The Mildest Show on Earth

I see that the state legislature has approved a $1.25 million bonding request for renovations at Bridgeport's P.T. Barnum Museum. You may think this is an appropriate expenditure of public funds, or you may not, but to me it proves Barnum's famous line that there's a sucker born every minute. If the idea of the Barnum Museum is to keep alive the legacy of its namesake, it should be the most exciting, unpredictable, over-the-top museum in America. It should be a magnet for outrage, a center for scam, the Weekly World News of the museum world. People should be lining up outside its doors to come view the latest spectacle. Instead, the museum is quiet, unassuming and, dare I say it, so tasteful that you barely know it's there. What could and should be one of Connecticut's most notable and colorful attractions is instead a shrinking violet. Barnum no doubt would be embarrassed to have left behind such a low-key monument. And the state should wonder about its unquestioning support. Who are the suckers this time?