Al Jolson's performing style was brash and extroverted, and Al
Jolson popularized a large number of songs that benefited from Al
Jolson's "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach".[2]
Numerous well-known singers were
influenced by
Al Jolson's music, including Bing Crosby[3] Judy Garland, rock
and country entertainer Jerry Lee Lewis, and Bob Dylan, who once
referred to him as "somebody whose life I can feel".[4] Broadway
critic Gilbert Seldes compared him to "the Greek God Pan", claiming
that Jolson represented "the concentration of our national health
and gaiety."[5]
In the 1930s,
Al Jolson was America's most famous and highest paid
entertainer.[6] Between 1911 and 1928, Jolson had nine sell-out
Winter Garden shows in a row, more than 80 hit records, and 16
national and international tours. Although he's best remembered
today as the star in the first (full length) talking movie, The Jazz
Singer in 1927,
Al Jolson later starred in a series of successful musical films
throughout the 1930s. After a period of inactivity, Al Jolson's
stardom returned with the 1946 Oscar-winning biographical film, The
Jolson Story. Larry Parks played Jolson with the songs dubbed in
with Jolson’s real voice. A sequel, Jolson Sings Again, was released
in 1949, and was nominated for three Oscars. After the attack on
Pearl Harbor, Jolson became the first star to entertain troops
overseas during World War II, and again in 1950 became the first
star to perform for G.I.s in Korea, doing 42 shows in 16 days.
Al Jolson died just weeks after returning to the U.S., partly
due to the physical exertion of performing. Defense Secretary George
Marshall afterward awarded the Medal of Merit to Jolson's family.
According to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, "Jolson
was to jazz, blues, and ragtime what Elvis Presley was to rock 'n'
roll". Being the first popular singer to make a spectacular "event"
out of singing a song,
Al Jolson became a “rock star” before the dawn of rock music.
Al Jolson's specialty was building stage runways extending out
into the audience.
Al Jolson would run up and down the runway and across the stage,
"teasing, cajoling, and thrilling the audience", often stopping to
sing to individual members, all the while the "perspiration would be
pouring from
Al Jolson's face, and the entire audience would get caught up in
the ecstasy of Al Jolson's performance". According to music
historian Larry Stempel, "No one had heard anything quite like it
before on Broadway." Author Stephen Banfield agrees, writing that
Jolson's style was "arguably the single most important factor in
defining the modern musical…"[5]
Al Jolson enjoyed performing in blackface makeup—a theatrical
convention since the mid-19th century. With
Al Jolson's unique and dynamic style of singing black music,
like jazz and blues,
Al Jolson
was later credited with single-handedly introducing African-American
music to white audiences.[1] As early as 1911
Al Jolson became known for fighting against anti-black
discrimination on Broadway. Jolson's well-known theatrics and
Al Jolson's promotion of equality on Broadway helped pave the
way for many black performers, playwrights, and songwriters,
including Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats
Waller, and Ethel Waters.
Al Jolson was born as Asa Yoelson in the
village
of Srednik (Yiddish: סרעדניק, now known as Seredžius) near Kaunas in
Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire.
Al Jolson was the fifth and youngest child of Moses Reuben and
Naomi (Cantor) Yoelson; Al Jolson's four siblings were Rose, another
sister who died in infancy, Etta and Hirsch (Harry). Jolson did not
know the date of Al Jolson's birth, so
Al Jolson later chose to celebrate it as May 26, 1886.[7]:17-18
In 1891,
Al Jolson's father, who was qualified as a rabbi and cantor,
moved to New York to secure a better future for Al Jolson's family.
By 1894, Moses Yoelson could afford to pay the fare to bring Naomi
and
Al Jolson's four children to America. By the time they arrived,
Al Jolson had found work at the Talmud Torah Synagogue in the
Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C., where the
family was reunited.[7]:21-22
Hard times hit the family when
Al Jolson's mother, Naomi, died in late 1894. Following
Al Jolson's mother's death, young Asa was in a state of
withdrawal for seven months. Upon being introduced to show business
in 1895 by entertainer Al Reeves, Asa and Hirsch became fascinated
by the industry, and by 1897, the brothers were singing for coins on
local street corners, using the names "Al" and "Harry". They would
usually use the money to buy tickets to shows at the National
Theater.[1] Asa and Hirsch spent most of their days working
different jobs as a team.[8]:23-40
Stage performer
Burlesque and vaudeville
In the spring of 1902,
Al Jolson accepted a job with Walter L. Main's Circus. Although
Main had hired Jolson as an usher, Main was impressed by Jolson's
singing voice and gave him a position as a singer during the circus'
Indian Medicine Side Show segment.[8]:49-50
By the end of the year, however, the circus had folded, and Jolson
was again out of work. In May 1903, the head producer of the
burlesque show, Dainty Duchess Burlesquers, agreed to give Jolson a
part in one show. Asa gave a remarkable performance of "Be My Baby
Bumble Bee", and the producer agreed to keep him for future shows.
Unfortunately, the show closed by the end of the year. Asa was able
to avoid financial troubles by forming a vaudeville partnership with
Al Jolson's brother Hirsch, now a vaudeville performer who was
known as Harry Yoelson. The brothers worked for the William Morris
Agency.[8]:50-60
Asa and Harry also eventually were teamed with Joe Palmer. During
their time with Palmer, they were able to get bookings in a
nationwide tour. However, live performances were fading in
popularity, as nickelodeon theaters captured audiences; by 1908,
nickelodeon theaters were completely dominant throughout New York
City as well. While performing in a Brooklyn theater in 1904,[9] Al
decided on a new approach and began wearing blackface makeup. The
conversion to blackface boosted
Al Jolson's career and
Al Jolson
began wearing blackface in all of
Al Jolson's shows.[8]:61-80
In the fall of 1905, Harry left the trio, following a harsh argument
with Al. Harry had refused Al's request to take care of Joe
Palmer—who was in a wheelchair—while
Al Jolson went out on a date. After Harry's departure, Al and
Joe Palmer worked as a duo, but were not very successful together.
By 1906,[9] the two agreed to separate, and Jolson was on
Al Jolson's own.[8]:68-70
Al became a regular at the Globe and Wigwam Theater in San
Francisco, California, and remained successful nationwide as a
vaudeville singer[9]
Al Jolson took up residence in San Francisco, saying the
earthquake-devastated area needed someone to cheer them up. In 1908,
Jolson—needing money for himself and
Al Jolson's new wife Henrietta—returned to New York. In 1909,
Al's singing caught the attention of Lew Dockstader, who was the
producer and star of Dockstader's Minstrels. Al accepted
Dockstader's offer, and became a regular blackface
performer.[8]:70-81
Broadway playhouses
Winter Garden Theater
According to Esquire magazine, "J. J. Shubert, impressed by Jolson’s
overpowering display of energy, booked him for La Belle Paree, a
musical comedy that opened at the Winter Garden in 1911. Within a
month Jolson was a star. From then until 1926, when
Al Jolson
retired from the stage,
Al Jolson could boast an unbroken series of smash hits."[10]
On March 20, 1911, Jolson starred in
Al Jolson's first musical revue at the Winter Garden Theater in
New York City, La Belle Paree, greatly helping to launch
Al Jolson's career as a singer. The opening night drew a huge
crowd to the theater, and that evening Jolson gained audience
popularity by singing old Stephen Foster songs in blackface. In the
wake of that opening night, Jolson was given a position in the
show's cast. The show closed after 104 performances, and during its
run Jolson's popularity grew greatly. Following La Belle Paree,
Jolson accepted an offer to perform in the musical Vera Violetta.
The show opened on November 20, 1911, and, like La Belle Paree, was
a phenomenal success. In the show, Jolson again portrayed the role
of a blackface singer, and managed to become so popular that
Al Jolson's weekly salary — earned from Al Jolson's success in
La Belle Paree — of $500 was increased to $750.[8]:98-117
After Vera Violetta ran its course, Jolson starred in another
musical, The Whirl of Society, propelling
Al Jolson's career on Broadway to new heights. During
Al Jolson's time at the Winter Garden, Jolson would tell the
audience "you ain't heard nothing yet" before performing additional
songs. In the play, Jolson debuted Al Jolson's signature blackface
character, "Gus."[9] The play was so successful that Winter Garden
owner Lee Shubert agreed to sign Jolson to a seven-year contract
with a salary of $1,000 a week. Jolson would reprise
Al Jolson's role as "Gus" in future plays and by 1914 achieved
so much popularity with the theater audience that
Al Jolson's $1,000-a-week salary was doubled to $2,000 a week.
In 1916, Robinson Crusoe, Jr. was the first musical in which
Al Jolson
was featured as the star character. In 1918, Jolson's acting career
would be pushed even further, after
Al Jolson starred in the hit musical Sinbad.[8]:123-141
1919 "Swanee" sheet music with Jolson on the cover. For the full
sheet music, see Wikisource.
