Perhaps no other performer had so much influence on the development and
performance of American popular song as Al Jolson. A man of intensity, with
a huge ego, he called himself the worlds greatest performer. Few at that
time argued with him, and few since have denied his claim. Al Jolson was
born as Asa Yoelson, in Srednike Lithuania May 26, 1886. He was was brought
to the USA as a young boy, probably in 1894 and was raised in Washington
DC. As a youngster, he always seemed to be interested in show business and
at one time, ran away to join a troupe but was soon returned back to his
parents. His father was a cantor in a Washington synagogue. Rather than
following in his father's footsteps Al teamed up with his brother and with
the comedian Joe Palmer to tour the vaudeville shows. He later adopted a
black face and specialized in singing in minstrel shows. Does that story
sound at all familiar? Film buffs will see its similarity to the 1927 film
The Jazz Singer, and the 1984 remake of the same name starring Neil Diamond.
In many respects, art imitated life with respect to the life and career
of the great Al Jolson.
As with any superstar, the truth gets expanded and lore develops to create
a life story that is larger than life. In Jolson's case, his actual career
and ego were in fact, larger than life but still we have elements of urban
legend to deal with. It is said that young Asa's first taste of performance
took place when he had found his way into the Bijou theater in Washington
where a performer/ songwriter named Eddie Leonard was appearing. It is said
that Leonard was singing his favorite song, Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider
(1903, music by Leonard, words by Eddie Munson). Leonard invited the audience
to sing along with him in the chorus. While the audience mumbled and stumbled
through the chorus, Asa's sweet voice lofted over the cacophony and soon
the entire theater was listening and spontaneously burst into applause.
Smitten by the adulation of the audience, Al Jolson was born that night
and began a love affair with performance that would last his lifetime.
However, we do know that this really may not have been his first experience
for as 
early
as 1899, he appeared in a production, The Children of The Ghetto as an extra
and by 1900 was being paid for performing in various small time burlesque
and vaudeville theaters. In 1909, Jolson joined Lew Dockstader's Minstrels
(at left) and performed a number of solo works. It was with Dockstader that
we first see the Blackface Jolson that later became so intertwined with
Jolson's persona and by which he was most often remembered. It was also
here that Jolson had his first try at a "mammy" song, singing
It's A Long Way Back To Dear Old Mammy's Knees. Though associated
later with such songs, his trademark kneeling position (seen at the top
of the page) had not yet been introduced. That would come much much later,
and quite by accident. In 1909, the Dockstader troupe performed in new York
City at the Fifth Avenue Theater. A writer for Variety was there and in
their review of the show, it was noted that the audience had responded to
Jolson's performances far and away beyond the normal audience response.
Variety said; "Haven't seen a demonstration for a single act, or any
act for that matter, as was given Jolson."
Jolson's popularity with audiences resulted in practices by him that would
consternate and befuddle fellow performers, stage managers and writers of
shows. In essence, if he saw fit he would often completely dispense with
the show's plan or script and perform as he pleased. Often he would make
impromptu remarks to the audience or completely take over a show. It was
with extreme bravado and consummate confidence that Jolson would strike
out on his own. Invariably, his actions met with success so no matter how
annoying it may have been to his costars and show writers, it brought in
the crowds and ticket sales so not much, if anything was done to "correct"
him. Later in life, this "my way or the highway" attitude would
work to Jolson's disadvantage and place him in disfavor among many producers
and fellow performers. In 1909, at a performance at the Victoria, he stopped
the show in progress and called for the houselights. He walked stage front
and addressed the audience and began talking to the audience. He supposedly
said; You know folks, this is the happiest day of my life, I just want to
sing and sing. Ya wanna listen?" The audience enthusiastically responded
and Jolson sang song after song for hours.
