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Mellie Dunham
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Snowshoes
Dunham was a snowshoe maker by profession, with a reputation going back to the shoes he made for the Peary Arctic expeditions around 1910. This brochure probably dates to about 1928. Snowshoe Brochure (by V. Akers) Lots of graphics; give it time to load.
Following his visit to Detroit in late 1925, Mellie was booked on the Keith vaudeville circuit for a tour that lasted until May 1926. He was an immense success, filling the Hippodrome in New York and other major vaudeville theaters in the northeast and midwest. His act was an old-time barn dance. Upon his return to Maine in May of 1926, he played in Portland as the last booking of his trip. This special section in the local newspaper was done to advertise his Portland appearances, and to commemorate his return home. Norway Advertiser Special Section.
During the summer of 2003, Mellie Dunham's 150th anniversary, the NOrway, Maine Summer Festival featured a series of events to commemorate the town's famous citizen. For the occasion David Sanderson researched and wrote a new account of Mellie's life and career, making extensive use of contemporary newspaper sources and materials from the Henry Ford Library. To read it: Mellie Dunham, A Remembrance
Recordings (Streaming Audio)
Mellie Dunham and His Orchestra
Victor 20001, January 26,1926
Rippling Waves Waltz - Mellie Dunham In 50 Fiddlin' Dance Tunes (See Below)
Victor 19940, January 19,1926
Lady of the Lake - Contra Dance with Calls
Tune - The title is the name of the dance, so it has become associated with a number of different tunes. The tune is a widespread American reel (or maybe a hornpipe originally), going under all sorts of names. In Ira Ford's TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF AMERICA it is called "Old Towser" (p. 108). In ONE THOUSAND FIDDLE TUNES, see "Miss Johnson's Hornpipe" (p. 104), "Portsmouth Hornpipe" (p. 86), and a couple of others for the first strain only -- "You Bet Reel" (p. 20) and "Silver Cluster Reel" (p. 8). In Bayard, HILL COUNTRY TUNES, see "Buttermilk and Cider" (#18), and also the first strain of #35. In Bayard's DANCE TO THE FIDDLE, MARCH TO THE FIFE, same title, #351, with many citations. In O'Neill's MUSIC OF IRELAND see #1628 "Off to California" and #1639 "Whiskey You're the Devil!" (both in the hornpipe section). Other examples with other titles exist. Information from Alan Jabbour, 12/06/2000. Also "Gypsy Hornpipe" in Missouri.
Mountain Rangers - Contra Dance with Calls - Tune, Haste to the Wedding
Victor 40131, January 19,1926
Victor 20537, February 3, 1926
Medley of Reels 1 - Miss McCloud's Reel, White Cockade, Johnny Coakley
Medley of Reels 2 - Irish Washerwoman, Lannigan's Ball, The Campbell's are Coming
Books
"Mellie" Dunham's 50 Fiddlin' Dance Tunes. New York: Carl Fischer Inc., 1926.
Click thumbnails for full size images
Order From: Express Music ($5.95) Lamoreaux Violins ($5.35)
Articles
John Edwards Memorial Foundation Quarterly, Autumn 1976 "Mellie Dunham: 'Maine's Champion Fiddler" by Paul Wells. An excellent journal article, extensively researched, with dates and detail of the vaudeville tour.
Links
