Showman
Showmen are a diverse professional group of people who offer fairground , folk festival and variety attractions.
jobs
Legally, the operator of Funfairs and apply in Germany as a "showman" funfair amusements , ie operators of amusement rides such as carousels , Ferris wheels , roller coasters , Autoskootern or attractions such as throwing and shooting galleries or mobile catering and sales companies ( temporary buildings ). Originally, the catering establishments did not belong to the showmen division, but to the so-called market merchants.
history
Showmen have existed around the world since ancient times. In Europe they have practiced their profession since the Middle Ages by wandering around (as " traveling people ") at the fair or in the Tingeltangel . Wandering animal showmen have also been part of it since the 17th century .
To the performing small arts counting parts of the profession since the 20th century carry out their activities mostly in the circus , vaudeville or entertainment from.
The Market and Showman Museum in Essen gives an insight into the history of showmanship in Germany .
Social science
In the medieval class order they were ignored as part of the subordinate population except for political regulations. In Grimmelshausen's novels they appear under his descriptions of the traveling people in the 17th century. For the 19th century one is strongly referred to the folkloristic partial studies of Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl (cf. his natural history of the German people as the basis of a German social policy 1851–1869 and Die deutsche Arbeit 1861). B. from Karl von Holtei .
A comprehensive study of the showmen according to characteristics of the class or layer analysis is not available for the 20th or 21st century.
So one is dependent on differentiated individual studies of showman professions and marginal findings of prejudice research . This essentially includes approaches that proceed in a milieu theoretical manner, especially because the non-sedentary way of life of the showmen excludes them from many other milieus . It is particularly noteworthy that the high level of craftsmanship, which is required in particular from the artistic show professions and which often requires training from an early age, leads to a conspicuous professional inheritance within the families and supports a professional ( subcultural ) pride in them . This in turn leads to a strong social differentiation within the showmen themselves.
Legal situation and organizations
In Germany
Juridically be since 1 January 2002 in the Federal Republic of Germany in the Industrial Code as showmen such traders referred to one or more establishments, the carnival typical of their design and outer packaging businesses in the fields of rides, sales transactions, tent restaurants, snack and refreshment, shop - and entertain amusement shops, shooting shops or play-offs. That ranges from the one-man operation of a Hau den Lukas to the medium-sized entrepreneur of a giant roller coaster .
Showmen are in Germany, provided they as employees or workers in trade unions are organized by the International Artists lodge a subdivision of responsible, ver.di . As entrepreneurs (e.g. of mobile, in amusement parks also stationary operated driving, amusement, sales, display and display shops or of traveling restaurants) you are organized in numerous associations, such as the German Showman Association or the Federal Association of German Showmen and Market Merchants . In Austria showmen are organized in the professional association of "Cinema, Culture and Entertainment Companies" in the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. According to the entrepreneurial self-image of many of these, only they are showmen, but no longer their “employees” under labor law today.
The children of the showmen are, like all others, subject to compulsory school attendance .
Seasonal schedule in Central Europe (example)
The showman season has around 120 days a year during which income can be earned. The so-called set - up days for assembly and dismantling and, if applicable, transport routes must be added. On average, around 22 festival sites are approached (loaded) every year. The season for the trade fair showman usually begins with Easter and ends in December with the Christmas markets. The constantly rising operating costs make it necessary to also feed the latter in order to bridge the winter break financially and thus secure the existence.
To get to the various events, the showmen and their shops cover around 7000 km during the season. More than 90% of them are on the European roads. Only large rides that can be loaded into containers may be considered for transport by rail . This is not an alternative for smaller fairground operators, as the costs for rail transport are too high and many loading stations (especially in Germany) have been closed and sections of the route have been shut down.
The majority of the companies active in the showman trade are family businesses. Just like local companies, these must be managed from an economic perspective. Often the showmen still have to struggle with additional problems, since they always have to strive for a stand with all the work that is associated with it. Many companies therefore employ additional workers during the season , in Germany alone this is around 40,000 people.
literature
- Gerhard Eberstaller: Such a ringing game is great. Showmen, fairs and festivals in Austria, past and present. Brandstätter Verlag, 2005, ISBN 978-3-85498-364-4 .
- André Eisermann , 1st row middle - A showman's life , Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2002
- Florian Dering: Popular amusements. A richly pictorial cultural history of the driving, amusement and skill deals of the showmen from the eighteenth century to the present. Nördlingen 1986, ISBN 3-89190-005-8
- Michael H. Faber: Showman . Folklore study of a traveling professional group in the Cologne-Bonn area. 2., through Bonn, 1982. (Rheinisches Archiv, 113). ISBN 3-7928-0456-5
- Ute Hinrichsen / Sabine Hirschbiegel: "Businesses that have a floating way of life". Peddlers and showmen in Schleswig-Holstein between 1774 and 1846 , Wachholtz, Neumünster 1999
- Alfred Lehmann: Between show booths and carousels. A stroll through fairs and festivals. Frankfurt am Main 1952.
- Youri Messen-Jashin , The world of the showmen from the XVI. until XX. Century , Editions des Trois Continents Lausanne Switzerland, 1986. ISBN 2-88001-195-7
- Stefan Nagel: Show stalls - history and manifestations . ( available online )
- Sacha-Roger Szabo: Intoxication and hype. Attractions at fairs and amusement parks. A sociological cultural history . Bielefeld 2006. ISBN 3-89942-566-9
- Lillian Birnbaum / Ingrid Puganigg: Travelers. With an essay by Ingrid Puganigg and excerpts from conversations with showmen. Vienna-Berlin, Medusa Verlag 1984, ISBN 978-3-85446-096-1
Individual evidence
Fiction
- Karl von Holtei : The vagabonds. Roman (which leads through many of the show milieus at the time), 4 volumes, 1852
