The Jazz Singer (1927 film)

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The Jazz Singer
Directed by	Alan Crosland Gordon Hollingshead (2nd unit)
Produced by	Jack Warner (executive in charge of production)
Written by	Samson Raphaelson (play) Alfred A. Cohn (adaptation)
Starring	Al Jolson May McAvoy Warner Oland
Music by	Louis Silvers
Cinematography	Hal Mohr
Editing by	Harold McCord
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	October 6, 1927
Running time	89 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Jazz Singer (1927) is a U.S. movie musical and the first feature-length motion picture with talking sequences. Produced by Warner Bros. with its Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, it stars Al Jolson, who sings five songs. The film, directed by Alan Crosland, is based on the play Day of Atonement by Samson Raphaelson.

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Plot summary 2 Award nominations 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Overview

The stage production of The Jazz Singer had been a hit on Broadway in its original 1925 production and in a 1927 revival with George Jessel in the lead role. When Warner Bros. refused to meet Jessel's salary demands, he turned down the part in the film. The studio next approached Eddie Cantor, who also rejected the role. The part was then offered to Al Jolson. As described by film historian Donald Crafton, "The entertainer, who sang jazzed-up minstrel numbers in blackface, was at the height of his phenomenal popularity. Anticipating the later stardom of crooners and rock stars, Jolson electrified audiences with the vitality and sex appeal of his songs and gestures, which owed much to African-American sources."^[1] Jolson took the role.

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 singing sequence and crowd noises, but it had no talking scenes. Likewise, the first Warner Bros. Vitaphone feature, Don Juan (1926), had only synchronized music and sound effects. The Jazz Singer contains only a few minutes worth of dialogue, most of it improvised. The rest of the film's soundtrack is instrumental musical accompaniment and sound effects, with most of the dialogue presented through the standard caption cards prevalent in silent movies of the era. Still, the songs and dialogue sequences—fueled by Jolson's charisma—were enough to create a sensation among moviegoing audiences.

The success of the movie, which opened on October 6, 1927, demonstrated to Hollywood and the world the potential profit offered by the "talkies." Donald Crafton has shown, however, that the reputation the film later acquired for being one of Hollywood's most enormous successes to date was greatly inflated. The movie did well, but not astonishingly so, in the major cities where it was first released, garnering much of its impressive profits with long, steady runs in population centers large and small all around the country. On the other hand, Crafton's statement that The Jazz Singer "was in a distinct second or third tier of attractions compared to the most popular films of the day and even other Vitaphone talkies" errs in the other direction.^[2] In fact, the film was by far the biggest earner in Warner Bros. history, and would remain so until it was surpassed a year later by The Singing Fool, another Jolson feature. In the larger scope of Hollywood, among films originally released in 1927, available evidence suggests that The Jazz Singer was among the three biggest box office hits, trailing only The King of Kings and Wings.^[3]

The film opened wide the door to the evolution of sound film and signaled the end of the silent motion picture era. The first all-talking feature, Lights of New York (1928), was released by Warner Bros. the following year. Jolson made a series of movies for Warners, including The Singing Fool, a part-talkie, and the all-talking features Say It with Songs (1929), Mammy (1930), and Big Boy (1930). Mammy includes Jolson's first appearance in Technicolor sequences, which have recently been restored.

In 1996, The Jazz Singer was selected for preservation in the American National Film Registry of "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" motion pictures. The film was also selected by the American Film Institute as one of the best American films of all time, ranking at number ninety. Three subsequent screen versions of The Jazz Singer have been produced: a 1952 remake, starring Danny Thomas and Peggy Lee; a 1959 television remake, starring Jerry Lewis; and a 1980 remake starring Neil Diamond, Lucie Arnaz, and Laurence Olivier.

[edit] Plot summary

Jewish cantor Rabinowitz (Warner Oland) wishes his son to continue in the five-generation family tradition and become a cantor at the Orchard Street synagogue. But thirteen-year-old Jakie Rabinowitz (Bobby Gordon) has forsaken the ways of his fathers to try out show business. Inside Muller's bar-café, young Jakie sings contemporary popular songs, creating a conflict between his familial devotion and his deep love for worldly jazz music.

