History Film / TheJazzSinger

There were three {{re|vision}}makes of this film, one in 1952 starring Danny Thomas, one as an episode of Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Ford Startime'' anthology series in 1959 starring Creator/JerryLewis, and one in 1980 starring Music/NeilDiamond (with Creator/LaurenceOlivier as his father).

Experiments in recorded film sound were nothing new; as far back as 1894, an Edison film of a violin player was paired with a recording of the instrument. In 1926, the Warner Bros. film ''Don Juan'' was released with a prerecorded, instrumental soundtrack, eliminating the need for live accompaniment. ''Film/{{Sunrise}}'', a critically adored experimental melodrama released the same year as ''The Jazz Singer'' featured a line or two of background chatter as part of the soundtrack. What ''The Jazz Singer'' brought to the table was an ambitious use of synchronization (or, as Warner dubbed it, the "Vitaphone" process). Even that, if confined to the songs, might have remained a sterile gimmick. But speech -- that was something else. The first "all-talking" picture was ''The Lights of New York,'' a gangster film released in 1928.

* FantasyForbiddingFather: Cantor Rabinowitz. Possibly the TropeCodifer, considering how often later instances of this trope have been assumed to be using ''The Jazz Singer'' as their model.

* FantasyForbiddingFather: Cantor Rabinowitz.

* GenderNormativeParentPlot: Sort of, if you consider singing to be "feminine" and being a cantor to be "manly."

* ''TheSimpsons'' episode "Like Father, Like Clown", guest-starring the voice of Jackie Mason as Krusty's estranged father Rabbi Hyman Krustovsky. The IHaveNoSon moment is memorably spoofed. (Mason himself is to some extent a RealLife instance of ''The Jazz Singer''; under pressure from his father he received rabbinic ordination as his brothers did, but he subsequently chose to become a comedian.)

''The Jazz Singer'', a 1927 drama film directed by Alan Crosland and released by Creator/WarnerBros, tells the story of Jakie Rabinowitz (Creator/AlJolson), the son of a Jewish cantor, who declines to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead, he dissembles his Jewish identity while trying to make it in the world of [[{{Jazz}} popular music]]. Just as he's about to hit the big time, his father falls ill, forcing Jakie to choose between his family and his show-biz dreams.

Warner Oland (who would soon become well known for playing Film/CharlieChan onscreen) and Eugenie Besserer play Jakie's father and mother respectively, while May [=McAvoy=] plays Mary Dale, a dancer who becomes his girlfriend and showbiz mentor. Real-life cantor Yoselle Rosenblatt appears briefly {{as himself}} performing at a concert Jakie attends. And future star Creator/MyrnaLoy has an uncredited bit part as a chorus girl.

Warner Oland (who would soon become well known for playing Film/CharlieChan onscreen) and Eugenie Besserer play Jakie's father and mother respectively, while May [=McAvoy=] plays Mary Dale, a dancer who becomes his girlfriend and showbiz mentor. Real-life cantor Yoselle Rosenblatt has a cameo {{as himself}} performing at a concert Jakie attends. And future star Creator/MyrnaLoy makes a brief, uncredited appearance as a chorus girl.

Warner Oland (who would soon become well known for playing Film/CharlieChan onscreen) and Eugenie Besserer play Jakie's father and mother respectively, while May [=McAvoy=] plays Mary Dale, a dancer who becomes Jakie's girlfriend and showbiz mentor. Real-life cantor Yoselle Rosenblatt has a brief cameo {{as himself}} performing at a concert Jakie attends. Future star Creator/MyrnaLoy makes an uncredited appearance as a chorus girl.

Warner Oland (who would soon become well known for playing Film/CharlieChan onscreen) and Eugenie Besserer portray Jakie's father and mother respectively, while real-life cantor Yoselle Rosenblatt has a brief cameo {{as himself}} singing at a concert Jakie attends. Future star Creator/MyrnaLoy makes an uncredited appearance as a chorus girl.

Warner Oland, who would soon become well known for playing Film/CharlieChan onscreen, plays Jakie's father, while future star Creator/MyrnaLoy makes an uncredited appearance as a chorus girl.

Incidentally, future star Creator/MyrnaLoy makes an uncredited appearance as a chorus girl.

There were three {{re|vision}}makes of this film, one in 1952 starring Danny Thomas, one as an episode of Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Ford Startime'' anthology series in 1959 starring Creator/JerryLewis and one in 1980 starring Music/NeilDiamond (with Creator/LaurenceOlivier as his father).

''The Jazz Singer'', a 1927 drama film directed by Alan Crosland and released by Creator/WarnerBros, tells the story of Jakie Rabinowitz (played by Creator/AlJolson), the son of a Jewish cantor, who declines to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead, he dissembles his Jewish identity while trying to make it in the world of [[{{Jazz}} popular music]]. Just as Jakie is about to hit the big time, his father falls ill, forcing Jakie to choose between his family and his show-biz dreams.

