Family Movies

You may be surprised to learn that William J. Dumes started filming the family in the 1930s, and every branch of the family is represented in his collection. His films make the basis of what is presented here.

Early reels were 8mm black & white, with occasional splurges on color stock. In the 1950s he moved to 16mm, and some of those clips are remarkably sharp. These movies are a vivid record of the Sadie Silk Dumes family in America.

For me, this completes an assignment my father gave me over 50 years ago: to find a way to share these films with the whole family.

Sarah Dumes Kaplan, regrettably headless (1936)

8MM · Black & White

Sarah Dumes Kaplan was the eldest daughter of Sadie Silk Dumes. She married Jacob Kaplan while they were still in Vishki. For a time in the late 1930s, she and Jacob lived with her youngest brother William J. Dumes in Vincennes. Jacob was a Rabbi and taught Stan Dumes to read Hebrew during this time.

In this short clip, we see Stan walking with Sarah, who is unfortunately headless in the shot. It was a short-coming of these old cameras; they did not have "through the lens" view-finders, so it was sometimes difficult to know where to point the camera. Then we see Sarah walking with Stan's mother Freda Fialco Dumes.

The clip is 1m 17s long.

Sarah Dumes Kaplan
Stanley Dumes
Freda Fialco Dumes

Meet the ancestors: Sarah, Louis, Rebecca, Fannie, Anna, William (1937)

8MM · Black & White

This is quite a movie! Every branch of the Dumes family is represented. I don't think Arthur Dumes is in the film, but there are two men I can't identify. I think one might be Max Fishman, but I'm not sure who the other might be. I was told that Abe Schultz rarely attended family events because he was always working. Arthur's daughters are here, though I don't see his son Bill I.

This clip is really an astonishing bit of family history. Enjoy!

This clip is 6m 8s long.

Blanche Schultz Katz
Stanley Dumes
Freda Fialco Dumes
Anna Dumes Schultz
Dora Lieberman Lasky
Hy Dumes
Bill Dumes
Becky Dumes Lieberman
Norma Dumes Bear
Rebecca Stein Dumes
Heiman Lieberman
Libby Dumes Gluck
Fannie Dumes Fishman
Sarah Dumes Kaplan
Ben Karp
J. Benjamin Lieberman
Sol Karp
Nathan Lieberman
Harry Lieberman
Abraham Lieberman
Jacob Kaplan
Mildred Dumes Dansker
Jeannette Dumes Karp
Louis Dumes

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