Frank Dumont
Encyclopedia
Frank Dumont was a popular American
minstrel show
performer and manager.Finding Aid: Collection 3054 - Frank Dumont (1848-1919) - Minstrelsy Scrapbook, by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
(2004)
on January 25, 1848. He started performing in minstrel shows as early as 1862, and worked with a number of groups. He eventually founded "Dumont's Minstrels", around 1895/96, after purchasing the Eleventh Street Opera House in Philadelphia. He authored many sketches and songs for the genre.
After the Opera House closed circa 1909, Dumont acquired Dime Museum at Ninth and Arch Streets and renamed it "Dumont's Theatre". He died in the box office of the theatre on March 17, 1919 during the opening number of that afternoon's matinee show.
Dumont's 1899 work "The Witmark amateur minstrel guide and burnt cork encyclopedia" is a valuable resource on the history of American minstrelsy.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
minstrel show
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
performer and manager.Finding Aid: Collection 3054 - Frank Dumont (1848-1919) - Minstrelsy Scrapbook, by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...
(2004)
Life
Dumont was born in Utica, New YorkUtica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
on January 25, 1848. He started performing in minstrel shows as early as 1862, and worked with a number of groups. He eventually founded "Dumont's Minstrels", around 1895/96, after purchasing the Eleventh Street Opera House in Philadelphia. He authored many sketches and songs for the genre.
After the Opera House closed circa 1909, Dumont acquired Dime Museum at Ninth and Arch Streets and renamed it "Dumont's Theatre". He died in the box office of the theatre on March 17, 1919 during the opening number of that afternoon's matinee show.
Dumont's 1899 work "The Witmark amateur minstrel guide and burnt cork encyclopedia" is a valuable resource on the history of American minstrelsy.
External links
- Dumont, Frank. The Witmark Amateur Minstrel Guide and Burnt Cork Encyclopedia (1899) (full copy online)
- The Frank Dumont Minstrelsy Scrapbook 1850-1902, containing more than 50 years of documentation about minstrelsy and its origins, is available for research use at the Historical Society of PennsylvaniaHistorical Society of PennsylvaniaThe Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...
. - The Younger Generation in Minstrelsy and Reminiscences of the Past, by Frank Dumont, New York Clipper, March 27, 1915