History Main / ShoeShineMister

* In ''Manga/SakuraGari'', [[spoiler: a very young Souma]] worked as a shoe shine boy. [[spoiler: When his father Lord Saiki found out about him and went to London to retrieve him, he finds Souma in his stand.]]

* In an early ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic, Robin goes undercover as a shoeshine boy, and when the villain of the week stops to get a shine Robin secretly applies a tracking device to his shoe.

* In an early ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic, Robin goes undercover as a shoeshine boy, and when the villain of the week stops to get a shine Robin secretly applies a tracking device to his shoe.

* In ''Film/SilverStreak'', the police are looking for George, so Grover buys some shoe polish from a shoeshiner at a stand at the train station to use to disguise him as a black man.
* ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'' features a scene in which Tommy [=DeVito=] brutally beats and knifes Billy Batts to death for insulting him about being a shoeshine boy in Tommy's younger days. This eventually gets Tommy killed, as Batts was a made man, and you do not kill a made man in the mob without a sitdown and an okay from the made man's boss.
** 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, Billy Batts taunted Tommy [=DeSimone=], calling him "spit-shine Tommy." [=DeSimone=] retorted by yelling, "Shine these fuckin' shoes," and then executing Batts.
* ''Film/GangsterSquad'' features a shoeshine boy in one scene offering his services to the squad, only to end up [[DeathOfAChild machine-gunned to death]] by a mob assasin aiming for the squad.
* ''Film/NickOfTime''. A disabled war veteran earning money this way becomes a reluctant ally to the protagonist, after he overhears the villain discussing his EvilPlan while having his shoes shined (he suffers from hearing loss, but is not completely deaf as the villain had been lead to believe).

* ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'': While Film/JamesBond is trailing Kananga's car in Harlem, he's spotted by a black shoeshine man, who calls Mr. Big on a radio inside his shoeshine kit.
* In ''Film/TheBandWagon'', Fred Astaire sings and dances [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4UUkui545I#t=1m20s "Shine on your Shoes"]] with the shoe shiner. He was a real dancing shoe shiner rather than an actor/dancer, and the inspiration for the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEClMiOp6OY "Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy."]] A [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment BLAM]] song.
* Film/PrinceOfSpace is a shoeshine boy.
* In ''Film/ThatManFromRio'', Adrian chases his girlfriend and her kidnappers from Paris to Rio de Janeiro. As he's lost them and is at loose ends, a street kid comes up and shines his shoes. Adrian has no money, so he shines the kid's shoes in return. They befriend each other, and the kid turns out to be pretty resourceful, saving Adrian in a couple of dangerous situations.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', one of Bane's henchmen poses as a shoeshiner to smuggle a submachine gun into the Stock Exchange.
* Similarly, though offscreen, this contributed to Franchise/{{Rambo}}'s status as a ShellShockedVeteran in ''Film/FirstBlood'' - one of his best friends was [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe blown to bits]] because the shoe-shine box he'd bought from a Vietnamese boy was wired with explosives.
* ''Film/HoaBinh'': One of the jobs that StreetUrchin Hung tries, in a desperate effort to support himself and his toddler sister on the streets of 1969 Saigon, is shoe shine boy. He isn't very good at getting customers, and the man who gave him the shoe shine box fires him after only a day.
* In 1972 film ''Les Charlots font l'Espagne'' (''The Charlots in Spain'' or ''Crazy Boys in Spain'') two French tourists stranded in Spain are mistaken for shoeshiners. (Actually they were the clients, the real shoeshiners [[INeedAFreakingDrink left their stand ]] after seeing their football team lose on TV.) They decide to [[PerpetualPoverty make some quick money]] and start working. Unfortunately, the first client pays with a credit card, and then a biker lady pays for polishing her ''leather coveralls'' with just a kiss. Bonus points for a polishing cloth [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything making the sound of a cow being milked]].
* In ''Film/{{Deewaar}}'', Vijay starts shining shoes as a kid to help pay for his brother Ravi's education.
* ''Film/{{Outrage|1950}}'': Played for a joke. After Jim declines a shoe shine, the shoe shine boy says "OK, if you want to look like a slob."
* ''Film/BlackCaesar'': During AMinorKidroduction, Tommy is a shoeshine boy. He jumps at the chance to make real money by assisting in a mob hit - he talks the target into a shoeshine and then grabs his leg so he can't escape an ambush.

