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Despite his immense success, Dumas frequently faced financial difficulties, leading to bankruptcy and debts, often due to his extravagant spending. In 1860, he personally funded Giuseppe Garibaldi's unification movement in Italy, even traveling there to support the cause and later becoming the head of museums and archaeological sites in Naples, including Pompeii.
“And so what happens is that this Mr. Mackaye decides that he is not getting enough credit for what he has been doing.”
“He produced plays, and he did works by Shakespeare, Goethe, and Schiller, and others. And four years later, he went bankrupt because as much as he was bringing money in, he was spending more.”
“In 1860, he decided that he was going to help Garibaldi in his movement, and he went to Italy. He took all the money he had, and he sold a whole bunch of things that he had so that he could give the money to Garibaldi so that Garibaldi could buy arms.”