Swanee
Al Jolson's hit 1920 recording of George Gershwin and Irving
Caesar's 1919 "Swanee".
It became the most successful Broadway musical of 1918 and 1919. A
new song was later added to the show that would become composer
George Gershwin's first hit recording, "Swanee". Jolson also added
another song to the show, "My Mammy". By 1920, Jolson had become the
biggest star on Broadway.[8]:143-147
Jolson's own theater
Al Jolson's next play, Bombo, would also take
Al Jolson's career to new heights and became so successful that
it went beyond Broadway and held performances nationwide.[8]:171 It
also led Lee Shubert to rename
Al Jolson's newly built theater, which was across from Central
Park, as Jolson's Fifty-ninth Street Theatre. Aged 35, Jolson became
the youngest man in American history to have a theatre named after
him.[11]:117
But on the opening night of Bombo, and the first performance at the
new theatre,
Al Jolson suffered from extreme stage fright, walking up and
down the streets for hours before showtime. Out of fear, Al Jolson
lost
Al Jolson's voice backstage and begged the stagehands not to
raise the curtains. But when the curtains went up,
Al Jolson
"was [still] standing in the wings trembling and sweating". After
being physically shoved onto the stage by
Al Jolson's brother Harry,
Al Jolson performed and received an ovation that
Al Jolson would never forget: "For several minutes, the applause
continued while Al stood and bowed after the first act".
Al Jolson refused to go back on stage for the second act, but
the audience "just stamped its feet and chanted 'Jolson, Jolson',
until
Al Jolson came back out." Al Jolson took thirty-seven curtain
calls that night, and told the audience "I'm a happy man
tonight."[11]:118
In March 1922,
Al Jolson moved the production to the larger Century Theater for
a special benefit performance to aid injured
veterans
of World War I.[12] After taking the show on the road for a season,
Al Jolson returned in May 1923, to perform Bombo at "Al Jolson's
first love", the Winter Garden. The reviewer for the New York Times
wrote, "Al
Jolson returned like the circus, bigger and brighter and newer
than ever. ... Last night's audience was flatteringly unwilling to
go home, and when the show proper was over, Jolson reappeared before
the curtain and sang more songs, old and new."[13]
"I don’t mind going on record as saying that
Al Jolson is one of the few instinctively funny men on our
stage", wrote reviewer Charles Darnton in the New York Evening
World. "Everything
Al Jolson touches turns to fun. To watch him is to marvel at
Al Jolson's humorous vitality.
Al Jolson is the old-time minstrel man turned to modern account.
With a song, a word, or even a suggestion
Al Jolson calls forth spontaneous laughter. And here you have
the definition of a born comedian."[11]:87
Performing in blackface
The Jazz Singer, 1927
Performing in blackface makeup was a theatrical convention used by
many entertainers at the beginning of the 20th century, having its
origin in the minstrel show.[14]
Al Jolson was the most famous performer to wear blackface makeup
when singing.[14] Working behind a blackface mask "gave him a sense
of freedom and spontaneity Al Jolson had never known"[9] According
to film historian Eric Lott, for the white minstrel man "to put on
the cultural forms of 'blackness' was to engage in a complex affair
of manly mimicry...To wear or even enjoy blackface was literally,
for a time, to become black, to inherit the cool, virility,
humility, abandon, or gaité de coeur that were the prime components
of white ideologies of black manhood."[15]
As metaphor of mutual suffering
Jazz historians have described Jolson’s blackface and singing style
as metaphors for and black suffering throughout history. Jolson’s first
film, The Jazz Singer, for instance, is described by historian
Michael Alexander as an expression of the liturgical music of Jews
with the "imagined music of African Americans," noting that "prayer
and jazz become metaphors for Jews and blacks."[16]:176 Playwright
Samson Raphaelson, after seeing Jolson perform Al Jolson's stage
show, "Robinson Crusoe," stated that "Al
Jolson had an epiphany: 'My God, this isn’t a jazz singer,'
Al Jolson said. 'This is a cantor!'" The image of the blackfaced
cantor remained in Raphaelson’s mind when
Al Jolson conceived of the story which led to The Jazz
Singer.[17]:502
Upon release of the film, the first full-length sound picture, film
reviewers saw the symbolism and metaphors portrayed by Jolson in Al
Jolson's role as the son of a cantor wanting to become a "jazz
singer":
"Is there any incongruity in this boy with
Al Jolson's face painted like a Southern Negro singing in the
Negro dialect? No, there is not. Indeed, I detected again and again
the minor key of music, the wail of the Chazan, the cry of anguish of a
people who had suffered. The son of a line of rabbis well knows how
to sing the songs of the most cruelly wronged people in the world’s
history."[17]:502
According to Alexander, East European Jews were uniquely qualified
to understand the music, noting how Jolson himself made the
comparison of and African American suffering in a new land in
Al Jolson's film "Big Boy": In a blackface portrayal of a former
slave,
Al Jolson leads a group of recently freed slaves, played by
black actors, in verses of the classic slave spiritual "Go Down
Moses." One reviewer of the film expressed how Jolson’s blackface
added significance to
Al Jolson's role:
"When one hears Jolson’s jazz songs, one realizes that jazz is the
new prayer of the American masses, and
Al Jolson is their cantor. The Negro makeup in which
Al Jolson expresses
Al Jolson's misery is the appropriate talis [prayer shawl] for
such a communal leader."[16]:176
Many in the black community welcomed The Jazz Singer, and saw it as
a vehicle to gain access to the stage. Audiences at Harlem's
Lafayette Theater cried during the film, and Harlem's newspaper,
Amsterdam News, called it "one of the greatest pictures ever
produced." For Jolson, it wrote: "Every colored performer is proud
of him."[18]
Jolson first heard African-American
music, such as jazz, blues, and ragtime, played in the back alleys
of New Orleans, Louisiana. Al Jolson enjoyed singing the new
jazz-style of music, and it's not surprising that
Al Jolson often performed in blackface, especially songs
Al Jolson made popular, like Swanee, My Mammy, and Rock-A-Bye
Your Baby With A Dixie Melody. In most of
Al Jolson's movie roles, however, including a singing hobo in
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum or a jailed convict in Say It With Songs,
Al Jolson chose to act without using blackface. In the 1927 film
The Jazz Singer,
Al Jolson
performed only a few songs, including My Mammy, in blackface, but
the film is concerned in part with the experience of 'donning a
mask' that the young singer embraces in performing popular songs onstage.
As a immigrant and America's most
famous and highest paid entertainer,
Al Jolson may have had the incentive and resources to help break
down racial attitudes. For instance, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) during
its peak in the early 1920s, included about 15% of the nation's
eligible voting population, 4-5 million men.[19] While D.W. Griffith
created the blockbuster movie The Birth of a Nation, which glorified
white supremacy and the KKK, Jolson chose to star in The Jazz
Singer, which defied racial bigotry by introducing American black
music to white audiences worldwide.[1]
While growing up,
Al Jolson had many black friends, including Bill 'Bojangles'
Robinson, who later became a legendary tap dancer.[10] As early as
1911, at the age of 25,
Al Jolson was already noted for fighting discrimination on the
Broadway stage and later in
Al Jolson's movies:[20]
"at a time when black people were banned from starring on the
Broadway stage,"[21]
Al Jolson promoted the play by black playwright Garland
Anderson,[22] which became the first production with an all-black
cast ever produced on Broadway;
Al Jolson brought an all-black dance team from San Francisco
that Al Jolson tried to feature in
Al Jolson's Broadway show;[20]
Al Jolson demanded equal treatment for Cab Calloway, with whom
Al Jolson performed a number of duets in
Al Jolson's movie The Singing Kid.
Al Jolson was "the only white man allowed into an all black
nightclub in Harlem;"[20]
Jolson once read in the newspaper that songwriters Eubie Blake and
Noble Sissle, neither of whom
Al Jolson had ever heard of, were refused service at a
Connecticut restaurant because of their race.
