The Jolson Story

At the turn of the twentieth century the young Asa Yoelson goes against the wishes of his cantor father and enters show business. Working his way up through vaudeville he takes the name Al Jolson and joins a minstrel troupe performing in blackface, one of the most common forms of popular entertainment of its day and one now understood as a racist tradition. As the fame grows so does the ego, and the fights start in business and at home. Directed by Alfred E. Green for Columbia, the film simplifies and softens Jolson’s life; people are combined and conflicts sanded down. Jolson supplied the singing voice while Larry Parks mouthed the words, and for the Swanee number Jolson talked the producer into letting him appear himself, shot in long shot. It won two Academy Awards and was nominated in four more categories.