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The Jazz
Singer (1927)
In director Alan Crosland's landmark picture - the
first Warner Bros' Vitaphone release (and first feature-length
Hollywood "talkie" film in which spoken dialogue was used
as part of the dramatic action):
- the audio of musician Jack Robin's (Al Jolson) (aka
cantor's son Jakie Rabinowitz) first performance - of "Dirty
Hands, Dirty Face" - prefaced by title cards specifying: "Years
later - - and three thousand miles from home...Jakie Rabinowitz
had become Jack Robin - - the Cantor's son, a jazz singer.
But fame was still an uncaptured bubble - - ... Al Jolson";
he was in San Francisco in a nightspot known as "Coffee Dans" ten
years after leaving his orthodox Jewish home, after adopting a
new anglicized name Jack
- a cutaway to one of the audience members introduced
the character of beautiful dancer Mary Dale (May McAvoy), an admirer
of Jack's who helped him further his career
- after his first song, Jack raised his hand to stop
the audience (in Jolson's first words on screen), speaking some of
the most famous lines of dialogue in film history; he delivered an
ad-libbed introduction before his dynamic performance of "Toot
Toot Tootsie," accompanied by various bird noises made by the
singer: ("Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You ain't heard nothin'
yet. Wait a minute, I tell ya, you ain't heard nothin'! Do you wanna
hear 'Toot, Toot, Tootsie!'? All right, hold on, hold on. (To the
band leader) Lou, Listen. Play 'Toot, Toot, Tootsie!' Three choruses,
you understand. In the third chorus I whistle. Now give it to 'em
hard and heavy. Go right ahead!")
- the lengthy scene of a natural conversation between
an affectionate Jack and his mother Sara (Eugenie Besserer) during
the singing of
"Blue Skies" at the piano in his home during a visit: ("Did
you like that, Mama?...I'm glad of it. I'd rather please you than anybody
I know of. Oh, darlin' - will you give me something?...You'll never
guess. Shut your eyes, Mama. Shut 'em for little Jakie. I'm gonna steal
something. (He kissed her and then laughed) I'll give it back to you
someday too - you see if I don't. Mama darlin' - if I'm a success in
this show, well, we're gonna move from here. Oh yes, we're gonna move
up in the Bronx. A lot of nice green grass up there, and a whole lot
of people you know...")
- the scene in which son Jack met his sick Jewish father
Cantor Rabinowitz (Warner Oland), who had wanted his son to carry
on the family traditions and not become a "jazz singer";
Jack faced the dilemma of choosing his entertainment career (opening
night on Broadway) or singing the
"Kol Nidre" in his ailing father's place in the synagogue
(on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement): "It's a choice between
giving up the biggest chance of my life - and breaking my mother's
heart - I have no right to do either"; Jack's producer pressured:
"You're a jazz singer at heart!"
Jack's Theatrical Rendition of "Mammy"
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In "Blackface"
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Dedicated to Mother in Audience
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- in the last sequence, Jack had decided to postpone
his Broadway opening for one day, and perform in the synagogue
(the day of his father's death); he delivered a curtain-closing
rendition of "Mammy" (in black-face makeup) to his tearful
mother seated in the Winter Garden Theater audience, when he was
down on one knee for the final chorus to her, flinging his arms
out toward her and the world: ("Mammy! My little Mammy! The
sun shines east. The sun shines west. But I know where the sun
shines best. It's on my Mammy I'm talkin' about. Nobody elses.
My little Mammy! My heart strings are tangled around, Alabamy.
Mammy! I'm comin'! I hope I didn't make you wait! Mammy! I'm comin'!
Oh God, I hope I'm not late. Mammy! Don't ya know me? It's your
little baby! I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles! My
Mammy!")
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Jack's First Audio Performance: "Dirty Hands, Dirty
Face"
Admirer in Audience:
Mary Dale (May McAvoy)
Jack: "Wait a minute! Wait a minute!..." Before
"Toot Toot Tootsie"
Jack With Mother: "Blue Skies"
Jack with Gravely-Ill Father One Night Before Opening
on Broadway
Jack's Dilemma - Sing on Broadway or in the Synagogue?
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