The famous show production brothers, Lee and J.J. Schubert took notice
of Jolson and engaged Jolson to appear in the Premiere of the stage production,
La Belle Paree at the opening of their Wintergarden 
Theater
on March 20, 1911. Unfortunately, the show itself was a bomb from the beginning
and the audience was becoming restless and many bolted from the theater
as the show was in progress. Even Jolson's blackface performance of Jerome
Kern's Paris is a Paradise for Coons failed to hold the audience's
interest and people left in droves. Reviews the next day were withering
in their attack of the show. On the next performance Jolson decided to dispense
with the show as written and interrupted the production to talk about the
critics reviews. Incredibly, Jolson then asked the audience if they would
rather hear him sing rather than the rest of the show and of course, the
audience agreed. Jolson then launched into his own performance and dismissed
the entire production in one huge egotistical act of personal aggrandizement.
The reviews encouraged this behavior by praising his actions and thus was
started a pattern of audience adulation and solo performance that would
go on for years. Crowds overflowed the Wintergarden and it became Jolson's
personal venue for many years to follow. That same year (1911), Jolson starred
in yet another Winter Garden show, Vera Violetta. His reputation was already
putting him at the top of audience pleasure and now crowds showed up to
see him, regardless of the show he starred in. His role in this show was
as a waiter, Claude. In this role, Jolson wore blackface and again sung,
joked and spoke asides to his audience and again, he was a hit. It was also
in 1911 that Jolson made his first recordings for Victor; That Haunting
Melody by George M. Cohan and Rum Tum Tiddle by William Jerome
and Jean Schwartz.
In 1912, Jolson introduced another blackface character, Gus in The Whirl
Of Society. Jolson continued to be the main draw for these productions and
it seemed that the basic production was
no longer as important as Jolson. It is likely that the producer could simply
have made up a name for a show, left it unscripted and simply billed Jolson
as the star and the theater would have probably been full. It was with this
production that Jolson introduced the runway from the stage out into the
audience so that he could amble out into the audience to interact with them.
At this show he introduced a number of songs, one of which, On
The Mississippi, (MIDI) became a huge hit. To accommodate Jolson's
popularity, in 1912 the Schuberts established weekly concerts at the Winter
Garden where Jolson was allowed to perform at liberty. These performances
always were well attended and he always performed without the blackface
characterization. Robert Benchly wrote about these concerts in Life magazine
where he said:
"As Jolson enters the stage it as if an
electric current has been run along the wires under the seats where hats
are stuck. The house comes to a tumultuous attention. He speaks, rolls his
eyes, compresses his lips, and it is all over. You are a member of the Al
Jolson Association. He trembles his lip and your heart breaks with a snap.
He sings a song and you totter out to send a letter to your mother...while
singing would run up and down his runway addressing members of the audience
making them each feel that Jolson was singing to them alone."
By 1913, Jolson was a phenomenon the likes of which had never been seen
in popular music in America. The Schuberts, knowing a good thing retained
him for a seven year contract guaranteeing him $1,000 per week for 35 weeks
a year with a bonus for completing his contract each year. The remainder
of the year Jolson was able to play vaudeville and commanded an astonishing
$2,500 per week!Jolson also starred in the Honeymoon Express in 1913 where
he sang the popular and somewhat quirky novelty song, The
Spaniard That Blighted My Life. (as featured in our December, 2002
issue.) In that same show, Jolson introduced a more lasting song, and one
that would be one of many associated with him forever; You Made Me Love
You.
It was in 1918 that Jolson's famous line developed; "you ain't heard
nothin' yet," a line that would be made famous in his first talking
film, The Jazz Singer, still 14 years in the future. The great operatic
tenor Enrico Caruso was on a benefit show bill with Jolson. After Caruso's
grand performance, Jolson and his ego stepped onto the stage and he uttered
that famous line. What an insult but as we've already seen, Jolson seemed
to care not one iota about how his actions affected others and seemed oblivious
to his fellow performer's and their skills. The kneeling pose, which also
became a signature of Jolson's performance also seems to have developed
without forethought. Often attributed to his desire to get close to his
audience, in fact, it originated not through some performing brilliance
but because of an ingrown toenail. One night, Jolson was suffering great
pain from the toenail and during his performance, he kneeled down to relieve
the pressure on the foot and gesticulated wildly to make it appear as a
part of the show. As with everything Jolson did, it clicked with the audience
and from then on, the kneeling mammy singer pose was used constantly by
Jolson.
