Bob Marchant, Jimmy Sharman’s boxing troupe (1996)
During a conversation with my wife, the
name “Sharman” was mentioned. I wondered whether that person was related to
Jimmy Sharman, which prompted the response “Who’s that?” It made me realise once again that the
passing of time causes moments in history, experiences and memories to fade and
become lost.
I remember going to the annual local
show when I was a youngster and later to the Sydney Royal Easter Show where I
was captivated by Sideshow Alley, not throwing balls at stacked cylinders
or putting ping pong balls in the mouths
of clowns that moved from side to side, but the tents that would be non-PC
today: the half man, half woman; the ghost train; the mermaid; the sword swallower. . . and
Jimmy Sharman’s boxing tent.
Mind you, I never went inside the tent,
I was too young initially and not allowed by my parents. When I was older I didn’t want to but a
feeling of threat and brutality was apparent from the signs and displays, the
fighters and the thugs from the audience who wanted to take them on.
Jimmy Sharman Snr (1887-1965) found at a
very young age that he could make money by fighting in the boxing tents in the
district shows. After running away from home and engaging in fights with crude
rings and equipment, he established his own boxing troupe that travelled to
about 50 shows a year, the largest being the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
By 1915 his Sharman Troupe was well
established, his gravelly voice yelling out his catchcry invitations to the
public to enter the tent and fight against one of the Sharman stable of
fighters: “Who’ll take a glove?” and “A
round or two for a pound or two.”
(“Pound” was the then form of currency). For the next 40 years he remained a fixture
of sideshow alley, customers paying their two bob (two shillings) to view
fights.
By today’s standards such a display
would be barbaric and dangerous; by the
standards of the day it was quite acceptable.
Sharman maintained a strict code: no consumption of alcohol by fighters or
spectators; no mismatched fights; no punchy fighters, and no race
discrimination, a progressive position considering the nature of the would-be
fighters (usually the local thugs and brawlers) with whom he was dealing, the
attitudes of the period and that quite a number of his fighters were black.
Jimmy Sharman Jnr (1912-2006) was born a
year after his father set up his first boxing tent and began working in his
father’s tents as a teenager. His
interest however was not in boxing but in rugby league football, captaining
Wests and playing 7 seasons as fullback between 1934-1940. He was unable to serve during World War 11
because of ulcers, being ruled medically unfit.
In 1955 he took over the boxing tent from
his father and toured until 1971, when regulations were introduced prohibiting boxers having
more than one fight per week.
That was the end of the Sharman Boxing Troupe.
For six decades the Sharman tent had
followed the show circuit in 4 states for 11 months each year. Today it is a memory.
Jimmy Sharman did not leave the shows,
instead he became involved in the dodgem cars with his mate, TV mogul Reg
Grundy.
Jimmy Sharman Jnr also had one son, like
his father named James. James is commonly
also known as Jim and, although not involved in fighting, he is also a showman
of sort. A director and writer of film
and stage, he is internationally best known as the co-writer and director of
The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Some Sharman pics:
Jimmy Sharman’s
boxing tent, outside display (note the drums and megaphones) in Ballarat,
Victoria, 1934
A similar
outside enticement of the crowd
