The Real Tom Thumb: History's Smallest Superstar

0:00:07 > 0:00:13Today, we're all just a cellphone selfie away from worldwide exposure.

0:00:15 > 0:00:17We live in a culture that worships fame

0:00:17 > 0:00:19and is addicted to instant celebrity.

0:00:23 > 0:00:26Of course, it wasn't always this way.

0:00:28 > 0:00:32The fever began in mid-19th century America, with the emergence

0:00:32 > 0:00:35of the first showbiz star to go truly global.

0:00:38 > 0:00:39General Tom Thumb.

0:00:43 > 0:00:46He was just 25 inches tall.

0:00:48 > 0:00:51He sang, he danced, he acted.

0:00:51 > 0:00:55Over the course of his life, he was seen by over 50 million people.

0:00:57 > 0:01:01One admirer was President Abraham Lincoln, no less.

0:01:05 > 0:01:07He was just as big here in Britain.

0:01:08 > 0:01:10Queen Victoria adored him

0:01:10 > 0:01:13and he often popped into Buckingham Palace for tea.

0:01:15 > 0:01:18His real name was Charles Stratton.

0:01:19 > 0:01:22Aged just four, he was thrust on stage

0:01:22 > 0:01:24by the legendary showman P T Barnum.

0:01:27 > 0:01:31Barnum created Tom Thumb, manipulating the press,

0:01:31 > 0:01:36staging a celebratory wedding and even producing a fake baby.

0:01:39 > 0:01:41The intelligentsia were horrified.

0:01:45 > 0:01:48One rival artist was even driven to suicide.

0:01:52 > 0:01:55Charles Stratton became famous and rich,

0:01:55 > 0:01:58but he had no choice in his career, which meant being

0:01:58 > 0:02:03stared at by millions of people who regarded him as a freak.

0:02:03 > 0:02:07Was this a great success story or was it exploitation?

0:02:11 > 0:02:15And don't think this is just a Victorian fascination.

0:02:15 > 0:02:17Throughout the 20th century,

0:02:17 > 0:02:20little people continued to get big laughs on stage and screen...

0:02:23 > 0:02:26I'm here to entertain you with my little handsies.

0:02:26 > 0:02:31..while today, we remain fascinated by performers with unusual bodies.

0:02:36 > 0:02:40I've been in entertainment all my life but, for me,

0:02:40 > 0:02:43Tom Thumb is the best showbiz story of them all.

0:02:43 > 0:02:49I want to find out how he achieved such dazzling fame and at what cost.

0:02:52 > 0:02:55So, roll up, roll up, for the extraordinary story of

0:02:55 > 0:02:57The Real Tom Thumb.

0:03:22 > 0:03:26In 1842, a showbiz hustler was on his way to New York

0:03:26 > 0:03:29when the Hudson River froze over.

0:03:29 > 0:03:31He was forced to spend the night here in Bridgeport

0:03:31 > 0:03:34where his brother ran a small hotel.

0:03:34 > 0:03:37His name was P T Barnum.

0:03:37 > 0:03:41And in time, he'd be famous from Chicago to Calcutta.

0:03:41 > 0:03:45Mr Entertainment, the world's greatest showman.

0:03:45 > 0:03:48But in 1842, he was less renowned.

0:03:48 > 0:03:52He was a purveyor of hair tonic for men,

0:03:52 > 0:03:55exhibits in glass cases and freak shows.

0:03:58 > 0:04:03Phineas Barnum was both respectable and a conman.

0:04:03 > 0:04:06He had seen that the public craved freaks of nature

0:04:06 > 0:04:09and he was happy to give nature a little helping hand.

0:04:11 > 0:04:16His hoaxes over the previous decade included a cat dyed purple

0:04:16 > 0:04:19and a 161-year-old woman.

0:04:19 > 0:04:23But his biggest draw was the Fiji Mermaid.

0:04:27 > 0:04:32His adverts promised the public a genuine nymph of the South Pacific.

0:04:32 > 0:04:34The reality was a little different.

0:04:38 > 0:04:42Ah, here she is.

0:04:43 > 0:04:47The Fiji Mermaid. Crikey.

0:04:58 > 0:05:03Kathy, do you mean to tell me that Barnum got people to pay

0:05:03 > 0:05:04to look at this creature?

0:05:04 > 0:05:07Barnum got people to pay to look at this creature.

0:05:07 > 0:05:08But it was calculated.

0:05:08 > 0:05:11He had... There were steps that he knew.

0:05:11 > 0:05:13He had to prepare the public's mind.

0:05:13 > 0:05:18And Barnum took months to calculate

0:05:18 > 0:05:20an advertisement promotion

0:05:20 > 0:05:25where he had friends in Alabama and Washington write letters,

0:05:25 > 0:05:29so completely far apart in the country, to New York newspapers

0:05:29 > 0:05:31to get the public's interest up, to excite them all.

0:05:31 > 0:05:34Really? Sort of viral marketing we would call it today.

0:05:34 > 0:05:37Oh, absolutely, absolutely, in 1842.

0:05:37 > 0:05:40They were expecting... All of the promotions show a beautiful mermaid,

0:05:40 > 0:05:42something that you would think of in your imagination

0:05:42 > 0:05:46and then when people actually got a glimpse of it, they were horrified.

0:05:48 > 0:05:50Do we know what she's made of?

0:05:50 > 0:05:51We do, actually.

0:05:51 > 0:05:55Well, this is a reproduction, but the original was really

0:05:55 > 0:05:58the body of an orang-utan or a monkey

0:05:58 > 0:06:03and then the tail and the fins and the scales of a fish.

0:06:09 > 0:06:13The fishy mermaid netted Barnum a hefty fortune.

0:06:15 > 0:06:17How to follow that?

0:06:22 > 0:06:27Stranded in his Bridgeport hotel that freezing winter of 1842,

0:06:27 > 0:06:32Barnum unexpectedly had time to do a bit of talent scouting.

0:06:35 > 0:06:39He'd heard whispers about an extraordinary local boy

0:06:39 > 0:06:43and that night his brother brought the parents to the hotel

0:06:43 > 0:06:46with the boy.

0:06:54 > 0:06:56Meet Charles Stratton,

0:06:56 > 0:07:01four years old and exactly 25 inches high,

0:07:01 > 0:07:03but with a big future.

0:07:15 > 0:07:18Charles' parents, Sherwood and Cynthia Stratton,

0:07:18 > 0:07:21were fully grown but poor.

0:07:21 > 0:07:25Doctors couldn't explain why their son was so small.

0:07:26 > 0:07:30Barnum offered them a few dollars and signed the boy on the spot.

0:07:34 > 0:07:38The kid might grow, but his mum and dad had said

0:07:38 > 0:07:41he hadn't put on an inch since he was five months old

0:07:41 > 0:07:44and if he didn't grow, he'd be the kind of freak that people

0:07:44 > 0:07:47would queue round the block to see.

0:07:47 > 0:07:49Barnum could smell the money.

0:08:02 > 0:08:06In 1842, that money was in New York.

0:08:09 > 0:08:12Not the glamorous destination of today,

0:08:12 > 0:08:15but a raw, rough, crime-ridden boom town.

0:08:24 > 0:08:29A third of a million New Yorkers thronged the streets

0:08:29 > 0:08:32and they were hungry for entertainment.

0:08:34 > 0:08:39Barnum's plan was to exhibit Charles at his flagship attraction,

0:08:39 > 0:08:41The American Museum.

0:08:46 > 0:08:49Thank you.

0:08:49 > 0:08:52It stood at the south end of Broadway.

0:08:53 > 0:08:55Today, a rather grim office block,

0:08:55 > 0:08:59but back then one of the most exciting addresses in the city.

0:09:01 > 0:09:05It wasn't a museum as we know them, more like an early Disneyland.

0:09:08 > 0:09:12Inside its heaving rooms you could find exotic animals,

0:09:12 > 0:09:16human automata, a working model of Niagara Falls

0:09:16 > 0:09:18and an aquarium.

0:09:19 > 0:09:24All packaged by a savvy Barnum as respectable family fun.

0:09:31 > 0:09:35This was a great day out for the citizen who paid 25 cents

0:09:35 > 0:09:38and expected to be enthralled.

0:09:38 > 0:09:42You might be shocked, but you'd learn something at the same time.

0:09:42 > 0:09:45Education, information, titillation.

0:09:45 > 0:09:50I suppose it's a kind of Victorian internet run by a great showman

0:09:50 > 0:09:53who was interested in anything legal that would sell.

0:10:01 > 0:10:04But the museum's most intriguing attraction

0:10:04 > 0:10:07was the Hall of Living Curiosities.

0:10:08 > 0:10:14Here, the public could brush shoulders with giants, dwarves

0:10:14 > 0:10:17and all manner of weirdly shaped persons.

0:10:17 > 0:10:20It was the world's first mass appeal,

0:10:20 > 0:10:23fully commercialised freak show,

0:10:23 > 0:10:27and the four-year-old boy's new home.

0:10:27 > 0:10:32At one extreme were, sort of, the very exotic freaks -

0:10:32 > 0:10:38wild people who were described as cannibals or savages or missing links

0:10:38 > 0:10:42who were somewhere between human and animal.

0:10:42 > 0:10:48And at the far other extreme of the spectrum were the respectable freaks

0:10:48 > 0:10:52and I would certainly put Charles Stratton in that category.

0:10:54 > 0:10:59These were individuals who had very, very unusual bodies

0:10:59 > 0:11:04and so part of what was fascinating about them

0:11:04 > 0:11:08was there they were decked out

0:11:08 > 0:11:12in suits and they had good manners and they could speak well.

0:11:12 > 0:11:18And so there was that jarring contradiction between respectability

0:11:18 > 0:11:22and then the highly unusual nature of the body.

0:11:24 > 0:11:28It sounds to me like a frightening place for a child.

0:11:32 > 0:11:36However, in this dark place, he positively shone.

0:11:42 > 0:11:46Shortly after putting little Charles in the Hall of Curiosities,

0:11:46 > 0:11:49Barnum made an amazing discovery.

0:11:49 > 0:11:52The kid was wasted in the freak show.

0:11:52 > 0:11:57He was natural born performer and only incidentally a freak.

0:11:57 > 0:12:00It would have been a light-bulb moment if they'd been invented.

0:12:09 > 0:12:13At the heart of the American Museum was a vast theatre.

0:12:17 > 0:12:20Barnum had one of his crazy ideas.

0:12:21 > 0:12:25Could his tiny star command this massive space?

0:12:27 > 0:12:31Scenting more profits, he followed his instincts.

0:12:32 > 0:12:38In December, 1842, his new act stepped out onto the stage.

0:12:47 > 0:12:53Mr P T Barnum is proud to announce he has imported from London

0:12:53 > 0:12:56to add to his collection of the most extraordinary curiosities

0:12:56 > 0:13:00from all over the world, the rarest, the tiniest,

0:13:00 > 0:13:03the most diminutive dwarf imaginable!

0:13:03 > 0:13:06IMAGINED APPLAUSE

0:13:08 > 0:13:10But I want you to imagine this is his very,

0:13:10 > 0:13:13very first time on a stage.

0:13:13 > 0:13:17He looks out at the auditorium, much bigger than this.

0:13:17 > 0:13:203,000 seats, every one of them filled.

