Warner Bros.' and director Alan Crosland's The Jazz Singer (1927) is an historic milestone film and cinematic landmark. [Most people associate this film with the advent of sound pictures, although Don Juan (1926), a John Barrymore silent film, also had a synchronized score and sound effects.
] The wildly successful "photo-dramatic production" was based upon Samson Raphaelson's 1921 short story "The Day of Atonement" (also the basis for Raphaelson's popular 1926 Broadway play of the same name), and adapted for the screen by Alfred A. Cohn. In 1926, Warners' risky investment of a half million dollars with Western Electric in the Vitaphone sound system brought profits of $3.
5 million at the box-office with this landmark talkie. It was a huge success, responsible for transforming Warners into Hollywood's hottest film factory.
Although it was not the first Vitaphone (sound-on-disk) feature, it was the first feature-length Hollywood "talkie" film in which spoken dialogue was used as part of the dramatic action.
It is, however, only part-talkie (25%) with sound-synchronized, vocal musical numbers and accompaniment. [The first "all-talking" (or all-dialogue) feature picture was Warners' experimental entry - the gangster film Lights of New York (1928).] Sam Warner, co-founder of the studio, died at the premature age of 40 - one day before the film's New York City world premiere on October 6, 1927.
Audiences were wildly enthusiastic when America's favorite jazz singer and superstar Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson in 1886, not the first choice for the role, and played onstage by George Jessel) broke into song, ad-libbed extemporaneously with his mother at the piano, and proclaimed the famous line to introduce a musical number: Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't heard nothin' yet! Jolson was actually promoting the title of one of his songs, You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet (written by Gus Kahn and Buddy de Sylva), that he had recorded in 1919.
] The commercialization of sound-on-film, and the transformation of the industry from silent films to talkies became a reality with the success of this film. In fact, Jolson's next part-talkie follow-up film, Warners' and director Lloyd Bacon's The Singing Fool (1928), was an even greater hit and a superior film. Although the film was ruled ineligible in the Best Picture category (it was thought unfair for a sound film to compete with silents), Warner Bros.
' production head Darryl F. Zanuck was presented with a special Oscar at the very first Academy Awards ceremony in May of 1929, "for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry." The film had two nominations in two other categories: Best Writing Adaptation (Alfred Cohn), and Best Engineering Effects (Nugent Slaughter), but didn't win.
The film was remade twice: Warners' and director Michael Curtiz' The Jazz Singer (1952) with Danny Thomas (as Jerry Golding) and Peggy Lee (as Judy Lane), and director Richard Fleischer's The Jazz Singer (1980) with singer-songwriter Neil Diamond in the lead role as the cantor's son with legendary co-star Laurence Olivier as his father. There are only a few scenes, besides the songs, where dialogue is spoken synchronously. A musical score (composed of a potpourri of melodies including sources such as Tchaikowsky, traditional Hebrew music and popular ballads) and musical sound effects accompany the action and title/subtitle cards throughout the entire film.
The characters are given individual musical themes. "In every living soul, a spirit cries for expression - - perhaps this plaintive, wailing song of Jazz is, after all, the misunderstood utterance of a prayer." The opening scene is described by another title card: The New York Ghetto, throbbing to that rhythm of music which is older than civilization.
Immigrant life in the lower East Side of the New York Ghetto is seen on location around Hester and Orchard Streets. Bearded Jewish Cantor Rabinowitz (Warner Oland) wishes his son to continue in the five-generation family tradition and become a cantor (a leader of chants and songs during Jewish religious services) at the Orchard Street synagogue: "Cantor Rabinowitz, chanter of hymns in the synagogue, stubbornly held to the ancient traditions of his race." But he cannot locate his young son: "Tonight Jakie is to sing Kol Nidre.
He should be here!" His mother, Sara Rabinowitz (Eugenie Besserer): "God made her a Woman and Love made her a Mother," is more sympathetic: "Maybe our boy doesn't want to be a Cantor, Papa - " Cantor Rabinowitz can't believe that his boy would turn his back on family traditions: "What has he to say? For five generations a Rabinowitz has been a Cantor - - he must be one!
