Oh one more thing before I end today’s Barnum blog. Dedication is the word that was used constantly by many of the people I interviewed for my book. Whoever I spoke to, whether it was Lord Bell or Bobby Zarem, irrespective of their skill or area of expertise, they attributed their success to a belief in the client and the subsequent commitment needed to create and manage the client’s success. So going back to the age of the early Stuntster, I realised that the trailblazers had those same motivational genes, but subtly they had a more practical manner. Currently when…

By the dawn of the 1970’s, television changed the way in which publicists in the U.S. used their craft. Budgets could be plundered if a course could be chartered between ‘turn’ and product. It was Henry Rogers of Rogers and Cowan who pioneered the way. He fully understood the value of entertainment collateral when dealing with promoting product. What was important was balance; and any true PR empire knows this for ultimate effect and unfettered development. As companies desired enlargement and expansion, the status quo began to change. The “boutique” or speciality agency that had become so prominent in the…

I have had a flurry of emails from folk interested in debating some of the issues I wrote about yesterday. One of the key points I was asked to expand upon was the subject of the mortally wounded publicist. I don’t know where to start, but when researching my book in Los Angeles, I met a number of publicists who were keen to open up and chat about the topic in a much more frank way than any Brits have. Bitter PR’s are never pleasant people to encounter. The issue which over-powers the old and current generation of publicists or…

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 yet to be called a profession. I believe I have now spent over ten years considering men like Stein and have tried to search for the constituents that drive this passion. I believe that at the nucleus of all the great publicists is this substantial…

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, Teideman’s chairman, Norman Starck employed Stein to “revamp” their image.

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 being “exhibited” by Eierling as the “world’s fattest man”.

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 a way of generating money through racketeering, and they thought they could use strong arm tactics to make Stein’s clients famous, thus bringing them a healthy revenue.

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 Southern Italy. Stein decided, with Barnum-style flair, to have Paulo Frazzoni make his entrance at the New York Theatre, in a horse and cart, dressed as a peasant, with various members of the orchestra following on. The themed cart would parade up from the Lower…