0:13:20 > 0:13:22Put yourself in his shoes for a moment,

0:13:22 > 0:13:26which, incidentally, were only three inches long.

0:13:39 > 0:13:42You're four years old. You're this small.

0:13:42 > 0:13:45You've only just come to the city.

0:13:45 > 0:13:47The biggest crowd you've ever seen is probably a few farmers

0:13:47 > 0:13:49at the cattle market.

0:13:49 > 0:13:51And your manager, whatever that means,

0:13:51 > 0:13:54a few weeks ago reckoned you were pretty bashful.

0:13:54 > 0:13:57What are you feeling like at this moment?

0:14:00 > 0:14:03Mr Barnum taught you to pose like a statue out there

0:14:03 > 0:14:07in the exhibition hall alongside the two-headed snakes in the bottle.

0:14:07 > 0:14:10But in here he wants you to play characters from history.

0:14:10 > 0:14:12He wants you to dance little dances.

0:14:12 > 0:14:14He wants you to sing Yankee Doodle Dandy.

0:14:14 > 0:14:19And now there are two-handed skits like this one.

0:14:24 > 0:14:27I say, what dress is this?

0:14:27 > 0:14:30It's my Oxonian dress.

0:14:30 > 0:14:33It is the dress presented by the students at Oxford.

0:14:33 > 0:14:35What do you represent now?

0:14:35 > 0:14:37A fellow.

0:14:37 > 0:14:40I understand, a Fellow at Oxford.

0:14:40 > 0:14:43No, a little fellow.

0:14:43 > 0:14:46IMAGINED LAUGHTER

0:14:46 > 0:14:49Well, not exactly Shakespeare.

0:14:49 > 0:14:52But what was important was that Charles Stratton

0:14:52 > 0:14:55not only understood the words, but had a gift for comic timing.

0:14:55 > 0:15:00The Barnum spin had begun and it started with a change of identity.

0:15:12 > 0:15:15The name, Tom Thumb, came from an old English fairy tale

0:15:15 > 0:15:19where little Tom fought great battles mounted on a mouse.

0:15:23 > 0:15:27Barnum's choice of name was brilliant branding.

0:15:29 > 0:15:32The press took the bait.

0:15:37 > 0:15:42'General Tom Thumb Junior, the dwarf, exhibiting at the American Museum

0:15:42 > 0:15:45'is by far the most wonderful specimen of a man

0:15:45 > 0:15:46'that ever astonished the world.

0:15:46 > 0:15:50'The idea of a young gentleman, 11 years old,

0:15:50 > 0:15:53'weighing less than an infant at six months, is truly wonderful.

0:15:53 > 0:15:57'He is lively, talkative, well proportioned

0:15:57 > 0:15:59'and with all quite a comical chap.'

0:16:00 > 0:16:02He builds him up in the press.

0:16:02 > 0:16:06He says he's from England, because someone from England would be exotic.

0:16:06 > 0:16:08Someone from Bridgeport wasn't really that exotic

0:16:08 > 0:16:09for the people in New York.

0:16:09 > 0:16:11He gave him the title General,

0:16:11 > 0:16:14which is a sort of classic celebrity status enhancement, right, you know?

0:16:14 > 0:16:16Really?

0:16:16 > 0:16:19Yeah, you know, Prince or Madonna or Elvis, 'The King', you know.

0:16:19 > 0:16:22- Duke Ellington.- Duke Ellington. - Count Basie.- That's right.

0:16:22 > 0:16:25But for him it was also funny because he was so small.

0:16:25 > 0:16:30Now, there must have been a concern in Barnum's mind

0:16:30 > 0:16:32that the public might say,

0:16:32 > 0:16:36"Well, he's only five. How big do you expect him to be?"

0:16:36 > 0:16:38Right, well, he tricked them

0:16:38 > 0:16:41by saying that he was seven years older than he really was.

0:16:41 > 0:16:43Oh, he said he was 12?

0:16:43 > 0:16:46He was 11 and then later 12 to make him seem even smaller.

0:16:46 > 0:16:49- Even more incredible. - That's right, that's right.

0:16:49 > 0:16:52And the surprising thing to me about that was

0:16:52 > 0:16:54that all these people are meeting him,

0:16:54 > 0:16:57the Mayor of New York, and nobody questions the age.

0:16:57 > 0:17:00And so that means he must have been a really intelligent child.

0:17:06 > 0:17:08General Tom Thumb's act was a mixed bill.

0:17:11 > 0:17:16He'd pose in a white body stocking impersonating classical statues.

0:17:18 > 0:17:21He'd banter with straight men in little skits...

0:17:22 > 0:17:26..and he'd bring the house down by dancing a miniature hornpipe.

0:17:26 > 0:17:29Audiences went wild.

0:17:32 > 0:17:34Barnum had understood his public.

0:17:34 > 0:17:38Tom Thumb combined two magic ingredients -

0:17:38 > 0:17:41fascination with the strange and cheap laughs.

0:17:43 > 0:17:47The boy was now set to work, regardless of his age

0:17:47 > 0:17:49or what we'd call his disability.

0:17:56 > 0:18:00It sounds like a tale of Dickensian exploitation.

0:18:00 > 0:18:04Yet I grew up in a world that wasn't that different.

0:18:04 > 0:18:07The Morton Fraser Harmonica Gang!

0:18:07 > 0:18:09APPLAUSE

0:18:09 > 0:18:13In comedy then, small was still beautiful.

0:18:16 > 0:18:18LAUGHTER

0:18:24 > 0:18:27LAUGHTER

0:18:27 > 0:18:29Well, I learnt as a kid, going to the variety theatre,

0:18:29 > 0:18:31that small was funny.

0:18:31 > 0:18:34There were so many small people on the variety stage

0:18:34 > 0:18:37making thousands and thousands of people laugh.

0:18:37 > 0:18:39I can think of Jimmy Clitheroe, obviously,

0:18:39 > 0:18:43and his predecessor, Wee Georgie Wood.

0:18:43 > 0:18:45Arthur Askey was no giant,

0:18:45 > 0:18:47and then there were the speciality acts.

0:18:47 > 0:18:50Morton Fraser and his Harmonica Gang, Johnny Puleo.

0:18:50 > 0:18:54They all used very, very tiny people to get cheap laughs.

0:18:59 > 0:19:04Screams and gales of laughter are guaranteed every time you saw them.

0:19:07 > 0:19:09And what about today?

0:19:09 > 0:19:11Smallness is still big box office.

0:19:14 > 0:19:16Like Mini-Me in Austin Powers,

0:19:16 > 0:19:19a smash hit with audiences who laughed, not at his jokes,

0:19:19 > 0:19:23but at the slapstick comedy of his tiny body.

0:19:29 > 0:19:33But what is this like for the performer?

0:19:33 > 0:19:36How does it feel to make your size your selling point?

0:19:44 > 0:19:46- Hi, David.- Hey, how are you?

0:19:46 > 0:19:49- How you doing?- Good, good, good. - Good to see you. Grab a chair.

0:19:49 > 0:19:53'David Funes is an entertainer whose career began in a similar way

0:19:53 > 0:19:56'to that of Charles Stratton.'

0:20:05 > 0:20:09- What was your first job? - I worked as Cupid.- As Cupid?

0:20:09 > 0:20:11Yeah, I dressed up as Cupid.

0:20:11 > 0:20:14In what?

0:20:14 > 0:20:18- I was in a diaper and the funny thing is, is that...- In a diaper?- Yes.

0:20:18 > 0:20:23So I just invented a costume out of the blue.

0:20:23 > 0:20:25I had toilet paper wrapped around me as a banner.

0:20:25 > 0:20:28And was it a play or was it a musical?

0:20:28 > 0:20:32No, it was a, what you call, a club, yeah.

0:20:32 > 0:20:33- A club?- Yeah.

0:20:33 > 0:20:37I just basically danced, like, as a go-go boy type thing.

0:20:37 > 0:20:40But when they said, when you got the job and they said they wanted you

0:20:40 > 0:20:42to play Cupid and wear a diaper, a nappy,

0:20:42 > 0:20:45did you at any time feel you were being exploited?

0:20:45 > 0:20:49- Yes.- You did.- All the time. - But you just thought of the money?

0:20:49 > 0:20:53Since the beginning of the gig till the end of the gig

0:20:53 > 0:20:56I would feel like I was being exploited all day

0:20:56 > 0:20:59and I was thinking to myself, "What am I doing?"

0:20:59 > 0:21:03Like, "Do I want to do this? What is going to come out of this?

0:21:03 > 0:21:05"What is the money going to come out?

0:21:05 > 0:21:07"What are people's reaction?

0:21:07 > 0:21:09"What are my parents' reaction going to be?"

0:21:09 > 0:21:12But I just saw this as, "You know what, I'm going to do it.

0:21:12 > 0:21:14"I'm going to become better at what I do."

0:21:14 > 0:21:18So there was a moment where you actually came to terms with it

0:21:18 > 0:21:20and said, "Actually, it's a job?"

0:21:20 > 0:21:23- Yes.- But are you still doing the diaper act

0:21:23 > 0:21:25or you've moved on from there?

0:21:25 > 0:21:28- No, I've moved on from the diaper act.- What was the next job?

0:21:28 > 0:21:31- Er, the next job was St Patrick's Day.- St Patrick's Day?

0:21:31 > 0:21:33- Doing what?- Yes, as a leprechaun.

0:21:33 > 0:21:35- As a leprechaun?- Yeah, that's our favourite time of the year.

0:21:35 > 0:21:37An Argentinean leprechaun, yes.

0:21:37 > 0:21:42What do you feel about being typecast in those sorts of roles?

0:21:42 > 0:21:45You know, the phone rings and you're, "OK."

0:21:45 > 0:21:47Erm, yeah, that's how it is.

0:21:47 > 0:21:50I'm just, like, "OK, you know what, it's time to do this,"

0:21:50 > 0:21:52and everything like that.

0:21:52 > 0:21:55But then when I get on the stage it's such a different feeling.

0:21:55 > 0:21:57- It's such a euphoric feeling.- Really?

0:21:57 > 0:22:00Yeah, I feel very excited.

0:22:00 > 0:22:03- I feel like there is such an energy...- A buzz?

0:22:03 > 0:22:06- You get a buzz from an audience. - Yes.

0:22:06 > 0:22:08- I actually feed off the audience. - Uh-huh.

0:22:08 > 0:22:11If you're going to have a negative outlook on how you see it,

0:22:11 > 0:22:14you're never going to be able to succeed in this business.

0:22:14 > 0:22:17So, I always keep it positive.

0:22:18 > 0:22:20'If David had been scared at first,

0:22:20 > 0:22:24'the four-year-old Charles's debut must have been terrifying.'

0:22:32 > 0:22:34But I was also beginning to understand how

0:22:34 > 0:22:39success for a little person on stage could start to be addictive.

0:22:41 > 0:22:44That success was coming very quickly for Charles Stratton.

0:22:46 > 0:22:51For much of his fifth year he was on the road, or rather on the railroad.

0:22:52 > 0:22:55Charles was born as the steam age took off.

0:22:58 > 0:23:01And the new trains meant his fame could be spread in ways

0:23:01 > 0:23:04impossible just a few years ago.

0:23:08 > 0:23:12For the next year, Charles toured to Boston and around New England,

0:23:12 > 0:23:14his fame steadily growing.

