Background

Al Jolson was born Asa Yoelson on May 26, 1886, in the Russian village of Srednike, later part of Lithuania. He was the second son and youngest of four children of Moses Reuben Yoelson, a rabbi, and Naomi (Cantor) Yoelson. Like many Russian Jews, the family was forced to immigrate in 1890 to America by the pogroms of the period. They settled in 1894 in Washington, D. C. , where Moses Yoelson had secured a position as cantor in a synagogue.

His mother died when he was about ten years old, and he was in constant conflict with the strict, traditional views of his father. His exceptional voice and musical sense were evidenced early when he sang ballads on the street corners to earn spending money.

Education

Al seems to have received some schooling up to the age of fifteen, but he learned much more from his life in the streets.

Career

Much influenced by his older brother, Harry, who was the first to change the family name to Jolson, young Al once ran away to New York, hoping to join his brother in show business. He first appeared on the stage in 1899 as an extra in a Jewish epic, Children of the Ghetto. By the age of thirteen he had sung in a Baltimore beer parlor and toured as a boy singer for a burlesque company.

At fifteen he began touring the vaudeville circuits, first with his brother and then in a three-man comedy group, Jolson, Palmer, and Jolson. Subsequently he toured with Joe Palmer alone and received valuable coaching from the veteran performer. In 1906, his apprenticeship behind him, Jolson opened in San Francisco as a "single. "

Following a tour with Dockstader's Minstrels in the conventional role of end man, he struck out on his own again, this time in New York, making his debut at Hammerstein's Victoria.

In 1911 the Shuberts included Jolson in a review, La Belle Paree, but soon found a better vehicle for him called Vera Violetta. In 1912 they built a runway into the orchestra of the Winter Garden and featured the blackface star in another revue, The Whirl of Society. Simultaneously Jolson inaugurated the Sunday Night Concerts at the Winter Garden, which gave working performers an opportunity to witness the acts of their colleagues. In The Whirl of Society Jolson's blackface character acquired the name of Gus, which would follow him in future shows.

In Honeymoon Express (1913) Jolson may have first used the fall to one knee, arms extended in pathetic appeal, which was to become his hallmark. Other productions followed: Dancing Around (1914); three Sigmund Romberg extravaganzas, Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (1916), Sinbad (1918), and Bombo (1921), and Big Boy (1925). While playing Sinbad, Jolson picked up an unsuccessful tune by George Gershwin, gave it a stepped-up tempo, and introduced "Swanee" as part of his act.

In Bombo he sang for the first time his highly personalized version of "My Mammy" (in which some observers discern the emotional scars left on him as a boy by the loss of his mother), as well as three other tunes with which he was to be permanently identified; "Toot, Toot, Tootsie, " "California, Here I Come, " and "April Showers. " As a rule, the musical shows in which he appeared, never very secure in their plot lines, would leave the last thirty minutes entirely to Jolson, who would, by the magic of his personality and showmanship, effect the climax of the performance.

In the late 1920's, however, his appeal began to fade with the changing times. His last two stage shows were Wonderbar (1931) and Hold on to Your Hats (1940). However, far from being victimized by new trends in entertainment, Jolson energetically adapted to them.

Already a best seller of phonograph records, he starred in the first of the "talking" motion pictures, a sentimentalized version of his life story, The Jazz Singer (1927), and made a number of other films for the Warner Brothers studios.

His involvement with radio began in 1932 and reached its peak four years later when he teamed with two comics, Parkyakarkas and Martha Raye, in a series of programs for the Columbia Broadcasting System.

His film popularity slipped during the 1930's, but the release of a film biography, The Jolson Story (1946), evoked new interest in him, and the sales of his phonograph records soared into the millions.

Jolson died of a heart attack in a San Francisco hotel, having just returned from a USO tour to Korea. He was given a Jewish funeral, which included a eulogy by his close friend George Jessel, in Los Angeles, and was buried there at Hillside Memorial Park.

Achievements

• Jolson's big succes came in 1927, when Warner Brothers presented the world's first talking-picture feature, The Jazz Singer, where Jolson starred and played a major part. The picture revolutionized the motion-picture industry and marked the end of the silent-film era. He also became known for songs like "Sonny Boy, " composer George Gershwin's (1898–1937) "Swanee, " and especially "My Mammy. "
  
  Always active in giving benefit performances (he sold Liberty Bonds during World War I), he was one of the foremost entertainers on USO circuits during World War II and the Korean conflict and was to receive posthumously the Congressional Order of Merit.
  
  After Jolson's death most of his estate, estimated at $4 million, was left to twenty institutions, including Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant charities; the Red Cross; the Actors Fund of America; and - for the benefit of needy students - to Columbia University, New York University, and the City College of New York.
  
  Jolson has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame contributions to radio, motion pictures, and the recording industry. In 2000, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Al Jolson #2 CD099B

    (Al Jolson anthology part 2 recorded 1924 - 1932 1-WHO WAN...)

  • Best of Al Jolson

    (22 sentimental journeys from the World's Greatest Enterta...)

  • Rose Of Washington Square

    (Set in the colorful Prohibition era, this "genuinely capt...)

  • Performance 1932 - 1949

    (Jolie was always more of a performer than a recording art...)

  • The Jolson Story

    (A pure delight, THE JOLSON STORY is classic Hollywood bio...)

  • Jolson Sings Again

    (One of the greatest musicals ever made, THE JOLSON STORY ...)

  • Golden Years of Al Jolson

    (60 track retrospective of the ''great entertainer of the ...)

