Dümbüllü İsmail Efendi

Light comedy and movie actor (Born 1897, Istanbul – Death 5 November 1973, Istanbul). His full name is İsmail Hakkı, Dümbüllü is his nickname. He was educated within the tradition of improvisation, gained reputation thanks to his roles in light comedies, operettas and movies and enabled the transfer of various acting techniques and Turkish theatrical plays to our days. He received the nickname of Dümbüllü from the canto titled Dümbüllü sang by Peruz Hanım, one of the canto artists of the period. His real name is İsmail Hakkı. He left his education in Toptaş-I Rüştiye-i Askeriyye (Military Secondary School) unfinished due to his passion of theatre. He acted first as an amateur in the theatre of Karagöz Hüseyin, later as a professional in Dilkuşu Theatre of the famous improvisator Kel Hasan Efendi. He shared the same scene with famous comedians such as İsmail Efendi, Kavuklu Hamdi Efendi and Komik Naşit Efendi. After the death of Kel Hasan Efendi he received the traditional quilted turban from him. (He passed it to Münir Özkul before his death.)

Dümbüllü established his own theatrical association in 1928 with Tevfik İnce and started to perform in Hilal Theatre in Direklerarası. After 1933 he went on Anatolia tours. In this period he acted in operettas such as Ayşem, Cebe Gitti and Bülbül. Turkish theatrical play had its moments in Dümbüllü period who kept the master of comedians Kel Hasan Efendi’s plays alive.

After the 2^nd World War, starting from 1947, he also appeared in movies with his distinctive voice, naïve appearance and lovely mimics. First he played the leading role in Memiş (1947), later in Dümbüllü Macera Peşinde (1948) and Keloğ­lan (1948) movies. He strengthened his reputation with movies Har­man Sonu (1950), İncili Çavuş (1951), Ne Sihirdir Ne Keramet (1951) and Sihirli Define (1951). He acted in Kırk Gün Kırk Gece in 1953,in Mihrimah Sultan in 1954, in Dümbüllü Tar­zan in  1956, and in Bayram Gecesi, Nasrettin Hoca and Timurlenk. After his jubilee in 1968 he said farewell to the scenes. But he was not separated from arts. He continued to appear in scenes from time to time and take part in radio plays.

Dümbüllü İsmail was the last representative of our light comedy theatre based on improvisation. In the work prepared by Sadi Yaver Ataman titled Dümbüllü İsmail Efendi (1974) he wrote texts of some of his plays recorded to tape.

“The most successful comedy artist prize” introduced by the Karagöz and Light Comedy Association in 1980 in the name of İsmail Dümbüllü was given to Münir Özkul for the first time, and to Suna Pekuysal in 1987.

REFERENCE: Mustafa Nihat Özön - Baha Dürder / Türk Tiyatrosu Ansiklopedisi (1967), Sadi Yaver Ataman / Dümbüllü İsmail Efendi (1974), TDE Ansiklopedisi (c. 2, 1976), TDOE – TDE Ansiklopedisi 3 (2003), Büyük Larousse (c. 6, s. 3435, 1986), Ana Britanica (c. 7, s. 567, 1987), İhsan Işık / Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, 2007) – Ünlü Sanatçılar (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 5, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).