0:23:16 > 0:23:18His eyes forever on his box office,

0:23:18 > 0:23:21Barnum knew image was everything

0:23:21 > 0:23:24and this began with Charles's wardrobe.

0:23:37 > 0:23:41We have a very early piece that belonged to Charles Stratton

0:23:41 > 0:23:45and was actually given to the museum by P T Barnum.

0:23:45 > 0:23:47It's a little...jacket.

0:23:47 > 0:23:49MICHAEL GASPS

0:23:49 > 0:23:52- Oh my!- A little tailcoat here.

0:23:53 > 0:23:56Very tiny, as you can see.

0:23:56 > 0:24:00He was about 25 inches tall when he would have worn this.

0:24:04 > 0:24:08'It wasn't just the size that mattered, Barnum made sure

0:24:08 > 0:24:12'Charles's clothes were made of the most exquisite materials.'

0:24:13 > 0:24:15This is all bespoke, isn't it?

0:24:15 > 0:24:18- Every one of these is handmade... - Of course.- ..for him.

0:24:19 > 0:24:21Aren't they beautiful?

0:24:22 > 0:24:26'Barnum so cleverly used clothing to boost Charles's age

0:24:26 > 0:24:29'and his social standing.

0:24:29 > 0:24:32'He became not just a man, but a gentleman.'

0:24:36 > 0:24:38There are two hats in here.

0:24:41 > 0:24:44Oh, my goodness. They're tiny.

0:24:44 > 0:24:47- Yes.- They're like thimbles.

0:24:52 > 0:24:57Now this pair we think are really the most special.

0:24:57 > 0:25:01- I mean, it's just exquisite. - Goodness me.

0:25:01 > 0:25:02I mean, these are beautiful.

0:25:02 > 0:25:04He could afford the best, and did.

0:25:04 > 0:25:08- And these are the best. This is... - These, yes.- ..top of the range.

0:25:21 > 0:25:24Barnum had tailored the perfect image for Charles...

0:25:27 > 0:25:31..but how could his star be seen beyond the railroad tracks?

0:25:32 > 0:25:37Luckily mid-19th century America was the right place at the right time.

0:25:42 > 0:25:45Previously, all original publicity images

0:25:45 > 0:25:48had to be created by an artist by hand.

0:25:50 > 0:25:53Yet all this was to change.

0:25:58 > 0:26:04Photography arrived in 1839, making it one year younger than Charles.

0:26:05 > 0:26:09Now everyone could see his incredible dimensions for real.

0:26:15 > 0:26:19Ever ready to exploit any means to boost Charles's fame,

0:26:19 > 0:26:21Barnum rushed the boy into the studio.

0:26:23 > 0:26:25That goes in there.

0:26:25 > 0:26:28'I'm being photographed the Victorian way.'

0:26:30 > 0:26:32To let the light in and then...

0:26:32 > 0:26:33You go whoosh!

0:26:33 > 0:26:361,000 elephants, 2,000 elephants, 3,000 elephants.

0:26:36 > 0:26:38So the equivalent of a shutter today

0:26:38 > 0:26:40is when you just take the lens cap off?

0:26:40 > 0:26:43That's correct, and you're going to be typically,

0:26:43 > 0:26:46in this light, probably three minutes' exposure.

0:26:46 > 0:26:48- Right.- That's how long.

0:26:50 > 0:26:51Right.

0:26:51 > 0:26:54- You want me to go and pose? - If you wouldn't mind.

0:26:54 > 0:26:56Not difficult for me.

0:26:57 > 0:27:01- I brought my top hat with me. - OK, that's fortunate.- Lovely.

0:27:03 > 0:27:06'Photography accelerated Charles' fame and the arrival

0:27:06 > 0:27:10'of its latest product brought him into the family home.'

0:27:10 > 0:27:12So we go, 1,000 elephants,

0:27:12 > 0:27:152,000 elephants, 3,000 elephants...

0:27:15 > 0:27:20'Part calling card, part publicity shot, part football sticker,

0:27:20 > 0:27:23'the carte de visite enabled his fans

0:27:23 > 0:27:26'to buy a souvenir Tom Thumb to keep.'

0:27:35 > 0:27:38The scale of the carte de visite was absolutely phenomenal.

0:27:38 > 0:27:41Queen Victoria, for example, there were between about three

0:27:41 > 0:27:46and four million cartes of her produced between 1860 and 1862,

0:27:46 > 0:27:48so she was incredibly popular.

0:27:48 > 0:27:50And those were ending up in people's family albums,

0:27:50 > 0:27:52in individuals' houses.

0:27:52 > 0:27:54And they were collecting the whole of the royal family

0:27:54 > 0:27:57and politicians and artists and clergymen,

0:27:57 > 0:28:00and all these people, to put in their own albums.

0:28:00 > 0:28:05Was there a roaring trade in carte de visite of the abnormal,

0:28:05 > 0:28:08the curiosities, as Barnum used to call them?

0:28:08 > 0:28:11You found pictures of people like Stratton,

0:28:11 > 0:28:14people with particular medical conditions,

0:28:14 > 0:28:18and people like Chang, the giant, who was collected,

0:28:18 > 0:28:21photographed in the UK and on tour when he was exhibited.

0:28:21 > 0:28:23And for a lot of people then, they were seeing these

0:28:23 > 0:28:26types of people in exhibitions for the first time

0:28:26 > 0:28:29so they would take them back and show them to their friends.

0:28:29 > 0:28:33And Barnum, I think, understood this because they would then come back to

0:28:33 > 0:28:36the exhibition and pay an entrance fee to go and see them in person.

0:28:36 > 0:28:39So the pictures were his best marketing tool.

0:28:48 > 0:28:50Right, well, good news.

0:28:50 > 0:28:52- Oh, did I keep still?- Perfectly.

0:28:54 > 0:28:56Oh, wow!

0:28:57 > 0:28:58That's very distinguished.

0:28:58 > 0:29:00150 years late but...

0:29:00 > 0:29:03"By Royal Appointment, portrait from life."

0:29:03 > 0:29:06Oh, I love that. My own carte de visite.

0:29:13 > 0:29:15Photographs made Charles visible

0:29:15 > 0:29:18and railroads made him widely accessible.

0:29:19 > 0:29:24By the time he was six, he had toured the eastern cities for a year

0:29:24 > 0:29:27and had added new routines,

0:29:27 > 0:29:31like dragging up as a little girl called Our Mary Ann.

0:29:33 > 0:29:35The people couldn't get enough of him.

0:29:35 > 0:29:38One wag even wrote a poem in praise.

0:29:38 > 0:29:40"The streets were un-peopled, All business was done,

0:29:40 > 0:29:44"Absorbed in the interest Of General Tom Thumb."

0:29:47 > 0:29:51Barnum was making a fortune with Charles in the USA,

0:29:51 > 0:29:53but he was a risk-taker.

0:29:53 > 0:29:56Across the Atlantic lay Europe,

0:29:56 > 0:30:00the cradle of civilisation and the home of vaster audiences.

0:30:03 > 0:30:06Barnum scented even more money

0:30:06 > 0:30:08but he'd have to start from scratch.

0:30:15 > 0:30:19On January 19th, 1844, Charles, his parents, and Barnum

0:30:19 > 0:30:23boarded the steamship the SS Yorkshire

0:30:23 > 0:30:25and set sail for England.

0:30:28 > 0:30:31It was a brave time to make the trip.

0:30:33 > 0:30:37Just 30 years earlier, the two nations had been at war

0:30:37 > 0:30:41and the Brits had left the White House a burnt-out shell.

0:30:43 > 0:30:49To many Victorian Britons, Americans were just a bunch of uncouth hicks.

0:30:56 > 0:31:00After three weeks at sea, Charles, Barnum and their entourage landed.

0:31:01 > 0:31:04With little idea of what was in store,

0:31:04 > 0:31:07they headed for the biggest city on earth.

0:31:18 > 0:31:20London.

0:31:20 > 0:31:22A population of nearly two million

0:31:22 > 0:31:25made the city over four times bigger than New York.

0:31:29 > 0:31:34Crammed with theatres, opera houses, fleapits and exhibition halls,

0:31:34 > 0:31:38this was a town ravenous for the latest sensation.

0:31:44 > 0:31:48And what they liked most were the freakish and the strange.

0:31:53 > 0:31:57There is a sense that this is a form of entertainment

0:31:57 > 0:32:00that is booming.

0:32:00 > 0:32:02Punch magazine announced that

0:32:02 > 0:32:05the country has been gripped by 'deformatomania'.

0:32:05 > 0:32:08So there's a well-developed public appetite

0:32:08 > 0:32:12for this kind of entertainment, and circuits are forming, you know.

0:32:12 > 0:32:14Acts are travelling the country.

0:32:14 > 0:32:16What sort of exhibits would there be?

0:32:16 > 0:32:20I mean, were there people with genuine deformities or were there,

0:32:20 > 0:32:23you know, faked bearded ladies and scams?

0:32:23 > 0:32:25It's a very mixed economy, this.

0:32:25 > 0:32:29But if, for instance, you had gone to see a pig-faced lady,

0:32:29 > 0:32:32well, you might be seeing a bear chained to a chair,

0:32:32 > 0:32:35put in a crinoline and shaved strategically

0:32:35 > 0:32:37to look more human-like.

0:32:37 > 0:32:39So there were all kinds of games in this business.

0:32:39 > 0:32:43But it was a moneymaking enterprise and the public was fascinated?

0:32:43 > 0:32:44The public was fascinated.

0:32:44 > 0:32:48The public had an insatiable curiosity for human oddity.

0:32:48 > 0:32:50Where does that come from, do you think?

0:32:50 > 0:32:52Is that a Victorian thing or has it always been there?

0:32:52 > 0:32:54There's an immense history to this.

0:32:54 > 0:32:57I mean, if you'd have gone to Bartholomew Fair,

0:32:57 > 0:32:59if you'd been around in the Middle Ages,

0:32:59 > 0:33:01there would have been entertainment like this.

0:33:01 > 0:33:04What happens in the 19th century

0:33:04 > 0:33:07- is that it becomes rather more organised.- Commercialised?

0:33:07 > 0:33:10Absolutely, yes, yeah. I mean, this is business.

0:33:10 > 0:33:12This is business in which contracts are issued,

0:33:12 > 0:33:15in which arrangements are made.

0:33:23 > 0:33:27The Princess Theatre once stood here on Oxford Street.

0:33:30 > 0:33:35On 20th February, 1844, and just turned six,

0:33:35 > 0:33:39the General first stepped out on to the London stage.

0:33:43 > 0:33:46That night the bill was offering vaudeville, farce

0:33:46 > 0:33:48and Italian diversions.

0:33:48 > 0:33:51Tom Thumb was squeezed in between Acts II and III

0:33:51 > 0:33:55of a cut-down version of Donizetti's opera, Don Pasquale.

0:33:55 > 0:33:59FEMALE OPERA SINGER TRILLS

0:34:03 > 0:34:06The press was not kind.

0:34:15 > 0:34:18The Illustrated London News called Tom Thumb

0:34:18 > 0:34:23"a little monster, who provided melancholy proof of the low state

0:34:23 > 0:34:26"the legitimate drama has been reduced to."

0:34:35 > 0:34:39Well, I think it would be fair to say it wasn't a roaring success.

0:34:39 > 0:34:41It's not the right kind of venue for him because people

0:34:41 > 0:34:45don't listen hard enough, people don't pay attention properly.

