Shoeshiner
Shoeshiner or boot polisher is a profession in which a person polishes shoes with shoe polish. They are often known as shoeshine boys because the job is traditionally that of a male child. In the leather fetish communities, they are often called bootblacks. While the role is deprecated in much of Western civilisation there are children that earn an important wage for their family in many countries throughout the world. Some shoeshiners offer extra services, such as shoe repairs and general tailoring. Many well-known and high profile people started their working life as shoeshiners, including singers and presidents.
History
Shoe polish was not well known as a commercial product until the early 20th century. Throughout the late 19th century shoeshine boys plied their trade on the streets, particularly those in the cities of the United Kingdom.
Modern profession
The profession is common in many countries around the world, with the wage earned by the shoeshiner being a significant proportion of a family income, particularly when the father of the family has died or can no longer work.[1] In Afghanistan some children will work after school and can earn 100 Afghanis (around £1) each day.[2] Many street children use shoeshining as their only means of income.
Some cities require shoeshiners to acquire licences in order to work legally. In August 2007 shoeshiners in Mumbai, India were told that they could no longer work on the railway stations due to "financial irregularities". Every Shoeshine Association was asked to reapply for their licence, with many worried that they would lose out to a rival.[3]
Famous shoeshiners
Several high profile figures worked as a shoeshine boy at one point of their lives:
Portrayal in popular culture
Shoeshiners have featured in:
Film and television
- Boot Polish, a 1954 Hindi film
- El Bolero de Raquel, 1956 Mexican film starring Cantinflas
- Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese's 1990 gangster film, features a scene in which hair trigger-tempered Lucchese crime family wiseguy, Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), brutally beats to death Gambino crime family mobster, Billy Batts (Frank Vincent), for insulting him about being a shoeshine boy in Tommy's younger days. The film is based on the real-life experiences of Henry Hill and the people he met through the Vario brothers, who owned a shoeshine stand and other businesses. In real life, William "Billy Batts" Devino taunted Thomas "Two Gun Tommy" DeSimone, calling him "spit-shine Tommy". DeSimone retorted by yelling, "Shine these fuckin' shoes", and then executing Batts.[11]
- Shoe Shine Boy, a 1943 film musical
- Shoeshine, a 1946 Italian film which received honours at the 1948 Academy Awards
- Underdog, an animated television series in which an anthropomorphic dog, Shoeshine Boy, battles crime as a canine superhero.
- Talking About Your Generation, a popular Australian Panel Show: "Bannanas can be used as shoe shine"
- In one episode of Billy the Kid, Billy punched a shoeshiner in the face.
- Parks and Recreation, in which the character Andy is a shoeshiner in Pawnee City Hall.
Literature and publications
- Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy, a novel by Doug Stumpf currently being adapted into a screenplay
- Ragged Dick, an 1867 dime novel by Horatio Alger, Jr. about a poor but honest shoe shiner and his rise to middle-class comfort and respectability through good moral behavior, clean living, and determination. Shine!, a musical based on Alger's work, particularly Ragged Dick, was produced in 1982.
- Rajbahadur Bakhia the arch-villain in novels of Surender Mohan Pathak, was originally a shoeshiner at flora fountain area of Mumbai, and had his introduction with underworld over a payment dispute with a small time gangster who refused to pay him.
- Scrooge McDuck, the Dell Comics character, famously won his Number One Dime shining shoes.
Music
References
External links