Despite its reputation as the first "talkie", ''The Jazz Singer'' is fundamentally a silent film, with an atmospheric musical backdrop, no sound effects, and dialogue on title cards. It ''does'', however, have several recorded songs which are lip-synced (with [[HongKongDub variable success]]), and during the filming/recording of one of these songs, Jolson ad-libbed a spoken intro: "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet! Wait a minute, I tell ya! You ain't heard nothin'!" (Additionally, the film has one short synchronized dialogue scene where Jolson talks to his mother.)

Experiments in recorded film sound were nothing new; as far back as 1894, an Edison film of a violin player was paired with a recording of the instrument. In 1926, the Creator/WarnerBros film ''Don Juan'' was released with a prerecorded, instrumental soundtrack, eliminating the need for live accompaniment. ''Film/{{Sunrise}}'', a critically adored experimental melodrama released the same year as ''The Jazz Singer'' featured a line or two of background chatter as part of the soundtrack. What ''The Jazz Singer'' brought to the table was an ambitious use of synchronization (or, as Warner dubbed it, the "Vitaphone" process). Even that, if confined to the songs, might have remained a sterile gimmick. But speech -- that was something else. The first "all-talking" picture was ''The Lights of New York,'' a gangster film released in 1928.

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Jazz_Singer_Movie_Poster_7493.jpg]]

->''"You ain't heard nothing yet!"''

The 1927 film ''The Jazz Singer'' tells the story of Jakie Rabinowitz (played by Creator/AlJolson), the son of a Jewish cantor, who declines to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead, he dissembles his Jewish identity while trying to make it in the world of [[{{Jazz}} popular music]]. Just as Jakie is about to hit the big time, his father falls ill, forcing Jakie to choose between his family and his show-biz dreams.

''The Jazz Singer'', despite its reputation as the first "talkie," is fundamentally a silent film, with an atmospheric musical backdrop, no sound effects, and dialogue on title cards. It ''does'', however, have several recorded songs which are lip-synced (with [[HongKongDub variable success]]), and during the filming/recording of one of these songs, Jolson ad-libbed a spoken intro: "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet! Wait a minute, I tell ya! You ain't heard nothin'!" (Additionally, the film has one short synchronized dialogue scene where Jolson talks to his mother.)

Audiences at the time heard ''something'' in that.

Creator/MyrnaLoy had one of her first big film parts as a chorus girl in the 1927 film.

* BillyElliotPlot: Sort of, if you consider singing to be "feminine" and being a cantor to be "manly."

Oh, yeah -- the {{blackface}} scene. The redeeming element may be that the song -- "My Mammy" -- reflects Jakie's reconciliation with his own mother; in a way, Jakie is identifying very deeply with the stereotyped "darkie" character he portrays. It was also [[ValuesDissonance 1927]]. It was very common in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation old cartoons of the 1930s]] to reference this scene via Blackface gags (i.e. [[AshFace smoke or ash being blown onto the victim's face]], which somehow makes them want to shout "Mammy!").

There were three {{re|vision}}makes of this film, one in 1952 starring Danny Thomas, one as an episode of Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Ford Startime'' anthology series in 1959 starring Creator/JerryLewis and one in 1980 starring Music/NeilDiamond (with Creator/LaurenceOlivier, in full MoneyDearBoy mode, as his father).

* The obscure direct-to-video film ''That's Adequate!'' (which has a variety of parodies of Hollywood classics) features another reversal: ''Singing in the Synagogue''. David Alan Grier, a few years before ''Series/InLivingColor'', plays the hero and dons ''whiteface'' to make it big!

* {{Blackface}}: One of the most famous examples in film in the 1927 version, and one of the most infamous examples in the 1980 version!

There were two {{re|vision}}makes of this film, one in 1952 starring Danny Thomas and one in 1980 starring Music/NeilDiamond (with Creator/LaurenceOlivier, in full MoneyDearBoy mode, as his father).

There were two {{re|vision}}makes of this film, one in 1952 starring Danny Thomas and one in 1980 starring Music/NeilDiamond.

The 1927 film ''The Jazz Singer'' tells the story of Jakie Rabinowitz (played by Al Jolson), the son of a Jewish cantor, who declines to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead, he dissembles his Jewish identity while trying to make it in the world of [[{{Jazz}} popular music]]. Just as Jakie is about to hit the big time, his father falls ill, forcing Jakie to choose between his family and his show-biz dreams.

* An ''{{SCTV}}'' sketch guest-starring Al Jarreau as the title character reverses the plot: The father expects the son to be a jazz singer like himself, but the son instead becomes a cantor.

* The 1936 [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] cartoon ''WesternAnimation/ILoveToSinga'', directed by Creator/TexAvery, featuring fledgling jazz singer "[[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Owl Jolson]]" rebelling against his family of traditionalist musicians. This film was intended to advertise the title song, "I Love To Singa" which was featured in an Al Jolson and CabCalloway film released around the same time.