" Young Jakie Rabinowitz (Bobby Gordon as a 13 year old boy) has forsaken the ways of his fathers to try out show business. This results in conflict between devotion to his family and his deep love for worldly jazz music. Inside Muller's bar-cafe, young Jakie prefers singing popular songs of the day, and is introduced by the piano player: "Ragtime Jakie is with us - give him a break.
" In the first actual synchronized sound heard in the film (not by Al Jolson!, but by young Bobby Gordon), Jakie entertains the cafe audience by singing 'My Gal Sal.' From the beer-garden area of Muller's, "Moisha Yudleson (Otto Lederer), rigidly orthodox and a power in the affairs of the Ghetto" spots the young Jewish boy singing, and runs to tell Jakie's father.
In the Rabinowitz home, Sara is told by her husband: "I have taught him all the hymns and prayers - - he knows them as well as I do." Sara understands where the boy's heart lies: "Yes Papa - he knows all the songs - he has them in his head - - but not in his heart." Jakie's father points to his watch: "He will start the fasting of Yom Kippur without supper.
" Yudleson brings the news: "In a saloon, who do you think I saw singing raggy time songs? - your son Jakie!" His father is furious to find his son in the beer-garden performing 'Waiting for the Robert E.
Lee,' rather than in the synagogue. He snatches the squirming boy from the stage to drag him home by the scruff of the neck. Jakie hugs and embraces his mother for protection from his threatening father: "I'll teach him better than to debase the voice God gave him!
" Sarah tries to reason: "But Papa - our boy, he does not think like we do." Papa wishes to teach the boy a lesson: "First he will get a whipping!" Jakie's stern father prepares for the whipping by removing his belt, despite protestations from Sara.
Jakie threatens: "If you whip me again, I'll run away - - and never come back!" Outside the door, Sara reacts horribly to the sounds of her beloved boy being brutally whipped in the bedroom. With one last embrace and kiss from his mother, Jakie carries through on his threat, rebelling against his father's wishes and running away from home.
Even though he has lost his son, Cantor Rabinowitz prepares for the evening's service: "It is time to prepare for the services, Mama." Mama is distraught: "Our boy has gone, and he is never coming back." At the synagogue on Yom Kippur, Rabinowitz tells another Jewish cantor: "My son was to stand at my side and sing tonight - but now I have no son.
" The Kol Nidre is sung in the synagogue, during which time Jakie sneaks back into his home and retrieves a picture of his loving mother. The scene shifts to "Years later - - and three thousand miles from home" to a popular San Francisco nightspot and showcase for amateur performers called Coffee Dan's. Approximately ten years later, Jakie has changed his name to Jack Robin (Al Jolson), an anglicized name that represents a rejection of his Jewish faith: Jakie Rabinowitz had become Jack Robin - - the Cantor's son, a jazz singer.
But fame was still an uncaptured bubble - - ...
Al Jolson. Jack is invited to perform in the nightclub and is introduced to the crowd: "Jack Robin will sing 'Dirty Hands, Dirty Face.' They say he's good - we shall see.
" Jack tells his table companion: "Wish me luck, Pal - I'll certainly need it." He sings a full-throated rendition of 'Dirty Hands, Dirty Face' (Jolson's first musical performance in the film) about the joys of having a young son. His song is received enthusiastically by the audience.
He raises his hand and stops them (in Jolson's first words on screen), speaking some of the most famous lines of dialogue in film history: Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You ain't heard nothin' yet.
Wait a minute, I tell ya, you ain't heard nothin'! Do you wanna hear 'Toot, Toot, Tootsie!'?
All right, hold on, hold on. (To the band leader) Lou, Listen. Play 'Toot, Toot, Tootsie!
' Three choruses, you understand. In the third chorus I whistle. Now give it to 'em hard and heavy.
Go right ahead! Jack entertains the cabaret crowd with a rousing rendition of 'Toot, Toot, Tootsie,' including a wide variety of creative whistle sounds. Immediately after his performance, Jack is introduced to beautiful dancer Mary Dale (May McAvoy) who has admired his performance from her table in the audience.
