Al or Albert Jolson (born Asa Yoelson ; May 26 c.1886 - October 23, 1950) is an American singer, comedian, and stage actor and film. At the height of his career, he was nicknamed "The Greatest Greatest Entertainer in the World." His performance was brash and open, and he popularized a large number of songs that benefited from "a shameless and melodramatic approach to sentimentalism." Many famous singers are influenced by the music, including Bing Crosby, George Burns, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, David Bowie and others. Dylan once referred to him as "someone whose life I can feel." Broadway critic, Gilbert Seldes compares it to the Greek god Pan, claiming that Jolson represents "the concentration of our national health and joy."
In the 1920s, Jolson was the most famous and best known entertainer in America. Between 1911 and 1928, Jolson had nine successive Winter Garden performances, more than 80 hit records, and 16 national and international tours.
Though best remembered today as the star of the first talkshow, The Jazz Singer (1927), he later starred in a series of successful musical films throughout the 1930s. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was the first star to entertain troops abroad during World War II. After some time of inactivity, the star returned with The Jolson Story (1946), where Larry Parks plays Jolson, with singer voiceover for Parks. The formula is repeated in the sequel, Jolson Sings Again (1949). In 1950, he again became the first star to entertain GI in active service in the Korean War, performing 42 shows in 16 days. He died just a few weeks after returning to the US, partly due to physical activity. Secretary of Defense George Marshall posthumously gave him the Medal of Merit.
By St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture , "Jolson is for jazz, blues, and ragtime what Elvis Presley is rock 'n' roll." Being the first popular singer to make a spectacular show of singing a song, he became a rock star before the dawn of rock music. His specialty is performing on the platform stage extending out into the audience. He will run on the runway, and across the stage, "teasing, coaxing, and shaking the audience", often stopping singing for individual members; all the while "the sweat will flow from his face, and the whole audience will get caught up in the ecstasy of his performance". According to music historian Larry Stempel, "Nobody has ever heard of anything like that before on Broadway." Author Stephen Banfield agrees, writing that the Jolson style "is arguably the most important factor in defining modern musicals".
Jolson has been called the "black king", a theatrical convention since the mid-19th century. With his unique and dynamic style of black music, such as jazz and blues, he became very successful with extracting African-American music and popularizing it for a white American audience who otherwise did not accept its originators. Along with his promotion and the eradication of anti-black stereotypes, his work is sometimes considered good among black publications and he has sometimes been credited for fighting black discrimination on Broadway, as early as 1911. In an essay written in the 21st century Tim Gioia of Jim Crow's Museum of Racist Memorabilia commented, "If the blackface has an embarrassing poster child, it is Al Jolson", featuring Jolson's heritage complex in American society. Early life
Al Jolson was born as Asa Yoelson (Yiddish: ????? ???????? ?) In the village Jewish Srednike (Yiddish: ??????? ?) Now known as Sered? ius, near Kaunas in Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire. He was the fifth and youngest son of Moses Rubin Yoelson (1858 - 23 December 1945) and Nechama "Naomi" Cantor (1858-6 February 1895); four siblings were Rose (1879-1939), Etta (1880-1948), another sister who died in infancy, and Hirsch (Harry) (1882-1953). Jolson claimed not to know when he was born, and then chose to claim he was born on May 26, 1886. Still in at least two cases he gave his birth year as 1885. In the list of passengers in 1914 traveled with his wife then Henrietta - his first name was also given as Alexander- and in the state census of New York 1925. One-time sister-in-law, Margaret Weatherwax (Ruby Keeler's sister), claims Jolson is the same age as their father, Ralph (born in 1881), and that Jolson was 46 years old when married 18 - Ruby's first year in 1928.
In 1891, his father, who qualified as a rabbi and singer, moved to New York to gain a better future for his family. In 1894 Moses Yoelson was able to pay the fees for bringing Nechama and their four children to the US By the time they arrived - as an upper-class passenger in S/S Umbria arrived at Port of New York on April 9, 1894 - he has found a job as a singer at the Talmud Torah Congregation in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood in Washington, DC, where his family is reunited.
Hard times hit the family when her mother, Naomi, died at the age of 37 in early 1895. After the death of her mother, the young Asa was in despair for seven months. For a certain period of time, young Asa spends time in St. Industry School. Mary for Boys, a progressive orphanage run by the Xaverian Brothers in Baltimore (the same school that Babe Ruth would later attend). After being introduced to show business in 1895 by entertainers of Al Reeves, Asa and Hirsch became fascinated by the industry, and in 1897 the brothers sang for coins on a local street corner, using the names "Al" and "Harry". They usually use the money to buy tickets for shows at the National Theater. Asa and Hirsch spent most of their days doing different jobs as a team.
Video Al Jolson
Stage stage
Burlesque and vaudeville
In the spring of 1902, he accepted a job with the circus Walter L. Main. Although Main has hired Jolson as an introduction, Main was impressed by Jolson's singing voice and gave him a singing position during the circus 'Indian side of the Sides' segment. By the end of the year, the circus had folded and Jolson again did not work. In May 1903, the head of the producer of the burlesque show Dainty Duchess Burlesquers agreed to give Jolson a part in one show. Asa gave a great performance of "Be My Baby Bumble Bee" and the producers agreed to defend it for the next show. Unfortunately, the event closes at the end of the year. Asa was able to avoid financial problems by forming a vaudeville partnership with his brother Hirsch, now a vaudeville player known as Harry Yoelson . The brothers work for the William Morris Agency.
