Al Jolson

**Al Jolson** (May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian.  His career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950. He was called "the world's greatest entertainer”.

His singing style was "sentimental [and] melodramatic".  This style made many songs popular. Jolson influenced many famous singers.  Some of these singers were Bing Crosby Judy Garland, rock and country entertainer Jerry Lee Lewis, and Bob Dylan.  Dylan said Jolson was "somebody whose life I can feel".

Jolson was America's most famous and highest paid entertainer in the 1930s.  Jolson sang and acted in the first (full length) talking movie, _The Jazz Singer_ in 1927. He starred in many other musical movies in the 1930s.  A movie about Jolson's life, _The Jolson Story_, won Oscars in 1946. Larry Parks played Jolson, but Jolson sang the songs himself. A sequel, _Jolson Sings Again,_ was released in 1949, and was nominated for three Oscars. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Jolson became the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II.  Again in 1950 became the first star to perform for GIs in Korea.  He did 42 shows in 16 days.

He sometimes performed in blackface makeup.  This was a theatrical convention in the mid-19th century. 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 he became known for fighting against anti-black discrimination on Broadway. 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.

## Movies

- _Mammy's Boy_ (1923) (unfinished)
- _A Plantation Act_ (1926)
- _The Jazz Singer_ (1927)
- _The Singing Fool_ (1928)
- _Hollywood Snapshots No. 11_ (1929) (short subject)
- _Sonny Boy_ (1929) (Cameo)
- _Say It with Songs_ (1929)
- _New York Nights_ (1929) (Cameo)
- _Mammy_ (1930)
- _Show Girl in Hollywood_ (1930) (Cameo)
- _Big Boy_ (1930)
- _Hallelujah, I'm a Bum_ (1933)
- _Wonder Bar_ (1934)
- _Go Into Your Dance_ (1935)
- _Paramount Headliner: Broadway Highlights No. 1_ (1935) (short subject)
- _The Singing Kid_ (1936)
- _Hollywood Handicap_ (1938) (short subject)
- _Rose of Washington Square_ (1939)
- _Hollywood Cavalcade_ (1939)
- _Swanee River_ (1939)
- _Rhapsody in Blue_ (1945) (brief scene with Jolson in blackface introducing "Swanee")
- _The Jolson Story_ (1946) (double and singing voice for Larry Parks with brief onscreen appearance)
- _Screen Snapshots: Off the Air_ (1947) (short subject)
- _Jolson Sings Again_ (1949) (singing voice for Larry Parks)
- _Oh, You Beautiful Doll_ (1949) (voice only)
- _Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Famous Feet_ (1950) (short subject) (narrator)
- _Memorial to Al Jolson_, (1951) documentary – Columbia Pictures
- _The Great Al Jolson_, (1955) documentary, Columbia Pictures

## Theater

- _La Belle Paree_ (1911)
- _Vera Violetta_ (1911)
- _The Whirl of Society_ (1912)
- _The Honeymoon Express_ (1913)
- _Children of the Ghetto_ (before 1915)
- _Robinson Crusoe, Jr._ (1916)
- _Sinbad_ (1918)
- _Bombo_ (1921)
- _Big Boy_ (1925)
- _Artists and Models of 1925_ (1925) (added to cast in 1926)
- _Big Boy_ (1926) (revival)
- _The Wonder Bar_ (1931)
- _Hold on to Your Hats_ (1940)

## Famous songs

- "That Haunting Melodie" (1911) Jolson's first hit.
- "Ragging the Baby to Sleep" (1912)
- "The Spaniard That Blighted My Life" (1912)
- "That Little German Band" (1913)
- "You Made Me Love You" (1913)
- "Back to the Carolina You Love" (1914)
- "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula" (1916)
- "I Sent My Wife to the Thousand Isles" (1916)
- "I'm All Bound Round With the Mason–Dixon line" (1918)
- "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody" (1918)
- "Tell That to the Marines" (1919)
- "I'll Say She Does" (1919)
- "I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now" (1919)
- "Swanee" (1919)
- "Avalon" (1920)
- "O-H-I-O (O-My! O!)" (1921)
- "April Showers" (1921)
- "Angel Child" (1922)
- "Coo Coo'" (1922)
- "Oogie Oogie Wa Wa" (1922)
- "That Wonderful Kid From Madrid" (1922)
- "Toot, Toot, Tootsie" (1922)
- "Juanita" (1923)
- "California, Here I Come" (1924)
- "I Wonder What's Become of Sally?" (1924)
- "All Alone" (1925)
- "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" (1926)
- "When the Red, Red, Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along" (1926)
- "My Mammy" (1927)
- "Back in Your Own Backyard" (1928)
- "There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" (1928)
- "Sonny Boy" (1928)
- "Little Pal" (1929)
- "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)" (1929)
- "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy" (1930)
- "The Cantor (A Chazend'l Ofn Shabbos)" (1932)
- "You Are Too Beautiful" (1933)
- "Ma Blushin' Rosie" (1946)
- "Anniversary Song" (1946)
- "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1947)
- "Carolina in the Morning" (1947)
- "About a Quarter to Nine" (1947)
- "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" (1947)
- "Golden Gate" (1947)
- "When You Were Sweet Sixteen" (1947)
- "If I Only Had a Match" (1947)
- "After You've Gone" (1949)
- "Is It True What They Say About Dixie?" (1949)
- "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (1950)

## Other websites

- International Al Jolson Society
- Tribute to Al Jolson
- PBS "Stars over Broadway"
- Collected works of Al Jolson at the Internet Archive
- Newsreel including Jolson's death and funeral (from the Internet Archive)
- Video of Al Jolson's Memorial

## Infobox (musical artist)

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## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Al Jolson
- **image**: Al Jolson - publicity.JPG
- **caption**: Jolson in 1929
- **birth name**: Asa Yoelson
- **birth date**: May 26, 1886
- **birth place**: Seredžius, Sredniki, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire
- **death place**: San Francisco, California, U.S.
- **years active**: 1904–1950
- **resting place**: Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, Hillside Memorial Park,
Culver City, California
- **othername**: Jolie
- **party**: Republican Party (United States), Republican
- **spouse**:

- **children**: 3 (all adopted)