His father, Isaïe, a French Jew born in Ennery near Metz, managed the family glove-making business at the former convent in Bonnevoie.
Notably, beginning in April 1876, the stage version of Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, adapted by Verne and Adolphe d'Ennery, began a run spanning sixty-four years and 2195 performances (although not continuously).
The libretto by Dumanoir and d'Ennery was based on Charles Perrault's Chat botté (Puss in Boots) and a vaudeville by Eugène Scribe called La chatte metamorphosée en femme.