Moisha Yudelson (Otto Lederer), rigidly orthodox and a power in the affairs of the Ghetto, spots the young Jewish boy singing, and runs to tell Jakie's father, who is furious to find his son performing in the beer-garden rather than in the synagogue. He snatches the squirming boy from the stage to drag him home by the scruff of the neck. Jakie hugs his mother, Sara (Eugenie Besserer), for protection from his threatening father, who declares, "I'll teach him better than to debase the voice God gave him!" Sarah tries to reason with him: "But Papa — our boy, he does not think like we do." Papa insists on teaching the boy a lesson: "First he will get a whipping!"

Jakie's father prepares for the whipping by removing his belt, despite protestations from Sara. Jakie threatens: "If you whip me again, I'll run away — and never come back!" Outside the door, Sara reacts horribly to the sounds of her beloved boy being brutally whipped in the bedroom. With one last embrace and kiss from his mother, Jakie carries through on his threat, rebelling against his father's wishes and running away from home. Even though he has lost his son, Cantor Rabinowitz prepares for the evening's service: "It is time to prepare for the services, Mama." Mama is distraught: "Our boy has gone, and he is never coming back."

At the synagogue on Yom Kippur, Rabinowitz tells another Jewish cantor: "My son was to stand at my side and sing tonight — but now I have no son." The Kol Nidre is sung in the synagogue, during which time Jakie sneaks back into his home and retrieves a picture of his loving mother.

Approximately ten years later, Jakie has changed his name to Jack Robin (Al Jolson), an anglicized name that represents a rejection of his Jewish faith. Jack is invited to perform in the nightclub and is introduced to the crowd: "Jack Robin will sing 'Dirty Hands, Dirty Face.' They say he's good — we shall see." Jack tells his table companion: "Wish me luck, Pal — I'll certainly need it."

He sings a full-throated rendition of "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face" (Jolson's first musical performance in the film) about the joys of having a young son. His song is received enthusiastically by the audience. Next, Jack entertains the cabaret crowd with a rousing rendition of "Toot, Toot, Tootsie", including a wide variety of creative whistle sounds. Immediately after his performance, Jack is introduced to beautiful dancer Mary Dale (May McAvoy) who has admired his performance from her table in the audience. He tells her: "I caught your act in Salt Lake, Miss Dale — I think you're wonderful." She has noticed the feeling he injects into his jazz singing: "There are lots of jazz singers, but you have a tear in your voice." "I'm glad you think so — ," he replies. She suggests assisting him with his career: "Perhaps I can help you."

The film cuts to the Rabinowitz home, where Cantor Rabinowitz instructs a young, would-be cantor to sing. To keep in touch with his family, Jack secretly writes to his mother:

Dear Mama: I'm getting along great, making $250.00 a week. A wonderful girl, Mary Dale, got me my big chance. Write me c/o State Theater in Chicago. Last time you forgot and addressed me Jakie Rabinowitz. Jack Robin is my name now. Your loving son, Jakie.

His mother wonders if he has become romantically involved with a gentile, further rejecting his Jewish heritage: "Maybe he's fallen in love with a shiksa." When Sara shows her husband the letter, he angrily rebukes her: "I told you never to open his letters — we have no son!" Sara weeps silently to herself.

Meanwhile, Mary has introduced him to an impresario and is responsible for getting him a break that puts him on the vaudeville circuit. He tours with Mary's theatre company, and is thrilled by the experience. Sadly they must part for she has accepted a role on Broadway.

In Chicago while on tour, Jack's memories of his cantor father are stirred by a special matinee concert of sacred songs he attends, sung by Cantor Rosenblatt (Jossele Rosenblatt, playing himself). While en route through a train station, Jack learns that he too has a chance to appear in a Broadway revue bringing him back to New York, his boyhood home.

