly, 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:17.679 Lavinia said yes. On February tenth, eighteen sixty three, curious spectators, 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.960 all bundled up in yards of wool and furs, flooded 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.280 the sidewalks. In the pews of Grace Church on Broadway. 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:29.800 Guests waited anxiously. Everyone who was anyone was there. Congressmen 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.480 rubbed shoulders with governors, Captains of industry stood flanked by 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:38.439 their wives, all seated among worry newspaper editors. Barnum accepted 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:42.120 no bribes for the invitations that we know of, although 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.280 it's said that many tried. After all, who didn't want 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.640 to be at the social event of the season. The 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:53.040 oregan blared and the ceremony began. Next crane toward the aisle, 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.199 trying to catch a glimpse of the wedding party, guests, 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.840 who were compelled to giggle at the spectacle of it all, 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.840 soon fell in line, a hush reverence falling over the audience. 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:07.040 Lavinia and Charlie ascended to the altar. Clymina said, of 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:11.079 small stairs, to a special platform built just for them. 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:14.880 They were young, wealthy, and famous. They held each other's 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:18.200 hands and kissed, and for the first time in three years, 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.840 the New York Times ran something other than news of 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.600 the Civil War on the front page. Yes, they were small, 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:29.160 but it was clear that their love was mighty. Lavinia said, 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.880 I do, and with that they were ready to take 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:41.680 on the world. I can't think of a worse way 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.520 to mix business and pleasure than by setting off on 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.640 a honeymoon tour. But Lavinia and Charlie did just that. Now, 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.200 while the idea of a honeymoon might conjure visions of 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:54.960 sunsets and sandy beaches, these two had a different idea 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:58.440 in mine. They were off to the White House. That's right. 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.280 They went down to Washington, d C. A city full 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:05.920 of crime, vice, and malaria. Not exactly my idea of romance, 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:09.840 but to each their own. Mary Todd Lincoln had extended 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.840 an invitation to the Stratton's. Maybe she felt she was 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:16.760 in competition with Queen Victoria's friendship with Charlie, or maybe 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.920 Barnum pressured her into it. Regardless of how it all 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.320 came to be, what we do know is that the 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:26.880 First Family pulled out all the stops. On Friday, February 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:31.120 eighteen sixty three, Lavinia and Charlie were greeted with a 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:34.880 proper white house reception by the Lincoln's. The newlyweds suited 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.200 up in their full wedding attire for an audience of dignitaries. 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:41.880 Lavinia had a bouquet of fresh orange blossoms and strings 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.440 of pearls around her neck. The newspapers reported the scene 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.640 to be quite a vision, with the specter of a 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.600 gangly Lincoln, all in black, bending at the waist to 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:54.160 shake Charlie's hand and kiss Lavinia's cheek. It was said 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:57.040 that there was even a striking resemblance between Mary Todd 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.880 and Lavinia if you could scale them to an equal 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:04.440 eyes that is, whispers floated throughout the room. Some audience 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:08.400 members were amused, others were ashamed. The pretense of this 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.320 visit was a dignified one, but we have to notice 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.080 There were echoes of the past that filled the east 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.360 room at that moment, as two little people were presented 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.760 to the head of the highest office in the land. 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.760 Soon after their White House visit, they joined Lavinia's sister 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:27.320 Minnie and her husband George, and set off touring. But 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:31.200 travels took them across New England, up into Canada, down south, 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.800 and across the Midwest talk about the ultimate double date. 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.720 The troop soon bunked down at a hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.760 where Lavinia spent some time chatting with her neighbor across 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.280 the hall. He shared with her his pain in what 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:48.680 the South was experiencing. He was distraught but determined to help, 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:53.160 and she listened intently. As they parted ways, he handed 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:55.600 her assigned photograph that she would go on to carry 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.440 with her. It may seem strange now, but as a 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:02.480 famous theater actor John Wilkes Booth had his own fans. 