P.T. Barnum and General Tom Thumb

Showman P. T. Barnum was as skilled in promoting legitimate entertainment as he was in marketing outlandish frauds. In 1842, he scored one of his greatest triumphs when he discovered the diminutive Charles Stratton and introduced him to the public as "Tom Thumb." The four-year-old Stratton, who was just twenty-five inches tall and weighed only fifteen pounds, was transformed under Barnum's tutelage into a phenomenally popular entertainer who sang, danced, and performed a variety of costumed roles. Memorialized in this double portrait, the long-lived and amiable partnership between "Tom Thumb" and the "Prince of Humbug" generated substantial fortunes for both men.