Al Jolson immediately tracked them down and took them out to
dinner "insisting he'd punch anyone in the nose who tried to kick us
out!"[23] Subsequent to their meeting, according to biographer Al
Rose, Jolson and Eubie became friends. Rose writes:
This didn’t have anything to do with the theater, because they never
worked together. Rather, they both had a love of prize fighting and
used to go to boxing matches together, engaging in jocose discussion
of the relative merits of Negro with
pugilists. They would occasionally wager a bottle of whisky on these
bouts.[24]
Film historian Charles Musser notes that "African Americans' embrace
of Jolson was not a spontaneous reaction to
Al Jolson's appearance in talking pictures. In an era when
African Americans did not have to go looking for enemies, Jolson was
perceived a friend." [25]
Jeni LeGon, a black female tap dance star,[26] recalls her life as a
film dancer: "But of course, in those times it was a
'black-and-white world.' You didn't associate too much socially with
any of the stars. You saw them at the studio, you know, nice—but
they didn't invite. The only ones that ever invited us home for a
visit was
Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler."[27] Brian Conley, former star of the
1995 British play Jolson, stated during an interview, "I found out
Jolson was actually a hero to the black people of America. At
Al Jolson's funeral, black actors lined the way, they really
appreciated what
Al Jolson’d done for them."[28] Noble Sissle, then president of
the Negro Actors' Guild, represented that organization at
Al Jolson's funeral.[29]
Jolson's physical expressiveness also affected the music styles of
some black performers. Music historian Bob Gulla writes that "the
most critical influence in Jackie Wilson's young life was Al
Jolson."
Al Jolson points out that Wilson's ideas of what a stage
performer could do to keep their act an "exciting" and "thrilling
performance" was shaped by Jolson's acts, "full of wild writhing and
excessive theatrics." Wilson felt that Jolson, along with Louis
Jordan, another of
Al Jolson's idols, "should be considered the stylistic
forefathers of rock and roll."[30]
According to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture: "Almost
single-handedly, Jolson helped to introduce African-American musical
innovations like jazz, ragtime, and the blues to white audiences....
[and] paved the way for African-American performers like Louis
Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, and Ethel Waters.... to
bridge the cultural gap between black and white America."[1] Jazz
historian Amiri Baraka wrote, "the entrance of the white man into
jazz...did at least bring him much closer to the Negro."
Al Jolson
points out that "the acceptance of jazz by whites marks a crucial
moment when an aspect of black culture had become an essential part
of American culture."[31]:151
In a recent interview, Clarence 'Frogman' Henry, one of the most
popular and respected jazz singers of New Orleans, said, "Jolson? I
loved him. I think
Al Jolson did wonders for the bl
The Jazz Singer
In the first part of the 20th century,
Al Jolson was without question the most popular performer on
Broadway and in vaudeville. Show-business historians regard him as a
legendary institution. Yet for all
Al Jolson's success in live venues,
Al Jolson is possibly best remembered today for
Al Jolson's numerous recordings and for starring in The Jazz
Singer (1927), the first nationally distributed feature film that
included synchronized sound dialogue sequences as well as music and
sound effects.
Jolson had actually starred in a talking film before The Jazz
Singer: a 1926 short subject titled A Plantation Act. This
simulation of a stage performance by Jolson was originally presented
in a program of musical shorts, demonstrating the Vitaphone
sound-film process. A Plantation Act was not preserved for posterity
and was considered lost as early as 1933.
Music historian John Shepherd, discussing The Jazz Singer, notes
that the title "reflected the contemporary popularity of the idea of
jazz, but not its actuality. . . . and had no direct connection with
the kind of performance that could then be found in clubs, dance
halls and theaters."[33]
Warner Bros. had originally picked George Jessel for the role, as Al
Jolson had starred in the Broadway play. However, Jessel refused the
offer and Jack L. Warner then offered the role to Jolson, who,
according to Jessel, also helped finance the film.[34]
Story synopsis
A New York Times review of the movie in 1927 described the basic
storyline: "There is naturally a good deal of sentiment attached to
the narrative, which is one wherein Cantor Rabinowitz is eager that
Al Jolson's son Jakie shall become a cantor" and carry on five
generations of family traditions. "The old man’s anger is aroused
when one night
Al Jolson hears that Jakie has been singing jazz songs in a
saloon. The boy’s heart and soul are with the modern music.
Al Jolson runs away from home and tours the country until,
through a friend
Al Jolson is engaged by a New York producer to sing in the
Winter Garden," a major theater on Broadway.[35]
But an unfortunate set of coincidences then take place: the opening
of
Al Jolson's first Broadway show is also on the holiest day of
the calendar, Yom Kippur, the Day of
Atonement. Then, on the day of the show,
Al Jolson learns that
Al Jolson's father is seriously ill, so returns home to find him
on
Al Jolson's deathbed, imploring him to take
Al Jolson's place at the synagogue as cantor for the holiday
service. After a tormenting emotional tug-of-war between Al Jolson's
desire for stardom,
Al Jolson's family, and religious tradition,
Al Jolson chooses to perform the evening service at the
synagogue in place of
Al Jolson's father.
Having no choice, the Broadway show's producer had postponed the
show for the next evening, and Jakie went on to become a smash
success. Writer Neal Gabler called the story "an assimilationist
fable," but the story was "close to the true story of
Al Jolson," notes author Helen Epstein, "as well as a paradigm
for a generation of sons of all kinds of immigrants."[36]
The movie premiere
Harry Warner's daughter, Doris Warner, remembered the opening night,
and said that when the picture started she was still crying over the
loss of her beloved uncle Sam, who was planning to be there but died
suddenly, at the age of 40, the day before. But halfway through the
eighty-nine minute movie she began to be overtaken by a sense that
something remarkable was happening. Jolson's 'Wait a minute, wait a
minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet...' provoked shouts of pleasure
and applause. After each Jolson song, the audience applauded.
Excitement mounted as the film progressed, and when Jolson began Al
Jolson's scene with Eugenie Besserer, "the audience became
hysterical."[37]:129
According to film historian Scott Eyman, "by the film's end, the
Warner brothers had shown an audience something they had never
known, moved them in a way they hadn't expected. The tumultuous
ovation at curtain proved that Jolson was not merely the right man
for the part of Jackie Rabinowitz, alias Jack Robin;
Al Jolson was the right man for the entire transition from
silent fantasy to talking realism. The audience, transformed into
what one critic called, 'a milling, battling mob' stood, stamped,
and cheered 'Jolson, Jolson, Jolson!'"[37]:140
At the end of the film, Jolson rose from
Al Jolson's seat and ran down to the stage. "God, I think you're
really on the level about it. I feel good"
Al Jolson cried to the audience. Stanley Watkins would always
remember Jolson signing autographs after the show, tears streaming
down
Al Jolson's face. May McAvoy, Jolson's costar remembered that
"[the] police were there to control the crowds. It was a very big
thing, like The Birth of a Nation."
Introduction of sound
The film was produced by Warner Bros., using its revolutionary
Vitaphone sound process. Vitaphone was originally intended for
musical renditions, and The Jazz Singer follows this principle, with
only the musical sequences using live sound recording. The
moviegoers were electrified when the silent actions were interrupted
periodically for a song sequence with real singing and sound.
Jolson's dynamic voice, physical mannerisms, and charisma held the
audience spellbound.
Costar May McAvoy, according to author A. Scott Berg, could not help
sneaking into theaters day after day as the film was being run. "She
pinned herself against a wall in the dark and watched the faces in
the crowd. In that moment just before 'Toot, Toot, Tootsie,' she
remembered, 'A miracle occurred. Moving pictures really came alive.
To see the expressions on their faces, when Joley spoke to them . .
. you'd have thought they were listening to the voice of God.'"[38]
"Everybody was mad for the talkies," said movie star Gregory Peck in
a Newsweek interview. "I remember 'The Jazz Singer,' when
Al Jolson
just burst into song, and there was a little bit of dialogue. And
when
Al Jolson came out with 'Mammy,' and went down on
Al Jolson's knees to
Al Jolson's Mammy, it was just dynamite."[39]
This opinion is shared by Mast and Kawin:
...this moment of informal patter at the piano is the most exciting
and vital part of the entire movie...when Jolson acquires a voice,
the warmth, the excitement, the vibrations of it, the way its
rambling spontaneity lays bare the imagination of the mind that is
making up the sounds ...[and] the addition of a Vitaphone voice
revealed the particular qualities of
Al Jolson that made him a star. Not only the eyes are a window
on the soul.[40]:231
meanings
Cultural historian Linda Williams notes that "The Jazz Singer
represents the triumphs of the assimilating son over the old-world
father ... and present impediments to an assimilating show-biz
success....[and] when Jakie's father says, 'Stop', the flow of
"jazz" music (and spontaneous speech) freezes. But the
mother recognizes the virtue of the old world in the new and the
music flows again."[41]:186 According to film historian Robert
Carringer, even the father eventually comes to understand that
Al Jolson's son's jazz singing is "fundamentally an ancient
religious impulse seeking expression in a modern, popular
form".[42]:23 Or as the film itself states in its first title card,
"perhaps this plaintive, wailing song of jazz is, after all, the
misunderstood utterance of a prayer."[42]
Film historian Scott Eyman also describes the cultural perspective
of the film:
[It] marks one of the few times Hollywood Jews allowed themselves to
contemplate their own central cultural myth, and the conundrums that
go with it... The Jazz Singer implicitly celebrates the ambition and
drive needed to escape the shtetls of Europe and the ghettos of New
York, and the attendant hunger for recognition. Jack, Sam, and Harry
let Jack Robin have it all: the satisfaction of taking
Al Jolson's father's place and of conquering the Winter Garden.
