Tom Thumb’s real name was Charles Stratton. He was born a dwarf,
or person of short stature (defined medically as someone whose
adult height will not exceed more than four feet ten inches
tall). In fact Charles Stratton was under two feet tall when
American impresario Phineas
Taylor Barnum hired him to be an ‘exhibit’ at his American
Museum on Broadway. Barnum exaggerated Charles’s age, saying
that the four year old was eleven, and altered his identity
to ‘General Tom Thumb’ from London. Despite Charles’s mother
expressing concerns about this fabrication, Barnum insisted
that it was a necessary marketing device and would ensure that
his ‘exhibit’ was successful.
Barnum moulded the young Stratton into the character of General
Tom Thumb with excellent manners and a haughty air. He taught
him various stage routines and dressed him in specially tailored
character costumes as Napoleon Bonaparte and Cupid. His routine
contained comic patter and songs, the most famous being the
hornpipe dance and song ‘Yankee Doodle Dandee’. Tom Thumb first
toured America in 1843 at the age of five and was a huge success.
In February 1844 Tom Thumb made his debut on the London stage
at the Princess’s Theatre. The Illustrated London News
called him ‘a little monster’. However Barnum managed to secure
Stratton an audience with Queen Victoria and his subsequent
appearance at the
Egyptian Hall later that year was a huge success with the public flooding
to see ‘the wonderful little man’. Queen Victoria saw Tom Thumb
three times and he met with other European Royalty. These royal
meetings increased Stratton’s profile and he became a very wealthy
man with a house in the fashionable part of New York, a steam
yacht and a fine wardrobe. When Barnum got into financial difficulty
it was Stratton who bailed him out and eventually Stratton became
his business partner.
Introduction
