Hazel Scott: Café Society

FAIN: TD-266328-19

New York Foundation for the Arts, Inc. (Brooklyn, NY 11201-8301)
Robert S. Levi (Project Director: January 2019 to October 2022)

Development of a documentary film about the African American musician and broadcast pioneer Hazel Scott (1920–81).

This is a request for a $75,000 media development grant for Hazel Scott: Café Society, a sixty-minute broadcast documentary film. The program focuses on the life and work of the African-American singer, classical and jazz pianist, stage and film actress, political activist, and broadcast pioneer, Hazel Scott (1920-1981). In a career that spanned four decades, Hazel Scott was an innovative performer whose influence impacted five seminal movements in American culture—classical music, cabaret and musical theater, jazz piano, broadcast television, and Hollywood films. Even now, almost seventy years after her groundbreaking debut as the first African-American to host a network television show, Hazel Scott’s legacy as a broadcast pioneer remains unrivaled but under-celebrated.

Associated Products

Hazel Scott: Cafe Society (Script)
Title: Hazel Scott: Cafe Society
Writer: Robert Levi
Director: Robert Levi
Producer: Rebecca Halbower
Abstract: **Attaching a PDF of the script in the 'Supplementary Materials' section of the portal.** The “Hazel Scott: Café Society” program’s detailed telescript has been conceived and structured to have the broadest possible appeal for both domestic and global viewing audiences by addressing key cultural, social, and historical issues which defined the years that are covered in the teleplay, and will have equal importance for contemporary audiences. Our research resulted in a detailed and compelling document that highlights the peak of Hazel Scott’s career during an almost eight year association with Café Society while exploring her complex relationship with its founder, the impresario Barney Josephson, who was instrumental in helping Scott develop into one of the most sought after international pianists and celebrated movie personalities.
Year: 2020

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