Asa and Harry soon form a team with Joe Palmer. During their time with Palmer, they can get reservations on a national tour. However, live performances became popular because of users of nickelodeon recordings; in 1908, the nickelodeon theater was also dominant throughout New York City. While performing at the Brooklyn theater in 1904, Al decides on a new approach and starts appearing in a black face, which enhances his career. He started wearing black on all of his shows.
At the end of 1905, Harry abandoned the trio after a fight with Al. Harry refuses Al's request to keep Joe Palmer, who is in a wheelchair, when he is dating. After Harry's departure, Al and Joe Palmer work as duo but not very successful. In 1906 the two agreed to part, and Jolson himself. Jolson became a regular player at the Globe and Wigwam Theater in San Francisco, California, and remained nationally successful as a vaudeville singer. He lives in San Francisco, saying people suffering from earthquakes need someone to cheer them up. In 1908 Jolson, needing money for himself and his new wife, Henrietta, returned to New York. In 1909, Al's singing drew attention to Lew Dockstader, producer and star minstrels Dockstader. Al receives Dockstader's offer and becomes a regular blackface player.
Playhouses Broadway
Winter Garden Theater
According to the Esquire magazine JJ Shubert was impressed by Jolson's incredible energy display, ordering it for La Belle Paree, a musical comedy that opened at Winter Garden in 1911. Within one month, Jolson was a star, and from that time until 1926, when he retired from the stage, he could boast an enormous series of unbroken attacks. "
On March 20, 1911, Jolson starred in her first musical performance at the Winter Garden Theater in New York City, La Belle Paree , very helpful to start her career as a singer. The opening night drew a large crowd to the theater, and that night Jolson gained the popularity of the audience by singing old Stephen Foster's songs on a black face. In the wake of the opening night, Jolson was given a position in the cast of the show. The show closed after 104 performances, and as Jolson's popularity went greatly improved. Following La Belle Paree , she received an offer to appear on 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 sang in black and managed to become so popular that her weekly salary of $ 500 (based on her success at La Belle Paree) was raised to $ 750.
After Vera Violetta ran, Jolson starred in another musical, The Whirl of Society , pushing her career on Broadway to new heights. While in Winter Garden, Jolson will tell the audience, "You have not heard anything" before performing an additional song. In the drama, Jolson debuted his signature blackface character, "Gus." The drama was so successful that Winter Garden owner Lee Shubert agreed to sign Jolson on a seven-year contract with a salary of $ 1,000 per week. Jolson will repeat his role as "Gus" in future dramas and in 1914 achieved so much popularity with theater audience that his $ 1,000 salary per week doubled to $ 2,000 a week. In 1916, Robinson Crusoe, Jr. is the first musical in which he is featured as a star character. In 1918, Jolson's acting career will be pushed further after he starred in the hit music of Sinbad .
It became the most successful Broadway musical 1918 and 1919. A new song was then added to the event which will be the first record composer by George Gershwin - "Swanee". Jolson also added another song, "My Mammy," to the show. By 1920, Jolson had become the biggest star on Broadway.
Jolson Theater itself
The next drama, Bombo , will also take his career to new heights and become very successful to surpass Broadway and hold a national show. It also caused Lee Shubert to change the name of his newly built theater, which is opposite Central Park, as Jolson's 59th Street Theater . Aged 35, Jolson became the youngest man in American history to have a theater named after him.
But on the opening night of Bombo , and the first show at the new theater, she suffered extreme stage fright, walking along the road for hours before the show. Out of fear, he lost his voice backstage and begged the frontman not to raise the curtain. But as the curtains rose, she "still stood with wobbly and sweaty wings." After being physically pushed onto the stage by his brother Harry, he did and received applause he would never forget: "For a few minutes, the applause went on while Al stood and bowed after the first half." He refused to return to the stage for the second half, but the audience "just stepped on his feet and shouted 'Jolson, Jolson', until he came back out." He received 37 calls to the curtain that night and told the audience, "I'm a happy person tonight."
In March 1922, he transferred production to the larger Century Theater for special benefits to help wounded Jewish veterans in World War I. After following a one-season road show, he returned in May 1923, to perform > Bombo in his "first love," Winter Garden. A reviewer for The New York Times wrote, "He's back like a circus, bigger and brighter and newer than ever.... The last night's audience did not want to go home, and when the right show is instead, Jolson reappears in front of the curtain and sings more songs, old and new. "
"I do not mind the notes saying that he is one of the few men who are instinctively funny on our stage," wrote Charles Darnton's reviewer at the New York Evening World. "Everything he touches turns into fun, watching him is to admire his humorous vitality, he is a companion parent who turns to modern accounts, with a song, a word, or even a suggestion he calls spontaneous laughter, and here you are has the definition of a comedian born. "
Maps Al Jolson
Perform on the black surface
The show in the black face makeup was the convention of many entertainers theaters in the early 20th century, having its origins in the singers' performances. Working behind a blackface mask gives the player "a sense of freedom and spontaneity that he never knows". According to film historian Eric Lott:
"For white men to wear cultural forms of 'darkness' is to engage in the complex affairs of male mimicry.... To wear or even enjoy blackface literally, for a while, to be black, to inherit cool, virility, humility , leave, or gaitÃÆ' Â © de coeur which is a major component of the white ideology of black maturity. "
Jolson appeared in black in his own career, allowing formats to push artistic boundaries as individual entertainers while embracing traditional music from the black community. Nevertheless, the historian, Tim Gioia when commenting on the use of blackface Jolson, wrote:
"Blackface evokes memories from the most unpleasant side of the racial relationship, and in an age where white entertainers use makeup to mock American blacks while bravely borrowing from a rich black music tradition that is rarely allowed direct expression in mainstream society. luggage to Al Jolson.
