Al jolson sang in black face to bring black talent to the forefront. He wasnt racist, he was trying to promote black talent the best way he could. Its a shame he has been so condemned because he loved the black community and the music. He didn't have a racist bone in his body.

No microphones,no tinsel on the stage. Just greatness of a man with a great voice. The end. ❤

@GMYellowstone

4 ай бұрын

So well said!!! 😊😊

Still a wonderful timeless classic, Jolly in black face was amazing.

Jolsen he is the best !! Greetings from Australia

@ronaldstrange8981

5 ай бұрын

Do you mean JOLSON? Please give my love to daughter Lucy, and grandchildren Max and Jemima in Melbourne. Regards from England, February, 2024.

@ColtDee

4 ай бұрын

Yep.

I just heard this song when I asked Alexa to play songs from 1918 , as I ask her to play very old old songs, this song was very good recorded even for our time and his voice was so powerful for such a young performer as he was in his 20's at the time he sang it first.

l’m 74 yrs old hearing this song brings back childhood memories l could cry !!!

Jolson had a powerful voice. He performed mostly in the pre-amplifier era, and it's probably incomprehensible to modern audiences that many singers at this time performed in theaters like this without microphones or a PA system. His voice could fill a music hall.

@JudgeJulieLit

3 жыл бұрын

Too that may explain the popularity of Ethel Merman, whose voice I find too strident.

@jaelge

3 жыл бұрын

@@JudgeJulieLit: Loved Jolson, Merman always annoyed me. Not just because of her singing voice but because her overall persona, (and speaking voice, too) seemed crass to me.

@lucinioroldan4356

2 жыл бұрын

J

@douglasschneider555

Жыл бұрын

He also sang with just 1 lung in his later career. Amazing!

@finddeniro

Жыл бұрын

Tony Bennett . " I will show you how they did it in old days.." He belted it out.. I saw him twice in a Theater built 1928 .Ohio..

I wish I could have been in that audience. Wow!

@varietyguy

6 ай бұрын

As an extra. A free lunch too!

@varietyguy

6 ай бұрын

As an extra. A free lunch too!

@varietyguy

6 ай бұрын

As an extra. A free lunch too!

@varietyguy

6 ай бұрын

As an extra. A free lunch too!

@varietyguy

6 ай бұрын

As an extra. A free lunch too!

I think of where my grandparents lived from my birth up to when they came to Horsforth in 1978. Al Jolson was loved by us all in our family.

Jolson had the guts to go on stage to celebrate our black heritage in an impermissible time…he did it with blackface out of respect….God bless him.

@ValleyoftheRogue

Жыл бұрын

He did respect black entertainers tremendously, as did Eddie Cantor, who also performed in blackface early in his career. Both men loathed racism.

@NB-gu9rs

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, there are real good reasons this is considered offensive in this day and age... but I don't see the faintest sign Al meant any harm with it. He was a product of the times, working with the culture we had. We have to move on from that, but there's no sense in punishing him for it.

@user-iw8pg8kq2q

Ай бұрын

Jolson wore blk face 2 expose WHT audiences 2 blk music. He also insisted on blk musicians being hired during his performances. IMO as a WHT person, blk culture and history is all part of American History.

I don't know why,but I love this!

@NB-gu9rs

2 ай бұрын

I suspect I do. The big sanctimonious American flag and the blackface explain it all.

Watched the Dvd of the AL JOLSON STORY with the Dad the other night,Loved every minute of it,Had to Laugh when he Said to me,sorry probably not your cup of tea,Proved him wrong when my recenty played Vinly(7inch) They Sold a Million no.3 appeared.

beautiful perfection sing Jolly we're listening!

Was no one like him,never will be!

the more I learn about al jolson the more I admire him and OFC it's NOT a racist thing...this guy was a"performer"

The Great Al Johnson!!! Regards from Argentina...

This performance is timeless. I am to young to have had the opportunity to experience vaudeville. This shows me how wonderderfull it must have been.