He tells her: "I caught your act in Salt Lake, Miss Dale - - I think you're wonderful." She has noticed the feeling he injects into his jazz singing: "There are lots of jazz singers, but you have a tear in your voice." "I'm glad you think so - ," he replies.
She suggests helping him with his career: "Perhaps I can help you." The next title card suggests the passage of time: "For those whose faces are turned toward the past, the years roll by unheeded - - their lives unchanged." The film cuts to the Rabinowitz home, where Cantor Rabinowitz instructs a young, would-be cantor to sing.
To keep in touch with his family, Jack secretly corresponds to his mother: "Dear Mama: I'm getting along great, making $250.00 a week. A wonderful girl, Mary Dale, got me my big chance.
Write me c/o State Theater in Chicago. Last time you forgot and addressed me Jakie Rabinowitz. Jack Robin is my name now.
Your loving son, Jakie" His mother wonders if he has further rejected his Jewish heritage by falling in love with a Gentile: "Maybe he's fallen in love with a shiksa." When Sara shows her husband the letter, he angrily rebukes her: "I told you never to open his letters - we have no son!" Sara weeps silently to herself.
Meanwhile, Mary has introduced him to an impresario and is responsible for getting him a break that puts him on the vaudeville circuit: "Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake, Denver, a split week in Omaha - - Chicago and Mary's promise realized." He tours with Mary's theatre company, and is thrilled by the experience: "This has been the happiest week in my life. I wish we could always be together - on the same bill.
" One of the other dancers notices how Jack has fallen in love with Mary: "He's sure goofy about her!" Another dancer responds: "He hasn't a chance with Mary." Sadly they must part for she has accepted a role on Broadway.
Mary shows Jack her telegrammed invitation: "Would you consider leading role new musical production for New York Run rehearsals. By one week answer." Jack encourages her: "What a wonderful chance for you!
" but expresses regrets: "I - we all will be sorry to see you go." "I'll miss you, too," Mary replies. Jack thanks her for all her assistance: "I know you will succeed - and if ever I amount to anything, I'll owe it all to you.
" She wants to keep in touch: "- and will you write - when I get to New York?" In Chicago while on tour, Jack's memories of his Cantor father are stirred by a special matinee concert of sacred songs he attends, sung by Cantor Rosenblatt. While enroute through a train station, Jack writes Mary a letter on hotel room stationary: "Mary dear: Just a line to remind you I am thinking of you.
Last night I went over big and nearly stopped the show." One of the other performers realizes the fierce competition Jack is giving her: "If they give that jazz singer my place on the bill again - I'll leave the show flat!" The producer is pleased with Jack's work: "Let her rave!
Jack deserves the best spot on the bill in any theatre!" When a train arrives, Jack is told: "You're not leaving on this train! Your booking has been cancelled!
" Jack is stunned by the news: "You - you can't mean me - I've been going over big!" Jack is told: "That's the word from New York - " Jack learns that he too has a chance to appear in a Broadway revue bringing him back to New York, his boyhood home. Jack is filled with disbelief: "Don't fool me - I feel bad enough.
" When he is given a ticket to New York, Jack is thrilled. Four successive titles, each with larger type read: "NEW YORK! - BROADWAY!
- HOME! - MOTHER!" The female performer who previously criticized him, now reassured that her place is safe with his departure to a new show, warmly praises him: "I always knew you'd make a hit!
" It is Cantor Rabinowitz's sixtieth birthday. Relatives and friends bring presents which include chicken, a large jug of wine, and three identical gifts - prayer shawls, "just what he needs," says Sara. It is also the day of Jack's homecoming.
Yudleson recognizes him on the ghetto street and asks: "Ain't you Jakie - Jakie Rabinowitz?" Jack is greeted warmly by his mother in his home after his long absence. He tells her: "Mother - you haven't changed a bit in all these years.
" She is relieved to see him: "That I should live to see my baby again!" He impresses her with the news of his big break: "- I hurried to see you and Papa - and then I'm going to see about my new job." He also surprises her with his new-found wealth by presenting her with a diamond-embedded necklace: "Diamonds!
