Frederic Arnold Kummer

Frederic Arnold Kummer Sr. (August 5, 1873 – November 22, 1943) was an American author, playwright and screenwriter. He also used the pseudonym Arnold Fredericks. Several of his works were made into movies. A caricature of him is on the wall of Sardi's restaurant.

Frederic Arnold Kummer Sr.
Kummer (c. 1924)
Born
Frederic Arnold Kummer

(1873-08-05)August 5, 1873
Catonsville, Maryland, U.S.
DiedNovember 22, 1943(1943-11-22) (aged 70)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Resting placeLoudon Park Cemetery
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Other namesArnold Fredericks
EducationRensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Occupations
  • Author
  • playwright
  • screenwriter
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Early life

Frederic Arnold Kummer was born in Catonsville, Maryland, to Arnold Kummer. His father was a banker and his mother was of a Quaker family. He was educated in public schools and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.[1][2]

Career

Kummer became a life member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and assistant editor of the Railroad Gazette. He also became the president of a wood block paving company, but the company failed during the Panic of 1907. Kummer then became an author.[2]

Kummer wrote stories and plays. He wrote the play The Painted Woman which premiered at the Auditorium Theatre in 1917. It came to Baltimore in 1938 as the opera Captive, with music by Gustav Strube.[2]

In testimony to the House of Representatives Special Committee on Un-American Activities, he was noted as a member of the executive committee of the XV International Brigade, a volunteer military unit which fought for the pro-socialist Republic of Spain during the Spanish Civil War.[3]

Personal life

Kummer built a house in Guilford, Maryland. He later relocated to West Lafayette and later Park Avenue in Baltimore.[2]

Kummer married twice.[2] He first married playwright Clare Kummer (born Clare Rodman Beecher) in 1895. They had two daughters, Marjorie (who married English actor Roland Young) and Frederica. They divorced during 1903 (she was remarried to Arthur Henry in 1910). Kummer also had three more children.[4] His son Frederic Arnold Kummer Jr. was also an author.

In 1927, Kummer was hospitalized at Union Memorial Hospital and newspapers falsely reported his death.[2] He died on November 22, 1943, at his home at 1501 Park Avenue in Baltimore.[1] He was buried at Loudon Park Cemetery.[5]

Legacy

A Liberty Ship was named after him during World War II.[6]

Filmography

Writings

[8]

  • The Brute
  • The First Days of Man
  • The Green God
  • The Little Fortune (1915)
  • Peggy-Elise (1919)
  • Shades of Hades
  • Love's Greatest Mistake
  • Forbidden Wine
  • The Web
  • A Song of Sixpence
  • Gentlemen in Hades: The Story of a Damned Debutante[9]
  • "Honeymoon Detectives" series (Richard and Grace Duvall: One Million Francs; The Ivory Snuff-Box; The Blue Lights; The Film of Fear)[4]
  • Leif Erikson, the Lucky
  • The Torch of Liberty (1941)
  • Death at Eight Bells: A Novel (1937)
  • The Pipes of Yesterday
  • Eternal Conflict
  • Death at Eight Bells
  • The Emigrant, a play in three acts[10]
  • The First Days of Man
  • The First Days of Knowledge

Short stories
  • "Mr. Buttles"
  • "The Choice"
  • "Are You a Suffragette?"

References
  1. "F. A. Kummer, Playwright, Dies at 70". The Evening Sun. 1943-11-22. p. 34. Retrieved 2023-01-18 – via Newspapers.com.open access
  2. "F. A. Kummer, Author, Dies". The Evening Sun. 1943-11-22. p. 28. Retrieved 2023-01-18 – via Newspapers.com.open access
  3. Activities (1938-1944), United States Congress House Special Committee on Un-American (February 6, 1940). "Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States: Hearings Before a Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Seventy-fifth Congress, Third Session-Seventy-eighth Congress, Second Session, on H. Res. 282, to Investigate (l) the Extent, Character, and Objects of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States, (2) the Diffusion Within the United States of Subversive and Un-American Propaganda that is Instigated from Foreign Countries Or of a Domestic Origin and Attacks the Principle of the Form of Government as Guaranteed by Our Constitution, and (3) All Other Questions in Relation Thereto that Would Aid Congress in Any Necessary Remedial Legislation". U.S. Government Printing Office – via Google Books.
  4. Sampson, Robert (February 6, 1987). Yesterday's Faces: The Solvers. Popular Press. ISBN 9780879724153.
  5. "Kummer". The Baltimore Sun. 1943-11-24. p. 20. Retrieved 2023-01-18 – via Newspapers.com.open access
  6. Kummer, Frederic Arnold (December 1, 2010). The Painted Woman. ISBN 9781434424198.
  7. "Catalog of Copyright Entries". U.S. Government Printing Office. February 6, 1914 – via Google Books.
  8. Smith, Geoffrey D. (August 13, 1997). American Fiction, 1901-1925: A Bibliography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521434690 – via Google Books.
  9. "Kummer, Frederic Arnold (1873-1943) - People and organisations". Trove.
  10. Browne, William Hand; Dielman, Louis Henry (February 6, 1968). "Maryland Historical Magazine". Maryland Historical Society. – via Google Books.
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