@wonderfuljoey23

5 ай бұрын

Is it though….

@ColtDee

4 ай бұрын

"Listen you ain't heard nothing yet folks"

The greatest entertainer in the world.

@hmackie6823

19 күн бұрын

he was

One of my very favorite artists. Rosa Larsen

I love it. ❤

More Jolson please 🤩

What a great singer there will never. Be another one like him

@dichheng344

2 жыл бұрын

He did black face wtf

@bernhardstramann6618

2 жыл бұрын

@@dichheng344He entertained American troops in three wars and was one of the first to stand up for rights for blacks.

@punished_gooner

2 жыл бұрын

@@dichheng344 yes, and?

@brt-jn7kg

Жыл бұрын

@@dichheng344 it wasn't the mock black people it was to bring black songs and culture of the black people to an extremely segregated society would not have ever known about it otherwise. You can never reply today's standards to history. It's art not anything political.

@dianalefave

4 ай бұрын

Ask some black people how they perceive it hmmmmm

My Dad had a good voice and sing like Jolson. He loved Al Jolson! He died last year and I miss his singing so much. I feel like he is speaking to me through his music because these old songs will pop into my head and I can hear my Dad singing clear as a sunny day.

@kimvukobratovich8248

Жыл бұрын

My experience…exactly…❤️

@ColtDee

4 ай бұрын

Yes I get you.

I am now well into my seventies. This was one of my first records.

@Juliaflo

2 жыл бұрын

I wasn't yet born when Mr. Jolson passed away.

@Kennephone

Жыл бұрын

@@Juliaflo Me neither, not for another 52 years. I own a bunch of his Columbia records from the teens and twenties, great music.

The always great Al Jolson

Greatest entertainer ever, no more tobe to said . What a voice !!!!!!!!!

@ColtDee

4 ай бұрын

"Listen you ain't heard nothing yet folks"

Al Jolson was awesome

Great. Al Jolson was terrific.

Mammy mine, your little rolling stone that rolled away, rolled away Mammy mine, your little rolling stone is home today, there to stay! I want to see your smiling face, smile a welcome smile I want to feel your fond embrace, listen, Mammy mine! Rock-a-bye your baby with a Dixie melody When you croon, croon a tune From the heart of Dixie Just Hang that cradle mammy mine Right on that Mason-Dixon line And swing it from Virginia To Tennessee with all the soul that's in ya Weep no more, Weep no more my lady Mammy, sing it again for me And "Old Black Joe" Just as though You had me on your knee A million baby kisses I'll deliver If you will only sing that Swanee River Rock-a-bye your rock-a-bye baby with a Dixie melody Rock-a-bye Rock your little baby With a Dixie melody When you croon, croon a little tune From the heart of Dixie Just hang that cradle mammy mine Right on that Mason-Dixon line And swing it from Virginia To Tennessee with all the soul that's in ya Mammy, mammy listen to what they're playing They're playing Weep No More My Lady Sing it again for me And you remember, remember " Old Black Joe" God love you Mammy, you sang when I was on your knee A million baby kisses -- [kissing sounds] -- I'll deliver Mammy sing that Swanee River Rock-a-bye your rock-a-bye baby with a Dixie melody!

Brilliant entertainer !!!

Wiliam Frawley was also Bub on my three sons. Upon his death he was replaced by Wiliam Demarest who played Uncle Charlie. William Demarest of course is known to us largely for his role in The Jolson Story.

@cameronchatterton

2 жыл бұрын

Did you know that Frawley introduced the song, My Manny

and al,speaks 4 himself,he was the best

I Love Al Jolson!

