This article is about the entertainer. For the Roman Catholic bishop, see Alfred Jolson.
Lithuanian-American entertainer (1886–1950)
Al Jolson
Jolson in 1929
Born
Asa Yoelson
May 26, 1886
Sredniki, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire
Died
October 23, 1950(1950-10-23) (aged 64)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Resting place
Hillside Memorial Garden
Other names
Jolie
Occupations
Singer
comedian
actor
vaudevillian
Years active
1897–1950
Political party
Republican
Spouses
Henrietta Keller
(m. 1907; div. 1919)
Alma Osbourne
(m. 1922; div. 1928)
Ruby Keeler
(m. 1928; div. 1940)
Erle Galbraith
(m. 1945)
Children
3 (all adopted)
Musical career
Genres
Jazz[1]
blues[1]
ragtime[1]
pop
Labels
Victor
Columbia
Little Wonder
Brunswick
Decca
Website
jolson.org
Musical artist
Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson, Yiddish: אַסאַ יואלסאָן; May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-born American singer, actor, and vaudevillian.
He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s,[2] and was self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer".[3] Jolson was known for his "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach"[4] towards performing, as well as for popularizing many of the songs he sang.[5] Jolson has been referred to by modern critics as "the king of blackface performers".[6][7]
Although best remembered today as the star of the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer (1927), he starred in a series of successful musical films during the 1930s. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II. After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with The Jolson Story (1946), in which Larry Parks played the younger Jolson, but with sung vocals dubbed by Jolson himself. The formula was repeated in a sequel, Jolson Sings Again (1949). In 1950, he again became the first star to entertain GIs on active service in the Korean War, performing 42 shows in 16 days. He died weeks after returning to the U.S., partly owing to the physical exhaustion from the performance schedule. Defense Secretary George Marshall posthumously awarded him the Medal for Merit.[8]
According to music historian Larry Stempel, "No one had heard anything quite like it before on Broadway." Stephen Banfield wrote that Jolson's style was "arguably the single most important factor in defining the modern musical."[9]
With his dynamic style of singing jazz and blues, he became widely successful by extracting traditionally African-American music and popularizing it for white American audiences who would be unwilling to listen to it when performed by black artists.[10] Despite his promotion and perpetuation of black stereotypes,[11] his work was often well-regarded by black publications and has been credited for fighting against black discrimination on Broadway[6] as early as 1911. In an essay written in 2000, music critic Ted Gioia remarked, "If blackface has its shameful poster boy, it is Al Jolson", showcasing Jolson's complex legacy in American society.[12]
^ abcCite error: The named reference PBS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Bainbridge, Beryl (2005). Front row: Evenings at the Theatre. London: Continuum. p. 109. ISBN 9780826482785.
^"Radio - Variety shows". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
^Ruhlmann, William. "Al Jolson". AllMusic. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
^ abMoss, Robert F. (October 20, 2000). "Was Al Jolson 'Bamboozled'?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
^Rogin, Michael (Spring 1992). "Blackface, White Noise: The Jewish Jazz Singer Finds His Voice". Critical Inquiry. 18 (3). University of Chicago Press: 417–453. doi:10.1086/448640. JSTOR 1343811. S2CID 162165251.
^Al Jolson Remembered Archived July 14, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Paramount News, December 6, 1950
^Stempel, Larry (2010). Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theater. Norton. p. 152. ISBN 9780393929065.
^"The History of Minstrelsy : Al Jolson · USF Library Special & Digital Collections Exhibits". Archived from the original on April 8, 2018. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
^Wesley, Charles H. (March 1960). "Background and achievement for Negro-Americans". The Crisis. 67 (3): 137. These concepts 'fixed a stage tradition of the Negro as irresponsible, loud-laughing, shuffling banjo playing, singing, dancing sort of a being.' These impressions were continued through the antics of such actors as Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, and the black face concepts of Amos and Andy.
^Cite error: The named reference ferris1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
AlJolson (born Asa Yoelson, Yiddish: אַסאַ יואלסאָן; May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-born American singer, actor, and vaudevillian...
The Jolson Story is a 1946 American biographical musical film, a fictionalized account of the life of singer AlJolson. It stars Larry Parks as Jolson, Evelyn...
the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, featuring six songs performed by AlJolson. Based on the 1925 play of the same title by Samson Raphaelson, the plot...
Hollywood studios. His best known role was AlJolson, whom he portrayed in two films: The Jolson Story (1946) and Jolson Sings Again (1949). Parks was born in...
Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley. It stars AlJolson, Kay Francis, Dolores del Río, Ricardo Cortez, Dick Powell, Guy Kibbee...
AlJolson. It was the highest-grossing film of 1949 and received three Oscar nominations at the 22nd Academy Awards. In this follow-up to The Jolson Story...
Street (1933). From 1928 to 1940, she was married to actor and singer AlJolson. She retired from show business in the 1940s, but made a widely publicized...
primary medium for issuing recordings. His last album for RCA Victor was an AlJolson tribute, You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet, released in 1968. In 1983 he attempted...
Moran, also known as Two Black Crows. Mammy (1930), another AlJolson film, this relives Jolson's early years as a minstrel man. With songs by Irving Berlin...
Foster Swanee River prominently features a performance of the tune by AlJolson. A favourite in twentieth century cartoons, the Looney Tunes and Merrie...
Rory Calhoun, Mickey Rooney, Linda Coleman, AlJolson, Pérez Prado, Evita Muñoz and many others. Jolson was the first to volunteer, but due to lack of...
all-time greatest songwriters of Tin Pan Alley. Based on the life of singer AlJolson, one of America's most popular entertainers, it spans thirty years of...
the entertainment industry are buried here. The cemetery is known for AlJolson's elaborate tomb (designed by Los Angeles architect Paul Williams), a 75-foot-high...
early Vitaphone sound-on-disc short film starring AlJolson, the first film that Jolson starred in. Jolson in blackface sings three of his hit songs: "April...
day, including AlJolson, who held Crosby spellbound with ad-libbing and parodies of Hawaiian songs. Crosby later described Jolson's delivery as "electric"...
good notices, before landing the lead in the 1929 play Penny Arcade. AlJolson saw him in the play and bought the movie rights, before selling them to...
Honey To Your Own Plantation Home" (1917, lyricist Yellen, recorded by AlJolson), "So This is Dixie" (1917, lyricist Yellen), "Southern Gals" (1917, lyricist...
Groceries, voiced by Tedd Pierce). Billing himself as "Owl Jolson" (a reference to AlJolson), he performs and his family, worried sick about him (including...
cared for or served people in a white family Mammy (1930 film), starring AlJolson Mammy (1951 film), a French drama film Mammy (Gone with the Wind), a character...
became famous as the Greek chef Nick Parkyakarkus on the Eddie Cantor and AlJolson radio programs, and later on a program of his own. He appeared in eleven...
pogroms. Other such families included those of George and Ira Gershwin, AlJolson, Sophie Tucker, L. Wolfe Gilbert, Jack Yellen, Louis B. Mayer (of MGM)...
Powell performed in blackface while singing AlJolson's "Sonny Boy" in Hard to Get (1938) George Jessel AlJolson Louis Jordan Buster Keaton, in vaudeville...
Donaldson and lyrics by Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis. Though associated with AlJolson, who performed the song very successfully, "My Mammy" was performed first...
centered on songs by AlJolson and revival of vaudevillian "tradition". Garland performed complete shows as tributes to Jolson in her concerts at the...
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