Sufferers by the Late Fire at Barnum’s American Museum: Benefit

Includes a list of the performers and works.

     “The double performance – afternoon and evening – yesterday for the benefit of the attaches of Barnum’s Museum, who have suffered severely by the late fire, was a decided success.  The most pleasing feature in the entertainment was the spontaneity with which all the artists, musicians, and even the [illeg.] and machinists, volunteered their services, showing that an esprit de corps, as well as an instinct of [illeg.], animates the theatrical profession.  The character of the performances selected is an evidence of the good judgment of the managing committee.  It was light and varied.  Nothing heavy or imposing upon the patience of the audience was indicted, which would have been a severe trial, considering the weather of yesterday.  People laughed so much at the combination of fun and humor presented to them that they forgot the range of the thermometer altogether.  The returns for the benefit of the sufferers by the destruction of the Museum must have been very handsome, considering that nothing was paid for except the rent of the Academy – the inexorable rule of the inflexible directors forbidding a donation of that institution even in response to the voice of charity.  Mr. Barnum addressed the assembled crowd at both performances.  He said that he regarded the destruction of the Museum not as an accident, but as a dispensation of Providence.  His name had been associated for some years with that of humbug, and perhaps the conflagration was designed to fumigate and burn up and evaporate the stench which had emanated from the name which he himself, as well as others, had allied with his name and his Museum.  When he wrote a book he knew that people expected that humbug would be thrust forward prominently, or they would not consider that they had got the worth of their money, and so he gratified the public.  He said that he cared nothing for the loss of money, because, thanks to public patronage, he was above want; but he had a pride in restoring the old establishment on a better basis as a means of amusement and instruction to the young, and if the feeling now demonstrated towards him continued he might one day erect a magnificent building.  Governors of States and the federal government at Washington had offered him assistance in supplying valuable relics, as had also many private individuals; but what was a greater stimulant than all, he had received upwards of fifty letters from children begging him to build a new Museum and if he lived he would attempt it before twelve months.  Meantime, he was about to fix up the Chinese Assembly Rooms as a Museum for the next twelve or eighteen months.  His pantomime company would, for the present, appear at the Winter Garden.  Mr. Barnum was greeted with much applause during the delivery of his remarks, which he interlarded with characteristic anecdotes and the development of a philosophy strictly of the Barnum school.  A noticeable feature of the evening’s performance was the appearance of the Hanlon Brothers, who had just arrived from Havana, and upon hearing of the disaster at once offered their services.  Their acts upon the trapeze were perfectly astounding, the ropes being attached to the summit of the proscenium, at an immense elevation from the stage.”

     “The benefit at the Academy of Music on the afternoon and evening of the 21st inst., in aid of the sufferers attached to Barnum’s Museum, was a great success.  In the afternoon, the house was not full, but in the evening it was very crowded, and the sum realized will amount to nearly $2090.  Although this is a good sum, yet when it comes to be divided among nearly seventy people, the amount received by each one will not be alarmingly great.  Still half a loaf is better than no loaf.  Every one that appeared volunteered, and nothing had to be paid for except the rent of the Academy.  The performances gave great satisfaction, and all hands were pleased.  Mr. Barnum addressed the assembled crowd at both performances.  He said that he regarded the destruction of the Museum not as an accident, but as a dispensation of Providence.  His name had been associated for some years with that of humbug, and perhaps the conflagration was designed to fumigate and burn up and evaporate the stench which had emanated from the name which he himself, as well as others, had allied with his name and his Museum.  When he wrote a book he knew that people expected that humbug would be thrust forward prominently, or they would not consider that they had got the worth of their money, and so he gratified the public.  He said that he cared nothing for the loss of money, because, thanks to public patronage, he was above want; but he had a pride in restoring the old establishment on a better basis as a means of amusement and instruction to the young, and if the feeling now demonstrated towards him continued he might one day erect a magnificent building.  Governors of States and the federal government at Washington had offered him assistance in supplying valuable relics, as had also many private individuals; but what was a greater stimulant than all, he had received upwards of fifty letters from children begging him to build a new Museum and if he lived he would attempt it before twelve months.  Meantime, he was about to fix up the Chinese Assembly Rooms as a Museum for the next twelve or eighteen months.  His pantomime company would, for the present, appear at the Winter Garden.  Mr. Barnum was greeted with much applause during the delivery of his remarks, which he interlarded with characteristic anecdotes and the development of a philosophy strictly of the Barnum school.  A noticeable feature of the evening’s performance was the appearance of the Hanlon Brothers, who had just arrived from Havana, and upon hearing of the disaster at once offered their services.  Their acts upon the trapeze were perfectly astounding, the ropes being attached to the summit of the proscenium, at an immense elevation from the stage.”