With stones in it! You didn't do any wrong, did you, Jakie?" she asks.
In a build-up to his singing, he tells his Mama: "Mama - - you ain't heard nothing yet!" He is excited to tell her that his "chance has come at last, Mama. I'm going to sing in a big show!
" On his father's piano, he sings and plays Irving Berlin's 'Blue Skies' for her, one of the songs he will try out in the Broadway show. He turns backward from the piano to sing and talk to his mother affectionately (at the start of the second talking interlude) during the singing of the song. In the emotionally sentimental and cliched scene, with ad-libbed dialogue that appears improvised, unrehearsed and natural, he rambles on and on at length, telling his mother how is successful show is going to affect her: Jack: Did you like that, Mama?
Jack: I'm glad of it. I'd rather please you than anybody I know of. Oh, darlin' - will you give me something?
Jack: You'll never guess. Shut your eyes, Mama. Shut 'em for little Jakie.
I'm gonna steal something (he kisses her and then laughs). I'll give it back to you someday too - you see if I don't. Mama darlin' - if I'm a success in this show, well, we're gonna move from here.
Oh yes, we're gonna move up in the Bronx. A lot of nice green grass up there, and a whole lot of people you know. There's the Ginsbergs, the Guttenbergs, and the Goldbergs.
And, oh, a whole lot of Bergs. I dunno know 'em all. And I'm gonna buy you a nice black silk dress, Mama.
You'll see, Mrs. Freedman, the butcher's wife, she'll be jealous of you. Yes she will.
You'll see if she isn't. And I'm going to get you a nice pink dress that will go with your brown eyes. Mama: Oh, no, Jakie, no.
I - I...
Jack: What do you mean no? Who, who is tellin' ya? What do you mean no?
Yes, you'll wear pink or else. Or else you'll wear pink. (laughter) And darling, oh, I'm gonna take you to Coney Island.
..Yes, you're gonna ride on the shoot-the-chute.
..(more laughter) Now Mama, Mama, stop now, you're getting kittenish.
Mama, listen, I'm gonna sing this like I will if I go on the stage...
I'm gonna sing it jazzy. Now get this. As he finishes the jazzed-up song 'Blue Skies,' his stern father enters, sees the pair, expresses deep upset, and shouts "Stop!
" (not a title this time). (The film returns to its silent-type nature following the outburst.) Sara questions her husband's speechless reaction: "Papa, have you no word for your son?
" The elder Cantor glares: "You dare to bring your jazz songs into my house! I taught you to sing the songs of Israel - to take my place in the synagogue!" Jack tries to get his father to understand his more contemporary viewpoint: "You're of the old world!
If you were born here, you'd feel the same as I do - - tradition is all right, but this is another day! I'll live my life as I see fit!" His traditionalist father can't believe his disrespectful son: "You talk that way to a Cantor - - it's sacrilege!
" Sara attempts to soothe the two of them: "Don't forget, Papa, it's your birthday - - and Jakie's come home." Jack has remembered his father's birthday with a present: "And I didn't forget it was your birthday, Papa" - it's another prayer shawl. Jack wants his father to know about his great success: "I'm doing fine, Papa, and I'm going in a big Broadway show.
" His father is shocked to know that he deeply loves jazz music and performs profane music: "A singer in a theatre - you from five generations of Cantors!" Jack defends his music: "You taught me that music is the voice of God! It is as honorable to sing in the theatre as in the synagogue!
My songs mean as much to my audience as yours to your congregation!" Jack is disowned and banished again by his father's orders: "Leave my house! I never want to see you again - you jazz singer!
" Jack offers a final plea for understanding from his father: "I came home with a heart full of love, but you don't want to understand. Some day you'll understand, the same as Mama does." Sara fears Jack will never return: "He came back once, Papa, but - - he'll never come back again.
" For the new show on Broadway, "rehearsals were rounding the 'April Follies' into - - good form." During rehearsals, the producer wonders if Mary's 'discovery' - Jack - is as good as she thinks he is. Mary is confident: "Don't worry about him.
If it's music - he can sing it." Jack realizes that the star of the show, romantic interest Mary has recommended him after happily greeting her: "They didn't tell me you were here..