0:34:45 > 0:34:48You didn't have to behave yourself in this sort of environment.

0:34:50 > 0:34:53Barnum had hoped to set the West End alight

0:34:53 > 0:34:57but the great premiere had turned into a damp squib.

0:35:00 > 0:35:03This was a pivotal moment for Barnum.

0:35:03 > 0:35:07As he stood in the wings and watched America's biggest star, his star,

0:35:07 > 0:35:10failing to wow the audience, he must have thought

0:35:10 > 0:35:13he'd left his magic touch somewhere in mid-Atlantic.

0:35:13 > 0:35:16He needed to come up with something, and quickly,

0:35:16 > 0:35:19and he had a genius idea.

0:35:29 > 0:35:33Barnum decided to market Charles to the upper classes.

0:35:38 > 0:35:42The Yankee had instinctively grasped the aspirational nature

0:35:42 > 0:35:44of the British class system.

0:35:44 > 0:35:47He knew that aristocratic endorsement

0:35:47 > 0:35:50would quickly sway the mass market.

0:35:53 > 0:35:55The first thing he needed

0:35:55 > 0:35:59was to invite the right callers to the right address,

0:35:59 > 0:36:04so he splashed out on the rental of Number 13, Grafton Street, Mayfair.

0:36:08 > 0:36:12Barnum set about pursuing anyone and everyone in the upper echelons,

0:36:12 > 0:36:16and issuing invitations, and they were intrigued.

0:36:16 > 0:36:20The Dukes of Buckingham, Bedford and Devonshire came by.

0:36:20 > 0:36:22Sir Robert and Lady Peel popped in.

0:36:22 > 0:36:25And when he saw Charles give him an impersonation of Napoleon

0:36:25 > 0:36:27at a private audience,

0:36:27 > 0:36:30my dear, they couldn't get rid of the Duke of Wellington.

0:36:33 > 0:36:38Knight led to lord, lord led to duke, further on up the ladder

0:36:38 > 0:36:42until, as Barnum had hoped, they reached the summit.

0:36:48 > 0:36:52On 9th March, a soldier of the Lifeguards arrived at Grafton Street

0:36:52 > 0:36:55to invite Charles and Barnum

0:36:55 > 0:36:59to an audience with Her Majesty Queen Victoria.

0:37:02 > 0:37:06This was the big gamble. It was make or break.

0:37:06 > 0:37:09Success could make them both rich for life.

0:37:09 > 0:37:13Failure, the end of Barnum's global ambitions.

0:37:13 > 0:37:15Once again, the great showman

0:37:15 > 0:37:18put all his chips on a single spin of the wheel.

0:37:23 > 0:37:27Resplendent in their new hand-tailored court suits,

0:37:27 > 0:37:31on March 23rd, 1844,

0:37:31 > 0:37:36Barnum and the six-year-old Charles arrived at Buckingham Palace

0:37:36 > 0:37:39to meet the most powerful woman in the world.

0:37:48 > 0:37:50Picture the scene.

0:37:50 > 0:37:54The Queen sits at one end of a very long State Room.

0:37:54 > 0:37:56With her is Prince Albert,

0:37:56 > 0:38:00some ladies-in-waiting and assorted courtiers.

0:38:00 > 0:38:02Charles and Barnum make their entrance,

0:38:02 > 0:38:07beautifully dressed in their brand-new black velvet court attire.

0:38:07 > 0:38:11The Queen is dressed simply in black.

0:38:11 > 0:38:14There are flunkies everywhere, dressed in black,

0:38:14 > 0:38:16not unlike a funeral.

0:38:16 > 0:38:21Anyway, Charles marches towards the Queen and opens with,

0:38:21 > 0:38:24"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen."

0:38:24 > 0:38:27Not exactly protocol, but the Yanks have made their entrance.

0:38:33 > 0:38:37Charles launched into his routine, singing cheeky songs

0:38:37 > 0:38:40and rattling off a few impressions.

0:38:40 > 0:38:42It was risky stuff.

0:38:42 > 0:38:46The court was officially in mourning for Prince Albert's father.

0:38:46 > 0:38:48But no-one kicked them out

0:38:48 > 0:38:52and, after a quick finale, they prepared to depart.

0:38:54 > 0:38:57Barnum has been well briefed on the Royal protocol.

0:38:57 > 0:39:00Never turn your back on the monarch.

0:39:00 > 0:39:05So he starts to reverse out, bowing as he goes.

0:39:05 > 0:39:09Charles tries to keep up with Barnum but his little legs won't let him,

0:39:09 > 0:39:12so he turns and runs, and stops and bows,

0:39:12 > 0:39:15and he turns and runs, and stops and bows.

0:39:15 > 0:39:18All this sets off a royal spaniel.

0:39:18 > 0:39:22The dog is the same height as Charles.

0:39:22 > 0:39:25It leaps forward and starts barking and barking.

0:39:25 > 0:39:28Spontaneously, and this is genius,

0:39:28 > 0:39:31Charles pulls out his tiny ceremonial sword

0:39:31 > 0:39:34and starts pretending to fence with Fido.

0:39:39 > 0:39:42The room erupts into hysterical laughter.

0:39:42 > 0:39:46The Queen IS amused and they get invited back.

0:39:50 > 0:39:52It was a triumph.

0:39:52 > 0:39:55Two more visits to the Palace soon followed.

0:40:02 > 0:40:08There's a rather affecting sort of intimacy about this relationship.

0:40:08 > 0:40:11The Royal children are introduced to him.

0:40:11 > 0:40:13There's a lot of comparison of heights.

0:40:13 > 0:40:18So he's brought within, really, the very core of that family circle.

0:40:18 > 0:40:23They're like some strange, elevated, odd, distorted version

0:40:23 > 0:40:26of the ordinary Victorian middle-class family.

0:40:33 > 0:40:38Victoria and Charles may seem like an odd pairing,

0:40:38 > 0:40:41but she was only doing what many rulers had done before.

0:40:44 > 0:40:48For centuries, dwarves had been Royal entertainers.

0:40:48 > 0:40:50Just look, for example,

0:40:50 > 0:40:55at Velazquez's paintings of the court dwarves of Philip IV of Spain.

0:40:56 > 0:41:00I wonder if there wasn't a certain kind of identification

0:41:00 > 0:41:02between freaks and royalty.

0:41:05 > 0:41:09On the one hand, royalty have the world at their fingertips.

0:41:09 > 0:41:12Everything is available to them.

0:41:12 > 0:41:13At the same time,

0:41:13 > 0:41:17there must be a certain sense of loneliness and isolation.

0:41:17 > 0:41:23It's an incredibly rarefied position to find one's self in.

0:41:23 > 0:41:25And there's no anonymity,

0:41:25 > 0:41:30no possibility of simply mingling with the public at large.

0:41:30 > 0:41:35And so I wonder if there wasn't a kind of recognition

0:41:35 > 0:41:39between these very elite royals

0:41:39 > 0:41:42and the freaks who came to see them,

0:41:42 > 0:41:45in a sense that, in some way,

0:41:45 > 0:41:48they occupied a similar position socially.

0:41:57 > 0:42:01Whatever the Queen's motivation, Barnum had worked his magic again.

0:42:03 > 0:42:08After Victoria, anyone who was anyone had to see Tom Thumb.

0:42:14 > 0:42:17In London, he was the talk of the town.

0:42:18 > 0:42:22Here at the Lyceum Theatre, it was standing room only.

0:42:22 > 0:42:25Charles Dickens dragged a few of his friends here

0:42:25 > 0:42:29to see him hiding in a daisy and popping out of a nut

0:42:29 > 0:42:32in a play entitled Hop O' My Thumb.

0:42:35 > 0:42:38Riding on the wave of Queen Victoria's approval,

0:42:38 > 0:42:41Barnum took Charles on a European tour,

0:42:41 > 0:42:44playing Belgium, Spain and France.

0:42:46 > 0:42:48Charles was developing as a performer.

0:42:48 > 0:42:52Up to now, he was doing songs and sketches and impressions.

0:42:52 > 0:42:56But then two French dramatists wrote a play especially for him,

0:42:56 > 0:42:58which he learnt in French.

0:42:59 > 0:43:01And he was very good at it.

0:43:01 > 0:43:06Barnum described him "smashing audiences, killing them."

0:43:06 > 0:43:11So now our lad was doing his whole act, plus two plays in French,

0:43:11 > 0:43:13every single day.

0:43:13 > 0:43:15Well, he was eight years old!

0:43:18 > 0:43:22After his shows, the boy in adult clothing, lit by limelight,

0:43:22 > 0:43:24met his public.

0:43:26 > 0:43:30It was noticeable that women were always first in line.

0:43:34 > 0:43:37Women had very interesting reactions to him.

0:43:37 > 0:43:40He was a very cute kid.

0:43:40 > 0:43:43But we think of him as a kid, but they thought of him as much older

0:43:43 > 0:43:46because, remember, Barnum is inflating his age.

0:43:46 > 0:43:49There were many women who looked at him

0:43:49 > 0:43:51with a sort of motherly affection, but there were others

0:43:51 > 0:43:55who took a more, you know, erotic interest in him.

0:43:55 > 0:43:58And it became quite inappropriate at times.

0:43:58 > 0:44:00In what way?

0:44:00 > 0:44:03Well, when they're selling souvenirs after the show,

0:44:03 > 0:44:06he would stand there and give kisses,

0:44:06 > 0:44:08or what he called his "receipts",

0:44:08 > 0:44:12to anyone who bought a souvenir.

0:44:12 > 0:44:16And so women would apparently line up around the block

0:44:16 > 0:44:18to get these kisses from him.

0:44:18 > 0:44:21You know, they'd buy a photograph and then they'd get a kiss,

0:44:21 > 0:44:24they'd buy a book of Barnum's and they'd get a kiss.

0:44:24 > 0:44:26And some of them would just peck him on the cheek

0:44:26 > 0:44:28but some of them would not.

0:44:28 > 0:44:31So it became a little bit of an issue

0:44:31 > 0:44:35and there are reports from men who are very upset that their wives

0:44:35 > 0:44:38and daughters are, you know, spending all their money

0:44:38 > 0:44:41on getting kisses from Charles.

0:44:41 > 0:44:42Wow.

0:44:53 > 0:44:58By 1846, Barnum had decided it was once again time to move,

0:44:58 > 0:45:00back to America.

0:45:01 > 0:45:04He posted bills for a series of farewell shows

0:45:04 > 0:45:07at London's prestigious Egyptian Hall.

0:45:10 > 0:45:13It was here that Tom Thumb would finally collide head on

0:45:13 > 0:45:16with the Victorian cultural establishment,

0:45:16 > 0:45:18who had reason to see themselves

0:45:18 > 0:45:21as the defenders of civilisation itself.

0:45:21 > 0:45:24Because another very different attraction

0:45:24 > 0:45:28had booked into the famous venue at the very same time.

0:45:33 > 0:45:39Benjamin Robert Haydon, RA, was a friend of Keats and Wordsworth

0:45:39 > 0:45:42and a painter of morally uplifting canvasses.

0:45:42 > 0:45:44Through his art,

0:45:44 > 0:45:48he believed he could reform the taste of the British people.

0:45:53 > 0:45:56Here at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool,

0:45:56 > 0:45:58they have one of his smaller works on display.

