After a week of working through the papers from Percival Stein, I have been considering his legacy. I suppose if one had to sum up my research, it’s clear that he was a lost son of Barnum. The papers provide evidence that advocates he was a man of passion, in love with something that was…
As early as Percival Stein’s days, men were performing great displays of daring by jumping from building to building to promote brands. Percival Stein employed an actor named Richard Talmadge, a stunt man from Hollywood and paid him to make daring leaps from one building to another to launch events and promote companies.
Two more tales have come from Nicholas Leonard’s great great grandfather’s archive. An early U.S. flight company approached Percival Stein in regard to their zeppelin flight service which was losing money left and right. It appeared that nobody trusted the hefty aircraft and preferred not to fly with the company.
Continuing with the stunts of Percival Stein, this week’s “Son of Barnum”, Stein found himself in the employ of a large but financially insecure New York Tailoring business. Despite numerous attempts to increase their revenue, Teideman’s of NYC were making a loss for the fifth year running. Having heard of Stein’s exceptional talents for publicity,…
Percival Stein, this week’s Son of Barnum find, courtesy of his great great grandson, Nicholas Leonard, took to the road with the “world’s fattest man”. Stein had come across Joseph Eierling, a circus talent-spotter who had “acquired” John Webb in a circus freak show. John, a mere 19 year old who weighed over 680lbs was…
Percival Stein’s archive, now in the hands of his great great grandson, Nicholas Leonard, tells the story of Stein’s involvement with the New York Mafia. The mob had decided to help Stein, and so his fears of being bumped off were soon forgotten aided by one Ignazio Lupo. The mob was interested in entertainment as…
The material on Percival Stein continues to throw up some interesting material. It seems that Stein established himself as a theatre publicist and by 1895 was much in demand. One of his shows involved a visiting Italian opera singer, Paulo Frazzoni, a small but vocally powerful man of humble birth from a peasant village in…
I received an email from a man in Mill Hill called Nicholas Leonard who has been reading my blog and had heard about the book. He believes his great great grandfather is truly one of the son’s of Barnum. From a family archive, he came across some extraordinary facts about his great great grandfather, Percival…
I received an email from a Mrs Ponsford from Chipping Onger who told me an interesting story about her grandfather who worked for a travelling group of players who toured British seaside resorts with his Whodunnit, Cludoesque show. Giles Ponsford was not only stager manager and actor but also a madcap schemer in generating audiences…
It seems unbelievable in our current climate that the Hollywood Studios used to have so much power and hold over their actors and actresses, practically controlling their whole lives. Greer Garson, MGM’s first lady for many years, was one such actress who felt the reins of the studio system. Greer Garson was in love again,…