Hope Hampton

❧

Wikipedia

Hope Hampton
Born
Mae Elizabeth Hampton

(1897-02-19)February 19, 1897
Houston, Texas, U.S.
DiedJanuary 23, 1982(1982-01-23) (aged 84)
New York City, U.S.
OccupationsActress, Producer
Years active1918–1938
SpouseJules Brulatour (m.1924-1946; his death)
Children1

Mae Elizabeth Hampton (February 19, 1897 – January 23, 1982), known professionally as Hope Hampton, was an American actress and soprano. She was a silent motion picture actress and producer noted for her seemingly effortless incarnation of siren and flapper types in silent-picture roles during the 1920s. She was also an opera singer.[1][2]

Early life and silent movie career

The daughter of Ellsworth Kraft Hampton[3] and his wife Evelyn Grace Hampton,[4] Hope Hampton was born in Houston, Texas on February 19, 1897.[5] She was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[6] She attended H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College in New Orleans.[7] There she participated in student productions of plays.[8] Wishing to pursue a career as an actress, she studied drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (then known as the Sargent Dramatic School) in New York City.[8]

Hampton won a newspaper beauty contest in Dallas after one of her friends submitted her photograph to a local paper. The attention from this led to an offer to work in silent films.[8] She first worked for director Maurice Tourneur in a minor uncredited part in Woman (1918).[9] Through Tourneur she met American silent cinema pioneer Jules Brulatour.[7] Brulatour, who was then married to Dorothy Gibson, began an affair with Hope and his marriage to Gibson ended in divorce in 1919.[10] Brulatour was determined to make Hope a star, and founded Hope Hampton Productions to make films with her as his leading actress.[11] Her first leading role in a film with this company was in the title part of A Modern Salome (1920).[7]

She went on to feature prominently in several Brulatour-financed films. In 1923, Hampton and Brulatour wed. They remained married until his death in 1946.[2]

Soprano

A lyric soprano,[12] Hampton was trained as an opera singer by voice teachers Pietro Cimini[13] and Estelle Liebling; the latter also the teacher of Beverly Sills.[14] She began her career in light operas while still performing as a film actress.[15] In 1924 she portrayed the title role in the United States premiere of Leo Fall's operetta Madame Pompadour at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia.[16] In 1927 she starred in the title role (aka Minnie Johnson) of Alfred E. Aarons's operetta My Princess at Broadway's Shubert Theatre.[17] She made her grand opera debut with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company (PGOC) on December 21, 1928 in the title role of Jules Massenet's Manon at the Academy of Music;[18] a role which she partially recorded in a 1929 short film made by Vitaphone.[19] She returned to the PGOC in 1929 as Mimì in La bohème with Dimitri Onofrei as Rodolfo, Mary Mellish as Musetta, and Artur Rodziński conducting.[20]

Hampton had critical triumphs as both Manon and Mimì at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in the summer of 1929;[21][22] making her European debut at that theatre on June 21, 1929.[23] In 1930 she appeared as Marguerite in Faust for her first appearance at the Théâtre du Casino Grand-Cercle [fr] in Aix-les-Bains,[24] and portrayed Manon at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liege,[25] the Opéra de Vichy,[26] and at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.[27] On September 25, 1930 she sang the role of Marguerite for her debut at the San Francisco Opera.[28] She also performed several roles at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 1930,[29] and appeared at the Paris Opera in December of that year.[30]

In 1931 Hampton's mother, who had earlier divorced Hope's father and was now married to Harry C. Kennedy, died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[31] In 1933 she performed the title role in Thaïs with the Montreal Grand Opera Company,[32] and appeared as Manon at La Fenice in Venice.[33] She sang Manon at the Boston Opera House in February 1934 with Mario Chamlee as Des Grieux and Mario Valle as Lescaut;[34] repeating the role with the Chicago Grand Opera Company the following December.[35]

Brief return to film and later life

She returned to the screen in The Road to Reno (1938), a film directed by her husband which co-starred Randolph Scott and Glenda Farrell.

Later she was known as "The Duchess of Park Avenue",[2] a leading member of New York's social set.

In 1978, she was crowned Queen of the Beaux Arts Ball.[36] She presided with King Arthur Tracy.

She died of a heart attack on January 23, 1982 in New York City. She was 84 years old.[2]

Personal life

Hampton and Brulatour took a honeymoon trip to Egypt, there a Sheikh offered Brulatour £10,000 British pounds to buy his wife. Brulatour smiled at the Sheikh and told him that Mrs. Brulatour's jewels were worth more than that.

Brulatour also gave Hope Hampton a 5-story home on Park Avenue (built in 1885 and redesigned in 1921 by Emery Roth). It was listed for $9 million in 2016.[37]

Complete filmography

Hope Hampton on the cover of Motion Picture Classic magazine, Feb 1922, cover art by Benjamin Eggleston (1867-1937).
Year Title Role Notes
1918Woman
1920A Modern SalomeVirginia HastingsLost film
1921The BaitJoan GraingerLost film
Love's PenaltyJanis ClaytonLost film
1922StardustLily Becker
The Light in the DarkBessie MacGregorA condensed 33 minute version survives, the original is lost
1923Lawful LarcenyMarion DorseyLost film
HollywoodHerselfLost film
The Gold DiggersJerry La MarAn incomplete copy exists, with reels 2 and 3 missing
Does It Pay?Doris ClarkLost film
1924The Truth About WomenHilda CarrLost film
The Price of a PartyGrace BarrowsIncomplete
1925Fifty-FiftyGinetteLost film
MarionettesShort subject
Lover's IslandClemmy Dawson
1926The Unfair SexShirley Chamberlain
1927Springtime of LoveShort subject
The Call of the SeaShort Subject
1938The Road to RenoHope Hampton
1961Hey, Let's Twist!HerselfCameo