According to Donald Clarke in The Rise and Fall of Popular Music (see our bibliography), from
the period of 1912 to 1930, Jolson recorded eighty five songs. Of that total,
23 reached what we would consider number one hit status. Among the great
hits of that era, many are remembered today as Jolson's alone even though
other performers recorded or performed them. California Here I Come,
Swanee, Toot, Toot Tootsie (Goo' Bye) and April Showers
are among the many hits he performed. See our December,
2002 feature on Jolson songs for performances, cover images and other
commentary on these songs and others he made famous. One of his most famous
songs, My Mammy, was originally introduced in vaudeville by none
other than William Frawley ( Lucille Ball's neighbor Fred Mertz, in I
Love Lucy). Jolson liked the song so much, he had it included in his
1918 Broadway hit show, Sinbad. From that moment on, My Mammy
belonged to Jolson and Frawley was relegated to obscurity till he joined
Lucy. Jolson depended heavily on some of the periods greatest songwriters,
especially Bud De Sylva, Sam Lewis, Joe Young and Jean Schwartz. However,
around 1918, Jolson began writing lyrics and trying his hand at writing
melodies. A number of songs he co-wrote also appear in the above mentioned
December, 2002 feature.
Through the teens and into the late twenties, Jolson continued to appear
in stage shows that featured him and his style. He continued to perform
many roles in blackface, long after it was generally popular and most other
performers had dispensed with it. Among the shows he appeared in were Dancing
Around, (1914); Robinson Crusoe Jr., (1916); Sinbad, (1918);
Bombo, (1921); and Big Boy, (1921). In 1927, the motion picture
industry was trying to perfect sound and Jolson was 
approached
to star in a film titled, The Jazz Singer. The film was not the first
film with sound as many believe, nor did it have continuous sound and dialogue,
but because of Jolson's popularity and personality, the movie sparked interest
in sound films and was instrumental in getting public acceptance of "talkies".
Jolson became enamored with films as a way to spread his fame and style
and stayed in Hollywood for many years and appeared in a number of other
films including The Singing Fool, (1928), Say It With Songs,
(1929) and Hallelujah, I'm A Bum, (1933), neither of which are as
remembered as The Jazz Singer. However, The Singing Fool was the
first movie to play at the Winter Garden, the place where Jolson had his
greatest performance success. It 
also
was the first movie to go over $3.00 for admission and to exceed $4 million
dollars in gross receipts. In that film, Jolson sang some of his best songs
including, I'm Sittin' On Top Of The World, It All Depends on
You and Sonny Boy. (sorry, MIDI or Scorch not available for Sonny
Boy due to copyright restrictions. See our publishing
policy for more information.)
Jolson stayed in Hollywood and became a producer in 1944. He was virtually
forgotten till 1946 when the film, The Jolson Story was released.
Starry Larry Parks, the actual singing was done by Jolson. In 1949, Parks
again starred as Jolson in Jolson Sings Again and Jolson enjoyed
a resurgence in sales of his records as a result of these two films. Interestingly,
much of the sales of his records were attributed to young girls' who were
enamored more with the handsome young Parks than Jolson. In 1950, Jolson
went to Korea to entertain troops there and a month later, he died.
Without question, Al Jolson changed the nature of performance style for
the crooner/singer in the early 20th century. His panache, exuberance and
ego conspired to create one of America's most legendary performers. A vain
and self centered man, we cannot deny his talent and his ability to touch
an audience and deliver great performances that were on target. In many
cases, huge egos end up self deflating or prove to be unfounded. In Jolson;s
case, his self proclaimed status as "the world's greatest entertainer"
is probably deserved. Had he not said it himself, it is likely that he would
have been crowned as the king of singers and earned the title without having
claimed it himself.
Now that you've learned a little about Jolson's life, to hear a selection
of some of Jolson's greatest songs, see our special feature
for December, 2002, The Music Of Al Jolson.
ParlorSongs, December, 2002