.- and you're dancing in the show?.
..I have more confidence, now that you're here.
..Then it's you I have to thank for being here.
" In the two weeks after being thrown out of his own house, and one night before opening night on Broadway, Jack's father becomes gravely ill. "Grief, stalking the world, had paused at the house of Rabinowitz." Sara has faith in Jakie: "If Jakie knew his father was so sick - he would come.
" Yudleson finds Jack during a backstage rehearsal, and delivers a request: "Tomorrow, the Day of Atonement - they want you should sing in the synagogue, Jakie." Jack asks: "But my father - he doesn't want me to sing, does he?" Yudleson delivers the sudden news of Cantor Rabinowitz's illness: ".
..your father - he is very sick - since the day you were there.
" The Cantor cannot perform on the eve of Yom Kippur, the most sacred of holy days. Yudleson wishes the cantor's son to take his father's place: "But Jakie, your singing would be like sunshine to your Papa..
.Jakie, remember - - a son's a son no matter if his Papa throws him out a hundred times!" He is asked to choose between the show and duty to his father - to sing "Kol Nidre" in his sick father's place in the temple for Yom Kippur the following night.
But he also would have to miss his big opening night performance: "Our show opens tomorrow night - it's the chance I've dreamed of for years!" This would be the first time his father would be unable to be cantor in many years. Jack feels pressure from Yudleson: "Would you be the first Rabinowitz in five generations to fail your God?
" Jack also knows the demands of the theatre: "We in the show business have our religion, too - on every day - the show must go on!" Dress rehearsal is at one o'clock the next day. Jack is told to "come full of pep!
" On "The Eve of the Day of Atonement," Yudleson tells the Jewish elders: "For the first time, we have no Cantor on the Day of Atonement." Pale and emaciated lying in his bed, Cantor Rabinowitz tells Sara in his bedroom that he cannot perform on the eve of Yom Kippur, the most sacred of holy days: "My heart is breaking, Mama. I cannot sing.
My son came to me in my dreams - - he sang Kol Nidre so beautifully. If he would only sing like that tonight - surely he would be forgiven." During "the final dress rehearsal," it is thought that "the show, so far, is weak - it's all up to that jazz singer to put it over!
" In his dressing room, Jack tells Mary: "There's only one thing on my mind - to make good tonight!" As he puts on his blackface makeup, he describes his enthusiasm, "I'm going to put everything I've got into my songs," while betraying concern for his ailing father. Mary thinks that he is preoccupied with worry: "I'm afraid you're worrying - about your father.
" Jack reassures her: "I'd love to sing for my people - - but I belong here. - but there's something, after all, in my heart - maybe it's the call of the ages - - the cry of my race." Mary feels he would rather be on stage: "I think I understand, Jack - but no matter how strong the call, this is your life.
" In a mirror, Jack imagines his father singing in the synagogue, and his heritage calls to him: "The Day of Atonement is the most solemn of our holy days - - and the songs of Israel are tearing at my heart." Mary urges him to remain with the show: "Your career is the place God has put you. Don't forget that, Jack.
" Jack reaffirms the importance of his career: "You're right. My career means more to me than anything else in the world." His career means even more than Mary herself, and Mary encourages him: "Then don't let anything stand in your way - not even your parents, not me, not anything!
" Yudleson, with Sara, returns to the backstage area to speak to Jack, but they are told: "No one can see him now. It's almost time for his entrance." Sara begs: "But his Papa is sick - maybe dying - I've got to see him!
" So they are let into Jack's dressing room. At first, Sara doesn't recognize him in blackface: "Jakie - this ain't you?" Yudleson is also confused: "He talks like Jakie - but he looks like his shadow.
" Then she tells him that his father is ill and dying: "Your Papa is so sick - his face so pale - - he calls for you." Just then, Jack is told to ready himself for his dress rehearsal performance: "Better get ready, Jack - - it's your spot next." Sara continues: "In his dreams he hears you singing.
