Barnum vs Houdini: The Man Who Sold Lies vs The Man Who Exposed Them
P.T. BARNUM vs HARRY HOUDINI go head to head — and every jab is rooted in real history.
The people know my mermaids are half-fish, half-nonsense, and they line up anyway - I sell wonder, and there's no crime in a paid smile.
There is a crime when a 'spirit medium' takes a grieving widow's savings; I've had those charlatans arrested, and I'll gladly do it again on stage tonight.
But you escaped a straitjacket underwater by trickery you'll never confess - how is your mystery honest and my mermaid a swindle?
Because I tell the crowd it's a trick, Phineas - you dressed a lie in a ticket booth, and I dress the truth in handcuffs.
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