For example, in 1911, "La Belle Paree", Jolson's first Broadway show, she sang the song, "Paris Is a Paridise for Coons." The sign that she has abandoned her older vaudevillenya action to pursue her ongoing success with the middle - the middle of the moment is not racially sensitive where he lives. Her blackface caricature heritage continues to this day, including inspiration for Darlie's logo, formerly Darkie, a toothpaste that has remained popular in many Asian countries and is called the "Black Toothpaste" in China.
As a metaphor of mutual suffering
Historians have described the black color and style of singing Jolson as a metaphor for Jewish and black suffering throughout history. Jolson's first film, The Jazz Singer, for example, is described by historian Michael Alexander as an expression of Jewish liturgical music with "African American imaginative music," noting that "prayer and jazz became a metaphor for Jews and skins black. "Playwright Samson Raphaelson, after seeing Jolson perform his stage show Robinson Crusoe, stated that" he has enlightenment: 'Oh my God, this is not a jazz singer,' he said. 'This is a singer! the cheerful singer keeps on Raphaelson's mind when he understands the story that led to The Jazz Singer .
After the release of the film, the first sound image, the film reviewer sees the symbolism and metaphor described by Jolson in his role as the son of a singer who wants to become a "jazz singer":
Is this Jewish man in disguise with his painted face like a South Negro song in the Negro dialect? No, no. Indeed, I detect again and again the minor key of Jewish music, the roar of Chazan, the screams of the suffering of the suffering people. The son of the rabbi also knows how to sing the songs of the most cruel people in the history of the world.
According to Alexander, Eastern European Jews uniquely qualified to understand music, noting how Jolson himself makes a comparison of Jewish and African-American suffering on new ground in his film Big Boy: In the depiction of the black face of a former slave, he led a group of newly freed slaves, played by black actors, in the classic spiritual slave verses "Go Down Moses". One reviewer of the film reveals how Jolson's blackface adds importance to his role:
When someone hears Jolson's jazz songs, one realizes that jazz is a new prayer of the American masses, and Al Jolson is their singer. The Negro Makeup in which he expresses his suffering is the right talis [shawl prayer] for such communal leaders.
Many black communities welcomed The Jazz Singer, and saw it as a vehicle to gain access to the stage. Audiences at Harlem's Lafayette Theater wept during the film, and the Harlem newspaper, Amsterdam News, called it "one of the greatest photographs ever produced." For Jolson, it writes: "Every player is color proud of him."
Relationships with African-Americans
Jolson's legacy as the most popular player of the blackface routine comes with his personal personal relationship with African-Americans and the appreciation and use of African-American cultural trends. Jolson first heard African-American music, such as jazz, blues, and ragtime, playing in the back alleys of New Orleans, Louisiana. She enjoys singing jazz style new . Often appear in black, especially in songs he makes popular, such as "Swanee", "My Mammy", and "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody". Jolson's black stage personnel, called "Gus" is a clever and wise servant, always smarter than his white lord, often helping them out of the problems they create for themselves. In this way, Jolson uses comedy to ridicule the ideas of racial superiority. In most of the film's roles, however, including hobo singing at Hallelujah, I'm a Bum or prisoner imprisoned in Say It With Songs, he chooses to act without using blackface.
As a Jewish immigrant and the best-known and most famous entertainer in America, he may have incentives and resources to help break racial attitudes. For example, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) during its peak in the early 1920s, estimated to account for about 15% of the country's eligible voting population, 4-5 million people, though probably much smaller. While the Birth of a Nation glorified white supremacy and KKK, Jolson chose to star in The Jazz Singer, who opposed the racial bigotry by introducing American black music to audiences around the world.
As he grew older, Jolson had many black friends, including Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who later became a famous tap dancer. In early 1911, at the age of 25, Jolson was already known for fighting discrimination on Broadway stage and later in his film:
- "when blacks are banned from starring Broadway," he promotes drama by the black playwright Garland Anderson, who became the first production with a black player ever produced on Broadway;
- he brought a black dance team from San Francisco that he tried to put on his Broadway show;
- he demanded the same treatment for Cab Calloway, with whom he did a number of duets in his movie The Singing Kid ;
- he was "the only white person allowed to enter a black nightclub in Harlem".
Al Jolson once read in the newspaper that songwriter Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, whom he had never heard of, were denied service at a Connecticut restaurant because of their race. He immediately tracks them down and brings them out for dinner, "insisting he'll punch anyone in the nose who's trying to kick us out!" After their meeting, according to biographer Al Rose, Jolson and Blake became friends. Rose writes:
It has nothing to do with the theater, because they never work together. Instead, they both have a love of winning prizes and are accustomed to going to boxing matches together, engaging in joke discussions about the relative merits of Negro with Jewish boxers. They will sometimes buy a bottle of whiskey on this attack.
Film historian Charles Musser notes that "the African-American embrace of Jolson was not a spontaneous reaction to his appearance in speaking of images.In an era when African Americans did not have to go looking for enemies, Jolson was considered a friend."
Jeni LeGon, a black female dance star, remembers her life as a movie dancer: "But of course, at that time it was a black-and-white world." You do not social socially with one of the stars, you see it in the studio, you know, good - but they are not inviting. The only ones who ever invited us to visit were Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler. "British performer Brian Conley, former British drama star 1995 Jolson , stated during the interview," I find Jolson is actually a hero to American blacks. At his funeral, black actors meet. That way, they really appreciate what he has done for them. "Noble Sissle, then president of the Negro Actors Guild, represents the organization at his funeral.
Jolson's physical expression also influenced the music style of some black players. Music historian Bob Gulla writes that "the most critical influence in Jackie Wilson's young life is Al Jolson." He pointed out that Wilson's ideas of what the stage performers could do to keep their action "interesting" and "thrilling performances" were shaped by Jolson's actions, "full of wild squabbles and excessive play." Wilson felt that Jolson "should be regarded as the ancestor of the rock and roll style."
