
Continuity mistake: When Barnum goes to see Charity by the beach at the end of the film, they embrace. As the camera shows a close up of their faces Charity's head is on Barnum's right shoulder, but when they reverse the shot to show her expression she is now on his left shoulder. (01:30:10)
Answer: In those days that would be a normal punishment for P.T.'s behaviour. His father could have said something but did not want to lose a customer. P.T. also did not want his father to lose a customer because they knew getting money was worth taking the hit. If they had enough money to miss one customer it may have been different.
Iceberg