P. T. BARNUM
P. T. Barnum (born Phineas Taylor Barnum; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, politician, and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871-2017). Barnum was also an author, publisher, philanthropist, and for some time a politician. He embarked on an entertainment career, first with a variety troupe called “Barnum’s Grand Scientific and Musical Theater”, and soon after by purchasing Scudder’s American Museum, which he renamed after himself. Barnum used the museum as a platform to promote hoaxes and human curiosities such as the Feejee mermaid and General Tom Thumb. His museum added America’s first aquarium and expanded the wax-figure department. The circus business was the source of much of his enduring fame. He established “P. T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome”, a traveling circus, menagerie and museum of “freaks”, which adopted many names over the years. (More from Wikipedia)
The band name the Human Zoo could mean a lot of things, but there is a Wikipedia entry on “human zoo”, about zoos or other exhibitions that feature humans rather than other types of animals. One variety is the freak show, which persists in carnivals and similar venues to this day. P. T. Barnum had exhibited some humans in his circus shows in the 19th Century, most famously the conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker. They were born in the Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand), leading to the common term for the condition, Siamese twins. There was also a Twilight Zone episode featuring a human zoo on another planet.
(July 2015)