* ''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.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': In "The Birthday Bag", Harriet Conklin invents a story about an impoverished shoeshine boy friend of hers in order to get money from Miss Brooks.
* Andy from ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' gets the job of shoeshine boy at Pawnee City Hall after a season and a half of being essentially homeless and unemployed.
* ''Series/PoliceSquad'' had Johnny the Shoe-Shine Boy, who knew '''everything''', so much that he's listed on this site as an AlmightyJanitor. Our hero goes to him to catch the 'word on the street', then various celebrities turn up for advice on everything else.
* For a little while on ''Series/NightCourt'' there was a shoeshine stand that was an important place in the courthouse, with the shiner, Leon, as a recurring character. It turned out he was [[spoiler:a runaway,]] hiding in plain sight in the courthouse. After he was sent to [[spoiler:foster care]], the shoeshine stand remained as a place to sit.

* "Get Rhythm" by Music/JohnnyCash.
* "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy", a song performed by Music/BingCrosby and Music/FrankSinatra, amongst others.
* "Shoeshine Boy" by Eddie Kendricks.

* Kicks the skunk from ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingCityFolk[=/=]Let's Go To The City'' is a shoe shiner you can meet in the city. He changes the color of your shoes according to the clothes you're wearing at the time. In later series entries, where shoes are a separately equipable item, Kicks works as a shoe salesman instead.

* WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'s SecretIdentity is "Shoeshine Boy."
** That's ''humble and lovable'' Shoeshine Boy.
--->'''Random Citizen Who's Just Gotten a Shine''': Thanks, Shoeshine Boy. You're humble and lovable. ''(throws him a coin)''
--->'''Shoeshine Boy''': Bless you, sir. ''([[TastyGold Bites coin]])''

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photography#/media/File:Boulevard_du_Temple_by_Daguerre.jpg oldest known surviving photograph to include a human]] appears to be of a man getting his shoes polished. This is why he was standing still long enough to appear in a picture with an approximately ten-minute exposure.

** In "The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!", Scrooge accuses his father Fergus of not doing anything to support him when he was growing up, citing that his beloved Number One Dime was earned from the hours he spent cleaning Bert the ditch-digger's boots. At that point, Fergus reveals that ''he'' gave Bert the dime, muddied his boots and sent him Scrooge's way, all to help his son learn self-reliance and become the person he is now.

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', Miguel gives the opening narration while shining a musician's shoes. His family has been shoemakers for several generations, and the kids apparently have the job of shining shoes until they graduate to making them.

* {{WesternAnimation/Fantasia}} had Sunflower, a Blackface centaur shining ''hooves'' for white ones. Due to severe ValuesDissonance, that segment has been absent from the movie for over half a century.

* WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'s SecretIdentity is "Shoeshine Boy."
** That's ''humble and lovable'' Shoeshine Boy.
--->'''Random Citizen Who's Just Gotten a Shine''': Thanks, Shoeshine Boy. You're humble and lovable. (throws him a coin)
--->'''Shoeshine Boy''': Bless you, sir. ([[TastyGold Bites coin]])

** The creator of Itchy & Scratchy is a homeless hobo who makes a living in part by shining shoes. After he successfully sues I&S Studios for all their money, he lives in a mansion, where he hangs out in front offering people a shine.
** A flashback reveals that Grandpa Simpson was one of these as a kid. He once shined Creator/ClarkGable's shoes, but he got stiffed.
** Bart once decided to make his living as a shoeshine boy after being expelled from school.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SushiPack'', the Titanium Chef's evil plan involves shoeshine, even though his own minions point out that no one shines his shoes in this day and age. However, his plan also involves the power of [[PeerPressureMakesYouEvil peer pressure]], and sure enough, everyone wants to get his shoes shined to be "cool". One boy even volunteers to help them shine shoes.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Hiroshi Sato got his start as a shoeshiner, before finding a backer for his "automobile" idea.

** Music/JamesBrown – "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.

** Bart once expressed his desire to quit school and become a shoeshine boy.
-->'''Bart:''' Shine yer boots, guv'ner?
-->'''Homer:''' No son of mine is gonna be a 19th-century cockney bootblack!

* ''Series/PoliceSquad'' had Johnny the Shoe-Shine Boy, who knew '''everything''', so much that he's listed on this site as an AlmightyJanitor. Our hero goes to him to catch the 'word on the street', then it's taken UpToEleven by having various celebrities turn up for advice on everything else.

* [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck]] famously earned his Number One Dime shining shoes.