Charles Schumann

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Schumann during boxing training, Munich (1994)

Charles Schumann , actually Karl Georg Schuhmann , (born September 15, 1941 in Kirchenthumbach , Upper Palatinate ) is a German barkeeper and restaurateur .

Schumann has been running one of the most famous bars in Germany, the Münchener Schumann’s, since 1982 . He is also the author of several bar and cocktail books, including his standard work American Bar, first published in 1991 . Schumann also became known through his work as a model for the Baldessarini fashion label and other advertising engagements, including for office chairs (Wagner), perfume ( Boss ) and Campari . His life and work has been the subject of books, newspaper reports and two documentaries, most recently Schumann's Bar Talks (2015), in which Charles Schumann tours well-known bars around the world.

Life

Schumann's logo

Schumann comes from a Catholic family, the father was a farmer. He attended an episcopal high school in Regensburg, which he dropped out at 17 to earn money. He then worked for the Federal Border Police for six years . After training as a consulate secretary at the Foreign Office in Bonn, he attended a hotel management school in Switzerland , worked, among other things, in a chicken roasting shop on the Adriatic coast, in a discotheque in Munich and as a cook during the day. In 1971 he went to southern France , where he worked in various discos and nightclubs until 1973. There he got the nickname "Charles". Among other things, Schumann was the head of personnel at a branch of the Munich discotheque Tiffany's in Montpellier and eventually headed a striptease club on the Spanish border. In the summer of 1973 he went back to Munich , caught up with his Abitur and enrolled at the University of Politics and Journalism . In Munich he initially worked as a salaried bartender in Harry's New York Bar , which opened in 1974, and finally opened Schumann's American Bar in 1982 at Maximilianstrasse 36 . Before that, the restaurant was called Die Kanne .

Back buffet ("Backbar") in Schumann’s on Odeonsplatz

The Schumann's quickly gained great popularity and developed not only to regular bar for writers, journalists and artists, but also a meeting place for the Munich -crowd . The popularity was supported by several books that Schumann published in the following years. He only wrote some of them himself; many posts are short stories and episodes by other authors that are related to the bar theme. American Bar appeared in 1991 . The bar book illustrated by Günter Mattei had 20 editions, was translated into eleven languages ​​and, according to the publisher, sold 300,000 times until a revised new edition, Schumann's Bar , appeared at the end of 2011 .

In 2001 Schumann opened another day bar on Maffeistraße. In 2003 the previous Schumann's Bar moved to today's larger rooms at Odeonsplatz 6 + 7 and was supplemented there by a smaller bar, the Camparino . At the new location, Schumann's increasingly developed into a restaurant-bar. Another bar was added on the first floor in 2013, Les Fleurs du Mal . The name is reminiscent of the poetry book of the same name by the absinthe admirer Charles Baudelaire and is also the title of a poem that Albert Ostermaier dedicated to Schumann.

In collaboration with Villeroy & Boch and Zwiesel Kristallglas (2010), Schumann developed two series of bar glasses that were also used in his own bar.

In 2015 the documentary Charles Schumann - Von Kirchenthumbach in the world of Marieke Schroeder , in which she accompanies him to various stages in his life, was made. The film was broadcast on BR television shortly after Schumann's 75th birthday .

Another documentary by Marieke Schroeder, Schumann's bar talk , was released in the cinemas in autumn 2017. In the film, co-produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk, Schumann travels to famous bars around the world and meets well-known personalities from the international bar scene.

In 2019, in the course of the presentation of "The World's 50 Best Bars - Industry Icon Award", allegations of misogyny against Schumann were loud. In 2009 he said in an interview with the German Playboy that a bar is not a place for a woman, and in an interview with the Japan Times that the most important characters in a bar are always men. In response to the controversy, Schumann returned the award on the grounds that he no longer wanted it.