The ONLY reason this gets deleted from KZread is because it is from the 1939 movie The Rose of Washington Square staring Alice Fayec and Tyrone Power. NOT BECAUSE JOLSON IS SINGING IN BLACKFACE which was his trademark and was not to make fun of black people, but to emulate them. Back in those days there was not one black person who thought Jolson was a racist. They loved him because he introduced the white listening audience to black music....jazz. And he opened the doors for future black performers. When two black performers were asked to leave a restaurant because of their color, Jolson told the manager, if they had to leave, then he would leave too. He also used real black performers in his movies instead of white people playing black people. See video, 'Liza Lee' I never understood why a black person would get upset with the then greatest entertainer of all time wanting to sing as a black man. ❤

Watch for the "blooper". The film makers made a mistake in the lyrics. It's supposed to read: "Rock a bye your baby ... with a JOLSON Melody." His style became a genre all its own ! Jolson led the way, in show business, for decades. Revolutionizing the Entertainment Industry -- NOT Once, but Several Times. 70 years After his death, he is still IMMORTAL.

Owl Jolson,I Love to singa lika the Moona and the Juna and the springa...I like to singa

Bravo 🎶 it all Al 🎤🎶 Mamy memories!

Where did these days go ??? Just listen to the "Crap" they give us today. Now I now what Hell is like !! NO Auto Tune, NO Strobe lights and special effects. Just PURE Talent. O'h, what I wouldn't give to go back to those times. Air was clean and Sex was dirty !! >

@NB-gu9rs

2 ай бұрын

People complained about "newfangled" jazz back then too, and how it wasn't "real music." Quite a lot, actually. Read a damn book someday, Jimbo, and maybe you'll start to notice how much history repeats itself.

You made us love you !

Al Jolson was, AND WILL ALWAYS BE THE WORLD'S GREATEST ENTERTAINER!!!

Mammy bravo Al swing it from Virginia 🇺🇸🎤🎶😎

Such a beautiful voice.

this guy was a showman

The Greatest Voice ❤

El hombre inolvidable😅

Both Jolson and Garland gave 2 spectacular takes on this standard!!!

@MrGGPRI

11 ай бұрын

Jerry Lewis tried also but-- failed...

@user-ki1un4jg2d

10 ай бұрын

So did Connie Francis .

Outstanding!

Fred Mertz. Love it

@Deutschie

2 жыл бұрын

He was old there too ! LOL.

This priceless clip had disappeared from You Tube for a very long time. Already a huge fan of the entertainer, I recall being blown-away when I first came across this several years ago now. I used to search for it again occasionally but it had vanished.Thrilled to see its been returned here, as it showcases one of his greatest songs and accompanying performances. Of course, I've owned the movie which contains this scene(and many other awesome Jolie moments)so it doesn't really matter that it's back on You Tube--except for all those who, like me once, are discovering it for the first time! He's amazing, rivetting, & thrilling here, putting his entire heart & soul into the number. A quick word about Jolson's use of blackface--this may sound like treason but it doesn't bother me because I understand it within its historical-context, as a mode of wildly-popular, uniquely-American, theatrical-form of entertainment--he didn't use it in a racist-fashion. Furthest thing from his mind. Once he realized he'd struck gold, emphasizing the music from an idealized-South, how enthusiastically audiences responded to it as ENTERTAINMENT, he employed blackface as a way to portray a man closely-associated with this then-exotic region & culture--and noone could put it across like Jolson! Please note that he NEVER belittled African-Americans in his performances--he sang & danced with emotional-depth, heartfelt-sincerity, and, when the occasion called for it, with pure-joy as well.

@margaretthomas8899

3 жыл бұрын

Perfectly put Jack!

@jackbuckley7816

3 жыл бұрын

@@margaretthomas8899 So glad. Thanks! I'll always defend Mr. Jolson from these unfair--and mostly uninformed--attacks!

@margaretthomas8899

3 жыл бұрын

@@jackbuckley7816 Exaclty jack I can take Jolie with or without Blackface, and Larry Parks, It is the Great Entertainment value I get out of it nothing else. YES times were different, but that does not mean they were all bad.There should be more Jolie. There is a big chance Movies of his will be out on Blu ray with extras. Go to Criterion to get the Jolson Story on Blu Ray and/ or the several Jolson fcebook sites for links

@irishmike3514

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your kind words about Al Jolson!! I first heard him in the Jolson Story when I was around 11 years old......I'm 67 now and have loved him ever since!!

