Tag: American Civil War

Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum surrounded by his circus performers.

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

Film review by Marlene Ardoin

When P. T. Barnum was fifteen, he became head of his father’s household, which included ten children and his own mother, who was his hardworking father’s 2^nd wife.

In the mid-eighteen hundreds, there were no safety nets to catch you, if you fell off the trapeze of life.

The story told in the film, ‘The Greatest Showman,” touches up the rough parts of his story, but only focuses on a very simplified aspect of his life, which was his ability to create acceptance and dignity for individuals, who did not fit into society’s norm.

The real P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman), was a shrewd businessman, a store keeper, a lottery organizer, a newspaper publisher, an author, a speaker, a politician, and a showman, who re-invented himself many times.

He did not start the circus until he was in his 60s.

He had two museum buildings that burned to the ground, before he was forced to come up with the circus tent idea.

Barnum backed the Union during the civil war, which was most likely the reason his museum buildings kept catching fire, not because of what he was displaying in his buildings.

Religious-wise, Barnum was a Universalist and had a solid marriage, which lasted for forty years. He fathered four daughters with his first wife.

When his first wife, Charity (Michelle Williams) died, he married a 2^nd time to a woman, Nancy Fish, who was 20 years his junior, and that marriage lasted another twenty years.

In the film, his partner Zac Efron’s character, Phillip Carlyle, is purely fictitious .

In real life, he met up with James Anthony McGinnes, who had been orphaned at eight years, then adopted by another circus owner, who gave him the name, James Anthony Bailey.

When the two circus’s merged, it became Barnum and Bailey’s Circus. The real Bailey died in his fifties of a horrible skin disease. And, he was about 20 years younger than P.T. Barnum. Not too romantic for a Hollywood film.

The reason I am giving you all of this information, is because, even though I loved the film, “The Greatest Showman”, the real story was so much greater.

So, do the filmmakers go for beauty and romance, or what would happen if the filmmakers attempted to tell the real story in its context? If they had, I think it would have been Oscar worthy.

P.T. Barnum Bio:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum

https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/phineas-taylor-barnum-2499.php

https://connecticuthistory.org/p-t-barnum-an-entertaining-life/

History vs hollywood

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/greatest-showman/

James Anthony Bailey Bio:

http://www.circusesandsideshows.com/owners/jamesbailey.html

Universalist Church:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universalist_Church_of_America

Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron) falls in love with the beautiful Anne Wheeler (Zendaya).

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1/13/2018 # the Greatest Showman

Poet Emily Dickinson (Cynthia Nixon) kisses the forehead of her beloved father, Edward (Keith Carradine).

A QUIET PASSION

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

Poet Emily Dickinson (Cynthia Nixon), thanks to her forward thinking father, Edward Dickinson (Keith Carradine) was spared the fate of most Victorian women. Too bad the film, “A Quiet Passion,” does not see it that way.

Not only Emily, but her sister, Vinnie (Jennifer Ehle), chose not to marry, even though both women were attractive and of good family.

In the Victorian era, women had no rights. They became the property of their husbands and were expected to clean and bear children.

They did not get educations. They did not vote. They could not have property. And, they could not have money. A shortened term for Victorian is victim.

Emily, on the other hand, had a father, who was an attorney, a congressman, who served on the board of a college, and who made sure that all his children were educated.

Yes, Emily became a recluse, because that was easier than having to explain why she was not married, during an era that saw it as being something shameful.

Also, the American Civil War occurred in 1861, when Emily was just 30 years old. Most of the eligible men died during that time period.

Emily received pleasure through writing poetry.

And, the household did not have all the servants that the film implies. Both, Emily and her sister took care of the housework and cooking, because her mother (Joanna Bacon as Emily Norcross Dickinson), was not able, because of depression and a stroke.

When Emily’s father died, her brother, Austin (Duncan Duff), who also became an attorney and, who also served on the College Board, took care of his female family members.

Austin’s wife, Susan Gilbert Dickinson (Jodhi May), was one of Emily’s old school friends. Emily considered Susan a confidant, but after Emily’s death, Susan was not interested in seeing that her poetry was published.

Susan gave Austin three children, two boys and a girl. Both of the boys died before their time.

Emily became very attached to her brother’s children, particularly the youngest nephew, Thomas Gilbert (Gib) Dickinson (1875-1883). It is thought that Emily’s health took a sharp decline after his death. Emily died in 1986.

After Emily’s death, it was Austin’s mistress, Mabel Loomis Todd (Noemie Schellens), who took an interest in getting Emily’s poems published. Sister Vinnie approached her after Susan, Austin’s wife, seemed uninterested.

Mabel did sing and she was only about 25 years old, when she met Austin, who was much older than she was.

Mabel’s husband was a much older professor and astronomer at the college, where Austin served on the board. Mabel’s husband, David Peck Todd, did not seem to mind the affair. He and Mabel had a daughter together.

Long story short, Emily only got about twelve of her poems published during her lifetime, then all 1800 or so poems were published after her death, and have remained in print ever since.

“A Quiet Passion” does not get all the facts straight, but it is worth seeing. Emily Dickinson is forever an American treasure as a writer.