Al Jolson performs “My Mammy” in The Jazz Singer

The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American musical film. The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, its release heralded the commercial ascendance of the “talkies” and the decline of the silent film era. Produced by Warner Bros. with its Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, the movie stars Al Jolson, who performs six songs.

• “Kol Nidre”
• “Dirty Hands, Dirty Face”
• “Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo’ Bye)”
• “Blue Skies”
• “Mother of Mine, I Still Have You”
• “My Mammy”

History

In 1917, after attending the musical Robinson Crusoe, Jr. featuring a blackface performance by a young singer named Al Jolson, Samson Raphaelson wrote a short story, “The Day of Atonement,” based on Jolson’s life. It was first adapted into a stage play and then a screenplay. After several people turned down the lead in the motion picture, the part was then offered to Jolson, who had inspired it in the first place. Jolson took the role.

Its lasting impact: The Jazz Singer signaled the end of the Silent Film

While many earlier sound films had dialogue, all were short subjects. D. W. Griffith’s feature Dream Street (1921) was shown in New York with a single singing sequence and crowd noises. It was preceded by a program of sound shorts, including a sequence with Griffith speaking directly to the audience, but the feature itself had no talking scenes. Similarly, the first Warner Bros. Vitaphone feature, Don Juan (1926), like several that followed over the next year, had only a synchronized instrumental score and sound effects. The Jazz Singer contains those, as well as numerous synchronized singing sequences and some synchronized speech. Visit Wikipedia For more information on The Jazz Singer.

Trivia: A Plantation Act

What is not generally known, is that Jolson actually made his talkie debut the year earlier, in 1926, in a SHORT entitled A PLANTATION ACT. Historians think that this might be the first positive sound short ever filmed.

When sound-on-film was absolutely brand new, a large number of shorts were shot, mainly in New York, of various performers showing off their (mostly musical) talents. A PLANTATION ACT was lost for years until it turned up in the National Archives under the wrong heading of preview for The Jazz Singer. Jolsen appears in rags, wig & blackface to sing three of the songs most closely associated with him – `When The Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbing Along’, `April Showers’ & `Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody’.

Blackface Makeup

The blackface makeup was Jolie’s trademark for decades and should be seen in the context of the times. Rather than being racist, which here it is not, it is a salute to an older musical tradition. Jolson, to all intents & purposes, was the last of the great minstrels. Visit Wikipedia For more information on blackface.

Award

Special Academy Award to Warner Bros. production chief Darryl F. Zanuck “for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry”

Nominations

Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay — Alfred A. Cohn Academy Award for Engineering Effects — Nugent Slaughter

Al Jolson

Al Jolson (May 26, 1886–October 23, 1950) was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian and actor of Jewish heritage whose career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950.

Visit Wikipedia For more information about Al Jolson.