References

  1. ↑ The Opera Singer and the Silent Film by Paul Fryer, c.2005
  2. 1 2 3 4 Purnick, Joyce (January 25, 1982). "HOPE HAMPTON, OPERA SINGER AND FIRST-NIGHTER, DIES AT 84". The New York Times. p. A28.
  3. ↑ "Hope Hampton Gets Father's Estate". New York Daily News. July 21, 1937. p. 43.
  4. ↑ Evelyn G Hampton in the 1900 United States Federal Census
  5. ↑ Benjamin, Ruth; Rosenblatt, Arthur (2025). "Hope Hampton". Who Sang What on Broadway, 1866–1996. McFarland & Company. p. 333. ISBN 9781476632322.
  6. ↑ "RECOGNITION AT LAST; Being Something About the Struggles and Emergence of Hope Hampton". The New York Times. October 16, 1927. p. 4.
  7. 1 2 3 Fox, Fox Charles Donald; Fox Silver, Milton L (1920). "Hope Hampton". Who's Who on the Screen. Ross Publishing Co. p. 158.
  8. 1 2 3 Landry, George (May 1920). "Two Parts of the Trio". Photo-Play Journal. p. 15.
  9. ↑ Wing, Ruth, ed. (1924). The Blue Book of the Screen. Pacific Gravure Company. p. 107.
  10. ↑ Wilson, Andrew (2012). Shadow of the Titanic: The Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived. Windsor Paragon. pp. 311–312. ISBN 978-1451671575.
  11. ↑ Golden, Eve (2013). John Gilbert: The Last of the Silent Film Stars. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 42–43. ISBN 9780813141626.
  12. ↑ "Beauty Contest Winner Will Sing Grand Opera". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 28, 1928. p. 9, section Society.
  13. ↑ "Cimini Voice Pupils in Eastern Opera and Concert Successes". Los Angeles Evening Express. January 23, 1929. p. 18.
  14. ↑ Dean Fowler, Alandra (1994). Estelle Liebling: An exploration of her pedagogical principles as an extension and elaboration of the Marchesi method, including a survey of her music and editing for coloratura soprano and other voices (PhD). University of Arizona.
  15. ↑ Gilmore, Roy (April 14, 1929). "Movie Star Goes Operatic". Brooklyn Eagle. p. 12.
  16. ↑ "New Music Play at the Forrest". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 28, 1924. p. 8.
  17. ↑ "RECOGNITION AT LAST; Being Something About the Struggles and Emergence of Hope Hampton". The New York Times. October 16, 1927. p. 4.
  18. ↑ "Hope Hampton Has Opera Debut Here". The Philadelphia Inquirer. December 22, 1928. p. 2.
  19. ↑ "Noah's Ark Celebrates Winter Garden Premiere". New York Daily News. March 13, 1929. p. 48.
  20. ↑ Martin, Linton (March 1, 1929). "Boheme is Given With Hope Hampton". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 2.
  21. ↑ Hall, Hal, ed. (December 1929). "Screen Star's Voice Captivates Paris". American Cinematographer. Vol. X, no. 9. p. 22.
  22. ↑ "Hope Hampton Continues to Attract the Praise of Paris". The Musical Courier. August 10, 1929. p. 11.
  23. ↑ "Paris Debut Praised. Hope Hampton Scores as Manon". Kansas City Journal. June 22, 1929. p. 6.
  24. ↑ "With the Artists: Hope Hampton Triumphs". Santa Ana Daily Register. August 9, 1930. p. 14.
  25. ↑ "Sensation Scored By Hope Hampton in Belgium Opera". Los Angeles Daily News. July 2, 1930. p. 4.
  26. ↑ "Hope Hampton Wins Acclaim at Vichy". The San Francisco Examiner. July 11, 1930. p. 1.
  27. ↑ "Hope Hampton's L.A. Opera Debut Brilliant Event". Illustrated Daily News. October 7, 1930. p. 20.
  28. ↑ "Hope Hampton Scored Triumph in Role of Marguerite". The San Francisco Examiner. September 26, 1930. p. 21.
  29. ↑ "Hope Hampton for Monte Carlo". The Musical Courier. April 19, 1930. p. 28.
  30. ↑ "Hope Hampton Goes With Paris Opera". Variety. July 30, 1930.
  31. ↑ "Death Takes Mother of Hope Hampton". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. December 9, 1931. p. 14.
  32. ↑ "Thais At Imperial". The McGill Daily. Vol. 23, no. 21. October 31, 1933.
  33. ↑ "Hope Hampton to Sing in Venice". New York Daily News. June 23, 1933. p. 47.
  34. ↑ "Grand Opera". The Boston Globe. February 8, 1934. p. 29.
  35. ↑ "Hope Hampton Gains Success in Debut Here". Chicago Tribune. December 11, 1934. p. 17.
  36. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  37. ↑ Tzeses, Jennifer (August 3, 2016). "Tour Hope Hampton's $9 Million Park Avenue Home". Architectural Digest. Retrieved May 11, 2021.