@KarEEm-zy5ry

3 жыл бұрын

Priceless??

Jolson was one of the 1st entertainers to play for the troops in Korea. It greatly affected his health and led to his death. Also. "Jolson's comming?" from the movie My Favorite Year.

Wow ❤ its in his heart ❤

Al Jolson played himself in this movie.I think was about 20 years from his original Stradom.

Thank you Al

we know about him because 20 years after His stardom,Al played HIMSELF in his autobiographical Movie

Love jolsen !!!

Fantastic 👍

He was the greatest entertainer ever brought up listening to Al Jolson as a child , !,,,

Fantastic.

Such power but with a rich timbre. I've evangelised him all my life. my kids laugh at me but they have no idea.

What a master. Great in everything he did.

@bonzupippinpaddleopsicopol8094

2 жыл бұрын

More like slave master…

No matter what role he performed, William Frawley always looked the same age

Wonderful form of entertainment!! Love it!

The Greatest

Good voice

Great.

In 1907, when Al Jolson was just 20, he married Henrietta Keller. At the time he could not find work. So he took a job with Lew Dockstader's Minstrel Show which was white men singing and dancing in blackface. Jolson was not happy singing the same old songs, the same old way night after night. One night while the show was in New Orleans, Jolson goes for a walk and winds up in the black section of town where he hears music that he had never heard before coming out of a club. It was JAZZ! He had never heard that kind of music being played by black musicians before. He loses track of time and doesn't get back in time for the Minstrel Show. He is fired. But this experience, hearing JAZZ music, changed his musical career forever. Here is that scene from The 1946 motion picture 'The Jolson Story'.. Jolson is being played by actor Larry Parks. kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZqeClLmAYs3YYLg.htmlsi=KIqm5vPeJ4KjxRm5

Man people were easy to please and entertain back then. Simple times.

I watched this in the theater

My dad use t sing this to me at bed time.

@thejollyrancher6713

3 жыл бұрын

Did he douse himself in shoe polish first?

@jaelge

3 жыл бұрын

@@thejollyrancher6713: Seriously, STFU.

@jaelge

3 жыл бұрын

Ignore that dickhead, Wayne.

Al Jolson was the 1st person ever video recorded singing,by Thomas Edison.

@cjc4765

3 жыл бұрын

Not really. Actually he didn't like the way Jolson sang and called him a "Coney Island beer singer, not for us". Obviously he cost his company tons and tons of money. Edison had no clue about popular artists! He even hated Caruso!!!! ("To much tremolo, no good")! The genius wasn't a genius when it came to talent.

@JudgeJulieLit

3 жыл бұрын

Were Jolson's soundtrack songs in the film The Jazz Singer (1927) the first ever video recording of singing?

@cjc4765

3 жыл бұрын

@@JudgeJulieLit no. Warner brother did a test with Jolson a year before and ordered all the copies to be destroyed so they could promote The Jazz Singer as the “first talkie”. Luckily a tape of “A Plantation Act” was found in tacked in the 90s and you can see it here on KZread. So 1926

@bernhardstramann6618

2 жыл бұрын

@@cjc4765 I can only agree with that. Edison was a brilliant inventor, but he saw no talent at all.

the performance is unique

Yes 👍🤗😃

Brilliant voice !,,, greatest entertainer ever !!!

I'm looking forward to the new reboot coming out.

@cameronmorck8510

3 жыл бұрын

you are on NOTICEEEE

@varietyguy

3 жыл бұрын

@@cameronmorck8510: NOTICE for what???

