The Dumbell's Concert Party

[Lah Ca]

I now have a number of 1920s records featuring songs from shows by The (New) Dumbells under the direction of Captain M. W. Plunkett. The records have been a bit of a revelation.

I had often seen The Dumbells mentioned in passing in books and articles about WWI. No explanation was ever given because The Dumbells were so immensely popular and well-known that no explanation was needed for readers of an earlier generation.

The records caused me to do a bit of research.

The Dumbells (or rather The Dumbell's Concert Party) were the entertainment troupe of the Third Division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force sent to Europe in WWI. There were maany such troupes; almost every division had their own. But The Dumbells became extremely popular outside of the Canadian military both with the British public and with enlisted men from all allied forces when the troupe took to London stage while there on leave. In retrospect, they and the other military entertainment troupes have been compared to Monty Python's Flying Circus but with music--madcap and irreverent.

Captain M. W. Plunkett formed The New Dumbells as a Vaudville group after the war. Some members of the military group were included in the new group. They did very well and eventually staged shows on Broadway. Their success ran out with the advent of the Great Depression.

Ref:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/rewind/the-dumbells-1.2801232

https://cefrg.ca/blog/the-dumbells-concert-party/

https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/people/72 ... up/objects

I have never seen recordings by the original group mentioned anywhere. Some of the 1920s recordings feature songs carried forward from the military performances. I wonder if any recordings by the military group exist. Perhaps not. Recording would not have been a priority during rhe depth of the war I would guess.

[Lah Ca]

Some Dumbell songs from the 20s sung by Albert Plunkett (of The New Dumbells), who was the brother of Captain Plunkett and who was one of the original members from the military group.

https://youtu.be/7kn8PeKqJm0?si=MmW5gJDk_txr7NNZ

https://youtu.be/A1dEONplDdY?si=ZWU7jEnKaVy1dsh2

https://youtu.be/pj_OGwT82wQ?si=J1iFCeRT-wNruwxX

https://youtu.be/-z2rxahqcSs?si=bhZ-ZeUCF6-eaa-l

https://youtu.be/rsuu9swj-h0?si=Bd1JP4mqfI74Fjs-

There are more out there, and there are lots of covers of Dumbell tunes.

[Roaring20s]

Well, that's the first I've heard of them.

James.

[Lah Ca]

Well, that's the first I've heard of them.

James.

It is not surprising.

If I had not read Canadian and British books about the First World War, I would not have known of them either. And even at that, it took me a while to associate the labels on the records I was pulling out of boxes with The Dumbells of my reading.