Barnum

He gave us the word "Jumbo" and the phrase "Greatest Show on Earth." He made a superstar out of Tom Thumb, a midget in a soldier's uniform, and brought a European singer to our shores and made her a sensation as the Swedish Nightingale.P. T. Barnum may have been American entertainment's first larger-than-life figure. An expert at figuring out what the people wanted and then giving it to them, he was even better at turning the process around: taking what he had and convincing people that was what they wanted to see.A&E's "P. T. Barnum," a two-part miniseries from Hallmark Entertainment airing tomorrow and Monday nights, is much like its subject.

Come on. Snap out of those post-summer blues. Sure you're frazzled trying to keep soccer practices, piano lessons and orthodontist appointments straight at the same time that the boss gives you a big project and the scout troop insists no one but you can fill the laid-up leader's shoes.Don't you wish you were back lazing on that Southern California beach, hiking up that Colorado mountain trail, poking around that cute Wisconsin resort town or eating lobster in Maine? You can be -- mentally, at least.

Theatre on the Hill has organized a theatrical smorgasbord that will be presented in a one-night extravaganza at 7 p.m. April 5 in Alumni Hall at Western Maryland College.Gala '97, celebrating the professional company's 15 seasons in residence at the college, will feature past performers as well as a sneak preview of this summer's productions.Ray Ficca, star of TOTH's "Greater Tuna" and "Barnum," will be the host.Sally Thorner, news anchorwoman at WJZ-TV (Channel 13), will be the evening's guest.

Children often follow their parents and go into the family business. Nothing unusual about that -- unless the "family" is the circus. And the business is training wild animals, being a professional clown or flying through the air.When Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus comes to the Baltimore Arena this month, there will be several children following in their parents' footsteps. How could they possibly choose any other life? The circus, they say, is in their blood."I've been training for my own act since the day I was born," says Mark Oliver Gebel.

It's been a long trip - 31 hours from Cincinnati into Baltimore, another nine sitting in the rail yard by the B&O Museum. At last the doors of the silver Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey train slide open and 15 unchained Asian elephants begin stepping carefully down ramps into the morning sunlight in one more city on the circus trail. The animals trumpet, snort, grope the pavement with their trunks as the crew lines them up to march down Pratt Street toward the Baltimore Arena.Folks from the neighborhood are out with their kids and their cameras.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you would give your undivided attention to the center ring, please.Presenting Mr. P. T. Barnum, showman extraordinarie, dreamer, schemer, patriot, newspaper editor and politician, in "Barnum," the play.The story of one of America's most colorful characters arrives on stage Thursday when Theatre on the Hill opens for its 13th season on the main stage of Alumni Hall on the Western Maryland College campus."He was the ultimate showman, he wrote the book on showmanship," said Ray Ficca, who plays Barnum.

DAVID Nicholson began his Washington Post review of a new biography this way:"Howard Stern? Howard Stern? Who would have thunk that the life story of the King of the Shock Jocks (and now the self proclaimed King of All Media) would leap to the top of the charts, selling more copies more quickly than any other book Simon and Schuster has published. It's testimony to one of the wonders of America that people with marginal talent can, and do, get rich in this land of opportunity. Or perhaps it's just another reminder of P. T. Barnum's famous dictum about how no one ever goes broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."

Although it helped make him a fortune, Phineas Taylor Barnum admitted that he wasn't too proud of the spectacle: this tiny monkey severed at the waist and stitched to the mummified tail of a fish.But even the world's greatest showman couldn't have expected that little girls in Baltimore would burst into tears over Barnum's "Feejee mermaid" 101 years after his death."We've had a lot of children come here expecting to see the Little Mermaid or the cute mermaid on the tuna can -- and they look at this and cry their eyes out," said a publicist for the Peale Museum, which is exhibiting the monstrous wonder at its Holliday Street museum.

MANY POPULAR assumptions about children of alcoholics are being questioned by new research, posing a challenge to the hugely popular therapy movement directed at them and other "adult children" of problem families.Although proponents of the movement say they have scientific support for their views, critics are unconvinced.The therapy is based on the idea that the childhood experiences of "adult children of alcoholics," or "ACOAs," have left them with unique emotional patterns and problems.

BESIDES NOVELS about novels and plays within plays are museums about museums. The city's Peale Museum on Holliday Street, the nation's oldest in discontinuous operation, has a sparkling new exhibit about the birth of the museum in America that is largely its own history.It contrasts markedly, in its republicanism, with a show of quite different museum origins, in the private cabinets of kings and dukes, that the Walters Art Gallery mounted some years ago.The Peale, part of the City Life Museums, has joined the big leagues in one respect: You gain admittance through the gift shop.

While Eloise Barnum considers matchy-matchy a no-no, this 25-year-old Canton real estate agent knows how to coordinate current fashion trends with her body type. Dressed in an oh-so-this-moment long sundress, Barnum braved 90-plus temperatures outside the Bay Cafe to join in the fun at the "Cash Bash," a fundraiser for the Believe in Tomorrow Children's Foundation. Age: 25 Residence: Canton Job: Real estate agent for Yerman, Witman, Gaines & Conklin Self-described style : "Modern. Eclectic.

