Jacky Bam Bam’s ‘Ghost Train’ now on display at the Mummers Museum
Jacky Bam Bam’s Ghost Train Won 1st Prize in the-Mummers Handsome Costume Category for 2023.
This past Sunday night, the outfit was set up at the Mummers Museum and is now on display. It is soooo much bigger than you think it is.
Special thanks to Executive Director, Scott Brown (and Ben his son!), HOF Scott Moyer, Glenn the Liquor Picker and Shannon Cobb for getting it done!
Please stop by to visit.
1100 S. Second Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-5497
215.336.3050
From the Mummer Museum’s website:
TRADITIONS
Mummers are about celebration, fun, and family. They value tradition and community. Mummers can be musical, satirical or even a little ridiculous, but they are always colorful.
Mummers in Philadelphia are costumed citizens celebrating the New Year with family and friends. They belong to clubs in one of 5 Divisions: The Comic, The Fancy, the Wench Brigade, the String Band and the Fancy Brigade Divisions. In Philadelphia this has developed into the grandest of Mummers traditions, the annual Mummers Parade. Ten thousand participants and hundreds of thousands of parade viewers take to the streets and sidewalks or view on television on New Year’s Day.
Golden Slippers are the iconic image of Mummery. The unofficial theme song of the Mummers is “Oh Dem Golden Slippers,” composed by James Bland in 1879.
The Philadelphia Mummers Parade is the oldest continuous folk parade in the United States. The first formal, city-sponsored parade dates to 1901. But Mummery in Philadelphia began long before that. Mummers can be found throughout recorded history in ancient Egypt, in Greece, in Europe and elsewhere in the world. The Feast of Saturnalia, the British Mummer Play and the Florentine Carnival influenced today’s Mummery. When European immigrants from Scandanavia, from Britain and other parts of Europe began arriving in the 17th Century, they brought their Mummer traditions with them. Whether on 2nd Christmas (December 26th) or eventually on New Year’s Day, individuals, families and friends would “Mum” through their neighborhood. This might involve a skit or a poem, sometimes making fun of the ruling class, and often asking for food or drink. The most famous Mummers poem reads:
“HERE WE STAND BEFORE YOUR DOOR, AS WE STOOD THE YEAR BEFORE;
GIVE US WHISKY, GIVE US GIN, OPEN THE DOOR AND LET US IN.”
GENERAL HISTORY
The Mummers Museum opened in 1976 as part of Philadelphia’s celebration of America’s Bicentennial. The Museum is dedicated to celebrating the tradition of Mummery in Philadelphia. Inside are costumes, oral histories, video and audio archives and even an exhibit to teach anyone how to “strut.”
The Museum is home to annual summer concerts and offers a gift shop to both in person and online visitors.
The word Mummer can be traced to Greek mythology. Momus was the personification of satire, mockery and censure. Mummer can also be connected to the late Middle English word mommer and the Old French word momeur. Each relates to miming, masking and folk play.
The British during the Revolutionary War contributed to Mummer inspiration with an extravagant, some would say Mummer-like, farewell party for William General Howe in 1778. Later, President George Washington, living in Philadelphia, continued the tradition of greeting friends in the week leading up to New Year’s Day. Since part of the Mummer tradition is to party and to poke fun, Mummery has not been universally embraced throughout Philadelphia history. For several decades in the 1800’s, masquerading was even banned. But, Mummery continued and there are no known arrests for violating the ordinance.
Mummers kept on celebrating.