It is Cantor Rabinowitz's sixtieth birthday. Relatives and friends bring presents which include chicken, a large jug of wine, and three identical gifts — prayer shawls. "Just what he needs," says Sara. It is also the day of Jack's homecoming.

Jack is greeted warmly by his mother in his home after his long absence. On his father's piano, he sings and plays Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" for her, one of the songs he will try out in the Broadway show. As he finishes the jazzed-up number, his father enters, sees the pair, and reacts sternly, shouting "Stop!" Jack tries to get his father to understand his more contemporary viewpoint, but the traditionalist father can't believe his disrespectful son. Jack is disowned and banished again by his father's orders: "Leave my house! I never want to see you again — you jazz singer!" Jack offers a final plea for understanding from his father: "I came home with a heart full of love, but you don't want to understand. Some day you'll understand, the same as Mama does." Sara fears Jack will never return: "He came back once, Papa, but — he'll never come back again."

Two weeks after Jack's expulsion from the family home and 24 hours before opening night on Broadway, Jack's father becomes gravely ill. Jack is asked to choose between the show and duty to his family and faith: in order to sing the Kol Nidre at temple in his sick father's place for Yom Kippur the following night, he will have to miss the big opening night performance.

Dress rehearsal is at one o'clock the next day. Jack is told, "Come full of pep!" That evening, the eve of Yom Kippur, Yudleson tells the Jewish elders: "For the first time, we have no cantor on the Day of Atonement." Pale and emaciated lying in his bed, Cantor Rabinowitz tells Sara in his bedroom that he cannot perform on the most sacred of holy days: "My heart is breaking, Mama. I cannot sing. My son came to me in my dreams — he sang Kol Nidre so beautifully. If he would only sing like that tonight — surely he would be forgiven."

Jack returns to his home after the rehearsal. When Yudleson finds Jack at home, he assumes that he has come to replace Cantor Rabinowitz in the synagogue for Yom Kippur: "I knew you'd come. The choir is waiting." Sara encourages him as a way to heal his father: "Maybe if you sing — your Papa will get well — ." But just then, the producer and Mary arrive to urge him to return with them to the opening of April Follies. Mary asks him: "You're not thinking of quitting us, are you, Jack?" His producer threatens that his career will be ruined if he fails to appear on opening night: "You'll queer yourself on Broadway — you'll never get another job."

Jack realizes what a momentous choice he has: "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." Mary reminds him of his former words: "Were you lying when you said your career came before everything?" Yudleson pressures him too: "You must sing tonight." Jack is uncertain about that possibility: "I haven't sung Kol Nidre since I was a little boy." Yudleson assures Jack: "What a little boy learns — he never forgets." The producer warns: "Don't be a fool, Jack!" Jack turns to his mother, who tells him to "do what is in your heart, Jakie — if you sing and God is not in your voice — your father will know." The producer reminds Jack of his career: "You're a jazz singer at heart!"

At curtain time, an announcement is made to the audience: "Ladies and Gentlemen, there will be no performance this evening." For one night, Jack becomes Jakie Rabinowitz, singing the Kol Nidre in the synagogue in his father's place, forcing the opening night cancellation of the show. His father listens from his deathbed to the nearby ceremony. Now that his son is reconciled to the old world's values and to the family, Cantor Rabinowitz's last forgiving words are: "Mamma, we have our son again." In a super-imposed image, we see the spirit of Jack's father at his side in the synagogue. Mary describes Jack: "A jazz singer — singing to his God."

"The season passes — and time heals — the show goes on." The show is postponed, but opens successfully the next day. Jack sings jazz in the opening theatre performance, the day after his father's death. In the final scene, his proud mother sits in the crowded Winter Garden Theater audience, listening and weeping. In blackface, Jack croons the song "My Mammy" to her.

[edit] Award nominations

• Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay — Alfred A. Cohn

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Jazz Singer at the Internet Movie Database
• The Jazz Singer part of Filmsite.org
• Let's Go To The Movies (1948) film clip, with excerpt of "My Mammy" at 2:30; part of Archive.org