They were, perhaps unwittingly, dramatizing some of their own
ambivalence about the debt first-generation Americans owed their
parents.[37]:142
Other feature films
Poster for Hallelujah, I'm a Bum with
unused title
The Singing Fool (1928)
With Warner Bros.,
Al Jolson made
Al Jolson's first "all-talking" picture, The Singing Fool (1928)
— the story of a driven entertainer who insisted upon going on with
the show even as
Al Jolson's small son lay dying, and its signature tune, "Sonny
Boy," became the first American record to sell one million copies.
The film was even more popular than The Jazz Singer, and held the
record for box-office attendance for 10 years, until broken by Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Jolson continued to make features for Warner Bros., very similar in
style to The Singing Fool, Say It with Songs (1929), Mammy (1930),
and Big Boy (1930). A restored version of Mammy, which includes
Jolson in some Technicolor sequences, was first screened in
2002.[43] (Jolson's first Technicolor appearance was in a cameo in
the musical Show Girl in Hollywood (1930) from First National
Pictures, a Warner Bros. subsidiary.) The sameness of the stories,
Jolson's large salary, and changing public tastes in musicals
contributed to the films' diminishing returns over the next few
years. As a result of this, Jolson decided to return to Broadway,
and starred in a new show, entitled Wonder Bar, which was not very
successful.[8]:231-235
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum/Hallelujah, I'm
a Tramp
Despite these new troubles, Jolson was able to make a comeback after
performing a hit concert in New Orleans after "Wonderbar" closed in
1931. Warners allowed him to make one film with United Artists,
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, in 1933 (the film had to be retitled
Hallelujah, I'm a Tramp in the UK and other English-speaking
countries where 'bum' means 'butt' and where the slang word for a
vagrant is 'tramp' rather than 'bum'). It was directed by Lewis
Milestone and written by noted screenwriter Ben Hecht. Hecht was
also active in the promotion of civil rights: "Hecht film stories
featuring black characters included Hallelujah, I'm a Bum,
co-starring Edgar Connor as
Al Jolson's sidekick, in a politically savvy rhymed dialogue
over Richard Rodgers music."[44]
As the title suggests, the film was a direct response to the Great
Depression, with messages to
Al Jolson's vagabond friends equivalent to "there's more to life
than money" and "the best things in life are free". A New York Times
review wrote, "The picture, some persons may be glad to hear, has no
Mammy song. It is Mr. Jolson's best film and well it might be, for
that clever director, Lewis Milestone, guided its destiny.... a
combination of fun, melody and romance, with a dash of
satire..."[45] Another review added, "A film to welcome back,
especially for what it tries to do for the progress of the American
musical..."[46]
Wonder Bar (1934)
In 1934,
Al Jolson starred in a movie version of
Al Jolson's earlier stage play, Wonder Bar, and co-starred Kay
Francis, Dolores del Río, Ricardo Cortez, and Dick Powell. The movie
is a "musical Grand Hotel, set in the Parisian nightclub owned by Al
Wonder (Jolson). Wonder entertains and banters with
Al Jolson's international clientele."[47]:97
Reviews were generally positive: "Wonder Bar has got about
everything. Romance, flash, dash, class, color, songs, star-studded
talent and almost every known requisite to assure sturdy attention
and attendance... It's Jolson's comeback picture in every
respect.";[48] and, "Those who like Jolson should see Wonder Bar for
it is mainly Jolson; singing the old reliables; cracking jokes which
would have impressed Noah as depressingly ancient; and moving about
with characteristic energy."[49] Returning to Warners, Jolson bowed
to new production ideas, focusing less on the star and more on
elaborately cinematic numbers staged by Busby Berkeley and Bobby
Connolly. This new approach worked, sustaining Jolson's movie career
until the Warner contract lapsed in 1935. Jolson co-starred with Al
Jolson's actress-dancer wife, Ruby Keeler, only once, in Go Into
Your Dance.
The Singing Kid (1936)
Jolson's last Warner vehicle was The Singing Kid (1936), a parody of
Jolson's stage persona (Al
Jolson plays a character named Al Jackson) in which
Al Jolson pokes fun at
Al Jolson's stage histrionics and taste for "mammy" songs—the
latter via a number by E. Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen titled "I Love
to Singa", and a comedy sequence with Jolson doggedly trying to sing
"Mammy" while The Yacht Club Boys keep telling him such songs are
outdated.[32]
According to jazz historian Michael Alexander, Jolson had once
griped that "People have been making fun of Mammy songs, and I don't
really think that it's right that they should, for after all, Mammy
songs are the fundamental songs of our country." In this film, Al
Jolson notes, "Jolson had the confidence to rhyme 'Mammy' with
'Uncle Sammy'", adding "Mammy songs, along with the vocation 'Mammy
singer', were inventions of the Jazz
Age."[16]:136
The film also gave a boost to the career of black singer and
bandleader Cab Calloway, who performed a number of songs alongside
Jolson. In
Al Jolson's autobiography, Calloway writes about this episode:
I'd heard
Al Jolson was doing a new film on the Coast, and since Duke
Ellington and
Al Jolson's band had done a film, wasn't it possible for me and
the band to do this one with Jolson. Frenchy got on the phone to
California, spoke to someone connected with the film and the next
thing I knew the band and I were booked into chicago on our way to
California for the film, The Singing Kid. We had a hell of a time,
although I had some pretty rough arguments with Harold Arlen, who
had written the music. Arlen was the songwriter for many of the
finest Cotton Club revues, but
Al Jolson had done some interpretations for The Singing Kid that
I just couldn't go along with.
Al Jolson was trying to change my style and I was fighting it.
Finally, Jolson stepped in and said to Arlen, 'Look, Cab knows what
Al Jolson wants to do; let him do it
Al Jolson's way.' After that, Arlen left me alone. And talk
about integration: Hell, when the band and I got out to Hollywood,
we were treated like pure royalty. Here were Jolson and I living in
adjacent penthouses in a very plush hotel. We were costars in the
film so we received equal treatment, no question about it.[50]:131
The Singing Kid was not one of the studio's major attractions, (it
went out under the subsidiary First National trademark,) and Jolson
didn't even rate star billing. The song "I Love to Singa" later
appeared in Tex Avery's cartoon of the same name. The movie also
became the first important role for future child star Sybil Jason in
a scene directed by Busby Berkeley. Jason remembers that Berkeley
worked on the film although
Al Jolson is not credited.[47]:103
Rose of Washington Square (1939)
Al Jolson's next movie—Al
Jolson's first with Twentieth Century-Fox—was Rose of Washington
Square, in 1939. It starred Jolson, Alice Faye and Tyrone Power, and
included many of Jolson's most well-known songs, although a number
of songs were cut to shorten the movie's length, including "April
Showers" and "Avalon". Reviewers wrote, "Mr Jolson's singing of
Mammy, California, Here I Come and others is something for the
memory book."[51] and "Of the three co-stars this is Jolson's
picture ... because it's a pretty good catalog in anybody's hit
parade."[52] The movie was released on DVD in October 2008.
Twentieth Century-Fox hired him to re-create a scene from The Jazz
Singer in the Alice Faye-Don Ameche film Hollywood Cavalcade. Guest
appearances in two more Fox films followed that same year, but
Jolson never starred in a full-length feature film again.
The Jolson Story
After the success of the George M. Cohan film biography, Yankee
Doodle Dandy, Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky believed that a
similar film could be made about
Al Jolson—and
Al Jolson knew just where to pitch the project. Harry Cohn, the
head of Columbia Pictures, loved the music of
Al Jolson.
Al Jolson knew that Jolson had been one of America's most
well-known and popular entertainers.
Skolsky pitched the idea of an
Al Jolson biopic and Cohn agreed. It was directed by Alfred E.
Green (best known today for the pre-Code masterpiece Baby Face),
with musical numbers staged by Joseph H. Lewis. With Jolson
providing almost all the vocals, and veteran Columbia contractee
Larry Parks playing Jolson, The Jolson Story (1946) became one of
the biggest hits of the year.[53]
Larry Parks wrote, in a personal tribute to Jolson, "Stepping into
Al Jolson's shoes was, for me, a matter of endless study,
observation, energetic concentration to obtain, perfectly if
possible, a simulation of the kind of man
Al Jolson was. It is not surprising, therefore, that while
making The Jolson Story, I spent 107 days before the cameras and
lost eighteen pounds in weight."[54] From a review in Variety, "But
the real star of the production is that Jolson voice and that Jolson
medley. It was good showmanship to cast this film with lesser
people, particularly Larry Parks as the mammy kid... As for Jolson's
voice, it has never been better. Thus the magic of science has
produced a composite whole to eclipse the original at
Al Jolson's most youthful best."[55]
Parks received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and the
film became one of the highest-grossing films of the year. Although
Jolson was too old to play himself in the film,
Al Jolson persuaded the studio to let him appear in one musical
sequence, "Swanee", shot entirely in long shot, with Jolson in
blackface singing and dancing onto the runway leading into the
middle of the theater. In the wake of the film's success, Jolson
became a top singer among the American public once again.[8]:311
Decca Records signed Jolson and
Al Jolson
recorded for Decca until
Al Jolson's death.