0:46:05 > 0:46:07Christ Blessing the Little Children.

0:46:12 > 0:46:14But for the Egyptian Hall,

0:46:14 > 0:46:17he planned something even more ambitious...

0:46:17 > 0:46:20a series of huge moralistic paintings

0:46:20 > 0:46:23depicting good and bad government.

0:46:27 > 0:46:32Haydon believed passionately in high art, especially his own.

0:46:32 > 0:46:36He'd have been struck by the irony of Tom Thumb's Goodbye Show,

0:46:36 > 0:46:38a dumbed-down mass entertainment,

0:46:38 > 0:46:42being booked into the Egyptian Hall just a few doors down the corridor

0:46:42 > 0:46:44from his own exhibition of paintings,

0:46:44 > 0:46:48with subjects grand, classical and refined.

0:46:54 > 0:47:01This was his last chance to reform the taste of the English public.

0:47:01 > 0:47:04This is the man who wrote in his diary in 1814,

0:47:04 > 0:47:09"Oh, Almighty God, one request more.

0:47:09 > 0:47:12"Spare my life till I have reformed

0:47:12 > 0:47:15"the taste of my country."

0:47:15 > 0:47:20He believed that the greatness of Great Britain

0:47:20 > 0:47:23would be enhanced by his work.

0:47:25 > 0:47:28So Tom Thumb is up at the Egyptian Hall

0:47:28 > 0:47:31- and the two attractions are on at the same time.- Yeah.

0:47:31 > 0:47:38In one week, 17,000 came to see Tom Thumb,

0:47:38 > 0:47:42each paying a shilling.

0:47:42 > 0:47:43In the same week...

0:47:45 > 0:47:50..133½ people come to see

0:47:50 > 0:47:54Benjamin Robert Haydon's great works.

0:47:54 > 0:47:57The half was a little girl.

0:47:57 > 0:48:02The terrible thing was that the queue to General Tom Thumb's room

0:48:02 > 0:48:05went right past Haydon's room.

0:48:17 > 0:48:21Two months after the catastrophe, Haydon bought a pistol.

0:48:26 > 0:48:31Standing before an unfinished canvas glorifying British justice,

0:48:31 > 0:48:33he pulled the trigger...

0:48:36 > 0:48:38..and failed to kill himself.

0:48:42 > 0:48:45He had to finish the job with a razor.

0:48:56 > 0:48:59The press were appalled at the death of a man

0:48:59 > 0:49:02they had decided was a great artist.

0:49:02 > 0:49:05The Times sneered,

0:49:05 > 0:49:10"The display of a disgusting dwarf attracted hordes of gaping idiots,

0:49:10 > 0:49:14"who poured into the yawning pockets of a Yankee showman

0:49:14 > 0:49:18"a stream of wealth, one tithe of which would have redeemed

0:49:18 > 0:49:22"an honourable English artist from wretchedness and death."

0:49:23 > 0:49:26Haydon's friend, the poetess Elizabeth Barrett Browning,

0:49:26 > 0:49:28was more succinct.

0:49:28 > 0:49:30"The dwarf slew the giant."

0:49:35 > 0:49:39The Comic Almanack printed a cartoon by George Cruickshank

0:49:39 > 0:49:43that summed up the anger felt towards Charles.

0:49:43 > 0:49:46Haydon was the tragic artist.

0:49:46 > 0:49:48Tom Thumb was the indolent freak,

0:49:48 > 0:49:51lounging on a sofa.

0:49:51 > 0:49:54It was called, Born A Genius...

0:49:55 > 0:49:57..Born A Dwarf.

0:50:00 > 0:50:02No-one helped Haydon when he was alive,

0:50:02 > 0:50:06but now he was dead, he was a useful symbol.

0:50:06 > 0:50:09High art needed protection from the rising tide

0:50:09 > 0:50:11of mindless popular culture.

0:50:11 > 0:50:13That sounds familiar!

0:50:17 > 0:50:20Today, that job falls to the Arts Council.

0:50:22 > 0:50:25Yet, it's current chairman was, in his former life,

0:50:25 > 0:50:29the TV producer who brought the world Big Brother.

0:50:29 > 0:50:33Why does he believe certain arts should be protected by the state,

0:50:33 > 0:50:37while the mass market, with its freakish tastes, fends for itself?

0:50:39 > 0:50:45The justification of supporting art with public money, broadly speaking,

0:50:45 > 0:50:48is to back the next generation of talent and to take risks,

0:50:48 > 0:50:52that you get behind talent which becomes, sometimes,

0:50:52 > 0:50:54commercially successful later on.

0:50:54 > 0:50:56New talent, taking risks.

0:50:56 > 0:50:59Today's outrage is tomorrow's mainstream.

0:51:01 > 0:51:07Do you think the public's appetite for the unusual

0:51:07 > 0:51:11is satisfied these days by some reality TV,

0:51:11 > 0:51:13the worst end of reality TV?

0:51:13 > 0:51:16Well, you could be making a reference here

0:51:16 > 0:51:20to the Big Brother television programme which I was let off,

0:51:20 > 0:51:23you know, time off for good behaviour, about six years ago.

0:51:23 > 0:51:26But early on in Big Brother, there were quite a few winners

0:51:26 > 0:51:29and runners-up who were, you might say, stereotypes.

0:51:31 > 0:51:34There was a sufferer from Tourette's Syndrome who won a series.

0:51:34 > 0:51:37There was a transsexual who won another series.

0:51:37 > 0:51:39And these were treated by the tabloid newspapers,

0:51:39 > 0:51:42when they first appeared in the programme,

0:51:42 > 0:51:45in a Tom Thumbish sort of way, as objects of sensation.

0:51:46 > 0:51:50As the series went on and people watched them interact

0:51:50 > 0:51:52with the other people in the house,

0:51:52 > 0:51:56they discovered the actually delightful personalities

0:51:56 > 0:51:58behind this stereotype.

0:51:58 > 0:52:02And perhaps one way of judging them is whether the end of the product

0:52:02 > 0:52:06is whether we're merely being astonished at, if you like,

0:52:06 > 0:52:10a freak show or whether it ends up being sympathetic.

0:52:10 > 0:52:13And I'd even say the same about the people who went to see Tom Thumb.

0:52:13 > 0:52:17If, at the end of it, they came out sympathetic to him,

0:52:17 > 0:52:19was it altogether bad?

0:52:24 > 0:52:27And sympathetic the British were.

0:52:27 > 0:52:29Even the press were eventually won over.

0:52:29 > 0:52:31One newspaper said,

0:52:31 > 0:52:35"Scarcely any exhibition within our memory has excited such

0:52:35 > 0:52:41"interest among all circles as the General Charles S Stratton."

0:52:41 > 0:52:45Not Tom Thumb, but his own name in print.

0:52:45 > 0:52:48The Brits had finally taken him to their hearts.

0:52:49 > 0:52:52Of course, it was all thanks to Barnum.

0:52:54 > 0:52:55After a shaky start,

0:52:55 > 0:52:59the Yankee showman had quickly grasped what made the British tick.

0:53:01 > 0:53:05Then, as now, there was a great respect for authority and tradition,

0:53:05 > 0:53:08but just as great a love for the joker

0:53:08 > 0:53:10who poked fun at the establishment.

0:53:12 > 0:53:14It was a very British sweet spot

0:53:14 > 0:53:18and Barnum had positioned Charles to hit it perfectly.

0:53:35 > 0:53:38The Tom Thumb entourage returned in triumph

0:53:38 > 0:53:41to New York in February, 1847.

0:53:47 > 0:53:50Charles Stratton went straight to the American Museum,

0:53:50 > 0:53:51where an orang-utan, a fortune teller

0:53:51 > 0:53:55and a model of Napoleon's funeral weren't exactly doing the business.

0:53:55 > 0:54:01He played four straight sell-out weeks, usually five shows a day.

0:54:01 > 0:54:04A former Mayor of New York saw the show and commented afterwards

0:54:04 > 0:54:07that he thought Tom Thumb had "increased in littleness".

0:54:07 > 0:54:10Well, he hadn't, in fact, grown, but he was maturing.

0:54:14 > 0:54:16And no wonder.

0:54:16 > 0:54:19At nine years old, Charles had seen more of America

0:54:19 > 0:54:21than most Americans had seen.

0:54:22 > 0:54:25He now had a collection of bespoke carriages,

0:54:25 > 0:54:28driven by Shetland ponies.

0:54:28 > 0:54:30And wherever the Tom Thumb Tour went,

0:54:30 > 0:54:34he would drive through the town ahead of time, creating publicity,

0:54:34 > 0:54:36put more bums on more seats.

0:54:38 > 0:54:41Charles's family began poor.

0:54:41 > 0:54:43Now his earnings bought them a large villa

0:54:43 > 0:54:47containing his own apartment with miniature furniture.

0:54:48 > 0:54:51He put his sisters through private education.

0:54:51 > 0:54:53He could have retired aged nine.

0:54:53 > 0:54:56Yet, for the rest of his life, he kept on touring.

0:54:56 > 0:55:00Was it just the money that pulled him back to the stage?

0:55:11 > 0:55:13ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,

0:55:13 > 0:55:16prepare to be taken to heaven and back

0:55:16 > 0:55:19by the skills of Sealo, The Seal Boy!

0:55:19 > 0:55:23AUDIENCE CHEERS

0:55:25 > 0:55:28Mat Fraser is a writer, actor and comedian

0:55:28 > 0:55:31who has a successful career on stage and screen.

0:55:33 > 0:55:35Good day to you, folks.

0:55:35 > 0:55:37My name is Stanley Berent,

0:55:37 > 0:55:40but mostly I am known by my professional name of

0:55:40 > 0:55:42Sealo, The Seal Boy.

0:55:42 > 0:55:44A connoisseur of the freak show,

0:55:44 > 0:55:49he even performs a recreation of an early-20th century freak act -

0:55:49 > 0:55:52Sealo, The Seal Boy.

0:55:52 > 0:55:55IMITATES SEAL BARK

0:55:58 > 0:56:00'I perform all over the place, in plays, you know, live art,'

0:56:00 > 0:56:04cabaret, burlesque, striptease, comedy.

0:56:04 > 0:56:05You know, I like to...

0:56:05 > 0:56:08I'm a jack of all trades and master of none.

0:56:08 > 0:56:14And was it a difficult choice, early on, to kind of shine a light

0:56:14 > 0:56:19on your disability or did that just feel like a natural thing to do?

0:56:19 > 0:56:22As a disabled person, you're stared at all the time,

0:56:22 > 0:56:2424/7, 100% of the time.

0:56:24 > 0:56:27But you have no agency, you have no power in the exchange.

0:56:27 > 0:56:30You know, I can walk down the street and be stared at by a group of people

0:56:30 > 0:56:33and not have any power in that exchange.

0:56:33 > 0:56:35But if you put me on stage,

0:56:35 > 0:56:39I'm A, paid for the experience, and B, I get to talk.

0:56:39 > 0:56:43So, yeah, it's attractive to be able to have what happens in the street

0:56:43 > 0:56:47anyway but be paid for it, have the power of how it happens

0:56:47 > 0:56:50and to affect the minds of the people watching it.

0:56:50 > 0:56:54Most people have three main bones in their arms -

0:56:54 > 0:56:57the humerus, from the shoulder to the elbow and the radius and ulna bone,

0:56:57 > 0:56:58from the elbow to the wrist.