@cameronmorck8510

3 жыл бұрын

@@varietyguy shoe polish face!!!! lolololol

@varietyguy

3 жыл бұрын

Al Jolson was a God when I was growing up. He was celebrated as a great entertainer, great singer and a man who did more to advance the centuries long battle between Jews and Gentiles. He was the first 20th Century Superstar who was loved by Christians as well as Jews. He logged thousands of miles entertaining servicemen during World War II. He was responsible for many black performers finding work through his efforts. Now he is vilified as a racist. Perhaps you can see what a fucked up world we live in when such a great man as Al Jolson is now raked over the coals.

@cameronmorck8510

3 жыл бұрын

@@varietyguy its white people being upset for black people which in and of it self is offensive im right there with you guy

great!

thank you for reuploading this. his best performance for me, god knows why it disappeared before

@jaelge

3 жыл бұрын

Liberals, no doubt.

@ibrahimalee23

3 жыл бұрын

@@jaelge cuz of black face obviously. I don't think conservatives are cool with that either, at least i hope not.

@sydneyengland6545

2 жыл бұрын

@@jaelge personally, i think people just aren’t generally okay with blackface no matter how they lean politically.

@jaelge

2 жыл бұрын

@@ibrahimalee23: I don't see anything wrong with it. It´s not being used to mock or deride Blacks but is paying homage. Im Italian on my father´s side and Irish/German/Indian on my mother´s side. Am I supposed to be offended when I see a pizza box with the stereotypical Italian w/ the big nose and mustache or Italians being depicted as mobsters? Am I supposed be outraged when I see a cowboy and Indian movie or a sport team´s name paying homage to the American Indian? Or Irish being depicted as drunken gingers? This whole racial issue is a bunch of bullshit fabricated by Marxist Liberals and does nothing but divide people.

@ibrahimalee23

2 жыл бұрын

@@jaelge it's literally made to mock blacks, not pay homage. Where did you get that info from? The literal reason for black face was to play into the racist stereotypes associated with Black Americans. Black Americans (and people in general) are allowed to be offended by black face if they choose too.

Mr. Jolson was not mocking black people he was playing a simple part, many black men wear a white face in those days for vaudeville, mime, and comedy, also tribesmen and women in Africa And South AMERICA Wear MULTICOLOR FACE PAINT IN THEIR Rituals THANK YOU. ** MARK J MASSARE** Ph. D.. .

Omg, at 0:04 backstage that's actor William (future "Fred Mertz") Frawley urging Al to "go out there and kill them!"

@irishmike3514

3 жыл бұрын

William Frawley was the same age for 50 years!! Great character actor!!

“WE GOT AL JOLSON HERE!! AL JOLSON!!” -George Castansa”

A Hungarian-Jewish immigrant to America who became famous for singing jazz sometimes coloring his face black to emphasize to the racist Americans that the music they love so much originated from the Bllack Americans.

Same camera shots as in THE JAZZ SINGER(Jolson's view of audience over his shoulder, etc.)

This is much better then Motown.............lol....

William Frawley was Fred Mertz, I ♡ Lucy.

@cjc4765

3 жыл бұрын

He also recorded "My Mammy" before Al Jolson.

I have his autograph

His manager is Fred Mertz! William Frawley before "I Love Lucy".

What. Lovely. Days

glad to see woksters and children of the lie at large missed out on this beautiful piece of American Spirit. all they would have taken from it would have been the black face.

Well, talk about politially incorrect, love it!

he was the taylor swift of that time

Wonderful lennon1252. Why 1252 tho. I know what that is but wouldn't 2631 be better?

@if5340

3 жыл бұрын

Exelente

Color of face? Ridiculous. The man was an absolute genius.Everything he sang he "killed."

@teijaflink2226

2 жыл бұрын

Seems so unnessesary, he's clearly extremely talanted and doesn't seem to be trying to mock anyone (seems like a serious performance) so why the need to paint his face? What's the point, he surely must have known it could be hurtful to people?

@defaultdefault837

2 жыл бұрын

@Tarnell Lol to make himself unique this is minstrel performing

@KidMillions

2 жыл бұрын

​@@teijaflink2226 it was to add pathos to the song and bring black culture and music to the audience. In a light song like Toot Toot Tootsie he doesn't wear this make-up.

