The Jazz Singer

Warner Bros. 1927 landmark film, The Jazz Singer is a gem in the chronicles of film history. Not only does it capture the divine vocal prowess of singing sensation and stage phenomenon, Al Jolson, but it is revolutionary for the film industry and Warner Bros. as the first picture to feature talking sequences. Granted, the tale of a Jewish Cantor and his rebellious young son, Jakie, who rather sing jazz riffs than sacred hymns in the synagogue, “speaks” mainly when Jolson sings, with a spattering of dialogue here and there, such as the unforgettable line, “What a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” Nonetheless, The Jazz Singer is the first feature-length offering to provide sound and thus usher in the era of voice in films.

Curiously enough, Jolson was given the lead in the Jazz Singer after Eddie Cantor and George Jessel turned down the role. Perhaps no one but the great Al Jolson would have had the chutvah to play the part so convincingly, emoting from the soul of his craft, as well as his intense love and devotion for his mother and struggle with his father, feelings Jolson was very familiar with in his own life.

The concept for the screen version of the Jazz Singer was based upon Samson Raphaelson's 1921 short story, "The Day of Atonement" which later became the basis for Raphaelson's admired 1926 Broadway play of the same title, and adapted for the screen by Alfred A. Cohn. Warner Bros. invested an astonishing half a million dollars with Western Electric and Vitaphone, and thankfully achieved commercial success with Al Jolson at the helm. While the film was ineligible for an Academy Award in the Best Picture category that year, the Academy presented Warner Bros. production head a special Oscar "for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry."

The daring risk taken by Sam Warner to plunge into the experimental sound technology was going to happen eventually, but the overwhelming charisma of Jolson's love affair with the public helped market the film, and subsequently, the process. It was nothing short of a sea change. Jolson "ushered" in the talkie era and accelerated the demise of the silent art form. Jolson's success in the Jazz Singer changed the way we both make films and look at films as fans. The public was now about to launch an insatiable appetite for sound, which would also cause a radical change in theatres; many had to be re-equipped for sound, and still others were built brand new. A new era of motion picture palace was about to be born.