The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American part-talkie musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland and produced by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music and lip-synchronous singing and speech. Its release heralded the commercial ascendance of sound films and effectively marked the end of the silent film era with the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, featuring six songs performed by Al Jolson. Based on the 1925 play of the same title by Samson Raphaelson, the plot was adapted from his short story "The Day of Atonement".
Samuel Lawrence Klusman Parks was an American stage and film actor. His career arced from bit player and supporting roles to top billing, before it virtually ended when he admitted to having been a member of a Communist Party cell, which led to his blacklisting by all Hollywood studios. His best known role was Al Jolson, whom he portrayed in two films: The Jolson Story (1946) and Jolson Sings Again (1949).
Carl William Demarest was an American actor, known especially for his supporting roles in screwball comedies by Preston Sturges and as Uncle Charley in the sitcom My Three Sons from 1965-72. Demarest, who frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles, was a prolific film and television actor, appearing in over 140 films, beginning in 1926 and ending in the late 1970s. Before his career in movies, he performed in vaudeville for two decades.
Scott Hastings Beckett was an American actor. He began his career as a child actor in the Our Gang shorts and later costarred on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.
"Give My Regards to Broadway" is a song written by George M. Cohan for his musical play Little Johnny Jones which debuted in 1904 in New York.
"When You Were Sweet Sixteen" is popular song written by James Thornton and published in 1898. Inspired and sung by the composer's wife, the ballad quickly became a hit song in vaudeville. It has a long recording history that includes numerous popular singers, has been heard on film, and is considered a standard for barbershop quartets.
"By the Light of the Silvery Moon" or "By the Light of the Silv'ry Moon" is a popular love song. The music was written by Gus Edwards, and the lyrics by Edward Madden. The song was published in 1909 and first performed on stage by Lillian Lorraine in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1909. It was one of a series of moon-related Tin Pan Alley songs of the era. The song was also used in the short-lived Broadway show Miss Innocence when it was sung by Frances Farr.
Jolson Sings Again is a 1949 American musical biographical film directed by Henry Levin, and the sequel to The Jolson Story (1946), both of which cover the life of singer Al Jolson. It was the highest-grossing film of 1949 and received three Oscar nominations at the 22nd Academy Awards.
Ludwig Donath, was an Austrian actor who appeared in many American films.
Mammy (1930) is an American pre-Code musical comedy-drama film with Technicolor sequences, released by Warner Bros. The film starred Al Jolson and was a follow-up to his previous film, Say It with Songs (1929). Mammy became Al Jolson's fourth feature, following earlier screen efforts as The Jazz Singer (1927), The Singing Fool (1928) and Say It with Songs (1929). The film relives Jolson's early years as a minstrel man. The songs were written by Irving Berlin, who is also credited with the original story titled Mr. Bones.
Wonder Bar is a 1934 American pre-Code film adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley.
Show Girl is a musical with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn, and a book William Anthony McGuire. It ran at Broadway's Ziegfeld Theatre from Jul 2, 1929 to Oct 5, 1929. A backstage musical, much of the action of the musical's story takes place at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. Other scenes take place in Trenton, New Jersey; Brooklyn; and at a Penthouse apartment in New York City. The show tells the story of aspiring showgirl Dixie Dugan as she is pursued by four suitors.
Robinson Crusoe, Jr. is a musical with a book by Edgar Smith, lyrics by Harold Atteridge, and music by Sigmund Romberg and James Hanley.
Lew Dockstader was an American singer, comedian, and vaudeville star, best known as a blackface minstrel show performer. Dockstader performed as a solo act and in his own popular minstrel troupe.
Go into Your Dance is a 1935 American musical drama film starring Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, and Glenda Farrell. The film was directed by Archie Mayo, and is based on the novel of the same name by Bradford Ropes. It was released by Warner Bros. on April 20, 1935. An irresponsible Broadway star gets mixed up with gambling and gangsters.
Al Jolson was a Lithuanian-born American singer, actor, and vaudevillian.
"The Spaniard That Blighted My Life" is a comic song which was composed and first performed by English music-hall performer Billy Merson.
Tamara Shayne, also known as Tamara Nikoulina, was a Russian-born actress and long-time resident in the United States.
Harland Dixon was a Canadian-American dancer and choreographer, whose career encompassed vaudeville, musical theatre, and films. For much of his career he partnered with Jimmy Doyle, as Doyle and Dixon.