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:05.520 It would be in Europe that spring when they learned 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:09.320 of Lincoln's assassination and the war's end. Lavinia was an 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.399 utter shock, and when asked by a British reporter about 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.280 her relationship with Booth, she ended up giving them that 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:18.959 signed photograph, it ran in the newspaper, the first photo 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:21.800 of the president's assassin to appear in the British press. 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.240 Over the next few years, the four friends continued to 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.400 cross the world and back again, two pairs of pre 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:31.440 eminent global emissaries of their day. When it was all 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:34.200 said and done, their travels added up to a distance 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.560 that could have circumnavigated the globe twice, with a bit 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.960 of mileage to spare. But home is often where they 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:44.359 craved to be. I'm not gonna lie to you. It 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.080 was sometimes tense between Charlie and Lavinia, as he wished 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.320 for retirement and she wished for adventure. Their permanent residence 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.640 sat on an eight one acre plot back in Lavinia's hometown. 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:59.160 It was all theirs, every last inch of it, complete 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:03.639 with its rapper porch, mansward roof, chimneys and dormers. It 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:06.400 was more than they could ever dream of and certainly 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:10.399 exactly what they needed. They outfitted their newly built place 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:14.040 with furniture made in miniature, including a pint sized grand 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.680 piano and a shrunken billiards table. Visitors to the house 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:21.040 today can still find remnants of their personal renovations. A 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.480 small soapstone sink and a small staircase in the back. 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.480 At one point there was a cast iron stove measuring 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:30.680 two feet tall for their guests, though they always had 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.400 on hand average sized furniture and plates. They were global 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.760 celebrities living in a small town after all, and frequently 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:41.680 found themselves playing host to long nights of entertainment. And 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.919 it's here, after a life of travel, adoration, and near missus, 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:50.320 that Charlie would die in three He was forty five, 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.600 taken at a young age by a stroke. Surely he 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.280 had many roads behind him, but he still had the 0:18:56.320 --> 0:19:01.560 world ahead of him. In Lavinia was devastated. She haunted 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.679 the halls of her house, unmoored with life, making a 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.440 little less sense without her general. On the day of 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:11.880 Charlie's funeral, twenty three horse drawn carriages and ten thousand 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:15.640 mourners made their way to Mountain Grove Cemetery. The air 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:19.560 was heavy with the weight of this enormous finality. She 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:22.119 had made a career out of being the center of attention, 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:24.960 but this was a performance she didn't want to be 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:27.760 a part of. As Charlie was lowered into the earth, 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:32.840 Lavinia collapsed moments later, someone tenderly picked her up and 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:37.040 carried her to a carriage. One last funeral dirge filled 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:41.200 the air, and then with a sudden jolt, the horses 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:56.600 hold away. The Victorian age is often defined by death, 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.639 and Lavinia's life was no exception, especially being an generation 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.840 who lived and loved through the war. She had lost 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.480 so many already, and now her husband was gone to 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:10.240 she was stuck between two worlds, life on the road 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.520 and life in the home. It was in straddling this 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:16.520 line that she was unlike almost any other Victorian woman 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.399 she knew, and it was in this tension that she 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:23.520 felt most alone. But as they say, the show must 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:27.879 go on. She soon remarried to another proportional dwarf by 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.000 the name of Count Primo Magre, who she and Charlie 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.440 had met on the road years before. They continued performing 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:38.239 together alongside the count's brother, But where Lavinia and her 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.360 crew had once held court with royals and presidents, they 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:45.480 now began finding themselves scraping together itineraries and descending into 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.760 the bellies of cedi er venues. They spent some time 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:52.760 starring in the Lily Peucia Midget Village, a Coney Island 