https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9249-855X
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ABSTRACT
In the flourishing entertainment culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries women were omnipresent on stage, showcasing their physical prowess as dancers, acrobats, trapeze artists, and animal tamers. However, the extent of their involvement behind the scenes remains relatively unknown. This paper explores the often-overlooked contributions of women in the management and workforce of the nineteenth-century funfair business in Western Europe, shedding light on their pivotal role in shaping and driving the success of these captivating spectacles. Within the funfair context, women were engaged at various levels, occupying positions as roundabout proprietors, stallholders, and managers of traveling shows, including theaters, menageries, wax museums, and puppet booths. Their involvement spanned across multiple facets of the funfair, encompassing both the administrative and operational aspects of these diverse attractions. Through a comprehensive analysis of historical sources and records, this study aims to unveil the significant influence wielded by women in an era where their participation in the public domains was limited.
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Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1. Many of these journals are currently being digitized as part of the EU-funded project Science at the Fair (www.scifair.eu) and will be made accessible for future research.
2. La Comète Belge/La Comète Foraine (CB) in its June issue 1913 (no. 191) reported that there were approximately 3,000 forains (showpeople working at the fair) in Belgium, while ‘the Belgian union’ counted only 150 to 160 members (it is unclear if they referred to the Ligue générale des voyageurs forains Belge or L’ Union Foraine Belge). The data for France is drawn from the 1892 issues of the Voyageur Forain (VF), indicating approximately 40,000 showpeople in France according to the French Union Chambre Syndicale Patronale des Voyageurs Forains (CSPVF). In 1892, the CSPVF had an average of 239 members. The Showmans Yearbook of the British Showmen’s Guild reported membership ranging from more than 1000 members in 1891 to 493 in 1905 (Murphy Citation1940, 46). See also the Showmans Yearbook for 1901 and 1905, which can be found in the National Fairground and Circus Archive at the University of Sheffield.
3. The unions were primarily focused on patrons, but most journals had a broader target audience. The CB was aimed at ‘all the owners, directors, and performers associated with circuses, menageries, theaters, museums, cinematographs, carousels, various attractions, panoramas, photographers, fairground bazaars, etc., as well as the employees of these establishments and the cafes and restaurants they frequented, not to mention all the industrialists and merchants who find a large and serious clientele with fairground entertainers’ (CB 1905-07-01).
4. Membership levels fluctuated monthly and lists as well as the members on it were not always consistently registered within the CSPVF’s journal. Active members do not mean all members, as honorary and correspondent members were separate categories.
5. Female members had a specific form of address (e.g. veuve, madame, mademoiselle). It is unclear if these were given by the women themselves or by the union’s board.
6. While joyrides could also be capital-intensive they were not necessarily counted as belonging to the ‘grande banque’.
7. The average price of a kilogram of bread in Paris between 1880 and 1905 was 0.40 francs (Proust Citation1937, 106).
8. Like other scholars have noted, women’s identities were frequently obscured by their husbands’ names, often referenced solely by their last names without sufficient detail to distinguish between men and women (Craig Citation2020, 117; Khan Citation2016, 167; Baijot and Le Chapelain Citation2022, 10–11).
9. References to ‘mes enfants’ (my children) in VF Citation1890, no. 109 and ‘frères Auny’ (Auny brothers) who also had an attraction at the fair in the VF suggests at least two sons, and Auny’s mention of her son-in-law E. Coupet (in VF Citation1892, no. 156) could confirm assumptions that she had at least one daughter. See also the mentioning of Miss Zélia Auny as a lion tamer.
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Notes on contributors
Eva Andersen
Eva Andersen is a postdoctoral researcher on the EU-funded project ‘Science at the Fair: Performing Knowledge and Technology in Western Europe, 1850-1914’ (www.scifair.eu). Her current research focuses on the social and professional networks of itinerant showpeople and explores the various social and practical aspects of their profession. She obtained her PhD in history at the Center for Contemporary and Digital History at the University of Luxembourg. Her areas of expertise and research interests are the history of knowledge, history of science and digital history.
Nele Wynants
Nele Wynants is research assistant professor focusing on the interplay of performance, media, and the history of knowledge at the University of Antwerp (ARIA). She has published on the popularization of science, technology and visual media in theater and popular culture in the period 1800–1914 and on contemporary interactions between art and science. She is the principal investigator of the EU-funded project ‘Science at the Fair: Performing Knowledge and Technology in Western Europe, 1850–1914ʹ (www.scifair.eu); member of the Board of B-magic, a research project on the magic lantern and its impact as visual mass medium (www.B-magic.eu) and member of the Young Academy of Belgium (Flanders). As editor-in-chief of FORUM+ (www.forum-online.be), she is also involved in research in the arts at various Flemish and Dutch Schools of Arts.