By St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture: "Almost alone, Jolson helped introduce African-American music innovations such as jazz, ragtime, and blues to white audiences.... [and] paved the way for African-American artists like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, and Ethel Waters.... to bridge the cultural gap between black and white Americans. "Jazz historian Amiri Baraka writes," the entrance of a white man to jazz... at least brings him closer to Negro. " He points out that "white jazz acceptance marks an important moment when aspects of black culture have become an important part of American culture."
During the interview with Clarence 'Frogman' Henry, one of the most popular and respected singers in New Orleans, said: "Jolson I love him, I think he does wonders for blacks and glorified entertainment."
Movies
Jazz Singer
Jolson had starred in the movie talk before the Jazz Singer: a short 1926 subject titled A Plantation Act . The stage performance simulation by Jolson was initially presented in a musical shorts program, showing the sound-process of Vitaphone film. The soundtrack for the A Plantation Act was considered lost in 1933, but was discovered in 1995 and restored by The Vitaphone Project. The short ones included in the 80th Anniversary of Warner's release of The Jazz Singer on DVD.
Warner Bros. originally chose George Jessel for the role, as he starred in Broadway drama. When Sam Warner decided to make The Jazz Singer a musical with Vitaphone, he knew that Jolson was the star he needed to put it. He tells Jessel that he should sing in the film, and Jessel refuses, allowing Warner to replace him with Jolson. Jessel never forgot about it and often said that Warner gave a role to Jolson because he agreed to help finance the film.
Movie premiere
Harry Warner's daughter, Doris, remembers the opening night, and says that when the picture begins, she's still crying because she lost her beloved uncle, Sam. He planned to perform at the show but suddenly died at the age of 40, the day before. But in the midst of the 89-minute film, he began to be overwhelmed by the feeling that something extraordinary was happening. The line "Wait a minute" Jolson lures cries of excitement and applause from the audience, who is astonished to see, hear, someone talking in the movie for the first time. In such a way that a double player is missed at first. After every Jolson song, the audience applauded. The excitement increases as the film progresses, and when Jolson starts the scene with Eugenie Besserer, "the audience becomes hysterical."
According to film historian Scott Eyman, "at the end of the film, Warner's brothers have pointed out something they never knew to the audience, moving them in a way that they did not expect.A full-fledged ovation on the curtains proves that Jolson is not just a human right for Jackie's part Rabinowitz, aka Jack Robin, he is the right person for the whole transition from a silent fantasy to a realism of speech.The audience, transformed into what critics call 'gangs, fighting masses' stood up, stamped and cheered' Jolson, Jolson, Jolson! ' "
At the end of the film, Jolson gets up from her seat and runs to the stage. "Oh my God, I think you're really level with it I feel good" he cried to the audience. Stanley Watkins will always remember Jolson signing autographs after the show, tears streaming down his face. May McAvoy, Jolson's costar remembers that "[the police] are there to control the crowd, that's a very big thing, like The Birth of a Nation ."
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The film is produced by Warner Bros., using the new Vitaphone sound process. Vitaphone was originally intended for music viewing, and The Jazz Singer follows this principle, with only the sequence of music using live sound recordings. The cinema audiences are energized when the silent action is interrupted periodically for song sequences with real songs and sounds. Jolson's dynamic voice, physical behavior, and charisma fascinated the audience. Costar May McAvoy, according to author A. Scott Berg, can not help sneak into the cinema day by day when the movie is playing. "She pinned herself against the wall in the dark and watched the faces in the crowd.At that moment just before 'Toot, Toot, Tootsie,' she remembered, 'A miracle happened.A moving image really comes alive To see the expression on the face they, when Joley talked to them... you'd think they listened to the voice of God. "" Everyone is angry for the talkie, "movie star Gregory Peck said in interview interview. I remember 'The Jazz Singer,' when Al Jolson just sings the song, and there's a bit of dialogue. And when he comes out with 'Mammy,' and kneels down for his Mammy, it's just dynamite. "
This opinion is shared by Mast and Kawin:
... at this moment the informal rush on the piano is the most exciting and vital part of the whole movie... when Jolson acquires the sound, the warmth, the excitement, the vibration, the spontaneous way of putting bare the imaginations of the mind that compose sounds... [and] the addition of Vitaphone's voice revealed the special qualities of Al Jolson that made it a star. Not only the eyes are the windows of the soul.
Movies of other features
The Singing Fool (1928)
With Warner Bros., Al Jolson made his first "talk-many" picture, The Singing Fool (1928) - the story of an enthusiastic entertainer who insisted on continuing the show even as his little son lay dying, and his distinctive tone, "Sonny Boy", is the first American record to sell a million copies. The film is even more popular than the The Jazz Singer , and while there are still a number of relatively small theaters across the country that are capable of displaying the images with sound, it holds the box-office attendance record for 11 years, until it is ruined by Gone With the Wind a decade later.
Jolson continues 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). The restored version of Mammy , which includes Jolson in several Technicolor sequences, was first screened in 2002. (Jolson's first Technicolour appearance was in a cameo in the music show Show Girl in Hollywood 1930) of First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.) However, these films gradually prove a diminishing return cycle due to their comparative similarities, the great salary demanded by Jolson, and a general shift in the public taste away from the vaudeville music- style like the 1930's started. As a result, Jolson decided to return to Broadway, and starred in a new show, Wonder Bar , which was not very successful.