0:56:58 > 0:57:01Now, I don't got neither a radius nor ulna bone,

0:57:01 > 0:57:03but I'm not sad, folks, no.

0:57:03 > 0:57:05In fact, I think it's pretty humorous.

0:57:07 > 0:57:09Does your manager ever ask you to do things, you know,

0:57:09 > 0:57:11"How could you even ask me to do that?"

0:57:11 > 0:57:17No, my agent is far more politically correct than I am.

0:57:17 > 0:57:21So she never offers me work that I think is distasteful.

0:57:21 > 0:57:24Rather, I just go off and do that work without telling her.

0:57:24 > 0:57:26It's more like that, to be honest.

0:57:26 > 0:57:29I think, probably, Tom Thumb got the bug,

0:57:29 > 0:57:32because he seemed to be very happy to work and work and work

0:57:32 > 0:57:34- for 40 years.- Absolutely.

0:57:34 > 0:57:36He was the world's first truly international superstar.

0:57:36 > 0:57:40And here's the other thing that non-disabled people tend to forget.

0:57:40 > 0:57:45You do your show, 1,000 people think you're fantastic.

0:57:45 > 0:57:47"Thanks very much, good night, James."

0:57:47 > 0:57:48Walk out the stage door,

0:57:48 > 0:57:50some fella's just staring at you on the street again.

0:57:50 > 0:57:53You are, bang! You're back there, you're always back there.

0:57:53 > 0:57:56Of course you want to get back on the stage.

0:57:56 > 0:57:57Of course you do.

0:57:59 > 0:58:01I'm not here to beat you with my hands, no,

0:58:01 > 0:58:05I'm here to entertain you with my little handsies.

0:58:08 > 0:58:11It's not beyond the realms of possibility to think that somebody

0:58:11 > 0:58:14could be addicted for life to that sort of thing.

0:58:14 > 0:58:19It's a delicious power that I wouldn't know what to do without.

0:58:25 > 0:58:27By the mid-1850s,

0:58:27 > 0:58:31Charles was in his late teens and had been touring for over a decade.

0:58:35 > 0:58:38He began appearing in Broadway plays,

0:58:38 > 0:58:41revealing an ambition to become a serious actor.

0:58:43 > 0:58:46He was taking more control over his own career

0:58:46 > 0:58:49and displaying a canny business mind.

0:58:49 > 0:58:51Barnum had taught him well.

0:58:55 > 0:58:57The showman had stepped back from Charles,

0:58:57 > 0:59:02letting the tours continue while pocketing a share of the profits.

0:59:02 > 0:59:05Barnum's boundless energy had found new outlets,

0:59:05 > 0:59:09which he promoted with all the vigour of his Tom Thumb campaigns.

0:59:12 > 0:59:15America was bitterly divided over slavery

0:59:15 > 0:59:18and on the brink of civil war.

0:59:18 > 0:59:21Barnum joined the campaign for abolition,

0:59:21 > 0:59:25bravely staging anti-slavery plays at his museum.

0:59:25 > 0:59:28But principles could co-exist with profits.

0:59:28 > 0:59:30Money flooded in.

0:59:30 > 0:59:33He toured a Swedish opera singer, Jenny Lind,

0:59:33 > 0:59:36making 500,000 in old money.

0:59:36 > 0:59:40And he invested heavily in property and industry...

0:59:40 > 0:59:44and that's how his troubles started.

0:59:44 > 0:59:47Barnum, at that point, had so much money,

0:59:47 > 0:59:50I think he was kind of throwing it around a little bit too much.

0:59:50 > 0:59:51Careless.

0:59:51 > 0:59:54He had built his huge mansion, Iranistan,

0:59:54 > 0:59:58and he keeps signing away big cheques

0:59:58 > 1:00:00and suddenly he's 500,000 in debt.

1:00:00 > 1:00:04And Barnum has to declare bankruptcy.

1:00:04 > 1:00:07So what's he going to do?

1:00:07 > 1:00:10He's got to decide how to deal with this bankruptcy.

1:00:10 > 1:00:12He has to shut down his house in Bridgeport.

1:00:12 > 1:00:15He moves into a small apartment in New York.

1:00:15 > 1:00:20And he gets this letter from his former protege,

1:00:20 > 1:00:23Charles Stratton, Tom Thumb,

1:00:23 > 1:00:28and he says, "Hey, I'm still making lots of money. Let me help you out."

1:00:32 > 1:00:34Charles arranged another tour

1:00:34 > 1:00:37and this money helped put Barnum back on his feet.

1:00:37 > 1:00:41It was a sign that their relationship had shifted.

1:00:43 > 1:00:4614 years earlier, this had been a financial arrangement.

1:00:46 > 1:00:50Barnum protected Charles, but dictated every step of his career.

1:00:54 > 1:00:57But gradually, it had become a partnership.

1:00:57 > 1:01:02By his late teens, Charles was calling the shots over his own tours

1:01:02 > 1:01:05and he was the one to get Barnum out of trouble.

1:01:08 > 1:01:11There must have been a touch of satisfaction in this for Charles.

1:01:11 > 1:01:13He was becoming his own man.

1:01:15 > 1:01:17And perhaps he needed a lady.

1:01:20 > 1:01:22His financial troubles over,

1:01:22 > 1:01:25it was Barnum who made a crucial introduction.

1:01:30 > 1:01:34Phineas Barnum seemed to have his eye on every dwarf of note,

1:01:34 > 1:01:36so when he got wind of a diminutive singer

1:01:36 > 1:01:39working for a rival impresario in a museum of curiosities

1:01:39 > 1:01:42that floated up and down the Mississippi,

1:01:42 > 1:01:44he determined to steal her away.

1:01:49 > 1:01:54Lavinia Warren Bump was 20 years old and 32 inches tall

1:01:54 > 1:01:56when Barnum signed her up.

1:01:56 > 1:01:59She was talented, vivacious and funny.

1:02:00 > 1:02:03When Charles saw her face, he was a believer.

1:02:06 > 1:02:08But he had a rival.

1:02:12 > 1:02:15Enter Commodore George Nutt.

1:02:15 > 1:02:20Blond and blue-eyed, he was known to the press as the 30,000 Nutt,

1:02:20 > 1:02:22Barnum's alleged signing fee.

1:02:23 > 1:02:27The showman had snapped him up while Charles was away on tour

1:02:27 > 1:02:30and now the Commodore was nuts for Lavinia.

1:02:32 > 1:02:35The rivals went head-to-head over the lady.

1:02:35 > 1:02:37Charles suffered a setback

1:02:37 > 1:02:41when Lavinia's mother took against his new moustache.

1:02:41 > 1:02:43Things were getting desperate.

1:02:46 > 1:02:48In his autobiography,

1:02:48 > 1:02:52Barnum said his usually cool star was highly excited.

1:02:52 > 1:02:54For Charles, it was now or never.

1:02:57 > 1:03:00Well, then Barnum throws a dinner party for Lavinia,

1:03:00 > 1:03:02where Charles pops the question,

1:03:02 > 1:03:06with Barnum and his wife watching through the keyhole.

1:03:06 > 1:03:07Suddenly there's a bang at the door.

1:03:07 > 1:03:12In bursts Nutt, to find he's been pipped at the post.

1:03:12 > 1:03:16CHURCH BELLS RING

1:03:18 > 1:03:22MUSIC: Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn

1:03:22 > 1:03:25The wedding was set for February, 1863,

1:03:25 > 1:03:29at the prestigious Grace Church on Broadway.

1:03:35 > 1:03:39The wedding preparations made the New York Times for three days.

1:03:39 > 1:03:43And remember, this is at the height of the American Civil War.

1:03:48 > 1:03:50Picture the scene.

1:03:50 > 1:03:53It's February the 10th, it's 12 o'clock.

1:03:53 > 1:03:57Since nine, the crowds out there have been thronging the pavement.

1:03:57 > 1:04:00It takes ticket holders and Barnum, again,

1:04:00 > 1:04:04two hours to get through the police cordon in their carriages.

1:04:04 > 1:04:06It could have been Posh and Becks.

1:04:11 > 1:04:14Yet some church regulars had been determined

1:04:14 > 1:04:17this celebrity wedding wouldn't take place.

1:04:21 > 1:04:24Now, we're standing pretty much on the spot

1:04:24 > 1:04:26where the happy couple were.

1:04:26 > 1:04:29We are standing right where it would have taken place.

1:04:29 > 1:04:32Charles Stratton would have been standing probably,

1:04:32 > 1:04:34you know, right about here.

1:04:34 > 1:04:37And Lavinia Warren would have been standing right about here,

1:04:37 > 1:04:38right in this spot.

1:04:40 > 1:04:43Do you think there was a level of prejudice

1:04:43 > 1:04:47about the fact that these were two very, very small people?

1:04:47 > 1:04:51I think there was definitely some...

1:04:51 > 1:04:52Prejudice might be the word for it.

1:04:52 > 1:04:57But just that this was not a proper wedding for Grace Church.

1:04:57 > 1:05:02And these people were in show business, they were, er...

1:05:02 > 1:05:04It must have seemed vulgar, I suppose?

1:05:04 > 1:05:06They looked at it as vulgar.

1:05:06 > 1:05:10These were people who were not...correct.

1:05:10 > 1:05:14They were deformed, they were tiny.

1:05:14 > 1:05:18Charles Stratton anticipated what the objections might be

1:05:18 > 1:05:23and he said, "I want to assure you that we are not mountebanks,

1:05:23 > 1:05:26"we are not abortions.

1:05:26 > 1:05:33"It is true that we are little, but we are as God made us,

1:05:33 > 1:05:36"perfect in our littleness."

1:05:36 > 1:05:37Wow.

1:05:37 > 1:05:39- A wonderful quote...- Wow!

1:05:39 > 1:05:45..which I think has a lot of contemporary resonance

1:05:45 > 1:05:51with what's going on today in the Church's struggle to understand

1:05:51 > 1:05:55who can be married in the Church.

1:06:00 > 1:06:04Charles's argument carried the day and the wedding went ahead.

1:06:07 > 1:06:10Those who hadn't been able to get in to the church

1:06:10 > 1:06:13scrambled to buy instant photos of the ceremony,

1:06:13 > 1:06:16typically, staged a few days earlier by Barnum

1:06:16 > 1:06:20in a photographic studio complete with a fake church set.

1:06:23 > 1:06:28Commodore Nutt seemed to have buried his hatchet and served as best man.

1:06:29 > 1:06:32Lavinia's sister, Minnie, just 16 years old,

1:06:32 > 1:06:35was the Pippa Middleton of the day.

1:06:41 > 1:06:44The press frothed over details of the decor and the dress.

1:06:44 > 1:06:48News of the nuptials rolled around the globe

1:06:48 > 1:06:51and Mr and Mrs Tom Thumb's fame went stratospheric.

1:06:53 > 1:06:57They were even given a reception by President and Mrs Lincoln.

1:06:58 > 1:06:59At the White House,

1:06:59 > 1:07:02the President asked the General for military advice.

1:07:02 > 1:07:06He told Charles, "You have thrown me completely in the shade."

1:07:10 > 1:07:15Before, Charles had been celebrated as an object of fascination.

1:07:15 > 1:07:18Now he and his wife were loved.

1:07:18 > 1:07:20They went out on the road together

1:07:20 > 1:07:24and the wedding boost made their enterprise even more successful.

