Commodore Nutt
George Washington Morrison Nutt (1814-04-01 – 1881-05-25), better known by his stage name Commodore Nutt, was a 19th century dwarf who became famous working for P. T. Barnum.[1][2]
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Nutt was born in Manchester, New Hampshire to healthy, normal sized parents. His father, a farmer, stood over six feet tall (183 cm) and weighed 270 lb (120 kg).[1]
Though Nutt had once wooed Lavinia Warren, losing her to General Tom Thumb, he eventually met and married Lilian Elston in California. Ms. Elston was said to have been of slight figure, but not much below average size, and she proved to be a devoted wife.
When Nutt was 17 years old he was brought to New York City to be exhibited at Barnum's American Museum that stood at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street.[1] The museum, owned by P.T. Barnum and his partner John Scudder, was a combination zoo, museum, lecture hall, wax museum, theater and freak show that, at its peak, was open fifteen hours a day and had as many as 15,000 visitors daily.[3]
Nutt was "originally known" as "$30,000 Nutt"[1] after the amount that Barnum claimed to have paid the young man to accompany him on "expedition". William S. Hutchings, who worked for Barnum as a "lightning calculator", later contradicted this claim and said that Nutt received only $15 from Barnum weekly.[1][4] In New York, Nutt was accompanied by his brother Rodney Nutt. Rodney was paid as a coachman for his brother's trips around town as these were "one of Barnum's favorite modes of advertising."[1]
After about three years, Nutt joined the performing troupe headed by General Tom Thumb and Minnie Warren. Under the management of Sylvester Bleeker, Nutt traveled the world with that troupe and, according to published accounts, received "the patronage of royalty in nearly every kingdom of the Old World"[1][2]
Nutt was 36 inches (91 cm) tall when he came to work for Barnum and grew to a total of height of 43 inches (109 cm) inches during his lifetime. The New York Times said that this "celebrated dwarf" was often advertised as "the smallest man in the world" and also noted that although he grew seven inches after joining Barnum "in girth his increase in size was even more marked".[1]
Nutt died early morning Wednesday, May 26, 1881 after suffering nearly two months from a severe attack of "Bright's disease", a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis.[1]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i [1] New York Times, 26 May 1881
- ^ a b P.T. Barnum: America's Greatest Showman, Kunhardt, Philip B., Jr., Kunhardt, Philip B., III and Kunhardt, Peter W., Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. ISBN 0-679-43574-3.
- ^ Tina Kelley (2000-07-01). "A Museum to Visit from an Armchair". The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
- ^ [2] Circus History