Hallelujah, I ' ma Bum/Hallelujah, I am a Tramp
Despite this new problem, Jolson was able to make a comeback after a concert in New Orleans after "Wonderbar" was closed in 1931. Warners allowed him to make one film with United Artists, Hallelujah, I'm a Bum 1933 (the movie should be titled Hallelujah, I am a Tramp in the UK and other English-speaking countries where "boom" means "down" and where the slang for homeless is "vagrant" instead of " bummer "). The film was directed by Lewis Milestone and written by screenwriter Ben Hecht. Hecht is also active in promoting civil rights: "Hecht's films featuring black characters include Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, starring Edgar Connor as an Al Jolson sidekick, in a political rhythmic dialogue over Richard Rodgers music."
The immediate response to the Great Depression, it contains messages to his homeless friends that are equivalent to "something more important than money" and "the best things in a free life". The New York Times reviewer wrote, "The picture, some people may be happy to hear, do not have Mammy's songs.This is Mr. Jolson's best film and maybe, for the cunning director, Lewis Milestone, guides his destiny.... a combination of fun, melody and romance, with a bit of sarcasm... "Another review added," The film to welcome back, especially for what it is trying to do for the American Musical's progress... "
Wonder Bar (1934)
In 1934, he starred in the film version of the previous stage drama Wonder Bar, starring Kay Francis, Dolores del RÃÆ'o, Ricardo Cortez, and Dick Powell. The film is a "musical Grand Hotel , installed in a Paris nightclub owned by Al Wonder (Jolson).The magic of cheer and banter with its international customers." Reviews are generally positive: " Wonder Bar has everything Romantic, flash, dash, class, color, song, star-studded talent, and almost all known requirements to ensure strong attention and presence... This is Jolson's comeback image in every way. "; and, "Those who like Jolson should see the Wonder Bar because it's primarily Jolson, singing old songs, babbling jokes that will make Noah seem old-fashioned, and move with distinctive energy."
Back to Warners, Jolson is subject to new production ideas, less focused on stars and more on the complicated cinematic figures staged by Busby Berkeley and Bobby Connolly. This new approach succeeded, sustaining Jolson's film career until Warner's contract expired in 1935. Jolson starred alongside his actress-dancing wife, Ruby Keeler, just once, on Go Into Your Dance.
The Singing Kid (1936)
Jolson's last Warner vehicle is The Singing Kid (1936), a parody of Jolson's stage persona (he plays a character named Al Jackson) where he mocks his stage histrionics and samples the songs "mammy" - The last through number by EY Harburg and Harold Arlen titled "I Love to Lions", and a comedy sequence with Jolson trying to sing "Mammy" while The Yacht Club Boys keep telling him that such songs are outdated.
According to jazz historian Michael Alexander, Jolson once said that "People have mocked Mammy's songs, and I do not really think that it's true that they should, because after all, Mammy's songs are the country's basic songs (He said this, in character, in 1926 in a nutshell A Plantation Act .) In the film, he noted, "Jolson has the confidence to rhyme 'Mammy' with 'Uncle Sammy'", added "Mammy's songs, along with the call of 'Mammy singer', are the invention of the Jazz Jazz Era."
The film also gave a boost to the singer and recalcitrant career of Cab Calloway, who performed a number of songs with Jolson. In his autobiography, Calloway writes about this episode:
I heard Al Jolson is making a new movie on the Coast, and since Duke Ellington and his band have been filming, it's impossible for me and the band to do this with Jolson. Frenchy was on the phone to California, talked to someone connected to the movie and the next thing I knew the band and I booked to Chicago en route to California for the movie, The Singing Kid. We had a bad time, although I have some pretty rough arguments with Harold Arlen, who has written music. Arlen is the songwriter for many of the best Cotton Club changes, but he has done some interpretations for The Singing Kid that I can not follow. He tried to change my style and I fought it. Finally, Jolson stepped inside and said to Arlen, 'Look, Cab knows what he wants to do; let him do it his way. 'After that, Arlen left me alone. And talk about integration: Hell, when the band and I came out to Hollywood, we were treated like pure nobles. Here is Jolson and I live in an adjacent penthouse in a very luxurious hotel. We are costar in the movies so we received the same treatment, no question about it.
The Singing Kid is not one of the studio's main attractions (released by First National subsidiaries), and Jolson does not even judge a billing star. The song "I Love to Lions" then appears in the Tex Avery cartoon of the same name. The film also became the first important role for future child star Sybil Jason in the scene directed by Busby Berkeley. Jason remembers that Berkeley is working on the movie even though he's not credited.
Rose of Washington Square (1939)
The next film - the first with Twentieth Century-Fox - is Rose of Washington Square (1939). It starred Jolson, Alice Faye and Tyrone Power, and included many of Jolson's famous songs, although some songs were cut to shorten the length of the film, including "April Showers" and "Avalon". Reviewer writes, "Mr Jolson's singing of Mammy, California, Here I Come and others is something for memory books" and "Of the three co-stars this is a Jolson picture... because it's quite a catalog nice in a hit parade of anyone. "The film was released on DVD in October 2008. 20th Century Fox hired him to re-create the scene from The Jazz Singer in Alice Faye-Don Ameche Hollywood Cavalcade . Guest appearances in two other Fox movies followed the same year, but Jolson never starred in the full length movie again.
The Jolson Story
After the film biography of George M. Cohan, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky believes that the same film can be made about Al Jolson. Skolsky proposed the idea of ​​a biopic of Al Jolson and Harry Cohn, Columbia Pictures chief agreed. The film is directed by Alfred E. Green, most remembered for the pre-Code Baby Face (1933), with music numbers staged by Joseph H. Lewis. With Jolson providing almost all vocals, and Columbia's Larry Parks playing Jolson, The Jolson Story (1946) became one of the biggest box-office hits this year.
