The Greatest Showman and the Beauty of the Entrepreneurial Spirit | Brittany Hunter

Barnum’s original museum highlighted the spectacular and unbelievable marvels of the world. Unfortunately, none of these rarities was real. 

His original museum relied on poor quality replicas of mermaids and other mythical phenomena, which were not appealing to consumers. But the lack of customers drives Barnum to go in search of real, and rare, human acts.

The entrepreneurial spirit is one of dedication and resilience.

A highbrow, snooty, and prominent theatre critic attends one of Barnum’s performances and writes a particularly nasty review. He dubs Barnum’s act a “circus”–which, at the time meant “a public scene of frenetic and noisily intrusive activity,” hardly a compliment.

Instead of being discouraged, Barnum changes the name of his show, “P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome” to include the word “circus,” establishing a new definition for the word.