Yes, I know that Barnum, the Cy Coleman musical about to enter its second and final weekend of production by the Talent Machine Company at St. John's College in Annapolis, was a Tony winner that ran for 854 performances on Broadway in the early 1980s. I also know that it can be a colorful show, chock-full of tumblers, clowns, trapeze artists and the like; and that characters such as Tom Thumb, soprano Jenny Lind and the Barnums themselves lend the proceedings a bit of a historical kick.

Circuses and kids, dancing and singing: That's what has led to the revival of Barnum, the Circus Musical on community stages. It's opening today at the Talent Machine in Annapolis, where the talent is teenagers. The lead performer, Kory Kinney as P.T. Barnum, is 16. With its circus theme, the 1980 Tony Award-winning musical Barnum seems to be an ideal vehicle for a cast ages 14 to 18, which danced, clowned and tumbled during a recent rehearsal. For this show, cast members were also getting "lessons in fire eating and stilt walking from Talent Machine alumni," said Lea Capps, daughter of TM founder Bobbi Smith.

"It's a lot of music," Elvis Costello said yesterday about his latest tour program. "And that's what I want." The program will find the genre-hurdling singer, guitarist and composer playing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for three nights, starting tomorrow. Half of each concert will be devoted to a suite from Costello's first full-length classical composition, Il Sogno, the rest to a sampling of his many songs, delivered with full orchestral arrangements. The tour, which has already included performances with the San Francisco, Houston and, last night, Chicago symphonies, is yet one more demonstration of Costello's remarkable versatility.

On April 15, 2005, ROSA-SEDDON DAVIS, formerly of Baltimore, wife of the late Alanson Davis. Daughter of the late James Holmes and the late Rosalie Rutherfoord Holmes. She is survived by her daughter, Martha Davis Kelly, of Hartford, CT, and her son Bruce Barnum Davis, both of Vienna, VA; and two grandchildren. Also two brothers, James Holmes, of Wilmington, DE, and A. Rutherfoord Holmes, of Sykesville, MD. Services will be held in Summit, NJ on Saturday, April 23, 2005. Interment in Nantucket, MA at a later dater.

On January 11, 2004; PHYLLIS WILSON BARNUM; beloved wife of Harry C. Barnum. On Thursday, Mrs. Barnum will have a Memorial Service at The New VAUGHN C. GREENE FUNERAL SERVICES (Randallstown), 8728 Liberty Road, where the family will receive friends from 10:00 to 10:30 AM with Services to follow. Inquiries to (410) 655-0015.

YOUNG CHILDREN danced, sang and played last week at Millennium Health and Rehabilitation Center in Ellicott City. Residents of the center watched from wheelchairs and occasionally joined in the fun. Once the songs were over, the children and their parents took a few moments to visit with the residents. Some of the children perched carefully on the residents' laps, while others simply held their hands or whispered a few words of shy conversation. The hourlong scene is repeated week after week in adult care facilities in Howard County.

On November 28, 2003, WILLIAMHERMAN HANSSEN; beloved husband of the late Ruth Virginia Hanssen (nee Cook) Antoinette Hanssen and Evelyn Kelly Hanssen; devoted father of Nora( Hanssen) Barnum and her husband Jim; loving grandfather of Chris A., Carl A. and Clifford A. Barnum and great-grandfather of Todd, Christen, Zachary, Nicholas, Alesha and Angel; dear brother of Edna Mamie Palaia and the late Dorthea Size, Amelia Liberto, Arthur Hanssen, Harold Hanssen, Sr., and Edwin Hanssen. Also survived by many nieces and nephews.

On November 28, 2003, WILLIAMHERMAN HANSSEN; beloved husband of the lateRuth Virginia Hanssen (nee Cook) , Antoinette Hanssen and Evelyn Kelly Hanssen; devoted father of Nora( Hanssen) Barnum and her husband Jim; loving grandfather of Chris A., Carl A. and Clifford A. Barnum and great-grandfather of Todd, Christen, Zachary, Nicholas, Alesha and Angel; dear brother of Edna Mamie Palaia and the late Dorthea Size, Amelia Liberto, Arthur Hanssen, Harold Hanssen, Sr., and Edwin Hanssen. Also survived by many nieces and nephews.

In The Magnificent Seven, one of Hollywood's greatest horse operas, there's a wonderful moment where Eli Wallach, playing the evil bandit Calvera, surveys the timid Mexican villagers his gang has robbed and terrorized and says, "If God did not want them shorn, he would not have made them sheep." It's a saying that con artists use to describe their victims, too. In fact, some attribute it to showman P.T. Barnum, along with the adage: "There's a sucker born every minute." There's no evidence that Barnum uttered either aphorism.