Larry Parks writes, in personal respect to Jolson:
Stepping into his shoes is, to me, a matter of continuous learning, observation, energetic concentration to obtain, perfectly if possible, a simulation of what kind of man he is. Therefore, it is not surprising that when creating The Jolson Story, I spent 107 days before the camera and lost eighteen pounds.
From the reviews in Variety :
But the real stars of production are the sound of Jolson and the Jolson medley. Good show to show this movie with the lesser ones, especially Larry Parks as a mammy boy... As for the sound of Jolson, it's never been better. Thus the wonder of science has produced an entire composite for an original eclipse on the youngest.
Park received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Although 60-year-old Jolson is too old to play a younger version of herself in the movie, she persuades the studio to let her appear in a single musical sequence, "Swanee", shot completely in a long shot, with Jolson in blackface singing and dancing on the runway heading into the middle of the theater. In the wake of the film's success and the World War II tour, Jolson became the lead singer in the American public once again. Decca's record was signed by Jolson and he was recorded for Decca until his death.
Critical observations
According to film historian Krin Gabbard, The Jolson Story goes further than previous films in exploring the meaning of blackface and the relationships that white people have developed with blacks in music. To him, the film seems to imply the tendency of white players, such as Jolson, possessed "the joy of life and enough sensitivity, to appreciate the accomplishment of black music". To support his views he described an important part of the film:
Wandering around New Orleans before a show with Minstrels from Dockster, he enters a small club where a group of black jazz musicians perform. Jolson has a revelation, that the quiet repertoire of the singers group can be changed by actually playing black music on blackface. He told the Dockstader that he wanted to sing what he had just experienced: 'I hear music tonight, something they call jazz. Some people just make it up. They took it out of the air. 'After Dockstader refused to accommodate Jolson's revolutionary concept, his chronic narrative ascent became a star when he allegedly injected jazz into his face show... Jolson's success was built to anticipate what the Americans really wanted. Dockstader performs the inevitable function of the status quo guard, whose commitment is limited to what will become obsolete strengthening the sympathy of the audiences with the heroes forward.
This is a theme that is traditionally "cherished by the hearts of those who make movies." Film historian George Custen describes this "common scenario, in which a justified hero for innovation was initially greeted with resistance... [T] he fought off a heroic protagonist who anticipates a change in cultural attitudes is the center of other white jazz biopics such as The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and The Benny Goodman Story (1955) ". "Once we accept the semantic changes from singing to playing the clarinet, The Benny Goodman Story becomes almost transparent rework The Jazz Singer ... and The Jolson Story . " Jolson Sing Again (1949)
Jolson Singing Again (1949)
Jolson_Sings_Again_ (1949)A sequel, Jolson Sings Again (1949), opened at Loew's State Theater in New York and received a positive review: "The name of Mr. Jolson is on again and Broadway is surrounded by a smile," Thomas wrote. Pryor at The New York Times . "That's as it should be, for Jolson Sings Again is an opportunity that ensures some healthy cheers...". Jolson toured the movie theater of New York to connect movies, traveled with police convoys to make schedules for all shows, often ad libbing jokes and performing songs for the audience. Additional police were on duty as people crowded the streets and sidewalks in every theater Jolson visited. In Chicago, a few weeks later, he sang for 100,000 people at Soldier Field, and later that night appeared at the Oriental Theater with George Jessel where 10,000 people had to be rejected.
In Baltimore, Maryland, he took his wife Erle to St Mary's Industrial School in Baltimore, where she was locked up for some time as a boy and treated for tuberculosis. He introduced it to the same Brother Xaverian Brother Benjamin, who was watching him. That night, Jolson took over two hundred church children to see Jolson Sings Again at the Hippodrome Theater. A few weeks later, Jolsons was received by President Harry Truman at the White House.
Radio show
Jolson has been a popular guest on the radio since the early days, including at NBC's Dodge Victory Hour (January 1928), singing from a hotel in New Orleans for a 35 million audience through 47 radio stations. His own show of the 1930s included Presenting Al Jolson (1932) and Shell Chateau (1935), and he was the host of Kraft Music Hall from 1947 to 1949, with Oscar Levant as a sidekick, playing a cynical piano. Jolson's 1940 career revival was no less successful despite the competition of young players such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and he was voted "The Most Popular Male Vocalist" in 1948 by a poll on Variety . The following year, Jolson was named "Personality of the Year" by Variety Clubs of America. When Jolson appeared on Bing Crosby's radio show, he attributed that he received the award as the only singer that was important not to make a record of "Mule Train", which had become a big hit that year (four different versions, one of them by Crosby , has made the top ten on the charts). Jolson joked about how her voice had deepened with age, saying "I get clippetys just fine, but I can not ramble like I used to."
Television jobs
When Jolson appeared on Los Angeles KNX radio show Steve Allen in 1949 to promote Jolson Sings Again, he offered his brief opinion on the burgeoning television industry: "I call it olfactory-odor." The author of Hal Kanter recalls that Jolson's own idea of ​​his television debut would be an extra-long sponsored company banner that would present him as the only player, and would be broadcast without interruption. Though he had several TV offers at the time, Jolson was worried about how his bigger appearance of life would appear in a media as intimate as television. He finally surrendered in 1950, when it was announced that Jolson had signed an agreement to appear on the CBS television network, perhaps in a special series. However, he died suddenly before production began.
