Philip Carlyle

## The Greatest Showman

**Phillip Carlyle** is a fictional character from The Greatest Showman. During the events of The Greatest Showman, he becomes P.T. Barnum's work partner.

## Background

### Personality

Before joining Barnum's circus, all he would do was drink and work on his plays. But after joining, he began to become more happy, and stopped his drinking. He also began to fall in love with Anne Wheeler, and tried to be with her. However, he is hurt when his parents insult Anne and this shows that despite the freedom he gained by joining Barnum, he still struggles under the pressure of his parents and the time period, since it was looked down upon for white people to love or marry people from other races. At the end of the film, Phillip ran into a burning building to save her, and was hurt in the process. At the hospital, they link hands and share a kiss, cementing their relationship.

### Physical Appearance

Phillip is a handsome man. He has enticing, blue eyes with brown hair. A sturdy and muscular physique and average height.

### Abilities

In the song the Greatest Show, Philip showed no problem doing a few moves.

## Appearances

### The Greatest Showman

Phillip was a popular playwright and comes from a prestigious family. He was first seen during P.T. Barnum's daughter's ballet recital, drinking copious amounts of alcohol while talking with fellow upperclassmen.

Barnum approaches him during one of his plays and invites him for a drink. In the bar, Barnum tries to convince Phillip to join his circus, claiming that Phillip has a flair for show business. The two perform the musical number, 'The Other Side', where Barnum talks Phillip into running away and joining the circus. He continues to reject his offers until Barnum brings up the freedom of living and laughing compared to his typical life full of whiskey and misery. Phillip officially becomes Barnum's junior partner and shares 10% of the income. Upon joining the circus, Phillip is impressed by the different performers and becomes infatuated with Anne Wheeler, a trapeze artist.

Barnum introduces Phillip to W.D. and Anne, where he was further charmed by her. Later, Phillip snags an opportunity for the circus troupe to meet the Queen of England. When asked by Anne if all of them could go, he responded that it's either all of them go, or none of them go, which impressed her. During their visit to Buckingham Palace, he introduces Barnum to the opera singer, Jenny Lind, despite not being acquainted with her in the first place.

After Barnum recruits Jenny Lind, in her concert, Phillip asks Barnum where do they (the circus troupe) watch. Barnum brushes him off and tells him that they should watch somewhere not visible to the crowd. Phillip goes back to his fellow circus members and while listening to Jenny Lind's performance, he is caught in the moment as he locks hands with Anne throughout the performance. Nearing the end of the song, he sees his parents looking at him and discreetly lets go of Anne's hand, much to Anne's disappointment.

After the party, Phillip wistfully watched Anne perform alongside the rest of the troupe, 'This Is Me', with Anne looking back at Phillip during the performance. Later on, Phillip questions Barnum's decisions of touring with Jenny Lind, to which Barnum continues to brush off. He converses with Lettie Lutz and Charles Stratton and tells them Barnum is off to tour around the world, to which Lettie tells him to pull himself together.

He buys two tickets in advance for the show, with one being for Anne. When she arrives, she is surprised, claiming she only had one. Phillip arrives after, and says he wasn't sure she would come if she had known it was him. He escorts her to the theatre until his parents see him once again. He introduces Anne to them but his parents offend Anne with their racism and prejudice and she walks away, angered and torn. Phillip confronts his parents, claiming that "whatever world" he was part of no longer existed; he continues to ridicule them, stating that they should never talk to her that way. Chasing after Anne, he follows her to the circus and asks her why she cared so much about what his parents think. He tries to hold her hands, and she pull them away from him. The two perform their musical number, 'Rewrite the Stars', expressing their attraction to one another and wondering if they could ever be together despite societal pressures and racism. He confesses his love for her, and optimistically tries to convince Anne while she holds a more realistic temperament and rejects his advances.

After one of the circus performances, the protesters continued to linger and Phillip kindly asks them to leave but is ignored, this escalates into a big fight between the protesters and the performers which ends in the building going up in flames. Upon evacuating, Anne was nowhere to be seen. Phillip ran back into the burning building, thinking Anne is still in there. However, only moments later, Anne escaped through the back exit unscathed. Barnum chases after Phillip into the building as the building collapses. The two emerge from the collapsing building but Phillip is left unconscious with many burns and wounds. He is put in the hospital with Anne constantly watching over him.