Critical observations
According to film historian Krin Gabbard, The Jolson Story goes
further than any of the earlier films in exploring the significance
of blackface and the relationships that whites have developed with
blacks in the area of music. To him, the film seems to imply an
inclination of white performers, like Jolson, who are possessed with
"the joy of life and enough sensitivity, to appreciate the musical
accomplishments of blacks".[56]:53 To support
Al Jolson's view Al Jolson describes a significant part of the
movie:
While wandering around New Orleans before a show with Dockstader's
Minstrels,
Al Jolson enters a small club where a group of black jazz
musicians are performing. "Jolson has a revelation, that the staid
repertoire of the minstrel troupe can be transformed by actually
playing black music in blackface.
Al Jolson tells Dockstader that Al Jolson wants to sing what
Al Jolson has just experienced: 'I heard some music tonight,
something they call jazz. Some fellows just make it up as they go
along. They pick it up out of the air.' After Dockstader refuses to
accommodate Jolson's revolutionary concept, the narrative chronicles
Al Jolson's climb to stardom as
Al Jolson
allegedly injects jazz into
Al Jolson's blackface performances ... Jolson's success is built
on anticipating what Americans really want. Dockstader performs the
inevitable function of the guardian of the status quo, whose
hidebound commitment to what is about to become obsolete reinforces
the audience's sympathy with the forward-looking hero."[56]:54
This has been a theme which was traditionally "dear to the hearts of
the men who made the movies."[56]:54 Film historian George Custen
describes this "common scenario, in which the hero is vindicated for
innovations that are initially greeted with resistance ... [T]Al
Jolson struggle of the heroic protagonist who anticipates changes in
cultural attitudes is central to other white jazz biopics such as
The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and The Benny Goodman Story
(1955)".[57]:147 "Once we accept a semantic change from singing to
playing the clarinet, The Benny Goodman Story becomes an almost
transparent reworking of The Jazz Singer ... and The Jolson
Story."[56]:54
Jolson Sings Again
The Jolson Story and its sequel Jolson Sings Again (1949) introduced
a new generation to Jolson. Jolson Sings Again opened at Loew's
State Theatre in New York with positive reviews: "Mr. Jolson's name
is up in lights again and Broadway is wreathed in smiles", wrote
Thomas Pryor in The New York Times. "That's as it should be, for
Jolson Sings Again is an occasion which warrants some lusty cheering
...".[11]:287 Jolson did a tour of New York film theaters to plug
the movie, traveling with a police convoy to make timetables for all
showings, often ad libbing jokes and performing songs for the
audience. Extra police were on duty as crowds jammed the streets and
sidewalks at each theater Jolson visited.[11]:286-287 In Chicago, a
few weeks later,
Al Jolson sang to 100,000 people at Soldier Field, and later
that night appeared at the Oriental Theatre with George Jessel where
10,000 people had to be turned away.[11]:287
In Baltimore, Maryland,
Al Jolson took
Al Jolson's wife Erle to see St Mary's Catholic School where
Al Jolson was confined for a while as a boy and treated for
tuberculosis.
Al Jolson introduced her to the same priest, Father Benjamin,
who watched over him. That night, Jolson took over two hundred of
the church's kids to see Jolson Sings Again at the Hippodrome
Theatre. A few weeks later, the Jolsons were received by President
Harry Truman at the White House.
Radio shows
Jolson had been a popular guest star on radio since its earliest
days, notably on NBC's The Dodge Victory Hour (January 1928),
singing from a New Orleans hotel to an audience of 35 million via 47
radio stations.
Al Jolson's own 1930s shows included Presenting Al Jolson (1932)
and Shell Chateau (1935), and
Al Jolson was the host of the Kraft Music Hall from 1947 to
1949, with Oscar Levant as a sardonic, piano-playing sidekick.
Despite such singers as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Perry Como
being in their primes, Jolson was voted the "Most Popular Male
Vocalist" in 1948 by a poll in Variety.
The next year, Jolson was named "Personality of the Year" by the
Variety Clubs of America. When Jolson appeared on Bing Crosby's
radio show,
Al Jolson attributed
Al Jolson's receiving the award to
Al Jolson's being the only singer not to make a record of Mule
Train, which had been a widely covered hit of that year (four
different versions, one of them by Crosby, had made the top ten on
the charts). Jolson even joked that
Al Jolson had tried to sing the hit song: "I got the clippetys
all right, but I can't clop like I used to."
Planned television and movie
When Jolson appeared on Steve Allen's KNX Los Angeles radio show in
1949 to promote Jolson Sings Again,
Al Jolson offered
Al Jolson's curt opinion of the burgeoning television industry:
"I call it smell-evision." Writer Hal Kanter recalled that Jolson's
own idea of
Al Jolson's television debut would be a corporate-sponsored,
extra-length spectacular that would feature him as the only
performer, and would be telecast without interruption. In 1950, it
was announced that Jolson agreed to appear on the CBS television
network. However,
Al Jolson died before production could be initiated. In 1950,
Columbia was thinking about a third Jolson musical, and this time
Jolson would play himself. The project, tentatively titled You Ain't
Heard Nothin' Yet, was to dramatize Jolson's recent tours of
military bases. The film was never made.
World War II and Korean War tours
World War II
Japanese bombs on Pearl Harbor shook Jolson out of continuing moods
of lethargy due to years of little activity and "...
Al Jolson
dedicated himself to a new mission in life.... Even before the U.S.O.
began to set up a formal program overseas, the excitable Jolson was
deluging War and Navy Department brass with phone calls and wires.
Al Jolson demanded permission to go anywhere in the world where
there is an American serviceman who wouldn’t mind listening to
‘Sonny Boy’ or ‘Mammy’.... [and] early in 1942, Jolson became the
first star to perform at a GI base in World War II".[58]:43-44
World War II
From a New York Times interview in 1942: "When the war started...
[I] felt that it was up to me to do something, and the only thing I
know is show business. I went around during the last war and I saw
that the boys needed something besides chow and drills. I knew the
same was true today, so I told the people in Washington that I would
go anywhere and do an act for the Army."[59] Shortly after the war
began,
Al Jolson wrote a letter to Steven Early, press secretary to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, volunteering "to head a committee
for the entertainment of soldiers and said that
Al Jolson "would work without pay... [and] would gladly assist
in the organization to be set up for this purpose". A few weeks
later,
Al Jolson received
Al Jolson's first tour schedule from the newly formed United
Services Organization (USO), "the group
Al Jolson's letter to Early had helped create".[11]:253
Al Jolson did as many as four shows a day in the jungle outposts
of Central America and covered the string of U.S. Naval bases. Al
Jolson paid for part of the transportation out of
Al Jolson's own pocket. Upon doing
Al Jolson's first, and unannounced, show in England in 1942, the
reporter for the Hartford Courant wrote, "... it was a panic. And
pandemonium... when
Al Jolson was done the applause that shook that soldier-packed
room was like bombs falling again in Shaftsbury Avenue."[60]
From an article in the New York Times: "Al
Jolson [Jolson] has been to more Army camps and played to more
soldiers than any other entertainer.
Al Jolson has crossed the Atlantic by plane to take song and
cheer to the troops in Britain and Northern Ireland. Al Jolson has
flown to the cold wastes of Alaska and the steaming forests of
Trinidad.
Al Jolson has called at Dutch‑like Curaçao. Nearly every camp in
this country has heard him sing and tell funny stories."[59] Some of
the unusual hardships of performing to active troops were described
in an article
Al Jolson wrote for Variety, in 1942: "In order to entertain all
the boys ... it became necessary for us to give shows in foxholes,
gun emplacements, dugouts, to construction groups on military roads;
in fact, any place where two or more soldiers were gathered
together, it automatically became a Winter Garden for me and I would
give a show."[11]:256 After returning from a tour of overseas bases,
the Regimental Hostess at one camp wrote to Jolson, "Allow me to say
on behalf of all the soldiers of the 33rd Infantry that you coming
here is quite the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to us,
and we think you're tops, not only as a performer, but as a person.
