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Show business

Times Square in New York City, the hub of the Broadway theater district,[1] "the Center of the Entertainment Universe",[2] and one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections[3][4]

Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since c. 1945),[5] is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.[5] From the business side (including managers, agents, producers, and distributors), the term applies to the creative element (including artists, performers, writers, musicians, and technicians) and was in common usage throughout the 20th century, though the first known use in print dates from 1850.[6][7][8] At that time and for several decades, it typically included an initial the.[5] By the latter part of the century, it had acquired a slightly arcane quality associated with the era of variety, but the term is still in active use. In modern entertainment industry, it is also associated with the fashion industry (creating trend and fashion) and acquiring intellectual property rights from the invested research in the entertainment business.[9]

  1. ^ Ken Bloom (2004). Broadway: Its History, People, and Places : an Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 322–. ISBN 978-0-415-93704-7.
  2. ^ Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner (20 October 2022). "Caesars Unveils Plan For A Casino In Times Square". Forbes. Retrieved 13 December 2022. Times Square is the center of the entertainment universe.
  3. ^ Pramis, Joshua (October 2011). "World's Most-Visited Tourist Attractions No. 1: Times Square, New York City". American Express Publishing Corporation. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  4. ^ "The Most Jivin' Streetscapes in the World". Luigi Di Serio. 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Ed. (1989)
  6. ^ The term is used to describe any and every aspect of the entertainment industry, with the "show" being the forms of entertainment and "business" being the goings on behind the scenes of those entertainment events
  7. ^ "Slanguage Dictionary". Variety. 20 February 2013. Archived from the original on 18 December 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  8. ^ T. Ford (1850) Peep behind Curtain vii. 26 (cited by the OED)
  9. ^ "Music & Fashion: The Balancing Act Between Creativity and Control" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 September 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2017.

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