Finding aid for the International Al Jolson Society Collection, 1912-1994

Biography of Al Jolson

Singer, actor, entertainer, Al Jolson, was born as Asa Yoelson, May 26, 1886 in St. Petersburg, Russia. At the end of the 19th century he emigrated with his family to United States. In America, from childhood, he sang in a synagogue, where his father was a cantor. In his early teens he ran away from home, to pursue a career as an entertainer. After appearing in a vaudeville in New York, at the very beginning of the 20th century, he changed his name to Al Jolson. After many years spent learning his trade in the American show-business, Al Jolson finally achieved success when he won a part in the 1911 Broadway production La belle paree, at the Winter Garden Theatre, with which he remained affiliated for a number of years. He rose to stardom on the New York stage and before long became America's most popular recording artist. Some still consider him the greatest entertaining talent of all times. His association with films started tentatively in 1923 when he was signed to star in a D.W. Griffith film, Mammy's boy. But the film was never completed. In 1926 he sang three songs in a Warner Bros. experimental sound short, April showers. Jolson made film history the following year as the star of the world's first talkie feature, The jazz singer, in which he spoke several sentences. He went on to star in other successful musicals, but his popularity declined as a result of changing in the public taste. Jolson regained some of his old magic, singing for the troops in World War II and found a new generation of admirers when his life story was told in the film The Jolson story (1946). He died of a heart attack in 1950, after returning from entertaining US troops in Korea. (cf. The Film Encyclopedia, by Ephraim Katz, c1979.)

Scope and Content

The International Al Jolson Society promotes and perpetuates the memory of Al Jolson, an entertainer who was popular in early 20th-century vaudeville and films. Jolson often appeared in blackface. He is perhaps best known for starring in the first talkie feature film The Jazz Singer. The collection includes photocopies of articles about the American theatre, the Winter Garden Theatre, and Warner Bros. It also includes materials such as correspondence, production forms for The Jazz Singer, transcript of a speech made by Al Jolson in an announcement trailer for The Singing Fool, photocopies of flyers, reviews, and budget files. Also included in the collection are one first-day Al Jolson envelope and stamp (Sept.1, 1994), programs, original music scores with Al Jolson's songs, membership forms for the Al Jolson International Society, photographic copy prints of Al Jolson, four video cassettes and ten audio cassettes

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

For research use in the library only

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Preferred Citation

[item name], International Al Jolson Society Collection, 1912-1994, The Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, The Ohio State University