Blackface and Al Jolson
The entertainment industry including records burst wide open with the advent of talking pictures back in 1927 when stage star Al Jolson put his career on the line to appear in the film “The Jazz Singer” this movie was an immediate success and spelled the end of silent movies, the rest is history. Jolson went on to make several pictures appearing in black face (his trademark) His acting was mediocre but the music is what the audience wanted. Jolson was the first with a million in record sales, his radio show ran for several years for the Kraft Music Hall and his stage shows ran for many weeks on Broadway. His shows on Broadway were the first to have a runway through the center of the audience, He also did the first ever television interview. Jolson’s legacy was diminished due to blackface being thought of today as a racial slur when in fact many stars have appeared in blackface since then. Actually Jolson was credited with introducing African-American music to white audiences as well as fighting black discrimination on Broadway. The blackface thing was just a stage prop and in some ways a compliment. I think Jolson got a bum rap and is mostly forgotten because of it.
Henjoy