We unanimously elect you Public Morale Lifter No. 1 of the U.S
Army."[11]:257
Jolson was officially enlisted in the United Service Organizations (USO),
the organization which provided entertainment for American troops
who served in combat overseas.[8]:285 While serving in the USO, Al
Jolson received a Specialist rating due to
Al Jolson's age, which would permit him to wear a uniform and
have the same standing as an officer. During
Al Jolson's time entertaining troops
Al Jolson
caught malaria and lost a lung.
In 1946, during a nationally broadcast testimonial dinner in New
York City, given on
Al Jolson's behalf,
Al Jolson received a special tribute from the American Veterans
Committee in honor of
Al Jolson's volunteer services during WWII.[3] And in 1949, the
movie Jolson Sings Again recreated some scenes showing Jolson during
Al Jolson's war tours.[61]
Korean War
In 1950, Michael Freedland[32] writes, when "the United States
answered the call of the United Nations Security Council ... and had
gone to fight the North Koreans. ... [Jolson] rang the White House
again. 'I'm gonna go to Korea,'
Al Jolson told a startled official on the phone. 'No one seems
to know anything about the USO, and it's up to President Truman to
get me there.'
Al Jolson was promised that President Truman and General
MacArthur, who had taken command of the Korean front, would get to
hear of
Al Jolson's offer. But for four weeks there was nothing. ...
Finally, Louis A. Johnson, Secretary of Defense, sent Jolson a
telegram. 'Sorry for delay but regret no funds for
entertainment-STOP; USO disbanded-STOP.' The message was as much an
assault on the Jolson sense of patriotism as the actual crossing of
the 38th Parallel had been. 'What are they talkin' about',
Al Jolson thundered. 'Funds? Who needs funds? I got funds! I'll
pay myself!'"[32]:283-284
Performing in Korea
On September 17, 1950, a dispatch from 8th Army Headquarters, Korea,
announced, "Al
Jolson, the first top-flight entertainer to reach the war-front,
landed here today by plane from Los Angeles..." This time, Jolson
had shelved plans for a third movie biography along with a TV show
and traveled to Korea at
Al Jolson's own expense. "[A]nd a lean, smiling Jolson drove
himself without letup through 42 shows in 16 days."[58]:46
Before returning to the U.S., General Douglas MacArthur, leader of
UN forces, gave him a medallion inscribed "To
Al Jolson from Special Services in appreciation of entertainment
of armed forces personnel ‑ Far East Command”, with
Al Jolson's entire itinerary inscribed on the reverse side.[62]
A few months later, an important bridge, named the "Al
Jolson Bridge", was used to withdraw the bulk of American troops
from North Korea.[63] The bridge was the last remaining of three
bridges across the Han River and was used to evacuate UN forces. It
was demolished by UN forces after the army made it safely across in
order to prevent the North Koreans from crossing.[64]
Alistair Cooke wrote, "Al
Jolson [Jolson] had one last hour of glory.
Al Jolson offered to fly to Korea and entertain the troops
hemmed in on the United Nations precarious August bridgehead. The
troops yelled for
Al Jolson's appearance.
Al Jolson went down on Al Jolson's knee again and sang 'Mammy',
and the troops wept and cheered. When
Al Jolson was asked what Korea was like
Al Jolson
warmly answered, 'I am going to get back my income tax returns and
see if I paid enough.'"[65]
Entertainer Jack Benny, who went to Korea the following year, noted
that an amphitheater in Korea where troops were entertained, was
named the "Al
Jolson Bowl."[66]
New U.S.O. movie
Just 10 days after
Al Jolson returned from Korea,
Al Jolson had agreed with R.K.O. producers Jerry Wald and Norman
Krasna to star in a new movie, Stars and Stripes for Ever, about a
U.S.O. troupe in the South Pacific during World War II. The
screenplay was to be written by Herbert Baker, writer of the 1980
version of The Jazz Singer starring Neil Diamond. The film was to
costar singer Dinah Shore.[67]
But just two weeks after the agreement, Jolson died suddenly of a
heart attack in San Francisco, due partly to the physical exertion
Al Jolson suffered in Korea.
Al Jolson was survived by
Al Jolson's wife and their two recently adopted children. A few
months after Al Jolson's death, Defense Secretary George Marshall
presented the Medal for Merit to Jolson, "to whom this country owes
a debt which cannot be repaid". The medal, carrying a citation
noting that Jolson's "contribution to the U.N. action in Korea was
made at the expense of
Al Jolson's life", was presented to Jolson's adopted son as
Jolson's widow looked on.[47]
Personal life
Politics
Jolson was a political and economic conservative, supporting both
Warren G. Harding in 1920 and Calvin Coolidge in 1924 for president
of the United States. As "one of the biggest stars of
Al Jolson's time, [Al
Jolson] worked
Al Jolson's magic singing Harding, You're the Man for Us to
enthralled audiences ... [and] was subsequently asked to perform
Keep Cool with Coolidge four years later. ... Jolson, like the men
who ran the studios, was the rare showbiz Republican."[68]
Al Jolson was unlike most other
performers, who supported the losing Democratic candidate, John
William Davis. Jolson however did, like some Republicans, publicly
campaign for Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932.[8]:241 By
1936
Al Jolson
was back to supporting Republican Alf Landon and would not support
another Democrat for president during
Al Jolson's life.
Married life
In 1906, while living in San Francisco, Jolson met dancer Henrietta
Keller, and the two engaged in a year-long relationship before
marrying in September 1907.[9] In 1918, however, Henrietta—tired of
what she reputedly considered
Al Jolson's womanizing and refusal to come home after
shows—filed for divorce. In 1920, Jolson began a relationship with
Broadway actress Alma Osbourne (known professionally as Ethel
Delmar); the two were married in August 1922.[8]:256 Alma divorced
Jolson in 1928.
Ruby Keeler
In the summer of 1928, Jolson met tap dancer, and later successful
actress, Ruby Keeler at Texas Guinan's night club and was dazzled by
her on sight; at the club, the two danced together. Three weeks
later, Jolson saw a production of George M. Cohan's Rise of Rosie
O'Reilly, and noticed she was in the show's cast. Now knowing she
was going about her Broadway career, Jolson attended another one of
her shows, Show Girl, and rose from the audience and engaged in her
duet of "Liza". After this moment, the show's producer, Florenz
Ziegfeld, asked Jolson to join the cast and continue to sing duets
with Keeler. Jolson accepted Ziegfeld's offer and during their tour
with Ziegfeld, the two started dating and were married on September
21, 1928. In 1935, Al and Ruby adopted a son, whom they named "Al
Jolson Jr."[9] In 1939, however—despite a marriage that was
considered to be more successful than
Al Jolson's previous ones—Keeler left Jolson, and later married
John Homer Lowe, with whom she would have four children and remain
married until Al Jolson's death in 1969.[8]:223-259[9]
Erle Galbraith
In 1944, while giving a show at a military hospital in Hot Springs,
Arkansas, Jolson met a young X-ray technologist, Erle Galbraith.
Jolson became fascinated by her and—over a year after meeting—was
able to track her down and hired her as an actress while
Al Jolson
served as a producer at Columbia Pictures. After Jolson, whose
health was still scarred from
Al Jolson's previous battle with malaria, was hospitalized in
the winter of 1945, Erle visited him and the two quickly began a
relationship. They were married on March 22, 1945. During their
marriage, the Jolsons adopted two children, Asa Jr. (b. 1948) and
Alicia (b. 1949),[9] and remained married until
Al Jolson's death in 1950.[8]:293-298
After a year and a half of marriage,
Al Jolson's new wife had actually never seen him perform in
front of an audience, and the first occasion came unplanned. As told
by actor comedian Alan King, it happened during a dinner by the New
York Friars' Club at the Waldorf Astoria in 1946, honoring the
career of Sophie Tucker. Jolson and
Al Jolson's wife were in the audience along with a thousand
others, and George Jessel was emcee.
Al Jolson asked Al, privately, to perform at least one song.
Jolson replied, "No, I just want to sit here." Then later, without
warning, during the middle of the show, Jessel says, "Ladies and
gentlemen, this is the easiest introduction I ever had to make. The
world's greatest entertainer,
Al Jolson." King recalls what happened next:
The place is going wild. Jolson gets up, takes a bow, sits down. . .
people start banging with their feet, and
Al Jolson gets up, takes another bow, sits down again. It's
chaos, and slowly,
Al Jolson
seems to relent.
Al Jolson walks up onto the stage . . . kids around with Sophie
and gets a few laughs, but the people are yelling, 'Sing! Sing!
Sing!' . . . Then
Al Jolson says, 'I'd like to introduce you to my bride,' and
this lovely young thing gets up and takes a bow. The audience
doesn't care about the bride, they don't even care about Sophie
Tucker. 'Sing! Sing! Sing!' they're screaming again. My wife has
never seen me entertain, Jolson says, and looks over toward Lester
Lanin, the orchestra leader: 'Maestro, Is it True What They Say
About Dixie?'[69]
Despite their close relationship growing up, Harry did show some
disdain for Al's success over the years. Even during their time with
Jack Palmer, Al was rising in popularity while Harry was fading.
