
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, part 3
Born in 1848 in New York to French immigrant parents, Frank Dumont became a seminal figure in minstrel culture. He began to perform as a boy and joined Christy’s Minstrels by 1862, a troupe that set the enduring standard format for minstrel shows: a semicircle stage arrangement with an interlocutor (emcee) in the center and end men characters Mr. Tambo and Mr. Bones at the sides. The interlocutor opened the show with the phrase, “Gentlemen, be seated,” which became iconic. Dumont later joined other minstrel troupes and eventually settled in Philadelphia around 1880, where he introduced popular songs such as “Silver Threads Among the Gold” and “When You and I Were Young, Maggie,” both significant sentimental ballads of the era. He "died with his boots on," as it were as he sat in the box office for a St. Patrick's Day matinee.
By Joe Lex5
5151 ratings
Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, part 3
Born in 1848 in New York to French immigrant parents, Frank Dumont became a seminal figure in minstrel culture. He began to perform as a boy and joined Christy’s Minstrels by 1862, a troupe that set the enduring standard format for minstrel shows: a semicircle stage arrangement with an interlocutor (emcee) in the center and end men characters Mr. Tambo and Mr. Bones at the sides. The interlocutor opened the show with the phrase, “Gentlemen, be seated,” which became iconic. Dumont later joined other minstrel troupes and eventually settled in Philadelphia around 1880, where he introduced popular songs such as “Silver Threads Among the Gold” and “When You and I Were Young, Maggie,” both significant sentimental ballads of the era. He "died with his boots on," as it were as he sat in the box office for a St. Patrick's Day matinee.

91,243 Listeners

38,488 Listeners

38,899 Listeners

3,538 Listeners

3,814 Listeners

87,991 Listeners

113,468 Listeners

56,962 Listeners

12,718 Listeners

5,502 Listeners

51,143 Listeners

58,475 Listeners

29,163 Listeners

513 Listeners

1,085 Listeners