@dans9463

Жыл бұрын

Don't have to be politically correct.. It's art..

@XxXxTwofirstnames69420xXxXx

Жыл бұрын

@@teijaflink2226 so u can c his eyes n mouth better from the back of the theatre. Like clown makeup but for srs stuff.

take away any objections to the blackface...listen to his songs,is a reason he was the BEST

Our Australian aboriginals use white make up in their sacred dances which is screened Nation Wide at Big Sporting events etc. I have no comment on it. I Don't feel offended or anything? It is part of a culture, I respect all that. I don't try to unite the masses to have it banned or anything.Blackface Minstrels used by different races is in deed long, complicated and definatelly not contemporary now, but it has never been proven it is the monstrosity in recent times it has been painted to protect the contemporary image, or more so CONTEMPORARY PROFIT!!! AL JOLSON had a unique voice all his own, HE WAS immensly popular and left an indelible mark on Entertainment with or without BLACKFACE. For more about Blackface in a broad general context see the Tim Brooks book The Blackface Minstrel Show IN Mass MEDIA

@evanbruce9737

3 жыл бұрын

ITS NOT TRADITION YOU BUM STFU BRUH LEAVE YOUR LONG PARAGRAPH TRYNA EXPLAIN RACIST PASTTIMES IN THE DRAFTS MY GUY NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE

@mica412

3 жыл бұрын

@@evanbruce9737 - Pardon???

@JudgeJulieLit

3 жыл бұрын

@@evanbruce9737 "Margaret" is a lady, you lout.

@RapRants

2 жыл бұрын

Australian Abroriginals were doing that long before white people came to their continent. It was never intended to mock or offend them. Blackface was meant to mock and offend black people. That history can’t be changed to fit your narrative.

@margaretthomas8899

2 жыл бұрын

@@RapRants They may have well done it before Adam and Eve, or Apes evolved into humans, however you want it? All I know is, because I have seen it with my own eyes, unless my TV set is tuned different to everybody else's in Australia, or something? and I am like talking in the last 12 months, at big sporting events, and likely other big occasions? DREAM TIME AT THE G for our Australian football a fine example. They paint on, some full face, a lot of white, other stripes of it over their faces,on their arms and legs and dance around, sing etc etc, It could be seen as an aboriginal minstrel show mocking white people, I CERTAINLY DON"T. I JUST ACCEPT IT AS THEIR CULTURE, OR A WAY OF CELEBRATION WHATEVER! and I thought that way too when I went to the some Church as the Pastor Nicholis Family in Australia, and experienced him as a minister.There will always be people that won't judge anybody by color, or any other trait about them, and. unless they do something bad, insulting, or intimidating to them,give them the benefit of the doubt, even though they may not understand or even like what they do. What they won't do is be bullied brainwashed into contemporary or mob mass hysteria to protect something of mass interest like the anti old stuff! EVER hear of a guy in Germany in the 1930's, who wanted to change the whole world order, was against this and that because it was not his way etc etc, and got the masses with him, brainwashed, this is what the control all's are doing here, Painting something, fabricating it, Thousands of times worse than it was! TO PROTECT THE CONTEMPORARY HIP POCKET PROFIT MARGIN, and fools who are worried about there contemporary image fall for it! THAT is not doing anything to help anybody!

What movie?

@simonx49

Жыл бұрын

The Rose Of Washington Square

This is Rachel Dolezal's favorite song.

the people in the crowd are like wtf

Was that William Frawley who was off stage? It definitely looked like him.

Al called his blackface character 'Gus'. It was just a role he was playing. Al Jolson was not a racist. Neither were Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, or multitudes of others who blacked up for a role. Racism is defined in one's actions and one's motivations, not necessarily by the color of one's make-up, or of one's skin.

Was this the former governor of Va.' Ralph Northern?"

Cheezy…