Joseph Dumais

Joseph Dumais (* 1870 in Trois-Pistoles , † after 1932) was a Canadian journalist, speech educator and comedian.

Dumais studied in Paris with Jean-Pierre Rousselot and made several study trips through Europe. At the beginning of the 20th century he published the monthly magazine Cœur français in Manchester, New Hampshire, in which he devoted himself to promoting the French language in Canada. He also published a number of essays on the French language in history in Canada, including Parlons français (1905), Héros d'autrefois: Jacques Cartier et Samuel de Champlain (1913), Le Parler de chez nous (1922), Le Capitaine malouin Jacques Cartier, découvreur officiel du Canada (1934) and Vive le doux parler de France (1937).

In 1922 he founded the Conservatoire de Québec and worked there as a speaker teacher. He later also gave courses at the École normal Jacques-Cartier , the Académie Marchand and the Collège de France , where he set up an experimental language laboratory. In 1932 he published the magazine L'Art de dire .

Since the turn of the century, Dumais appeared as a comedian under the stage name Du May d'Amour . He wrote songs about current events and humorous pieces such as À bas la marine: pieces de vers et chansons d'actualité (1910). In 1917 he recorded monologues at His Master's Voice in Montréal in the role of Père Ladébauche , a comic strip character from La Presse magazine , as well as plays such as La leçon des érables by Lionel Groulx , Ô soldat de l'an deux by Victor Hugo , L'éternelle chanson by Edmond Rostand and Les coquelicots by Théodore Botrel . He published a collection of his monologues and songs around 1932 under the title Ma boutique, comptoir aux coupons, stock étamine, linon, coton ouaté, toile écrue, catalognes et "cheese cloth": rimettes, chansonnettes et monologues .

source

• Library and Archives Canada - The Virtual Gramophone - Joseph Dumais