Hollywood & the Stars - The Immortal Jolson

[Music] Al J was called the world's greatest entertainer there may never be another performer to claim this title how I love you how I love you my dear a may come your way saing the flowers that bloom in a m when there are gra SK I don't mind the gra I still have you son Al jolon song thrilled a nation and gave a voice to Hollywood and the [Music] Stars [Music] beneath this towering Monument thre the man and a legend Al Jon for nearly half a century he made America sing and laughed and cry but though he played on our emotions with unabashed sentimentality he felt within himself an emptiness that no personal relationship could fill insecure plagued by self-doubt jolon felt important and Alive only when he heard the cheers of an adoring crowd and the love music of Applause but he was the greatest entertainer that the world has ever known SW how I love you how I love you my dear old SW I give a world to be among the folks in Dix I even know my mamies waiting for me praying for me down by the 20 the FK have not won't see me no more when I get to that [Music] 20 though he sang of Mam and Magnolia in a broad southern accent Al jelson never even saw the swny river born in Russia in 1886 his name is Asa yolen Second Son of a Jewish peasant family the yolon immigrate to America when ASA is 8 they will settle in Washington DC where his father has secured a position as Rabbi in an impoverished Orthodox synagogue aser and his older brother hsh will soon rebel against their father's Stern Old Country tradition they begin calling themselves Al and Harry and they further shame their father by avoiding religious services to sing for pennies on the streets at the age of 12 Al runs away from home cutting all family ties and leaving wounds that will never heal he follows his brother to New York here the boys will find a new way of life show business at first Al supports himself by singing for tips and Barry salutes then a bit part in a play called Children of the ghetto gives him his first taste of the stage when Al is 15 he and his brother create their own Ville act called the Hebrew and the cadet they changed their name to jolon and with singer Joe Palmer form a new act which tours the country for two years when the ACT breaks up B sets out on his own as a singing blackface comedian at first he uses this traditional caricature to hide his nervousness but it will soon become his trademark Ville is in its Heyday and for young Jose theaters across the country are classrooms home and playgrounds his friends and tutors are baggy pants Comics acrobats chorus girls and pitchmen for years he works and watches and [Music] learns jolon scores his first real success with L dock status minstral he starts as a featured performer but his Dynamic energy quickly it makes him the star after 10 years on the stage Al jolon knows all the tricks of the trade he is ready for the big TI in 1911 at the age of 26 jolon reaches Broadway as a supporting act in a musical review overnight the unknown singer becomes a sensation why do they all take the night V for all that's what need they all claim it's just for the sight but just the same they travel at night they play the search light on the shore when they float they ought to play the search like r on the boat so tell me why do they all take the night for and grab the but Jon Now Tes the hey wine of public adulation that will drive him for the rest of his life cheers of flaws his name and lights he pushes to the top with drive cockness and exber child around Myer and aw oh the sun Bri the world all right in for two decades on through the Roaring 20s Al jolon will surpass even his Wildest Dream $115,000 a week highest paid star in Theater history he becomes the king of Broadway baby baby she going away hit it the rainbow around my shoulder and a sky blue and I'm shouting so the world will know that [Music] inot do hoty hot cat she's not telling you love it didn't I tell you you'd love it ain't that a song Didn't I tell you'd love it the Immigrant boy from the Russian ghetto sees whole new worlds open before him even presidential candidates seek him out when he campaigns for Warren G Harding Jolson all but steals the show from the future president he takes his shows on the road and when he plays Los Angeles he glories in being greeted by Valentino williames har Douglas Fairbanks the greatest stars of the silent screen jolon feels that even among these Giants he is King away from the reassurance of the crowd jolon is lonely and insecure although he tries to hide it he has very few friends and they find him sometimes extravagantly kind sometimes callously abusive married and divorced twice he boosts his ego by being seen with pretty girls and he Revels in his reputation as a lady killer there is but one overwhelming passion in joseon's life the audience others Play to an audience but Al jolon makes love to him only the agulation of a crowd gives him the warmth the approval the sense of importance he so desperately needs his friend Eddie caner will say this great personality never learned how to live the minute the curtain rang down he died in 1927 at the peak of his career Al Jolson leaves Broadway to take a tremendous gamble he's been asked to Star an emotion picture that will bring sound to the silent screen jolon sees the golden opportunity now he can sing not just for a few hundred in a theater but for Millions all over the world with a jazz singer Al jolon makes history goodbye don't cry me wa from you you don't know how me kiss me and hey hey do it over again for a I never fail you you know I'm in don't cry don't cry good wait a minute wait a minute you ain't heard nothing yet I'm world going going the jack singer opens a new era the public demands more talking and Hollywood Studios frantically convert to sound the king of Broadway becomes the king of Hollywood and now Al jolon stars in a series of screen musicals Unfortunately they all follow the same predictable pattern the mland plots are not helped by jolson's acting which one critic describes as flat wooden and downright embarrassing well anything you say only I want to tell you one thing baby there'll never be anybody in here but you jolon Begins misjudging the tastes of movie audiences ever since he first sang My Mammy on the stage jolon and Mother Love have meant big box office but now his appeal wears thin as he repeats his sentiment metal gimmicks in picture after picture to boost his waning popularity Jolson switches from mothers to Glamour Girls like Delores Del Rio but it just doesn't work in desperation producers surround him with thousands of extras in giant production numbers by only