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.840 attraction featuring over three h little persons recruited from various 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:00.400 side shows. Picture it as an early twentieth century, real 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:04.280 world social experiment. The sets, built to look like fifteenth 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:08.679 century Nuremberg, of course, featured a theater, circus, a firehouse, 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.199 and a beach with lifeguard towers. It was here that 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:16.480 performers acted out their mundane, everyday life, and audiences came 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:19.720 to watch. In the village, the actors were stripped of 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:24.680 their individual identities and folded into a homogeneous group. They 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.560 were being sold as one fictitious race of little people. 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.280 If you've seen The Wizard of Oz or Charlie and 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:33.160 the Chocolate Factory, you've caught a glimpse of this new 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:37.080 mythology coming to life. As you can imagine, this was 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:40.040 all pretty demeaning. The luster of this life and the 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:44.000 opportunities that presented were waning. The curtains were finally drawing 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:48.040 to a close. Lavinia had been one of America's first celebrities, 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.640 loved by the public until they found newer, shiny or entertainments, 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:54.840 but in nineteen nineteen, on the cusp of her eighth 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:58.240 decade of life, she fell ill and died on November. 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:02.680 By then, Lavinia had become one of the most photographed 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:06.080 people in the world. An obituary claimed that more people 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:09.480 knew of her than any other woman in the entire country. 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:12.760 In an amazing way, she had really done it all. 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:17.600 But what made Lavinia a star was certainly complicated. She 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:21.000 played the part of the ideal Victorian woman in miniature, 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:24.560 a human doll dressed to the nines. This was quite 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.720 literally her whole act. Barnum knew that with the right 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:31.760 aesthetic trappings, he could transform her to his benefit, yes, 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:35.720 and maybe even to her own. It was a transformation 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:38.439 that allowed her to climb higher than any step ladder 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:42.000 could have allowed. She was a hero, a celebrity, and 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:44.840 the biggest star of her day. But when she was 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:49.000 buried beside Charlie's life size monument, her simple headstone bore 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:52.520 the only title that she felt most proud of. It's 0:22:52.520 --> 0:23:16.399 simply read His wife. Lavinia Warren's life and adventures clearly 0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:20.600 proved that big things often come in small packages. The fame, 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:24.199 the wealth, and those millions of adoring fans all stand 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:27.160 as definitive proof that she really had reached the top 0:23:27.160 --> 0:23:30.000 of the world. But there were others like her, and 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:33.359 their lives were no less extraordinary. And if you stick 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:36.639 around through this brief sponsor break, this season's writer and 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:51.800 lead producer, Robin Miniter, will take you on that journey. 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:56.960 Thomas was built as three ft tall and three ft broad, 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:01.360 although this was possibly the least interesting thing about him. 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:04.639 A native son of Brooklyn, New York, Thomas Dilward was 0:24:04.640 --> 0:24:09.720 a showman and a show stopper, A fellow who could sing, dance, fiddle, contort, 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:13.359 and act. He was sometimes billed as the African Tom Thumb. 0:24:13.920 --> 0:24:17.200 But whereas Charlie Stratton was accepted in the courts of Europe, 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:22.120 Dillward embraced a more sinister legacy. Right around the time 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:26.000 Thomas was born, in the eighteen thirties, America's social landscape 0:24:26.080 --> 0:24:29.480 was feeling a new squeeze whore in working class immigrant 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:33.919 families struggled to get by, hardly benefiting from any association 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:38.160 with the dominating Anglo social classes. This, though, was about 0:24:38.200 --> 0:24:41.280 to change. There are a few stories that float around, 0:24:41.560 --> 0:24:44.760 but this is the most popular one. A traveling actor 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:46.840 by the name of Thomas Rice was said to have 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:50.600 watched an elderly, decrepit black man singing and dancing while 0:24:50.600 --> 0:24:54.000 working at a horse table. He took notes and practiced 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:58.680 his mimicry. Rice took inspiration from the man's jarring movements, 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:02.440 his Southern twang, and his dark skin. He wrote a 0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:06.199 few musical lines, and then he burned some cork. He 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:09.479 smudged the inky black ash across his face in his hands, 0:25:09.920 --> 0:25:13.439 put on some raggedy clothes, and created what would become 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:17.359 a monster in the American imagination, a character by the 0:25:17.440 --> 0:25:21.840