Press videographer's 'The Family Secret' wins Emmy

Marty Frumkin's "Family Secret" is secret no more.

Though Frumkin's family spent decades hiding the fact that he was adopted, Asbury Park Press videographer Brian Johnston's video of the Middletown man's discovery won a regional Emmy Award on Saturday and helped bring to light the sometimes painful consequences of secret adoptions.

In the nearly five-minute video shown above, Johnston captures Frumkin's shock and emotional turmoil when he learns in his mid-60s of the secret so carefully concealed by his parents. Frumkin's name at birth actually was Joseph Murray. The couple he believed were his biological parents for more than 60 years had not told him the truth.

Johnston, who has worked at the Asbury Park Press since 2012, carefully weaved Frumkin's emotional retelling of his discovery, images of the man's baby book, and his new family into the final, stirring video.

During Johnston's interview with Frumkin, the videographer decided to make the baby book a unifying thread of the story.

“When you look through it, it’s all the same pen," Johnston said. “It’s almost like they sat down one day and just made this whole thing up.”

Johnston is used to telling people's intimate, sometimes painful stories, but he said Frumkin made a particularly compelling subject. 

"I thought he was a person who really drew you into his story," Johnston said.

Though the videographer's work has been nominated for an Emmy Award before, this is his first win, he said. On Saturday he took home the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the National Academy of Television's Emmy for a human interest feature segment.

"It did feel good," said Johnston, who admits to being more comfortable interviewing others than being the subject of attention. 

Johnston's other notable works at the Asbury Park Press include "The Battle Room" series, where moving pre-game speeches of coaches underscore the drama and power of high school football. His series won first place in the best video category of the New Jersey Press Association's annual awards ceremony in 2016.

In his storytelling, Johnston said he has a guiding goal.

“I tried to get their personality across, just so you can kind of feel like you know that person after you’ve watched the story," he said.

Amanda Oglesby: 732-557-5701; aoglesby@GannettNJ.com