Video Recipes TV: Al Jolson - Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye Videos

Added: Jul 8, 2008

From: JBauder1948

Duration: 2:13

Al Jolson (May 26, 1886--October 23, 1950), born in Russia, was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian, and actor, and the first openly Jewish man to become an entertainment star in America. His career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950, during which time he was commonly dubbed "the world's greatest entertainer." Numerous well-known singers were influenced by his music, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, and Elvis Presley.By 1920, he had become America's most famous and highest paid entertainer, but is best remembered today for his leading role in the world's first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, released in 1927. He starred in a series of successful musical films throughout the 1930's. After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with the 1946 oscar-winning biographical film, The Jolson Story. Larry Parks played Jolson with the songs dubbed in with Jolson's real voice. A sequel, Jolson Sings Again, was released in 1949, and was nominated for three Oscars.According to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, "Jolson was to jazz, blues, and ragtime what Elvis Presley was to rock 'n' roll." Being the first popular singer to make a spectacular "event" out of singing a song, he became a "rock star" before the dawn of rock music. His specialty was building stage runways extending out into the audience, which he would use to run up and down, often stopping to sing to individual members of the audience. After Pearl Harbor, Jolson was the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II, and again in 1950 became the first star to perform for GI's in Korea, doing 42 shows in 16 days.He enjoyed performing in blackface makeup -- a theatrical convention in the early 1900's. With his unique and dynamic style of singing black music, like jazz and blues, he was later credited with single-handedly introducing African-American music to white audiences. As early as 1911, at the age of 25, he also became noted for fighting black discrimination on the Broadway stage. Jolson's well-known theatrics and his promotion of equality on Broadway helped pave the way for many black performers, playwrights, and songwriters, including Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, and Ethel Waters.

Channel: Music

Tags: pop  vaudeville 

Rating: 4.75 (4 ratings)    Views: 881' favoriteCount='7    Comments: 4