After separating from Al and Jack, Harry's career in show business,
however, sank greatly. On one occasion—which was another factor in
Al Jolson's on-off relationship with Al—Harry offered to be Al's
agent, but Al rejected the offer, worried about the pressure that Al
Jolson would have faced from
Al Jolson's producers for hiring Al Jolson's brother as
Al Jolson's agent. Shortly after Harry's wife Lillian died in
1948, Harry and Al became close once again.[8]:318-324
Death and commemoration
The dust and dirt of the Korean front, from where
Al Jolson had returned a few weeks earlier, had settled in
Al Jolson's right lung and
Al Jolson was close to exhaustion. While playing cards in Al
Jolson's suite at the St. Francis Hotel at 335 Powell Street in San
Francisco,[70] Jolson collapsed and died of a massive heart attack
on October 23, 1950.
Al Jolson's last words were said to be "Boys, I'm going.".[71]
Al Jolson was 64.
After
Al Jolson's wife received the news of
Al Jolson's death by phone, she went into shock, and required
family members to stay with her. At the funeral, police estimated
upwards of 20,000 people showed up, despite threatened rain. It
became one of the biggest funerals in show business history.[11]:300
Celebrities paid tribute: Bob Hope, speaking from Korea via short
wave radio, said the world had lost "not only a great entertainer,
but also a great citizen." Larry Parks said that the world had "lost
not only its greatest entertainer, but a great American as well.
Al Jolson was a casualty of the [Korean] war." Scripps-Howard
newspapers drew a pair of white gloves on a black background. The
caption read,
Newspaper columnist and radio reporter Walter Winchell said,
"Al
Jolson was the first to entertain troops in World War Two,
contracted malaria and lost a lung. Then in
Al Jolson's upper sixties
Al Jolson was again the first to offer
Al Jolson's singing gifts for bringing solace to the wounded and
weary in Korea.
"Today we know the exertion of
Al Jolson's journey to Korea took a greater toll of
Al Jolson's strength than perhaps even
Al Jolson
realized. But
Al Jolson considered it
Al Jolson's duty as an American to be there, and that was all
that mattered to him. Jolson died in a San Francisco hotel. Yet
Al Jolson was as much a battle casualty as any American soldier
who has fallen on the rocky slopes of Korea … A star for more than
40 years,
Al Jolson earned Al Jolson's most glorious star rating at the
end—a gold star."[72]
Friend George Jessel said during part of
Al Jolson's eulogy,
The history of the world does not say enough about how important the
song and the singer have been. But history must record the name
Jolson, who in the twilight of
Al Jolson's life sang
Al Jolson's heart out in a foreign land, to the wounded and to
the valiant. I am proud to have basked in the sunlight of
Al Jolson's greatness, to have been part of
Al Jolson's time.[73]
Memorial
Al Jolson was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in
Culver City, California. According to Cemetery Guide, Jolson’s widow
purchased a plot at Hillside and commissioned
Al Jolson's mausoleum to be designed by well-known black
architect Paul Williams. The six-pillar marble structure is topped
by a dome, next to a three-quarter-size bronze statue of Jolson,
eternally resting on one knee, arms outstretched, apparently ready
to break into another verse of “Mammy”. The inside of the dome
features a huge mosaic of Moses holding the tablets containing the
Ten Commandments, and identifies Jolson as “The Sweet Singer of
Israel” and “The Man Raised Up High”. On the day
Al Jolson died, Broadway dimmed its lights in Jolson's honor,
and radio stations all over the world were paying tributes. Soon
after
Al Jolson's death, the BBC presented a special program entitled
Jolson Sings On.
Al Jolson's death unleashed tributes from all over the world,
including a number of eulogies from friends, including George Jessel,
Walter Winchell, and Eddie Cantor.[74]
Al Jolson contributed millions to
and other charities in
Al Jolson's will.[75]
In October, 2008, a new documentary film,
Al Jolson and The Jazz Singer, premiered at the 50th Lübeck
Nordic Film Days, Lübeck, Germany, and won 1st Prize at an annual
film competition in Kiel a few weeks later.[76] In November, 2007, a
similar documentary, A Look at
Al Jolson, was winner at the same festival.[77] Jolson's music
remains very popular today both in America and abroad with numerous
CDs in print.[78]
Jolson has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:
6622 Hollywood Blvd. for
Al Jolson's contribution to motion pictures
1716 Vine St. for
Al Jolson's mark on the recording industry
6750 Hollywood Blvd. for
Al Jolson's achievements in radio
In 2000, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of
Stars was dedicated to him.[79]
Forty-four years after Jolson's death, the United States Postal
Service honored him by issuing a postage stamp. The 29-cent stamp
was unveiled by Erle Jolson Krasna, Jolson's fourth wife, at a
ceremony in New York City's Lincoln Center on September 1, 1994.
This stamp was one of a series honoring popular American singers,
which included Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Ethel Merman, and Ethel
Waters. And in 2006, Jolson had a street in New York named after him
with the help of the
Al Jolson Society.
Legacy and influence
With Irving Berlin, circa 1927
According to music historians Bruce Crowther and Mike Pinfold:
"During
Al Jolson's time
Al Jolson was the best known and most popular all-around
entertainer America (and probably the world) has ever known,
captivating audiences in the theatre and becoming an attraction on
records, radio, and in films.
Al Jolson opened the ears of white audiences to the existence of
musical forms alien to their previous understanding and experience
... and helped prepare the way for others who would bring a more
realistic and sympathetic touch to black musical traditions."[80]
Black songwriter Noble Sissle, in the 1930s, said "[h]e was always
the champion of the Negro songwriter and performer, and was first to
put Negroes in Al Jolson's shows". Of Jolson's "Mammy" songs,
Al Jolson adds, "with real tears streaming down
Al Jolson's blackened face,
Al Jolson
immortalized the Negro motherhood of America as no individual
could."[81]
A few of the people and places that have been influenced by Jolson:
Irving Berlin
As the movies became a vital part of
the entertainment industry, Berlin was forced to "reinvent himself
as a songwriter". Biographer Laurence Bergreen wrote that Berlin's
music was "Too old fashioned for progressive Broadway,
Al Jolson's music was thoroughly up-to-date in conservative
Hollywood."
Al Jolson had
Al Jolson's earliest piece of luck in the first sound picture,
The Jazz Singer, where Jolson performed
Al Jolson's song "Blue Skies",[82] the first time a song was
ever performed in a feature film. In 1930,
Al Jolson
wrote the music for Jolson's fourth movie, Mammy, which included hit
songs such as "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy", "Pretty Baby", and
"Mammy".
Judy Garland
Garland had performed a tribute to Jolson in her concerts of 1951 at
the London Palladium and at New York's Palace Theater. Both concerts
were to become "central to this first of her many comebacks, and
centered around her impersonation of
Al Jolson... performing "Swanee" in her odd vocal drag of
Jolson."[83] Watch
Bing Crosby
Music historian Richard Grudens writes that Kathryn Crosby
cheerfully reviewed the chapter about her beloved Bing and Al
Jolson's inspiration,
Al Jolson. . .where Bing had written, "Al Jolson's chief
attribute was the sort of electricity
Al Jolson
generated when
Al Jolson sang. Nobody in those days did that. When
Al Jolson came out and started to sing,
Al Jolson just elevated that audience immediately. Within the
first eight bars
Al Jolson had them in the palm of
Al Jolson's hand."[80] In Crosby's Pop Chronicles interview,
Al Jolson fondly recalled seeing Jolson perform and praised
Al Jolson's "electric delivery".[3]
Crosby's biographer Gary Giddins wrote of Crosby's admiration for
Jolson's performance style: "Bing marveled at how
Al Jolson seemed to personally reach each member of the
audience." Crosby once told a fan, "I'm not an electrifying
performer at all. I just sing a few little songs. But this man could
really galvanize an audience into a frenzy.
Al Jolson could really tear them apart."[84]
Tony Bennett
"My father... took us to see one of the first talking pictures, The
Singing Fool, in which
Al Jolson sang "Sonny Boy". In a way, you could say that Jolson
was my earliest influence as a singer. I was so excited by what I
saw that I spent hours listening to Jolson and Eddie Cantor on the
radio. In fact, I staged my first public performance shortly after
seeing that movie... to imitate Jolson... I leaped into the living
room and announced to the adults, who were staring at me in
amazement, 'Me Sonny Boy!' The whole family roared with
laughter."[85]
"50th Anniversary Year of Talking Pictures" stamp on
first-day-of-issue cover featuring Jolson
Neil Diamond
Journalist David Wild writes that the 1927 movie The Jazz Singer,
would mirror Diamond's own life, "the story of a
kid from New York who leaves everything behind to pursue
Al Jolson's dream of making popular music in Los Angeles".
