This summer’s Roo writing will be all about Galveston, with previews on Saturdays and a Roo Tale around Labor Day. But before we head south to the Gulf of Mexico, we’ll take a short diversion today to the east. To New York.
There was a time two years ago when Dianne’s &
my daughter simply could not get enough of the movie “The Greatest
Showman.” It was on a constant loop. The songs were continuously sung
by Ms. M. as her parents slowly transitioned from thrilled to humorously
annoyed. That phase has moderated, but the 2017 movie starring Hugh
Jackman and Michelle Williams still comes back from time to time. Why,
just yesterday Ms. M. was randomly watching it. I asked for her
favorite song from the movie; she likes “This is Me.” I can see that.
The movie takes liberties with history, but a certain scene is fairly
accurate. Desperate to achieve both fortune and the respect of his
blue-blooded peers, P.T. Barnum (Jackman) convinces international
sensation Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson) to travel to America and perform
in his show. Her singing is an instant hit, and catapults Barnum to
fame at a national level.
The real Jenny Lind was born in
Sweden in 1820, and was already a superstar in Europe by the time she
was a teenager. In 1849, the year of Austin College’s founding, Lind
announced her retirement from European Opera. Barnum thought he might
be able to convince Lind to agree to an America tour within his show; he
was right.
Association with P.T. Barnum was certainly a step
down from European high society. Lind, however, was not interested in
status. She was motivated by a desire to raise significant funds for
public education (then a novelty) in her native Sweden. Her 1850 tour
with Barnum took the singer from New York to New Orleans and all points
between. By the end of the trip, Lind had raised nearly $350,000 over
93 American concerts. It was an astonishing figure for the era, and it
all went to charity.
Americans were not familiar with Lind before
her arrival, but that changed literally overnight. Lind’s appeal was
more than a beautiful voice; her sincerity and philanthropy were
universally praised. Barnum himself said that “it is a mistake to say
the fame of Jenny Lind rests solely on her ability to sing. She was a
woman who would have been adored if she had had the voice of a crow.”
Lind arrived in New York on September 1st, 1850, to adoring crowds.
Barnum was there to greet her, as were tens of thousands of New Yorkers.
From the New York Herald:
“The spectacle of some thirty or
forty thousand persons congregated on all adjacent piers could be seen
hurrying down towards [the ship’s] dock.”
Her first concert in
America was held on September 11, 1850 at the Castle Garden in New York
City. Originally a fort during colonial times in Battery Park, Castle
Garden was converted into an Exhibition Hall in 1824. Today, Castle
Garden is better known as the Castle Clinton National Monument.
In the movie “The Greatest Showman,” Lind takes the stage at Castle
Garden and performs “Never Enough” to a raptured crowd. In reality,
Lind actually sang a number of Opera pieces to a theatre “packed to its
utmost capacity.” At the end of the performance, Barnum himself
announced to the audience that Lind would be donating all of her
proceeds for the evening to twelve New York City charities. “The
deafening shouts that followed the speech were absolutely
indescribable,” shouted the press. Barnum and Lind at Castle Garden
were the hit of the year in 1850.
And the founder of Austin College was there.
Daniel Baker had arrived in Galveston, TX in 1840 with a goal to create
a Presbyterian college in the new republic. That effort finally
succeeded in 1849, when the Texas Legislature approved a charter
establishing Austin College in Huntsville, TX. The college, however,
was on shaky financial ground. Baker immediately left for the East
Coast on the first of many fund-raising trips.
From “Austin College: A Sesquicentennial History,” by Dr. Light Cummins:
“Baker was absent from Huntsville for most of the period from his
appointment as college agent from April of 1850 well into 1854. The
vigor with which Reverend Baker approached his fund-raising duties is
all the more remarkable considering how much he disliked the task.
Nonetheless, Daniel Baker was a successful financial agent for Austin
College.”
Baker’s first fund raising trip during the summer of
1850 took him back to his native Virginia and his adoptive New Jersey,
where he had graduated from Princeton in 1815. From there, Baker made
his way to Brooklyn, New York. In addition to raising funds in New York
City, Baker also assisted with preaching duties for a local church
whose pastor was recuperating from poor health. His summer of 1850 in
the Big Apple on behalf of Austin College coincided with the Castle
Garden performance of Lind.
From the letters of Daniel Baker in “The Life and labours of the Reverend Daniel Baker,” by William M. Baker:
“I must tell you a thing or two. The room at Castle Garden where
[Lind] has been giving her concerts is……the most spacious in the United
States. She sings admirably, but after all, I suspect the angels can
beat her! And if you compare her concerts in Castle Garden with the
concert of saints and angels as recorded in the fifth chapter of the
book of Revelation, you will perceive that earth cannot compete with
heaven.”
From “A Sesquicentennial History:”
“Baker was so
awed by Miss Lind that he sent an inscribed book of his sermons to her
hotel in appreciation for the concert. In return, she wrote him a
‘beautiful’ thank you letter acknowledging the gift. Impressed with the
nobility of the note, Baker observed that it contained sentiments
‘indicative of a pious heart’ on Miss Lind’s part.”
If you are
reading this, you may have donated to Austin College this year, the
170th year of the school’s existence. Interestingly, AC donors in year
#1 may have included some of the native New Yorkers you see applauding
Ms. Jenny Lind at Castle Garden in “The Greatest Showman.”
Barnum’s “Greatest Show on Earth” lived well into the 20th century,
after both Barnum and Lind had passed. In 1905, the Barnum & Bailey
Circus announced a Texas tour; Austin College was one of the show’s
destinations. Just three days after an 18-11 football defeat to Texas
A&M at Luckett Field in Sherman, Austin College Kangaroos were
entertained by Barnum’s successors on campus.
Music from the
movie “The Greatest Showman” will occasionally pop up in the Parrish
family household. When this happens, our daughter starts to sing as
before, and Dianne and I roll our eyes. When Dianne reads that I’ve turned Ms. M’s obsession into a Roo Tale, well, she’ll probably roll her eyes again.
