I was right about a Tom Thumb being in a circus. He was known as General Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton), a midget, who was the top stage performer for P.T. Barnum’s New York Museum, in the 1800s.

As the Big Top has given way to the hardtop, the circus (TIME, April 13) has undergone many a change. ... Circuses: Goodbye, Tom Thumb. 3 minute read. TIME. May 18, 1962 12:00 AM GMT-4.

PT Barnum circus star General Tom Thumb’s strong links to Ireland General Tom Thumb and his ‘guardian’, Barnum, departed for England, in January 1844, for a three-year tour of Europe.

The only thing lower case about this production is the Metro spelling of tom thumb. Otherwise, film is top-drawer, a comic fairy tale with music that stacks up alongside some of the Disney classics.