World War II and Korean War tour
World War II
The Japanese bomb in Pearl Harbor rocked Jolson out of a continuing lethargy for years of activity and "... he dedicated himself to a new mission in life.... Even before the USO began to organize official programs abroad, Jolson drove the War Department Navy with phone calls and wires asking for permission to go anywhere in a world where there is an American soldier who does not mind listening to 'Sonny Boy' or 'Mammy'.... [and] In early 1942, Jolson became a star first to appear at a GI base in World War II ".
From the 1942 New York Times interview: "When the war started... [I] felt that I was doing something, and the only thing I knew was the show business I went around during the war last and I see that the kids need something other than chow and practice.I know the same is true today, so I told the people in Washington that I would go anywhere and take action for the Army. " shortly after the war began, he wrote a letter to Steven Early, press secretary to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, volunteered "to lead a committee for army entertainment and said that he" would work without pay... [and] would be happy to help in the organization to be formed for this purpose. "A few weeks later, he received his first tour schedule from the newly formed United Services Organization (USO)," the group whose letter to Early has help make ".
He performed as many as four per day performances in the forests of Central America and covered the naval bases of the US Navy. He paid some of his transportation out of his own pocket. After performing his first show, and not announced, in England in 1942, the reporter for Hartford Courant wrote, "... it was panic and chaos... when he finished the applause that shook the space full of soldiers like a bomb that fell again on Shaftsbury Avenue. "
From an article in The New York Times :
He [Jolson] has visited more Army camps and played for more soldiers than any other entertainer. He has crossed the Atlantic with a plane to pick up songs and cheer for troops in the UK and Northern Ireland. He has flown to the cold plain of Alaska and the jungle in Trinidad. He had called Curaçao a Dutch-like. Almost every camp in the country has heard it sing and tell funny stories.
Some of the extraordinary difficulty of doing for an active force is described in an article he writes for Variety , in 1942:
To entertain all the boys... it became important for us to perform in the foxhole, gun cannon, rest room, for construction groups on military roads; actually, a place where two or more soldiers gather together, automatically become Winter Garden for me and I will give the show.
After returning from an overseas base tour, the Regiment's Resessionary at one camp wrote to Jolson,
Let me say on behalf of all the 33rd Infantry soldiers you came here is the most amazing thing that ever happened to us, and we think you are a boss, not just a player but as a person. We unanimously elect your Public Moral No. 1 US Army.
Jolson is officially registered with United Service Organizations (USO), an organization that provides entertainment for American troops serving in combat abroad. Because he was over 45, he received a "Specialist" rating that allowed him to wear a uniform and was given the rank of an officer. While on a tour of the Pacific, Jolson contracted malaria and had to undergo his left lung surgery. In 1946, at a nationally televised dinner in New York City, given on his behalf, he received a special award from the American Veterans Committee to honor the services of his volunteers during World War II. In 1949, the film Jolson Sings Again re-created some scenes that showed Jolson during his war tour.
Korean War
In 1950, according to the biographer Jolson Michael Freedland, "The United States answered the UN Security Council call... and has gone to fight North Korea... [Jolson] rang the White House again." I am "I'm going to Korea "It seems that no one knows about the USO, and it's up to President Truman to take me there." He was promised that President Truman and General MacArthur, who had taken command of the Korean front, would hearing his offer, but for four weeks there was no... Finally, Louis A. Johnson, Minister of Defense, sent Jolson telegram. "Sorry for the delay but regret there is no fund for entertainment - STOP; USO broke up - STOP. 'The message is an attack on Jolson's patriotism as the actual crossing of 38th Parallel has. 'What are they talking about', he boomed. 'Fund? Who needs funds? I have funds! I'll pay for myself! '"
On September 17, 1950, a dispatch from the 8th Army Headquarters, Korea, announced, "Al Jolson, the first top-tier entertainer to reach the war front, landed here today with a plane from Los Angeles..." Jolson did travel to Korea at your own expense. "[A] and Jolson are slender, smiling on their own without skipping 42 shows in 16 days."
Before returning to the United States, General Douglas MacArthur, the leader of the UN force, gave him a medal which read "To Al Jolson from the Special Service in recognition of the entertainment of armed forces personnel - Far Eastern Command", with all his plans written on the back.. A few months later, an important bridge, named "Al Jolson Bridge", was used to attract most of the American troops from North Korea. The bridge is the last remaining of three bridges across the Han River and used to evacuate UN forces. It was destroyed by UN forces after soldiers managed to cross to prevent the Chinese from crossing.
Alistair Cooke writes: "He [Jolson] had the last hour of glory.He offered to fly to Korea and entertain the troop who was confined to the UN bridge in August, the troop shouted for his performance, kneeling again and singing 'Mammy' it was crying and cheering.When she asked what Korean like she replied warmly, 'I will get my income tax back and see if I pay enough.' "Jack Benny, who went to Korea the following year, noted that the amphitheater in Korea where troops were entertained, was named" Al Jolson Bowl. "
Baru A.S.O. film
Just 10 days after she returned from Korea, she has agreed with RKO Pictures producers Jerry Wald and Norman Krasna to star in a new movie, Star and Outline for Ever, about the USO troupe in the South Pacific during the War world II. The scenario was written by Herbert Baker and to Dinah Beach.
However, Jolson has been very overexerted herself performing in Korea, especially for a man who lost his lungs, and just two weeks after signing the deal, he died of a heart attack in San Francisco. A few months after his death, Defense Secretary George Marshall presented the Medal for Merit to Jolson, "to whom this country owes its unpaid". Medals, carrying a quote saying that "Jolson's contribution to US action in Korea was made at the expense of his life", presented to Jolson's adopted son when Jolson looked at the widow. Columbia has also been thinking about Jolson's third musical, and this time Jolson will play alone. The project, temporarily titled You Is not Heard Nothin 'Yet , was to dramatize Jolson's recent tour of the military base. The projected movie is suddenly canceled.