1:07:26 > 1:07:29Stratton certainly lived the early American dream,

1:07:29 > 1:07:32but there was one thing their money couldn't buy them.

1:07:34 > 1:07:38The only tiny feet they would hear pitter patter would be their own,

1:07:38 > 1:07:40until Barnum fixed that, too.

1:07:45 > 1:07:50In 1863, Charles and Lavinia had a new arrival.

1:07:55 > 1:07:59Barnum knew the birth of a baby would spark all kinds of feelings

1:07:59 > 1:08:02in the public, not least incredulity.

1:08:05 > 1:08:09They went on tour to display the baby and the crowds went crazy.

1:08:12 > 1:08:15And yet, it was all a lie.

1:08:16 > 1:08:22Barnum rented different babies for photoshoots and live appearances.

1:08:22 > 1:08:25He had manipulated Charles's image before,

1:08:25 > 1:08:27but he'd never pushed it this far.

1:08:29 > 1:08:33The pictures went all over America and when they went to Europe,

1:08:33 > 1:08:37they rented babies of other nationalities by the hour.

1:08:37 > 1:08:40When the scam had finally run its course,

1:08:40 > 1:08:43Barnum casually announced that the baby had died.

1:08:51 > 1:08:54Much as I respect Barnum, I think, in this case,

1:08:54 > 1:08:56he really crossed the line.

1:08:57 > 1:09:01Charles and Lavinia were certainly complicit in the publicity scam,

1:09:01 > 1:09:04but at what emotional cost to them, holding other people's babies?

1:09:04 > 1:09:09140 years ago, for people of their size to think about having a baby

1:09:09 > 1:09:13could prove fatal and they certainly knew that.

1:09:17 > 1:09:20Or, at least, that's the story that's been told.

1:09:22 > 1:09:26Lavinia confessed to the baby hoax in her autobiography

1:09:26 > 1:09:29and it's gone unquestioned for a century.

1:09:31 > 1:09:33But as always with Barnum,

1:09:33 > 1:09:36things are never quite as simple as they appear.

1:09:39 > 1:09:43Because, in 1866, Charles and Lavinia were touring in England...

1:09:46 > 1:09:51..and, very unusually for them, they started to cancel shows.

1:09:52 > 1:09:56British historian John Gannon has discovered new evidence,

1:09:56 > 1:09:59which he thinks explains why.

1:10:04 > 1:10:10So here we have the burial register for St Gregory's Church in Norwich.

1:10:10 > 1:10:14Now, at that particular time, Stratton was touring in Norfolk.

1:10:15 > 1:10:17"Minnie Warren Stratton."

1:10:17 > 1:10:19And then we have here...

1:10:21 > 1:10:25"Daughter of the celebrated General Tom Thumb."

1:10:25 > 1:10:28She was buried there on the 26th of September...

1:10:28 > 1:10:30- 26th of September. - ..at two years old.

1:10:32 > 1:10:34Now, in order to confirm this,

1:10:34 > 1:10:37we also have her death certificate.

1:10:37 > 1:10:39Ah! Wow.

1:10:41 > 1:10:45And, as the father, you will see,

1:10:45 > 1:10:48"the daughter of Charles Sherwood Stratton."

1:10:48 > 1:10:49- "Exhibitor."- "Exhibitor."

1:10:51 > 1:10:55So this really turns the whole story upside down

1:10:55 > 1:10:58because this is new news.

1:10:58 > 1:11:03But the story that we've been told is that they had no children,

1:11:03 > 1:11:06- that Barnum provided them... - That's correct.

1:11:06 > 1:11:09..used to rent babies just for publicity.

1:11:09 > 1:11:10That's correct.

1:11:10 > 1:11:12But you think this says..?

1:11:12 > 1:11:15I think what this says is, this was their child.

1:11:15 > 1:11:18- But Lavinia did have a baby with... - She did have a daughter,

1:11:18 > 1:11:21with Stratton. This is their child.

1:11:22 > 1:11:26OK, OK, in this particular article from the 29th of September...

1:11:26 > 1:11:29- This is now in the Norfolk... - This is from the Norfolk News.

1:11:29 > 1:11:33This tells us of the burial of their child.

1:11:33 > 1:11:36- "1,000 people congregated in the cemetery."- Yeah.

1:11:36 > 1:11:38I mean, Stratton tried to keep the event, obviously,

1:11:38 > 1:11:41as kind of low key as he possibly could.

1:11:41 > 1:11:44But unfortunately, they were invaded by about 1,000 spectators.

1:11:46 > 1:11:48But, for me, there is so much evidence there.

1:11:48 > 1:11:50- Absolutely. - There is so much evidence.

1:11:50 > 1:11:53And the fact that they were too grief stricken,

1:11:53 > 1:11:55- really, to fulfil their engagements...- Exactly.

1:11:55 > 1:11:58..immediately after this child died...

1:11:58 > 1:12:00This is an amazing discovery.

1:12:00 > 1:12:02I am absolutely amazed.

1:12:06 > 1:12:09'It's hard to know what to think.

1:12:09 > 1:12:11'If the baby was a hoax,'

1:12:11 > 1:12:14why was there a funeral for a child with Charles, Lavinia

1:12:14 > 1:12:16and 1,000 others in attendance?

1:12:18 > 1:12:20And why was Charles named as the father

1:12:20 > 1:12:23on both the death and burial certificates?

1:12:23 > 1:12:26Surely a publicity stunt wouldn't require that.

1:12:29 > 1:12:31But there's contradictory evidence.

1:12:31 > 1:12:33According to the papers,

1:12:33 > 1:12:36at the time the baby would have had to have been born,

1:12:36 > 1:12:38Lavinia was on stage in the Midwest.

1:12:43 > 1:12:46John Gannon's evidence does prove one thing beyond doubt.

1:12:48 > 1:12:51In 1866, a young girl died in England

1:12:51 > 1:12:54in Charles and Lavinia's care.

1:12:55 > 1:12:59She was buried under the name of Minnie Warren Stratton.

1:13:00 > 1:13:04And, sure enough, forgotten for a century and a half

1:13:04 > 1:13:07in a Norwich cemetery, we found this.

1:13:13 > 1:13:15Minnie Warren Stratton.

1:13:25 > 1:13:30Is this the grave of Charles and Lavinia's own daughter,

1:13:30 > 1:13:33or is it the grave of a hired foundling?

1:13:34 > 1:13:37I don't think we'll ever know for certain,

1:13:37 > 1:13:41but whatever the truth, it's a fact that Charles and Lavinia,

1:13:41 > 1:13:46unusually for them, cancelled performances after the funeral.

1:13:46 > 1:13:48Their life was full of spin...

1:13:49 > 1:13:52..but this wasn't fakery.

1:13:52 > 1:13:56Their grief for Minnie Warren Stratton, this little girl,

1:13:56 > 1:13:59whoever she was, was real.

1:14:26 > 1:14:29But the show had to go on.

1:14:29 > 1:14:32Charles and Lavinia returned to the United States

1:14:32 > 1:14:34and threw themselves into work.

1:14:37 > 1:14:42Once again, they hit the road, but this time in a new line-up.

1:14:42 > 1:14:45The wedding had shown the public appetite for the quartet

1:14:45 > 1:14:49and Charles, Lavinia, Commodore Nutt and Minnie

1:14:49 > 1:14:51were soon performing together.

1:14:53 > 1:14:56They were the first performers ever to travel by rail

1:14:56 > 1:14:59to what was the Wild West.

1:14:59 > 1:15:02There were encounters with outlaws who shot at them

1:15:02 > 1:15:05and locals bemused by their stature.

1:15:08 > 1:15:13In August 1869, they reached San Francisco and just kept going.

1:15:13 > 1:15:16First they toured Japan, then on to India

1:15:16 > 1:15:20and Charles was the first American star to tour Australia.

1:15:20 > 1:15:22While they were there,

1:15:22 > 1:15:25they did a free show in an orphanage in the outback

1:15:25 > 1:15:28and Lavinia was amazed to find that the children already knew

1:15:28 > 1:15:30who Tom Thumb was.

1:15:30 > 1:15:33This was truly the world's first global celebrity tour.

1:15:36 > 1:15:40All together, they covered 55,000 miles

1:15:40 > 1:15:43and played 1,471 shows

1:15:43 > 1:15:47in 587 cities and towns.

1:15:47 > 1:15:51No performer had done so much and, until the 20th century,

1:15:51 > 1:15:53none would try.

1:15:55 > 1:15:58They didn't see America for three years.

1:16:00 > 1:16:01But eventually, they return,

1:16:01 > 1:16:04older, wiser and with a new ambition.

1:16:06 > 1:16:08Charles wanted to set up home.

1:16:13 > 1:16:15In 1870,

1:16:15 > 1:16:18he and Lavinia came to her original home town,

1:16:18 > 1:16:22Middleborough, Massachusetts, and they built big.

1:16:31 > 1:16:33Set in 150 acres,

1:16:33 > 1:16:36their new house was an escape from the glare of the lights

1:16:36 > 1:16:38and the grind of the road.

1:16:38 > 1:16:42It was a place where they could be themselves - not actors,

1:16:42 > 1:16:45not celebrities, just, as they called each other,

1:16:45 > 1:16:47Charlie and Vinnie.

1:16:50 > 1:16:54No film crew has ever recorded their hideaway.

1:16:57 > 1:17:01Eric Lehman has joined me, as he's a first-time visitor, too.

1:17:02 > 1:17:04How are you?

1:17:04 > 1:17:06- Very good.- What do you think?

1:17:06 > 1:17:08It's a grand mansion, isn't it?

1:17:11 > 1:17:13So this is the main entrance hall.

1:17:13 > 1:17:14Mmm-hmm.

1:17:14 > 1:17:17And it looks like a regular house. I mean, it's very lovely.

1:17:17 > 1:17:19But it's just an ordinary house, isn't it?

1:17:19 > 1:17:20Except...

1:17:20 > 1:17:23Well, look at the size of the stairs.

1:17:23 > 1:17:25The height is very short.

1:17:25 > 1:17:26Oh, my goodness, yes.

1:17:26 > 1:17:29So we believe that Tom had this custom built

1:17:29 > 1:17:32so he and Lavinia wouldn't have to do big stretching.

1:17:32 > 1:17:35And if you'll feel the banisters,

1:17:35 > 1:17:37- they're much lower than typical. - They are.

1:17:42 > 1:17:44So where are you taking us now?

1:17:44 > 1:17:49OK, so right in here, we have Tom Thumb's original custom-made piano.

1:17:49 > 1:17:51- Whoa! - You can see the original work.

1:17:51 > 1:17:52Oh, my goodness.

1:17:53 > 1:17:55That is amazing.

1:17:56 > 1:17:57Isn't that amazing?

1:18:02 > 1:18:04- So in this room... - This is the dining room.

1:18:04 > 1:18:06..which is like the dining room, uh-huh.

1:18:06 > 1:18:08And here are the shoes.

1:18:08 > 1:18:10These are Lavinia's shoes?

1:18:10 > 1:18:12These are Lavinia's shoes and we found them in a wall

1:18:12 > 1:18:15- when we were doing a renovation upstairs.- No way.

1:18:15 > 1:18:17That is fascinating. They're so tiny.

1:18:17 > 1:18:19- We found quite a few interesting things...- Yeah.