Cocktails by Charles Schumann

Numerous cocktails go back to Charles Schumann or were created in his bar. The best-known include the Colada variants, Swimmingpool and Flying Kangaroo , the champagne drink French 68 , based on the classic French 75 , and the rum cocktails, light seaman , heavy seaman and deep sea diver . In an interview, Schumann described himself as a pure drinker and preferred, if at all, simple classic drinks made from a few components. Charles Schumann can be found almost every day in his restaurant on Odeonsplatz.

Publications by Charles Schumann (selection)

  • (Ed.): Schumann's Barbuch: Drinks & Stories . Heyne, Munich 1984 (2nd edition), ISBN 3-453-36004-4 .
  • Schumann's Tropical Bar Book . Heyne, Munich 1986 (2nd edition), ISBN 3-453-36021-4 .
  • American Bar: the artistry of mixing drinks (Text in German). 1st edition. Collection Rolf Heyne, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-04368-5 , from a later edition under the title Schumann's Bar .
  • Just in case: Brecht. Vol. 2 .: Rausch , selected by Charles Schumann. 1st edition. Suhrkamp-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-518-46067-2 (selection from Bertolt Brecht).
  • Successor to American Bar : Schumann's Bar . Collection Rolf Heyne, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-89910-416-5 .

Literature on Charles Schumann

  • Günter Mattei (Ed.): Schumann's Maximilianstrasse 36. Stories, Drinks, Recipes . Collection Rolf Heyne, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-89910-211-8 . Anthology about Schumann's Bar and its operator with articles, interviews and anecdotes by numerous guest authors.
  • Charles Schumann, homage to a boss. A literary guest book, Schirmer / Mosel, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8296-0566-3 .
  • Moritz von Uslar : The old man and the bar by the sea . In: ZEITmagazin No. 38 of September 15, 2011, pp. 20–27. Online at www.zeit.de , accessed on September 28, 2011. Homage to Charles Schumann on the occasion of his 70th birthday.

Films about Charles Schumann

  • Charles Schumann - From Kirchenthumbach into the world , Bayerischer Rundfunk 2015, documentary by Marieke Schroeder, in which she accompanies Schumann to various stages in his life.
  • Schumanns bar talk , 2017, 98 minutes, script and direction: Marieke Schroeder. Theatrical release: October 2017, in February 2019 the film was shown for the first time on BR television.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schumann's. In: schumanns.de. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Star Keeper , GQ-Magazin (online) from November 20, 2007 (February 16, 2009)
  3. ↑ Shaken and stirred ( Memento from February 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Press release from Topstar GmbH from October 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive , cf. Charles Schumann receives attractive support in Wagner's new TV commercial ( Memento from December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) .
  4. ↑ Caroline Hamann: Do you think you are beautiful, Herr Schumann? Welt am Sonntag , January 14, 2001, accessed September 15, 2011 .
  5. ^ Moritz von Uslar, p. 23.
  6. ↑ Continued as Pusser's Bar since 1993 , see Bartradition (Pusser's Bar website) , accessed on February 9, 2012.
  7. ↑ How do you actually become a bar owner, Charles Schumann? . In: FAZ Hochschulanzeiger . 2005.
  8. ↑ Stars: Barman of the Nation - Charles Schumann turns 75 - Stars. In: tz.de. September 14, 2016, accessed March 3, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Philipp Crone: Schumann strikes back. In: sueddeutsche.de . October 18, 2013, accessed May 22, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart, Germany: Munich cult bar "Schumann's Bar": Charles Schumann is the man behind the bar. In: stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. September 15, 2016, accessed March 4, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Experience Bavaria: Charles Schumann - From Kirchenthumbach into the world -. In: br.de. September 5, 2016, accessed March 3, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Charles Schumann in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  13. ↑ Debate about misogyny: barkeeper Charles Schumann returns price. Retrieved October 27, 2019 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Schumann, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schuhmann, Karl Georg (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German bar operator
DATE OF BIRTH September 15, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Kirchenthumbach , Upper Palatinate