After the events of 'From Now On', Phillip wakes up and shares a tender kiss with Anne. Anne finally accepts she really does love him, and decides to stay with him, despite the racism and social barriers. Phillip appears to no longer drink after joining the circus. It is understood that him joining the circus and meeting Anne is what helped him crawl out of his misery and depression.

The circus troupe including Phillip rummage through the burned pile and discuss how to continue the circus. Phillip expresses his gratitude to Barnum that despite his loss of inheritance and invitations to numerous parties, he still had friendship and love. With no other way to fund the circus, Phillip entrusts his shared income to Barnum and officially become partners. During the performance of 'The Greatest Show', Barnum hands over the reins to Phillip, signifying their partnership. Phillip sings and dances alongside everyone else and shares another kiss with Anne at the end of the performance.

## Quotes

Phillip Carlyle : They come to see you... \*Your\* crazy ideas, \*your\* new acts. The unusual...

P.T. Barnum : Well then how about you show them a smile? That'd be unusual.

Phillip Carlyle : I can't just run off and join the circus.

P.T. Barnum : Why not? You clearly have a flair for show business.

P.T. Barnum : This is for you.

Phillip Carlyle : What will \*you\* be doing?

P.T. Barnum : Watching my girls grow up. The show must go on.

Phillip Carlyle : The only thing is I don't know how we are ever going to afford a building.

P.T. Barnum : Right.

P.T. Barnum : We don't need a building. Real estate in Manhattan is a terrible investment. Why, I can get land down by the docks for almost nothing. All we need is a tent!

P.T. Barnum : [seeing Jenny for the first time] Who's that?

Phillip Carlyle : The opera singer?

P.T. Barnum : Singer, huh?

Phillip Carlyle : She's the most famous performer in all of Europe. She sold out La Scala a dozen times. Not to mention the French Opera.

P.T. Barnum : Ah.

[he grabs Phillip's arm and leads him forward]

Phillip Carlyle : What are you doing?

P.T. Barnum : Following you, so you can introduce me to Ms. Lind.

Phillip Carlyle : Introduce you?

P.T. Barnum : Yeah.

Phillip Carlyle : I don't know her.

P.T. Barnum : Everybody knows her. You just said so yourself.

Phillip Carlyle : Yeah, exactly. You don't just march up to someone like this.

P.T. Barnum : Why not? We're personable. She's a person.

Phillip Carlyle : Anne, they're small minded people. Why do you care what they think?

Anne Wheeler : It's not just them. You've never had anyone look at you the way your parents just looked at me. The way everyone would look at us.

Mr. Carlyle : Philip, have you no shame? Associating yourself with the Barnum business is one thing, but parading around with the help!

Phillip Carlyle : Anne! Anne!

Phillip Carlyle : How dare you speak to her like that.

Mrs. Carlyle : You forget your place, Philip.

Phillip Carlyle : My place? Mother if this is my place, then I don't want any part of it.

Phillip Carlyle : Before I met you, I had a name, an inheritance, and an invitation to every party in town. Now thanks to you, all that's gone. All I have is love, friendship, and a work that I adore. You brought joy into my life.

Lettie Lutz : Into all our lives.

Lord of Leeds : Hear, hear!

P.T. Barnum : If only the bank would take joy as collateral.

Phillip Carlyle : Well they might not, but I will. I own 10% of the show. Knowing who I was working for, I had the good sense to take my cut weekly.

P.T. Barnum : Phillip, I can't let you gamble it on me.

Anne Wheeler : Sure you can!

Lettie Lutz : Don't turn sensible on us now!

Phillip Carlyle : Partners. 50/50.

## Trivia

* Philip Caryle middle name is Bailey. When he and PT Barnum become partners and name the company Barnum and Bailey.
* Philip Caryle might be based on James Bailey who was PT Barnum partner and founders of Barnum and Bailey circus.