Al Jolson Not Immortal, But Undead

Universally celebrated in his century, universally scorned in ours

In Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama: A Memoir (I use Amazon affiliate links so please click through and buy something and I’ll get a few pennies), Bob Odenkirk the comic actor perfectly expressed my youthful impression of Al Jolson:

Bob doesn’t even mention the use of blackface — an element he completely left out of his mockery of megaphone crooners also — but that was the part that really appalled yet fascinated me about Jolson.

I’m not passing judgement on Odenkirk for side-stepping the issue, it was the wise entertainment industry decision to make.

But there’s a reason I could never get an Al Jolson episode together for the Let It Roll podcast, many reasons actually, but it boils down to blackface.

The man is now the historical face of America’s most racist mass entertainment tradition.

Al Jolson is widely hated. His music is ignored. His movies go unwatched.

But let’s get back to Odenkirk.

Here’s Odenkirk talking about it in a video, followed by some footage from the very Jolson documentary he’s discussing.

Here’s the sketch in question from Mr. Show with Odenkirk and David Cross (* re the megaphone see note at the end of the post):

But the more I researched American musical history, the more convinced I became that Jolson had to be a big part of the story.

Here’s how he was regarded at the time of his death in 1950 in the ironically titled “The Immortal Jolson” documentary made shortly after his passing:

Al Jolson was the greatest Minstrel of them all. His style and personality left an indelible mark on Show Business. Today's greatest stars proudly claim there is a little bit of Jolson in all of them. Even after 30 or 40 years audiences who saw him perform still remember the magic that was Al Jolson.

I’ve read a fair bit about entertainers in the 1910s, 1920s, 30s and 40s and any of them that discuss or describe Jolson lavish him with praise and acknowledge his unquestioned status as the greatest theatrical performer of their era.

This is how the documentary opens:

Al Jolson’s song thrilled a nation and gave a voice to Hollywood and the stars. Beneath this towering monument (shot of Jolson’s tomb) rests a man and a legend, Al Jolson.

For nearly half a century he made America sing and laughed and cry. Though he played on our emotions with unabashed sentimentality he felt within himself an emptiness that no personal relationship could fill. Insecure, plagued by self-doubt Jolson felt important and alive only when he heard the cheers of an adoring crowd and the love music of applause but he was the greatest entertainer that the world has ever known.

*I can’t resist being pedantic and pointing out that Jolson preceded the crooners by a full generation and would never have needed a megaphone to be heard in a theater. The crooners were so called because they were masters of singing quietly into microphones to deliver broadcast or recording that gave listners the shocking feeling that a strange man was whispering in their ear. Very intimate.

The most beloved American entertainer of the second and third decades of the 20th Century, becomes a laughing stock only 45 years after his death.

What beloved titan of our current era will suffer that fate?