Dumes.Net

Family Movies

You may be surprised to learn that William J. Dumes started filming the Dumes 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.

The first movies in the 1930s were in 8mm black and white, but he sometimes splurged on the color film, which must have cost a fortune. But the images are very pretty. Sometime in the early 50s he went to 16mm, and some of the clips are excellent. The quality of the movies vary, but they are a wonderful record of the Sadie Silk Dumes family in America.

For me, this is the culmination of an assignment given to me by my Dad over 50 years ago to find a way to best distribute these movies, which he considered to be treasured items to the family.

Click on the images below to watch the movies. These are all now, or soon will be, newly remastered in HD, 1280x720.

Use this dropdown list to select movies which include a specific person. To see movies containing people that are still living, you must login.

Click me to play!

Lermans and Shapiros and Danskers, Oh My! (1944)

Millie Lerman, Ben Shapiro, Florence Arenstein, Freda Dumes, Sy Arenstein, These folks are family of Freda Fialco Dumes. Dave and Mildred Dansker are there too.

This clip is 5m 30s long.

People seen in movie:

Mildred Shapiro Lerman
Ben Shapiro
Florence Shapiro Arenstein
Freda Fialco Dumes
Seymour Arenstein

Click me to play!

Freda Dumes visits Cincinnati. (1944)

Freda Fialco Dumes visits family in Cincinnati. We see Millie Shapiro Lerman, Florence Shapiro Arenstein, their dad Ben Shapiro -- sometime during WW2.

This clip is 3m 21s long.

People seen in movie:

Mildred Shapiro Lerman
Ben Shapiro
Florence Shapiro Arenstein
Big Stan Shapiro

Click me to play!

Chattanooga, but no Choo Choo (1950)

Millie and Al Lerman in Chattanooga, also seen is Millie's dad Ben Shapiro and William J. Dumes. The Lerman and Shapiro families were related through Freda Fialco Dumes.

This clip is 1m 27s long.