Personal life
Politics
Jolson is a Republican, supporting Warren G. Harding in 1920 and Calvin Coolidge in 1924 for the president of the United States. As "one of the greatest stars of his time, [he] worked his magic singing Harding, You're the Man for Us to fascinate the audience... [and] was then asked to do Keep Cool with Coolidge four years later... Ã, Jolson, like those who run the studio, is a rare Republi. "Despite a Republican, Jolson openly campaigned for Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932. the next president (1936), he again supports Alfanon of the Republicans and will not support other Democrats for president during his lifetime.
Married life
Henrietta Keller
His first marriage to Henrietta Keller (1889-1967) took place in Alameda California, on September 20, 1907. His name was given as Albert Jolson. They divorced in 1919.
Ethel Delmar
In 1920, Jolson started a relationship with Broadway actress Alma Osbourne (known professionally as Ethel Delmar ); both married in August 1922; he divorced Jolson in 1928.
Ruby Keeler
In the summer of 1928, Jolson met a young tap dancer, and then actress, Ruby Keeler, in Los Angeles (Jolson would claim it at Texas Guinan nightclub) and was fascinated by it in sight. Three weeks later, Jolson saw George M. Cohan's Rise of Rosie O'Reilly production, and saw him in the show. Now knowing he will be about his Broadway career, Jolson attends one of his shows, Show Girl , and gets up from the audience and engages in his duet "Liza". After this moment, the show producer, Florenz Ziegfeld, asked Jolson to join the cast and continued to sing a duet with Keeler. Jolson accepted Ziegfeld's offer and during their tour with Ziegfeld both began dating and getting married on September 21, 1928. In 1935, Al and Ruby adopted a son, Jolson's first child, whom they named "Al Jolson Jr." But in 1939 - though the marriage was considered more successful than the previous marriage - Keeler left Jolson. After their 1940 divorce, he remarried, with John Homer Lowe, with whom he would have four children and remarry until his death in 1969.
Erle Galbraith
In 1944, when giving a show at a military hospital in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Jolson met a young X-ray technology expert, Erle Galbraith. She became fascinated with her and over a year later she was able to track her down and hire her as an actress while she served as a producer at Columbia Pictures. After Jolson, whose health was still scratched from previous battles with malaria, was hospitalized in the winter of 1945, Erle visited him and both quickly began a relationship. They married on March 22, 1945. During their marriage, Jolsons adopted two children, Asa Jr. (born 1948) and Alicia (born 1949), and remained married until her death in 1950.
After a year and a half of marriage, his new wife never saw him perform in front of the audience, and the first chance came unplanned. As told by comedian actor Alan King, it happened at dinner by the New York Friars' Club at Waldorf Astoria in 1946, honoring Sophie Tucker's career. Jolson and his wife were among the audience along with a thousand others, and George Jessel was the MC. He asked Al, personally, to perform at least one song. Jolson replied, "No, I just want to sit here."
Then, without warning, during the show, Jessel said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the easiest introduction I ever did." The world's greatest entertainer, Al Jolson. " King remembered what happened next:
This place became wild. Jolson got up, picked up a bow, sat down... people began to hit with their feet, and he got up, took another bow, sat down again. It's chaos, and slowly, he seems to give up. He walked upstairs... the kids around with Sophie and got some laughter, but people shouted, 'Sing! Sing! Sing! '... Then she said, 'I want to introduce you to my bride,' and this beautiful young girl got up and took the bow. The audience does not care about the bride, they do not even care about Sophie Tucker. 'Sing! Sing! Sing! ' they shouted again "My wife has never seen me entertained," Jolson said, and looked at Lester Lanin, the orchestra leader: "Maestro, is it true what they say about Dixie?"
Proximity to his brother Harry
Despite their closer relationship, Harry did show hatred for Al's success over the years. Even during their time with Jack Palmer, Al is getting popular as Harry fades away. After parting from Al and Jack, Harry's career in the show business, however, was deeply drowned. On one occasion - which was another factor in his on-off relationship with Al-Harry offering to be Al's agent, but Al declined the offer, worried about the pressure he would face from his producer for employing his brother as his own. agent. Shortly after Harry Lillian's wife died in 1948, Harry and Al became close once more.
Death and warning
The dust and dirt from the front of Korea, from where he returned a few weeks earlier, had settled in his remaining lungs and he was almost exhausted. While playing cards in his room at Hotel St. Francis at 335 Powell Street in San Francisco, Jolson died of a massive heart attack on October 23, 1950. His last words were said "Oh... oh, I'm leaving." His age was given as 64.
After his wife received the news of his death by phone, he was in shock, and required family members to stay with him. At the funeral, police estimate more than 20,000 people showed up, despite threats of rain. It became one of the biggest cemeteries in the history of show business. Celebrities award: Bob Hope, speaking from Korea on shortwave radio, says the world has lost "not only a great entertainer, but also a great citizen." Larry Parks said that the world "not only lost her greatest entertainer, but also a great American, she is a victim of war [Korea]." The Scripps-Howard newspaper drew a pair of white gloves on a black background. The title reads, "Song Ends."
Columnist newspaper and radio reporter Walter Winchell said,
He was the first to entertain troops in World War II, contracting malaria and losing lungs. Then in his sixties, he returned to be the first to offer a singing gift to bring comfort to the wounded and tired of Korea.
Today we know the deployment of his journey to Korea takes on more of his strength than he might have realized. But he considers that his job as an American is there, and that's what matters to him. Jolson died at a San Francisco hotel. However he was also a victim of combat like an American soldier who fell on a rocky slope in Korea...Source of the article : Wikipedia
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