  • Let Me Sing And I'm Happy: Al Jolson At Warner Bros. 1926-1936 - Motion Picture Soundtrack Anthology

    (Let Me Sing And I'm Happy: Al Jolson At Warner Brothers (...)

  • The Very Best Of Al Jolson - 30 All time Classics

    (Brand New)

  • Al Jolson Fifty Favourites
  • Al Jolson, Vol. 1 1911-14
  • 20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection: Best Of Al Jolson
  • Jolson's Greatest Hits
  • Early Al Jolson, Vol. 1 (Recorded 1913-1924) Rare Ragtime & Jazz Vocals

  • book

  • The Jazz Singer (1927)
  • The Jazz Singer (Three-Disc Deluxe Edition)
  • Rock-A-Bye Your Baby...

Views

Always preferring improvisation to a script, he introduced new songs, sang familiar ones on request, sometimes whistled or did a buck-and-wing, and conducted a lively line of patter. His monologues might be anecdotal, homiletic, or confessional, as the spirit moved him.

Personality

Jolson's sentimental interpretations of popular songs, combined with his impudent charm, immediately appealed to the public. Already in blackface, the burnt cork softening his strong facial features, he seemed to capture for his urban audiences the plight of the little man in American society, small of stature and innocently vulnerable but bursting with manic energy and hope for a better life.

Jolson's personal life seems to have been characterized by the same restless volatility as his stage performances. An inveterate gambler, he wagered heavily at the racetracks and eventually owned his own stable of thoroughbreds.

Quotes from others about the person

• Larry Parks wrote, in a personal tribute to Jolson: "Stepping into his shoes was, for me, a matter of endless study, observation, energetic concentration to obtain, perfectly if possible, a simulation of the kind of man he was. It is not surprising, therefore, that while making The Jolson Story, I spent 107 days before the cameras and lost eighteen pounds in weight. "
  
  From a review in Variety:
  
  "But the real star of the production is that Jolson voice and that Jolson medley. It was good showmanship to cast this film with lesser people, particularly Larry Parks as the mammy kid. .. . As for Jolson's voice, it has never been better. Thus the magic of science has produced a composite whole to eclipse the original at his most youthful best. "
  
  From an article in The New York Times:
  
  "He [Jolson] has been to more Army camps and played to more soldiers than any other entertainer. He has crossed the Atlantic by plane to take song and cheer to the troops in Britain and Northern Ireland. He has flown to the cold wastes of Alaska and the steaming forests of Trinidad. He has called at Dutch‑like Curaçao. Nearly every camp in this country has heard him sing and tell funny stories. "
  
  Some of the unusual hardships of performing to active troops were described in an article he wrote for Variety, in 1942: "In order to entertain all the boys. .. it became necessary for us to give shows in foxholes, gun emplacements, dugouts, to construction groups on military roads; in fact, any place where two or more soldiers were gathered together, it automatically became a Winter Garden for me and I would give a show. "
  
  Newspaper columnist and radio reporter Walter Winchell said:
  
  "He was the first to entertain troops in World War Two, contracted malaria and lost a lung. Then in his upper sixties he was again the first to offer his singing gifts for bringing solace to the wounded and weary in Korea.
  
  Today we know the exertion of his journey to Korea took a greater toll of his strength than perhaps even he realized. But he considered it his duty as an American to be there, and that was all that mattered to him. Jolson died in a San Francisco hotel. Yet he was as much a battle casualty as any American soldier who has fallen on the rocky slopes of Korea. .. A star for more than 40 years, he earned his most glorious star rating at the end—a gold star. "
  
  Friend George Jessel said during part of his eulogy:
  
  "The history of the world does not say enough about how important the song and the singer have been. But history must record the name Jolson, who in the twilight of his life sang his heart out in a foreign land, to the wounded and to the valiant. I am proud to have basked in the sunlight of his greatness, to have been part of his time. "

Interests

• He enjoyed sports, notably golf and swimming, and was the owner of a ranch in Encino, California, on which he raised oranges and walnuts.

Connections

Al Jolson married four times, the last three in the glare of publicity. His first marriage, in 1906, to Henrietta Keller, a chorus girl whom he had met in San Francisco, ended in divorce in 1919.

He married Alma Osborne, well known by her stage name of Ethel Delmar, on August 18, 1922, and was divorced by her in 1926. His marriage on September 21, 1928, to Ruby Keeler, a star of the Ziegfield Follies and later of film musicals, created a sensation and continued to make news until they parted in 1939. His final marriage was to Erle Chenault Galbraith of Little Rock, Arkansas, on March 24, 1945. He and his fourth wife adopted a son, Asa, and, less formally, a daughter, Alicia.

Father:

Moses Rubin Yoelson

1858–1945

Mother:

Nechama Cantor Yoelson

1858–1895

Sister:

Etta Yoelson Cantor

1880–1948

Sister:

Rose Leah Yoelson Flax

1879–1939

Wife:

Henrietta Keller

Wife:

Alma Osborne

Wife:

Ruby Keeler

1909–1993

Wife:

Erle Chenault Galbraith

1922–2004

Brother:

Harry Jolson

1882–1953

Partner:

Joe Palmer

Friend:

George Jessel

He was given a Jewish funeral, which included a eulogy by his close friend George Jessel, in Los Angeles.

References

• The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and Tv's Golden Age by Jordan R. Young (1999-02-03)
• Mistah Jolson;: As told to Alban Emley
• The Immortal Jolson: His Life And Times
• Jolson: The Story of Al Jolson