In two hours the sun will be out of the sky - Atonement begins - - come home, Jakie." Jack is distraught, torn between his opening night in his show business career and his deep feelings for his father: "Mother, I can't - I can't!" She makes a final heart-wrenching comment: "Maybe your Papa is dying - maybe he won't ever hear you sing again.
" Jack's producers are also urging him to get on stage: "Hurry Jack! This dress rehearsal's just as important as the show tonight!" Jack goes center stage and sings with deep feeling 'Mother of Mine,' a song of mother-love.
Mother of Mine, when friends all doubt me, I still have you...
Mother Divine, with your arms around me...
When things go wrong, and they don't want me, Mother I still have you. Mother of Mine, when friends all doubt me, I still have you..
. Mary, Sara, and Yudleson watch from the wings. Yudleson observes: "Just like his Papa - with the cry in his voice.
" With tears in her eyes, Sara begins to understand Jack's calling: "Here he belongs. If God wanted him in His house, He would have kept him there..
.He's not my boy anymore - he belongs to the whole world now," and they leave before he finishes performing his song. Jack's producer feels his rehearsal number is "wonderful," but Jack is dismayed to find his mother has gone.
Mary explains how his mother has accepted his show business role: "But she is reconciled and understands your place is here." After intense soul-searching, Jack returns to his home after the rehearsal. At his mother's side, she asks if he came to sing.
"No, Mama," he replies, "I came to see Papa." At his Papa's bedside, his father tenderly touches his son's head and face. He tells his father: "You'll soon be all right again, Papa," and they begin to be reconciled when his father confesses: "My son - I love you - .
" When Yudleson finds Jack at home, he assumes that he has come to replace Cantor Rabinowitz in the synagogue for Yom Kippur: "I knew you'd come. The choir is waiting." Sara encourages him as a way to heal his father: "Maybe if you sing - your Papa will get well - .
" But just then, the producer and Mary arrive to urge him to return with them to the opening of "April Follies." Mary asks him: "You're not thinking of quitting us, are you, Jack?" His producer threatens that his career will be ruined if he fails to appear on opening night: "You'll queer yourself on Broadway - you'll never get another job.
" Jack realizes what a momentous choice he has: "It's a choice between giving up the biggest chance of my life - and breaking my mother's heart - I have no right to do either." Mary reminds him of his former words: "Were you lying when you said your career came before everything?" Yudleson pressures him too: "You must sing tonight.
" Jack is uncertain about that possibility: "I haven't sung Kol Nidre since I was a little boy." Yudleson assures Jack: "What a little boy learns - he never forgets." The producer warns: "Don't be a fool, Jack!
" Jack turns to his mother, who tells him to "do what is in your heart, Jakie - if you sing and God is not in your voice - your father will know." The producer reminds Jack of his career: "You're a jazz singer at heart!" At curtain time, an announcement is made to the audience: "Ladies and Gentlemen, there will be no performance this evening - - " For one night, Jack becomes Jakie Rabinowitz, singing "Kol Nidre" (in whiteface) in the synagogue in his father's place, forcing the opening night cancellation of the show.
His father listens from his deathbed to the nearby ceremony. Now that his son is reconciled to the old world's values and to the family, Cantor Rabinowitz's last forgiving words are: "Mamma, we have our son again." In a super-imposed image, we see the spirit of Jack's father at his side in the synagogue.
Mary describes Jack perfectly: "- a jazz singer - singing to his God." The season passes - and time heals - the show goes on." The show is postponed, but opens successfully the next day.
Jack sings jazz in the opening theatre performance, the day after his father's death. In the final scene, his proud mother sits in the crowded Winter Garden Theater audience, listening and weeping. In blackface (symbolic of his assimilation into the culture, or a way to mask his ethnicity?
), Jack croons the song "My Mammy" to her: I'm, I'm a comin'! Sorry I made you wait. I'm, I'm comin'!
I hope and pray I'm not late. And then, Jack gets on one knee for the finale to his Mama, flinging his arms out toward her and the world: But I know where the sun shines best. It's on my Mammy I'm talkin' about.
My heart strings are tangled around, Alabamy. I hope I didn't make you wait! Oh God, I hope I'm not late.
Mammy! Don't ya know me? I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles!
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