The Jazz Singer (film)
"The Jazz Singer," released in 1927, is a landmark film in cinematic history, recognized as a pivotal transition from silent films to sound movies. While it was not the first film to feature synchronized sound or spoken dialogue, its innovative use of the Vitaphone sound-on-disk system successfully integrated music and sound effects into the storytelling. The film stars Al Jolson, a prominent performer of the era, whose semi-autobiographical character, Jakie Rabinowitz (later known as Jack Robin), navigates the tension between his Jewish heritage and a desire for success in the modern American entertainment industry.
The narrative unfolds as Jakie, initially constrained by his father's traditional expectations, pursues a career as a jazz singer. This personal journey culminates in a poignant conflict during Yom Kippur, where themes of family, identity, and reconciliation take center stage. Notably, the first spoken dialogue in the film heralds the dawn of the "talkies," showcasing Jolson's charisma and musical talent. The film's success not only solidified Warner Bros. as a leading studio but also paved the way for a new era of filmmaking, influencing countless subsequent productions. "The Jazz Singer" is considered both a cultural milestone and a reflection of the changing societal norms of its time.
Subject Terms
The Jazz Singer (film)
Identification: A film about a popular jazz singer whose career causes an estrangement from his Jewish cantor father
Director: Alan Crosland
Date: 1927
The Jazz Singer was neither the first film to be exhibited with synchronized sound nor the first to contain spoken dialogue. However, its success marked a watershed between the silent and the sound eras of motion picture history.
Experiments in the use of sound on film were almost as old as movies themselves, but Warner Bros. became the first motion picture company to achieve a lasting success. Using a sound-on-disk technique called Vitaphone to synchronize music and sound effects with the film’s action, the company’s initial feature offering was the 1926 swashbuckler Don Juan, starring John Barrymore. After producing a number of short films, essentially filmed vaudeville acts, Warner Bros. and Vitaphone were ready to take the next step of adding synchronized spoken dialogue to a feature-length film.
A Real-World Analogue
Enormously popular Broadway and vaudeville performer Al Jolson had appeared in the well-received 1926 Vitaphone short film A Plantation Act, in which he sang some of his signature tunes, including “April Showers.” He was then convinced to star in a film based on the 1925 Broadway play The Jazz Singer by writer Samson Raphaelson, adapted from the author’s 1922 short story “The Day of Atonement.” As recounted by Raphaelson in later interviews, he had been inspired to write the original story after watching Jolson perform on Broadway. Although another popular performer, George Jessel, played the lead in the Broadway production of The Jazz Singer, Warner Bros. capitalized on the semiautobiographical aspects of Jolson’s own life to provide a background to publicize the film.
The story centers on Jakie Rabinowitz, the son of the respected Cantor Rabinowitz, a Jewish immigrant who dreams that his son will carry on the family tradition and become a cantor himself. Jakie chafes at his father’s old-fashioned discipline and embraces the more modern culture of America. After his father angrily drags Jakie home from a saloon, where he had been singing for pennies, Jakie tells his mother that he wants to sing on the stage. Ten years later, Jakie, who has run away from home and changed his name to Jack Robin, is singing in a San Francisco nightclub. There, he impresses performer Mary Dale, who encourages him to come on the road with her. Several more years pass, and Jack, now a big success, is about to costar with Mary in a new Broadway musical. One afternoon, when Jack goes to see his mother, Cantor Rabinowitz enters the apartment just as his son is playing an up-tempo rendition of “Blue Skies” to his mother. The cantor bitterly calls his son “a jazz singer” and forces Jack to leave. On Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, the now bedridden cantor is unable to sing the Aramaic liturgy of the Kol Nidre in the temple but dreams that his son will sing in his place. Despite his mother’s pleas, Jack refuses to go to his father and begins the final dress rehearsal of his show. His conscience tears at him, though, and he rushes to the temple. As Cantor Rabinowitz dies, he hears his son singing the Kol Nidre and is happy, thinking that his son will now take his place. The next day, however, Jack opens in the show and sings the song “Mammy” to his loving mother, who watches from the audience and realizes that her son is now where he belongs.
The Beginning of the Talkies
The first line of spoken dialogue in The Jazz Singer occurs well into the film, when Jolson, as Jack, sings “Dirty Hands, Dirty Face” at Coffee Dan’s nightclub. Following strong applause, he cheerfully tells the club’s patrons, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet! Wait a minute, I tell ya. You ain’t heard nothin’. You want to hear ‘Toot, Toot, Tootsie’?” Using a variation of his vaudeville and Broadway catchphrase, Jolson’s first line seemed to signal the start of the new sound era. The rest of the film, aside from some casual instructions Jack makes to the band as they prepare to play “Toot, Toot, Tootsie,” contains only one additional dialogue sequence, when Jack playfully tells his mother of his plans to buy her a house in the Bronx.
The Jazz Singer proved that sound and dialogue in a film were more than just novelties. Although the story seems maudlin, the dialogue is remarkably natural, and the charismatic entertainer’s songs were integral to the picture’s success. Within nine months, movie audiences clamoring for more would see films with 100 percent spoken dialogue, beginning with Warner Bros.’ Lights of New York.
Impact
Following the October 6, 1927, premiere of The Jazz Singer and its critical and financial success, Warner Bros. became one of the premiere studios of Hollywood and, for a short time, the industry leader in synchronized sound for motion pictures. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, but, more importantly, Warner Bros. received the first ever Special Academy Award for producing The Jazz Singer.
The film marked the beginning of Jolson’s great success as one of the biggest film stars of the late 1920s, and he appeared in subsequent Warner Bros. films such as The Singing Fool and Mammy.
Bibliography
Bradley, Edwin M. The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography of 171 Features, 1927 Through 1932. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2004. Provides detailed information about film musicals released in Hollywood between 1927 and 1933, including a section on The Jazz Singer.
Carringer, Robert, ed. The Jazz Singer. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979. Presents an edited version of the screenplay for the film.
Eyman, Scott. The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926–1930. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Recounts the evolution of motion pictures from silent films to talking pictures during the late 1920s.
Freedland, Michael. Jolson: The Story of Al Jolson. Portland, Oreg.: V. Mitchell, 2007. Offers biographical information about performer Al Jolson, including notes on his theatrical career, personal life, and impact on motion picture history.
Liebman, Roy. Vitaphone Films: A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2009. Details the short and feature films released by the Warner Bros. subsidiary known as Vitaphone.