A Tribute to Al Jolson

excerpts from:
A New Jewy? America since the Second World War
By Peter Y. Medding, Oxford University Press, 1992

While Einstein was based in Zurich, formulating in abstract mathematical terms the notion that energy consisted of mc², he might have easily discovered its most ebullient embodiment dominating the vaudeville circuit across the Atlantic. Perhaps no white entertainer in American history has ever exuded the demonic razzle-dazzle and the kinetic force of Al Jolson; probably no one could match his Eureka gift for deluding everybody in the audience into believing that “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody” or “Sonny Boy” was being belted out just for them. Read the rest of this entry »

Twentieth Century-Fox Strolls Down Melody Lane in ‘Rose of Washington Square,’ at the Roxy

 Twentieth Century-Fox’s latest tour down Melody Lane has come to the Roxy under the blushing title “Rose of Washington Square,” the Rose being neither Al Jolson nor Tyrone Power (as we had feared), but Alice Faye, who flowers lushly in the cabarets and flounces of the post-war years. Obviously designed as a thematic sequel to “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” the picture makes much the same capital of its sentimentally evocative score, its nostalgic reminders of the speakeasy era, its delicate reminder that the Nineteen Twenties already have become a “costume period.” Read the rest of this entry »

 
The Jolson Story:
Al’s Success in Radio Adds New Luster to Career of Master Minstrel”
New York Times,
April 13, 1947

By Jack Gould

The season of 1946-47 may yet become known as the year of the “comeback.” Back last fall Jack Benny confounded the pundits of Radio Row by climbing up again to the top of the comedy brackets. Now, as the formal program semester nears a close, another veteran showman, Al Jolson, has caught the public’s fancy anew.

Al is, as the saying goes, as “hot” as anything on the dial at the moment. His guest appearances with Bing Crosby and Eddie Cantor stimulated mightily the usual ratings of those worthies and last Monday night he gave an added fillip to the Radio Theatre’s star-studded production of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” not to mention the Bob Hope show on Tuesday.
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 February 27, 2009  - May 9, 2009
 

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Al Jolson, “The Jazz Singer,” died at the St. Francis Hotel here tonight. He had recently returned from Korea after entertaining troops there.

Death came just after 10:30 P.M. (PST) as Mr. Jolson was playing cards in his room with friends. He was in San Francisco to be the guest star on the Bing Crosby radio program scheduled to be recorded Tuesday night.

Mr. Jolson checked in at the St. Francis today. He was playing gin rummy with Martin Fried, his arranger and accompanist, and Harry Akst, songwriter and long-time friend. Read the rest of this entry »