Shoeshiner

"Shoeshine boy" redirects here. For other uses, see Shoeshine boy (disambiguation).

A boot polisher on a railway platform in Mumbai, India

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.

Shoeshiners at work in Playa del Carmen, Mexico 2009

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. In Afghanistan some children will work after school and can earn 100 Afghanis (around £1) each day. Many street children use shoeshining as their only means of income.

Some cities require shoeshiners to acquire licenses 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 license, with many worried that they would lose out to a rival.

Famous shoeshiners

Several high profile figures worked as a shoeshine boy before moving on to great things:

• Mahmoud Ahmed – Ethiopian singer
• James Brown – "The Godfather of Soul". He used to shine shoes and sing and dance on Ninth Street in Augusta, Georgia; in 1993 the road was renamed "James Brown Boulevard" in his honour.
• José Asunción Flores – composer and creator of the guarania genre of music
• Rush Limbaugh– conservative radio talk show host and pundit, shined shoes as a young boy to make spending money
• Oscar Micheaux – the first African American filmmaker
• Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – later President of Brazil
• Alejandro Toledo – later President of Peru
• Lee Trevino – professional golfer
• Dick Rowland – worked as a shoeshiner until his arrest sparked the Tulsa Race Riot
• Malcolm X – worked as a shoeshine boy at a Lindy Hop nightclub in New York City
• Rod Blagojevich – later Governor of Illinois

Portrayal in popular culture

Shoeshiners have featured in:

• Boot Polish, a 1954 Hindi film
• "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy", a song performed by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra amongst others
• Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy, a novel by Doug Stumpf currently being adapted into a screenplay
• El Bolero de Raquel, 1956 Mexican film starring Cantinflas
• 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.
• Scrooge McDuck famously won his Number One Dime shining shoes.
• 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.
• Rajbahadur Bakhia the arch-villain in novels of Surender Mohan Pathak, was originally a shoe-shine at flora fountain area of Mumbai, and had his introduction with underworld over a payment-dispute with a small time gangstar who refused to pay him.

External links

• Luard, Tim. BBC News. 16 September 2004. "China diary: Shanghai shoeshine".
• BBC News. 28 September 2004. "MBT women Shoe ".