A Mother's Day salute to Al Jolson

Al Jolson

Probably the most influential entertainer of the first half of the twentieth century was Al Jolson. In the second half his aura still resonated, both Bob Dylan and David Bowie cited him as an inspiration. Although the phrase didn't exist until decades later, Jolson was undoubtedly the world's first multi-media superstar.

He was born Asa Yoelson in 1886 in Lithuania. His father was a rabbi and cantor who emigrated to America when Jolson was five. Three years later Al and the rest of his family reunited with their father in Washington DC, which was then, as it is now, a cultural backwater.

Jolson in the 1910s was a top Broadway and vaudeville draw, he expanded his reach in the next two decades into records, radio, and movies. Of course today he's largely known for his role in the first commercially successful talking movie, The Jazz Singer. In the film, Jolson plays Jakie Rabinowitz, the son of an immigrant New York cantor who, while a teen, is punished by his father for singing in a bar. He runs away. After about a decade--not forty years--in the vaudeville desert, the renamed Jack Robin gets his big break from a shiksa dancer.

Robin's success brings him back to New York. In this scene from The Jazz Singer, Jack returns home and sings Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" to his mother. Oh, if Jolson seems overly affectionate in this scene, remember, he hasn't seen his mother in ten years. The song ends abruptly when Jack's father enters the room--the old world confronts the new. Jolson shows here why he was the greatest entertainer of his time. The charisma just pours out of him.

Unlike most Jewish show biz stars, Jolson was a conservative Republican. He only strayed to vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. He was a fervent patriot, Jolson was the first entertainer to perform for troops at a GI base. He sang for soldiers in Alaska, Europe, the Caribbean, and the South Seas. He contracted malaria on one of those tours and lost a lung. He also entertained the troops in Korea, paying his own travel expenses. Dust in Korea settled in his remaining lung, which greatly weakened the 64 year-old.

Jolson died in San Francisco in 1950 of a heart attack.

Yes, Jolson performed in blackface throughout his career, which was an accepted form of entertainment for nearly 100 years. But Mickey Rooney, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland and countless others did as well.  Many of Stephen Foster's songs, such as "Camptown Races" and "Oh, Susanna," were performed in blackface by Christy's Minstrels. In the biopic of Foster's life, Jolson portrayed Edwin Christy. Jolson's final song in The Jazz Singer was "My Mammy," sung in blackface. The first artist to perform that song was William Frawley, who later gained fame as Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy, who sang it wearing, well you know...

No, I'm not campaigning for the return of blackface minstrel shows. That era is over and it should remain so.

Al Jolson: A great entertainer and a great American.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms reading this post.

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