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• Posted Monday, January 31, 2011
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the hampton Family Orchestra

Filmmaker Julie Cohen shares the news about her new documentary "The Unforgettable Hampton Family," which features musician/ singer/ dancer extraordinaire Ms. Dawn Hampton, that is premiering on February 3rd on New York public television station WNET.

This African American family overcame poverty and prejudice to build successful musical careers. Deacon Clark Hampton taught himself to read the works of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, to paint, and to play numerous musical instruments. Clark dreamed of lifting his twelve children out of poverty by making them performers. Some eventually played the Savoy, the Apollo, even Carnegie Hall -- sometimes alongside Lionel Hampton, a distant cousin.

It premieres this Thursday, February 3, at 10:30pm on WNET channel 13 in New York City.

Check Thirteen.org for other showtimes. No word on if this documentary will be airing elsewhere at press time.

The Unforgettable Hampton Family THIRTEEN PREMIERES THE UNFORGETTABLE HAMPTON FAMILY, FEBRUARY 3 ON PUBLIC TELEVISION

Documentary celebrates the Hamptons, a talented African-American family who overcame poverty and prejudice to build successful musical careers

Deacon Hampton, a son of slaves and man with almost no formal education, taught himself to read the works of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, to paint, and to play numerous musical instruments. Hampton had a vision for lifting his children out of poverty by making them performers. In a new 30-minute documentary, The Unforgettable Hampton Family, broadcast on Thursday, February 3 at 10:30 p.m. on THIRTEEN and on Monday, February 14th at 10:30 p.m. on WLIW21, the film traces the family tree of talented musicians in one family back to Deacon Hampton and shows how the family overcame poverty and prejudice to build successful musical careers.

The Unforgettable Hampton Family is a production of BetterThanFiction Productions for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.

Clark had a vision for lifting his 12 children out of poverty by making them performers. Each child started playing an instrument as soon as he or she was big enough to pick it up. In the 1920's and 30's, the family traveled the carnival circuit in the Southern and Midwestern United States as a novelty act, Deacon Hampton's Pickaninnies. Some of the children (nine survived to adulthood) were true musical and performance geniuses.

As young adults, they shed the bigoted title and made a name for themselves in New York, playing The Savoy, The Apollo, and even Carnegie Hall, sometimes alongside Lionel Hampton, a distant cousin. After the band split up, the Hamptons went on to esteemed individual musical careers. Youngest brother Slide became a virtuoso jazz trombonist, winner of the National Endowment for the Arts prestigious jazz master award. Virtue and Aletra, a swinging jazz duo, had their greatest success in the final years of their careers (footage of the two as octogenarians, performing their raucous piano, bass and vocal renditions of “Unforgettable” and “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” is a sight to behold).

Dawn Hampton moved to Greenwich Village in the late 1950’s and became a star singer on the gay cabaret circuit. After her audience was decimated by AIDS in the 1980’s and 90’s, Dawn refashioned herself as a swing dancer, a dance teacher and a jazz whistler. Today, at 82, she travels the world, sharing her love of music and dance with younger generations of swing enthusiasts. Her vivid, often hilarious, recollections and vintage and current performances are the central focus of the documentary.

The film also includes interviews with brother Maceo, a trumpet player; never-before- seen interviews of Virtue and Aletra shortly before their deaths; and a group interview with four members of the next generation of the Hampton family, including trumpeter Pharez Whitted.

Weaving these fresh interviews and performance footage with rare archival recordings and photographs, this spirited 30-minute documentary brings to life the legacy of a truly remarkable musical family.

The Unforgettable Hampton Family is a production of BetterThanFiction Productions for WNET. Produced, written and directed by Julie Cohen. Editor is Scott Feinstein. Field producer is Alex Lowther. Director of Photography is Rich White. Executives in Charge are Neal Shapiro and Stephen Segaller. Narrated by Lowell Deo.