Diamond says it was "the story of someone who wants to break away
from the traditional family situation and find
Al Jolson's own path. And in that sense, it 'is' my story." In
1972, Diamond gave the first solo concert performance on Broadway
since
Al Jolson, and starred in the 1980 remake of Jazz Singer, with
Laurence Olivier and Lucie Arnaz.[86]
Jerry Lewis
Actor and comedian Jerry Lewis starred in a televised version
(without blackface) of The Jazz Singer in 1959. Lewis's biographer,
Murray Pomerance, writes that "Jerry surely had
Al Jolson's father in mind when
Al Jolson remade the film", adding that Lewis himself "told an
interviewer that
Al Jolson's parents had been so poor that they could not afford
to give him a bar mitzvah." In 1956, Lewis recorded "Rock-A-Bye Your
Baby".[87]
Eddie Fisher
On a tour of the Soviet Union with
Al Jolson's then wife, Elizabeth Taylor, Fisher wrote in
Al Jolson's autobiography that "Khrushchev's mistress asked me
to sing... I was the first American to be invited to sing in the
Kremlin since Paul Robeson. The next day the Herald-Tribune
headlines [read] 'Eddie Fisher Rocks the Kremlin'. I gave them my
best Jolson: "Swanee", "April Showers" and finally "Rock-A-Bye Your
Baby With A Dixie Melody". I had the audience of Russian diplomats
and dignitaries on their feet swaying with me."[88]:80 In 1951,
Fisher dedicated
Al Jolson's "smash hit" song, "Good-bye, G.I. Al," to Jolson,
and presented a copy personally to Jolson's widow.[89] With one of
Al Jolson's later wives, Connie Stevens,
Al Jolson had a daughter, Joely Fisher, whose name honors
Jolson.
Bobby Darin
Darin's biographer, David Evanier, writes that when Darin was a
youngster, stuck at home because of rheumatic fever, "[h]e spent
most of the time reading and coloring as well as listening to the
big-band music and Jolson records...
Al Jolson started to do Jolson imitations...
Al Jolson was crazy about Jolson." Darin's manager, Steve
Blauner, who also became a movie producer and vice president of
Screen Gems, likewise began
Al Jolson's career "as a little boy doing
Al Jolson imitations after seeing The Jolson Story 13 times
..."[90]:58
Ernest Hemingway
In
Al Jolson's memoirs, A Movable Feast, Ernest Hemingway wrote
that "Zelda Fitzgerald... leaned forward and said to me, telling me
her great secret, 'Ernest, don't you think
Al Jolson is greater than Jesus?'" [91]:186
State of California
According to California historians Stephanie Barron and Sheri
Bernstein, "few artists have done as much to publicize California as
did
Al Jolson" who performed and wrote the lyrics for "California,
Here I Come".[92] It is considered the unofficial song of the Golden
State.[93]
Mario Lanza
Mario Lanza's biographer, Armando Cesari, writes that Lanza's
"favorite singers included
Al Jolson, Lena Horne, Tony Martin and Toni Arden."[94]
Jerry Lee Lewis
According to singer and songwriter Jerry Lee Lewis, "there were only
four true American originals:
Al Jolson, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, and Jerry Lee
Lewis."[95] "I loved
Al Jolson,"
Al Jolson
said. "I still got all of
Al Jolson's records. Even back when I was a kid I listened to
him all the time."[96]
Rod Stewart
British singer and songwriter Rod Stewart, during an interview in
2003, was asked, "What is your first musical memory?" Stewart
replied: "Al
Jolson, from when we used to have house parties around Christmas
or birthdays. We had a small grand piano and I used to sneak
downstairs... I think it gave me a very, very early love of
music."[97]
David Lee Roth
Songwriter and lead singer of the rock group Van Halen, was asked
during an interview in 1985, "When did you first decide that you
wanted to go into show business?"
Al Jolson replied, "I was seven. I said I wanted to be
Al Jolson. Those were the only records I had -- a collection of
the old breakable 78s. I learned every song and then the moves,
which I saw in the movies."[98]
Jackie Wilson
African-American singer Jackie Wilson recorded a tribute album to
Jolson, You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet, which included
Al Jolson's personal liner note, "...the greatest entertainer of
this or any other era... I guess I have just about every recording
he's ever made, and I rarely missed listening to him on the
radio.... During the three years I've been making records, I've had
the ambition to do an album of songs, which, to me, represent the
great Jolson heritage.. [T]Al
Jolson's is simply my humble tribute to the one man I admire
most in this business... to keep the heritage of Jolson alive."[99]
Filmography
Mammy's Boy (1923) (unfinished)
A Plantation Act (1926)
The Jazz Singer (1927)
The Singing Fool (1928)
Hollywood Snapshots No. 11 (1929) (short subject)
Sonny Boy (1929) (Cameo)
Say It with Songs (1929)
New York Nights (1929) (Cameo)
Mammy (1930)
Show Girl in Hollywood (1930) (Cameo)
Big Boy (1930)
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933)
Wonder Bar (1934)
Go Into Your Dance (1935)
Paramount Headliner: Broadway Highlights No. 1 (1935) (short
subject)
The Singing Kid (1936)
Hollywood Handicap (1938) (short subject)
Rose of Washington Square (1939)
Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)
Swanee River (1939)
Rhapsody in Blue (1945) (brief scene with Jolson in blackface
introducing "Swanee")
The Jolson Story (1946) (double and singing voice for Larry Parks
with brief onscreen appearance)
Screen Snapshots: Off the Air (1947) (short subject)
Jolson Sings Again (1949) (singing voice for Larry Parks)
Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949) (voice only)
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Famous Feet (1950) (short subject)
(narrator)
Memorial to
Al Jolson, (1951) documentary—Columbia Pictures
The Great
Al Jolson, (1955) documentary, Columbia Pictures
Theater
La Belle Paree (1911)
Vera Violetta (1911)
The Whirl of Society (1912)
The Honeymoon Express (1913)
Children of the Ghetto (before 1915)
Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (1916)
Sinbad (1918)
Bombo (1921)
Big Boy (1925)
Artists and Models of 1925 (1925) (added to cast in 1926)
Big Boy (1926) (revival)
The Wonder Bar (1931)
Hold on to Your Hats (1940)
Famous songs
That Haunting Melodie (1911) Jolson's first hit.
Ragging the Baby to Sleep (1912)
The Spaniard That Blighted My Life (1912)
That Little German Band (1913)
You Made Me Love You (1913)
Back to the Carolina You Love (1914)
Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula (1916)
I Sent My Wife to the Thousand Isles (1916)
I'm All Bound Round With the Mason Dixon Line (1918)
Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody (1918)
Tell That to the Marines (1919)
I'll Say She Does (1919)
I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now (1919)
Swanee (1919)
Avalon (1920)
O-H-I-O (O-My! O!) (1921)
April Showers (1921)
Angel Child (1922)
Coo Coo' (1922)
Oogie Oogie Wa Wa (1922)
That Wonderful Kid From Madrid (1922)
Toot, Toot, Tootsie (1922)
Juanita (1923)
1922 sheet music
California, Here I Come (1924)
I Wonder What's Become of Sally? (1924)
All Alone (1925)
I'm Sitting on Top of the World (1926)
When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along) (1926)
My Mammy (1927)
Back in Your Own Backyard (1928)
There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder (1928)
Sonny Boy (1928)
Little Pal (1929)
Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) (1929)
Let Me Sing and I'm Happy (1930)
The Cantor (A Chazend'l Ofn Shabbos) (1932)
You Are Too Beautiful (1933)
Ma Blushin' Rosie (1946)
Anniversary Song (1946)
Alexander's Ragtime Band (1947)
Carolina in the Morning (1947)
About a Quarter to Nine (1947)
Waiting for the Robert E. Lee (1947)
Golden Gate (1947)
When You Were Sweet Sixteen (1947)
If I Only Had a Match (1947)
After You've Gone (1949)
Is It True What They Say About Dixie? (1949)
Are You Lonesome Tonight? (1950)
"April Showers"
"Swanee"
"California, Here I Come"
"Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody"
"You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It)"
"Ma Blushin' Rosie"
"Sonny Boy"
"My Mammy"
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dedicated
Crowther, Bruce, and Pinfold, Mike. Singing
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Life of Irving Berlin, Da Capo Press (1996)
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(2001)
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Lewis in American Film, New York University Press (2002)
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Autobiography, Macmillan (2000)
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Tradition and Innovation, Da Capo (2000), pp. 148-49
See also
Young, Jordan R. (1999). The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio
& TV's Golden Age. Beverly Hills: Past Times Publishing. ISBN
0-940410-37-0.
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