The Jolson Story (1946)

Director:

Alfred E. Green

Writers:

Harry Chandlee (adaptation)
Stephen Longstreet (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 October 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music

Plot:

This movie shows the idealized career of the singer Al Jolson, a little Jewish boy who goes against the will of his father in order to be in showbiz...

Plot Keywords:

Face Paint | Painted Face | Blackface | Florenz Ziegfeld | Blockbuster

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Larry Parks	...	Al Jolson
Evelyn Keyes	...	Julie Benson
William Demarest	...	Steve Martin
Bill Goodwin	...	Tom Baron
Ludwig Donath	...	Cantor Yoelson
Scotty Beckett	...	Asa Yoelson / Al Jolson, as a boy
Tamara Shayne	...	Mrs. Yoelson
Jo-Carroll Dennison	...	Ann Murray
John Alexander	...	Lew Dockstader
Ernest Cossart	...	Father McGee
The Robert Mitchell Boy Choir	...	Church choir (as Mitchell 'Boychoir')

Runtime:

128 min | USA:124 min (re-release) | West Germany:104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #11154, General Audience) | West Germany:12

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

James Cagney turned down the lead role in The Jolson Story (1946), which went to Larry Parks.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Jazz Singer (1927) had its world premiere at the Warner Theatre in New York, not the Winter Garden as depicted in the film (as "The Jolson Story" was a Columbia picture, the change is understandable).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#22.20)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

I Want a Girl (Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad)

A film from a different world

Simultaneously one of the finest and MOST NEGLECTED musicals of Hollywood's "Golden Era." One can only attribute this to the current atmosphere of political correctness that so erodes truth and learning in our society. No one (or very few, at least) are willing or able to understand what blackface really meant and how it was used and who used it. It is a sad situation and has lead to almost complete amnesia that pervades our time regarding Al Jolson and this fabulous film biography.

Great songs sung by a master showman. No special effects beyond the dubbing of Jolson's voice by Larry Parks. No explosions, rapes, bloodletting. No morphing, shape-shifting aliens. No loud, tuneless music. No rap "songs" extoling attitude and misogyny. Imagine a world like this one and you have "The Jolson Story." If you are under 45 you probably don't know what this means.