1:18:19 > 1:18:22- ..in some of the walls.- So tiny.

1:18:22 > 1:18:25And I have one more thing to show you.

1:18:25 > 1:18:27And it is the original wood stove.

1:18:27 > 1:18:29- Great.- OK.- Come on, this way.

1:18:29 > 1:18:31We're going down to the kitchen, right?

1:18:31 > 1:18:32Down to the kitchen.

1:18:34 > 1:18:35It's a miniature!

1:18:35 > 1:18:37It is.

1:18:37 > 1:18:41It's a real range. I mean, this is a full working stove.

1:18:41 > 1:18:43We did nothing to it, we didn't even paint it.

1:18:46 > 1:18:50What's fascinating to me is that they had a cook and a maid.

1:18:50 > 1:18:55They were normal sized, but Lavinia clearly wanted to cook for herself,

1:18:55 > 1:18:57and maybe he had it made for her

1:18:57 > 1:18:59in case she wanted to cook.

1:18:59 > 1:19:03I think it's really romantic that he did so many things for her,

1:19:03 > 1:19:05to make sure she was comfortable, too.

1:19:11 > 1:19:17The next decade passed, the tours now relieved by welcome domesticity.

1:19:17 > 1:19:20Charles had started putting on weight.

1:19:20 > 1:19:22The little man was filling out.

1:19:25 > 1:19:27And this very public individual

1:19:27 > 1:19:31had become fascinated by a deeply secret society.

1:19:32 > 1:19:37Charles had become a Freemason of the Order of the Knights Templar.

1:19:38 > 1:19:42Like his property ownership, it was another way of making himself

1:19:42 > 1:19:47a pillar of the community, someone whose size didn't matter.

1:19:47 > 1:19:51He had revealed one of his greatest ambitions -

1:19:51 > 1:19:52acceptance.

1:19:56 > 1:19:59But the lure of the stage was still strong

1:19:59 > 1:20:02and in 1880, Barnum tempted Charles back

1:20:02 > 1:20:05to appear in his latest scheme.

1:20:06 > 1:20:08A circus.

1:20:12 > 1:20:15Charles and Lavinia went to the Midwest with the circus

1:20:15 > 1:20:17and they were treated like royalty.

1:20:17 > 1:20:20But the gig didn't last for two reasons.

1:20:20 > 1:20:23Barnum split the profits with Bailey

1:20:23 > 1:20:27and then paid the Thumbs a salary out of his share.

1:20:27 > 1:20:29But Charles and Lavinia could make a lot more money

1:20:29 > 1:20:33travelling their own show in theatres like this.

1:20:33 > 1:20:37You see, the stars had become richer than their producer,

1:20:37 > 1:20:39which isn't supposed to happen.

1:20:40 > 1:20:42But the second reason was more important.

1:20:47 > 1:20:51Competitors had begun copying Barnum's freakish exhibits,

1:20:51 > 1:20:54but with acts that lacked Charles' class

1:20:54 > 1:20:56and his control over his own career.

1:20:59 > 1:21:04Julia Pastrana from Mexico was advertised as a "bear woman".

1:21:04 > 1:21:07Her manager married her and, after her death,

1:21:07 > 1:21:10toured her mummified corpse.

1:21:11 > 1:21:13The world of the freak show,

1:21:13 > 1:21:16the world that Barnum and Charles had helped create,

1:21:16 > 1:21:17was changing.

1:21:17 > 1:21:20Acts were becoming a grotesque sideshow

1:21:20 > 1:21:23and that would never do for Charles.

1:21:26 > 1:21:31Fortunately, he was rich enough to turn his back on the big top.

1:21:35 > 1:21:38Charles and Lavinia carried on touring as usual.

1:21:38 > 1:21:39With them went two dwarfs

1:21:39 > 1:21:42who had a marvellous act with trained canaries.

1:21:42 > 1:21:44I think I may have booked them.

1:21:44 > 1:21:46Anyway, all went well until disaster struck.

1:21:48 > 1:21:52They were in a hotel in Milwaukee when, in the dead of night,

1:21:52 > 1:21:54the whole building burned to the ground.

1:21:56 > 1:22:01Between 70 and 100 people died in this terrible inferno.

1:22:01 > 1:22:05The streets were littered with the bodies of guests who had jumped,

1:22:05 > 1:22:07hoping to avoid the blaze.

1:22:07 > 1:22:10Lavinia was carried out like a child

1:22:10 > 1:22:13and Charles staggered out, very shaken.

1:22:13 > 1:22:15It was to be their last tour.

1:22:17 > 1:22:21Worn down by the endless shows and the traumatic fire,

1:22:21 > 1:22:24Charles finally started to slow up.

1:22:24 > 1:22:26He came back home to Middleborough.

1:22:28 > 1:22:32Do you think that Charles, looking back on his life,

1:22:32 > 1:22:36regretted that meeting, first meeting with Barnum,

1:22:36 > 1:22:38or would he have looked back and said,

1:22:38 > 1:22:41"Actually I've done very well out of this, I've had a wonderful life?"

1:22:41 > 1:22:43Definitely the latter.

1:22:43 > 1:22:46He was very pleased with the opportunities he had in life.

1:22:46 > 1:22:50He had made enough money by age nine that he could have stopped

1:22:50 > 1:22:53and lived a quiet life.

1:22:53 > 1:22:55But I think he enjoyed it,

1:22:55 > 1:22:58because he kept going back out every season and touring.

1:23:00 > 1:23:04There's something distressing to this idea of someone being taken up

1:23:04 > 1:23:10at a very young age and spending an entire lifetime being exhibited

1:23:10 > 1:23:13for other people to stare at.

1:23:13 > 1:23:17On the other hand, there was no disability rights movement,

1:23:17 > 1:23:19there wasn't even a concept of disability.

1:23:19 > 1:23:23That partnership with Barnum did enable Stratton

1:23:23 > 1:23:29to have life comforts that otherwise wouldn't have been available to him.

1:23:31 > 1:23:33When we look back on performers like Stratton,

1:23:33 > 1:23:37we assume that they all died in misery, lying in sawdust somewhere.

1:23:37 > 1:23:39But actually, if you look at their lives,

1:23:39 > 1:23:42that didn't happen to an awful lot of them.

1:23:42 > 1:23:45Stratton, you know, ended his life owning a yacht

1:23:45 > 1:23:47and an enormous house.

1:23:47 > 1:23:49These people had showbiz careers.

1:23:49 > 1:23:52Lots of showbiz careers end in desperate misery.

1:23:52 > 1:23:53A lot don't.

1:23:56 > 1:24:01By the 1880s, Charles was a man of stature

1:24:01 > 1:24:03and not just in the community.

1:24:05 > 1:24:07He'd grown a couple of inches in his teens,

1:24:07 > 1:24:10but in 1883, he was 45,

1:24:10 > 1:24:13fat and 3ft 4.

1:24:13 > 1:24:18Maybe it was diet, maybe it was middle age or maybe it was drink,

1:24:18 > 1:24:21something he'd been fond of since before he was ten -

1:24:21 > 1:24:23that and cigars!

1:24:25 > 1:24:29Whisky ruined his friend, Commodore Nutt, who died in 1881.

1:24:29 > 1:24:34And Charles' lifestyle probably hastened his own end, too.

1:24:36 > 1:24:40Charles died on July the 15th, 1883,

1:24:40 > 1:24:43suddenly, at home, in this very room.

1:24:43 > 1:24:46Lavinia was away in New York on business.

1:24:46 > 1:24:49Their brother-in-law, Edward Newell, who lived with them,

1:24:49 > 1:24:52had seen Charles dressing and left the room,

1:24:52 > 1:24:53probably through this door.

1:24:53 > 1:24:55He heard a thud.

1:24:55 > 1:24:58Charles lay at the foot of the bed.

1:24:58 > 1:24:59He'd gone with his boots off

1:24:59 > 1:25:03in his own sumptuous bedroom, and quickly.

1:25:03 > 1:25:04There are worse ways.

1:25:24 > 1:25:28Charles Stratton came home to Bridgeport for burial.

1:25:28 > 1:25:30He was laid out in church

1:25:30 > 1:25:33and 10,000 of his fans filed past the coffin

1:25:33 > 1:25:35of silver, walnut and jet,

1:25:35 > 1:25:40to get a last glimpse of America's first international superstar.

1:25:41 > 1:25:44His memorial kept him forever young,

1:25:44 > 1:25:48its statue carved from life when Charles was 19.

1:25:51 > 1:25:54Lavinia grieved, but she carried the Stratton banner on

1:25:54 > 1:25:57through another decade and into the 20th century.

1:25:57 > 1:26:02She remarried another little man, a titled Italian, Count Margri.

1:26:02 > 1:26:05But when she died in 1919,

1:26:05 > 1:26:07she asked to be laid next to her first love.

1:26:13 > 1:26:16And here they lie, Charles and Lavinia.

1:26:26 > 1:26:28And if Charles lay close to his wife,

1:26:28 > 1:26:31his other great companion wasn't far away -

1:26:31 > 1:26:33P T Barnum.

1:26:43 > 1:26:45He was on holiday when Charles died

1:26:45 > 1:26:48and couldn't get back in time for the funeral.

1:26:48 > 1:26:51He outlived his star by eight years

1:26:51 > 1:26:56and when he died in 1891, he was buried within a few yards of him.

1:26:58 > 1:27:00They had travelled the world together,

1:27:00 > 1:27:03tens of thousands of miles,

1:27:03 > 1:27:06but were laid to rest just a few paces apart.

1:27:20 > 1:27:24Charles Stratton soaked up applause on five continents.

1:27:24 > 1:27:26The act he'd learned as a four-year-old,

1:27:26 > 1:27:28which, in some ways, hardly changed,

1:27:28 > 1:27:31was eventually seen by over 50 million people.

1:27:31 > 1:27:33MUSIC: Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues by Bob Dylan

1:27:33 > 1:27:39# When you're lost in the rain in Juarez and it's Eastertime, too... #

1:27:39 > 1:27:41It doesn't need Barnum's spin to tell you

1:27:41 > 1:27:45that's a lot of bums on a lot of seats.

1:27:45 > 1:27:48# ..It's either fortune or fame... #

1:27:53 > 1:27:54By all the rules of show business,

1:27:54 > 1:27:59the relationship between Stratton and Barnum should've ended in tears.

1:27:59 > 1:28:02I've seen it all too often in my 50 years in the business.

1:28:02 > 1:28:05Manager signs an unknown artist on a one-sided contract

1:28:05 > 1:28:09that ends up in litigation and recrimination.

1:28:09 > 1:28:11That didn't happen in this case.

1:28:11 > 1:28:17Barnum and Stratton were partners and friends for 40 years,

1:28:17 > 1:28:19two gentlemen of the old school.

1:28:19 > 1:28:23They were good for each other and good to each other.

1:28:23 > 1:28:27They were separated only by two feet and eight inches.

1:28:31 > 1:28:34I don't think size was ever an issue for Charles.

1:28:34 > 1:28:36Major Newell, one of his fellow performers,

1:28:36 > 1:28:40put on a very late growth spurt, reaching nearly 5ft,

1:28:40 > 1:28:42and Charles felt sorry for him.

1:28:42 > 1:28:47He said, "The poor fella, he just kept growing and growing

1:28:47 > 1:28:50"until he was just like everybody else."