his seventh picture Al jolson's intensely personal appeal is lost submerged in a mob filled musical extravaganza [Music] [Applause] for the first time in 30 years Al jolon spectacular career is heading for [Music] [Applause] trouble the 1930s is a fabulous era for Hollywood but for Al Jolson it will be a decade of frustration his third wife is Dana Ruby Keeler and even though she is 20 years younger than he Ruby would prefer a quiet home life but she is swept up in her husband's compulsive search for excitement jolon soon finds himself in an intolerable situation his ego suffers as he declines in pictures while his wife's career is booming the star of T I don't know or [Music] only his Fame helped get her started in movies but Ruby kila's fresh young Beauty and charm quickly make her a star in her own right if we're in aen [Applause] Pro are am I may millions [Music] of in 1935 the Jon adopt a baby boy and Friends hope this will stabilize their shaky marriage at first jolon Delights in being being a father but this new role cannot sustain him he grows depressed as he continues to slip as king of Show Business this is the only role that makes his life worth living jolson's ego will take further punishment he stars with his wife in the film go into your dance but Hollywood rumors that he was put into picture solely because of Ruby keeler's tremendous box office appeal the jolon look good a team but it is the only film they will ever make together about qu my loveing are going to tend quiet sweet sweet around you around a quarter I know I won't be late CU it have day I'm going to hurry there I'll be waiting where the Lan begin waiting for you and the world is going to [Music] be you're later the Mammy singer makes a special Mark for posterity his knee prints since the man at Hollywood's Chinese Theater for Jolson it is a moment of Glory but it will have an ironically Hollow Reign his wife will soon leave him Hollywood producers will soon forget him and never again will Al Jolson play a starring role in a motion picture except for several minor Parts he cannot find work in Hollywood although he poses for newsreal cameras and pretends to enjoy retirement his idleness is painful and humiliating as the decade ends Al jolon a lonely millionaire tells anyone who will listen how great he was in the good old days then a sudden and dramatic Turning Point the United States goes to war Al Jolson becomes the first performer to entertain American troops overseas a new generation of Americans Thrills to the old songs and old jokes of an exciting Entertainer most of them had never seen before even after attacks of malaria and pneumonia and surgery to remove one lung Jolson cannot resist this newfound audience and against doctor's orders he goes back to entertaining troops in 1945 when he's nearly 60 years old Al jolon alone Lopes his bride 21-year-old Earl galb an x-ray technician he met while singing at an Army hospital despite his popularity with GIS to Hollywood jolon is still a forgotten man producers consider him a relic and they laugh when columnist Sydney skolski tries to sell jolson's life story as a movie one night however jolon is a last minute addition to the list of top ENT containers at a charity band though he must follow Hollywood's brightest stars jolon gives them all a lesson in Showmanship they will never forget he proves that in spite of his age he still has the same old magic his Sensational performance is the talk of Hollywood and Columbia Pictures finally yields to skull's dogged persuasion jolon is amazed and hurt that he will not play himself in the picture reluctantly he agrees to let a young newcomer Larry Parx do the role Parks will Mau the words to jolson's pre-recorded song you made me cry far I didn't want to tell you I didn't want to tell you I want some love that's true you know I do indeed I do yes I do give me give me give me give me what I Cry you know you got the kind of kisses that I Die For You Know You Made Me Love [Music] You How I Love You Love You movie audiences never realize that joseon actually appears in the picture worried that Parks cannot properly imitate his special dance steps jolon convinces producers that only he can do the the number in this one scene jolon not Fox plays J how I love you how I love you my dear old SW the F will see me no more when I get to [Music] [Applause] that the jolon story is the greatest comeback in Theatrical history J is discovered by a new generation and again cherished by the old now every personal appearance is a mod he sells millions of Records his new radio show is the most popular on the year and Columbia Pictures will even make a sequel jolon sings again jolon struck like a Conquering Hero the man nobody wanted is hailed once again as king of children Jon's professional success is matched by personal fulfillment friends say his years with Earl and their two adopted children are the happiest of his life but still he tells a reporter I'm a bigger success than I ever was now I want to sit down and play and I don't know how I'm a hand I have to keep on singing career 1950 once more Al jolon is the first to go overseas to entertain he even pays his own way jolon does 42 shows in 16 days singing and joking for his favorite audience the American [Applause] serviceman showers make come your way they bring the flowers that Gloom in May and and if it raining if it raining have no regrets because look it isn't raining rain you know it's raining Viet and for you the 64-year-old trooper suffers a severe bronchial infection and doctors warn him to stop but Jose refuses to recognize that he is no longer the dynamic young Minstrel who electrified Broadway nearly 40 years before he refuses to quit and completes his tour a sick exhausted Old [Music] Man 3 weeks later Al Jolson is dead [Music] momy momy i' walk a million miles for one of your smiles on my man M Al Jolson was the greatest Minstrel of the mo his style and personality left an indelible mark on Show Business today's greatest Stars proudly claim there is a little bit of J in all of it even after 30 or 40 years audiences who saw him perform still remember the magic that was Al Json momy I'm coming I hope I didn't make you wait Mary I'm coming oh God I hope I'm not late Mary don't you know me it's a little baby I walk a million miles for one smes my [Music] me l

Channel: Rod Willerton

Views: 247,298

Keywords: Hollywood (Neighborhood), Al Jolson (Musical Artist), Ruby Keeler (Film Actor), The Jazz Singer (Film), Vitaphone (Business Operation), Warner Bros. Entertainment (Production Company)

Id: b5moCc_YCEU

Length: 23min 47sec (1427 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 26 2014