1851

January–March

 * March 29, 1851

A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE

This is the big time. "All our hotels are already engaged," says the newspaper, adding that one question can be heard on every street corner: "Are you going to hear Jenny?"

Promoter P.T. Barnum and his hottest act, singer Jenny Lind, find a city starved for entertainment when their steamboat reaches Nashville this morning. A huge crowd lines the new suspension bridge over the Cumberland for a two-hour wait, then rushes to the levee to catch a glimpse of the legendary "Swedish Nightingale" as she arrives. Barnum (described by the paper as "a very good looking gentleman, with a remarkably elegant set of teeth") makes the most of the frenzy, immediately convening a ticket auction at the Odd Fellows' Hall-- admission 10 cents, bids starting at $50 per seat, remaining seats and standing room $3 to $5. A gross take of nearly $8,000 is guaranteed before the doors of the Adelphi Theatre open for Tuesday night's show.

At the show, songbooks sell for an exorbitant 25 cents. The 1,200 attendees don't seem to mind, roaring their approval of such standards as "The Bird Song" and "Home, Sweet Home."

The Nashville True Whig is infected with Barnum's entrepreneurial spirit. It notes that the influx of music fans is doing much for merchants-- "at least those who advertise in the Whig." New advertisers are seeing "the error of their ways," editorializes the paper. "There is room still for a few more."

--by Tom Wood

Sources: Nashville True Whig 3/28-4/2/1851; Henry McRaven, Nashville: Athens of the South (Scheer & Jarvis, 1949)

(Originally published in Nashville Scene, 3/25/93)