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| A final tribute to a massive ego. |
Al Jolson was a massive presence of the 1920s, which makes it hard to know where to begin with him. One could mention him starring in the first “talkie” - 1927’s The Jazz Singer, of course, a role that, though not written for him, seemed tailor-made to his real-life story. There’s also his years-long use of blackface, the odious 19th century artistic relic that he carried to new heights in the 20th century. As an essay posted to Ferris University’s website put it:
“If blackface has its shameful poster boy, it is Al Jolson. Many other 20th-century performers from Shirley Temple to Bing Crosby donned the makeup for various roles, but Jolson adopted it as a core part of his public persona.”
After a little reading and a lot of thought, calling him America’s first rock star best translates Al Jolson for a modern audience: several times larger than life, consumed by ego, and burning bridges all the way. They made a movie called The Jolson Story in 1947, but his personal history would have posed one hell of a challenge to making Jolson sympathetic.
Jolson was born Asa Yoelson circa 1886 in Seredzius, Kovno Governate, Russian Empire, aka, what is now Lithuania. Because Russia wasn’t the gentlest place for Jews (pogroms, etc.), his father Moses Yoelson, a rabbi and a cantor, made arrangements to relocate to the U.S., first on his own to get settled then to send for his family. (The best source for this period was a site called Musicals 101; just to note it, you’ll learn more from their four-part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) than you will reading this.) His wife Naomi brought over Asa and his three siblings - two sisters, Rose and Etta (both bit players in his story) and his older brother Hirsch (highly relevant) - and the family planted roots in Washington D.C…for as long as Naomi kept them planted. Jolson’s mother died when he was 10, an event that, by every account I read, shattered Jolson; as Musical 101 puts it, “Jolson, for all his tough, earthy exterior, would remain an emotional child for the rest of his life.”
Despite Moses Yoelson’s dreams that both boys would follow him into the family business, they were busking on DC street corners as early as 1897; they even Americanized their names to Harry and Al. When Harry moved to New York to get into show business, Al ran away to join him (they both ran away a lot, as it happened); the ragtime bug had bit them both. Wikipedia’s history of Jolson mentions some time spent in the circus, but the Jolson brothers eventually teamed up to form a vaudeville act with a wheelchair-bound comic named Joe Palmer. While accounts vary on the details - particularly, on what made the act fall apart - they all agree that Al left the other two. It’s what happened next that changed Al Jolson’s life.
“If blackface has its shameful poster boy, it is Al Jolson. Many other 20th-century performers from Shirley Temple to Bing Crosby donned the makeup for various roles, but Jolson adopted it as a core part of his public persona.”
After a little reading and a lot of thought, calling him America’s first rock star best translates Al Jolson for a modern audience: several times larger than life, consumed by ego, and burning bridges all the way. They made a movie called The Jolson Story in 1947, but his personal history would have posed one hell of a challenge to making Jolson sympathetic.
Jolson was born Asa Yoelson circa 1886 in Seredzius, Kovno Governate, Russian Empire, aka, what is now Lithuania. Because Russia wasn’t the gentlest place for Jews (pogroms, etc.), his father Moses Yoelson, a rabbi and a cantor, made arrangements to relocate to the U.S., first on his own to get settled then to send for his family. (The best source for this period was a site called Musicals 101; just to note it, you’ll learn more from their four-part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) than you will reading this.) His wife Naomi brought over Asa and his three siblings - two sisters, Rose and Etta (both bit players in his story) and his older brother Hirsch (highly relevant) - and the family planted roots in Washington D.C…for as long as Naomi kept them planted. Jolson’s mother died when he was 10, an event that, by every account I read, shattered Jolson; as Musical 101 puts it, “Jolson, for all his tough, earthy exterior, would remain an emotional child for the rest of his life.”
Despite Moses Yoelson’s dreams that both boys would follow him into the family business, they were busking on DC street corners as early as 1897; they even Americanized their names to Harry and Al. When Harry moved to New York to get into show business, Al ran away to join him (they both ran away a lot, as it happened); the ragtime bug had bit them both. Wikipedia’s history of Jolson mentions some time spent in the circus, but the Jolson brothers eventually teamed up to form a vaudeville act with a wheelchair-bound comic named Joe Palmer. While accounts vary on the details - particularly, on what made the act fall apart - they all agree that Al left the other two. It’s what happened next that changed Al Jolson’s life.
