{"id":43623,"date":"2015-10-06T00:00:31","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T07:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=43623"},"modified":"2015-10-05T17:50:27","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T00:50:27","slug":"this-day-in-history-october-6th-the-jazz-singer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2015\/10\/this-day-in-history-october-6th-the-jazz-singer\/","title":{"rendered":"This Day in History: October 6th- The Jazz Singer"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Day In History<\/a>: October 6, 1927<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"jazz-singer\"<\/a>\u201cWait a minute, wait a minute, you ain\u2019t heard nothin’ yet!\u201d \u2013 Al Jolson in \u201cThe Jazz Singer\u201d<\/p>\n

When the film \u201cThe Jazz Singer\u201d was released on October 6, 1927, it was the end of one era and the dawn of another. While not a \u201ctalkie\u201d in the true sense, it sounded the death knell for the silent picture. You see, despite being known as the first talking picture, \u201cThe Jazz Singer\u201d is really nothing more than a silent movie interspersed with a few musical numbers, some improvised lines from the film\u2019s oft’ misinterpreted star Al Jolson (see: Al Jolson: Hero or Villain?<\/a>), and a bit of scripted dialogue.<\/p>\n

Although Thomas Edison originally intended moving pictures to incorporate sound, the silent movie era was in full swing before sound technology could catch up with the images on the screen. In any case, studio heads like Jack Warner remained unconvinced of talking pictures\u2019 commercial viability: \u201cThey fail to take into account the international language of the silent pictures, and the unconscious share of each onlooker in creating the play, the action, the plot and the imagined dialogue for himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Warner Brothers Studio went ahead with \u201cThe Jazz Singer,\u201d the story of a rebellious young man from a strict Jewish family who leaves the fold to make his name as a \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 jazz singer. At the film\u2019s climax, our hero must choose between starring on Broadway or singing at the synagogue for his dying father.<\/p>\n

\"Jolson_black-340x337\"<\/a>Despite being one of the most important films in Hollywood history, the movie has not aged well. Al Jolson was a megastar<\/em> in his day \u2013 by that point, he had already conquered the stage, radio and recordings. Although his music was considered hip at the time, jams like \u201cToot Toot Tootsie\u201d sound totally corny to modern ears, and Jolson\u2019s over-the-top acting style is only suitable for parody. More than any of that, the black-face rendition of \u201cMammy\u201d is amazingly cringe-worthy today, though Jolson’s intentions were (seemingly) good, as you’ll soon see.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlackface,\u201d which is captured for posterity in many films of the first half of the twentieth century, is a sad reminder to most people of the ridicule and mistreatment of African-Americans.\u00a0 As for Jolson, he didn\u2019t always use \u201cblackface\u201d in his act, but because most people today know him only by \u201cThe Jazz Singer,\u201d his reputation is often as a symbol of a very backward time. However, Jolson was, ironically given the perception today, an early crusader for the rights of African-Americans.<\/p>\n

Jolson also insisted on the hiring and fair treatment of black people at a time when this was an outlandish concept to many in America. (For example, at the time members of the KKK are estimated to have accounted for about 15% of the U.S.\u2019s voting-age population<\/a>.) He also crusaded for equal rights for African-American as early as 1911, when he was 25. Through his very controversial portrayals, and advocating for black performers, Jolson helped pave the way for the success of such legends as Louis Armstrong, Ethyl Waters, Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. As the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture stated, \u201cAlmost single-handedly, Jolson helped to introduce African-American musical innovations like jazz, ragtime, and the blues to white audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for his \u201cblackface\u201d persona which seems to (almost literally) fly in the face of his apparent true feelings on race, this persona was often used by Jolson as a means to introduce white audiences to black culture, and also to make fun of the general idea of \u201cwhite supremacy.\u201d As such, when black audiences saw \u201cThe Jazz Singer,\u201d rather than boycott<\/a> it, a Harlem newspaper, Amsterdam News<\/em> (today \u201cthe oldest Black newspaper in the country<\/a>,\u201d according to their website), stated that The Jazz Singer<\/em> was \u201cone of the greatest pictures ever produced,\u201d and that, \u201cEvery colored performer is proud of him (Jolson).\u201d (For much more on this, see: Al Jolson- Misunderstood Hero or Villain?<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Beyond the controversy, \u201cThe Jazz Singer\u201d received one of the first ever Academy Awards in 1927 for being a \u201cpioneering talking picture.\u201d And even though contemporary audiences loved the new technology that allowed them to hear Jolson\u2019s voice, they were decidedly \u201cmeh\u201d about the sappy storyline.<\/p>\n

But the sound genie was out of the bottle, and the movies would never be the same again. The first all-talking feature film, \u201cLights of New York\u201d was released in July 1928, but it wasn\u2019t until 1930 that the transition over to sound was complete across the board.<\/p>\n

The silent movie era was, for all intents and purposes, over.<\/p>\n

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Google Play Music<\/a>, Feed<\/a>), as well as:<\/p>\n