Propped up on the couch with an ice pack on my conflicted knee earlier this week, I settled into my latest DVD purchase. Unlike other entries into my movie collection, this one is a movie I had never seen before. But, this film's stature in cinematic history was enough to warrant its presence. Plus, the Warner special edition was three discs full and had oodles of extras that put the introduction of film sound into marvelous perspective.
Indeed, the attached documentary called "The Dawn of Sound" is the best reason to buy this collection. You learn how all the Hollywood studios at the time were tripping over each other to all be the first ones to add sound to movies. Not just any sound, but the best sound possible. There were a variety of different technologies being invented at the same time and some of those inventors were downright snarky. To gain advantage, none of them were above throwing each other under the proverbial bus. This DVD "extra" is 90 minutes long, but required viewing for any devoted film-o-philes. But, I digress...
Let's get back to my leg elevated onto a pillow and "The Jazz Singer." Indeed, this Al Jolson star vehicle may have been the first "feature length" film to include sound, but it certainly isn't the first film of any length to be shown that way. In this DVD set, you see a lot of the musical and comedy shorts produced earlier that included sound. A lot of old vaudevillians had already blazed this trail on their way to committing homocide of their "art form." You watch this stuff and you understand that vaudeville was not only killed, but it was terrorized with torture for an extended death knell. Then there were some silent features which used a lot of sound effects, most notably "Don Juan" with John Gilbert. But, for a feature length movie, "The Jazz Singer" is indeed the first so-called "talkie."
Except there are only about five lines of dialogue that are actually heard. And several of them are voiced by the old lady playing Jolson's mother. She was the physical embodiment of the Seinfeld "low talker" episode. While all the musical numbers are certainly heard, the rest of the movie, save for those few lines of dialogue, play just like a regular silent film. Given everything I have heard about this historical artifact, I was actually surprised to see how silent this movie really was.
The plot is well known. Archie Bunker once described in a joke on "All in the Family." "This guy is supposed to sing in a synagogue, but, instead, goes out and sings for his mammy. His father gets mad, sings an old Jew song, and dies." That is pretty much it. It's well done. It's snazzily produced. But, classic drama, it isn't. You ain't heard nothing yet? In reality, we've heard it all before.
But, that's not the real story with this recent DVD release. Warner Brothers is intending to honor "The Jazz Singer" on the occasion of his 80th anniversary, given its original release in October of 1927. And it certainly should be heralded. But, all of a sudden, we are getting flack. Protest groups are coming down hard on some of the embedded ethnic and racial stereotypes. Given the plot, the setting is very Lower East Side NY Jewish. There is no disguising that. One of the characters is simply called "The Kibitzer." The guy playing the father, a stern Jewish cantor, is Warner Oland, who eventually traded his orthodox beard for slanted eyes as Charlie Chan.
And then there's the blackface. Okay, a big part of Al Jolson's act on stage and in this movie is straight from a minstrel show. That's a fact. Now, we're hearing people talking about what a rascist he was. Fifty seven years after his death, Al Jolson's career as a consummate performer is being trampled needlessly. I'm actually expecting Al Sharpton to head out to Hillside Memorial Park with a lit broom, intending to set fire to Jolson's sarcophagus.
Enough please.
New York City in the twenties was built on immigrants from Europe. Yes, there were a lot of Jewish folks living on the East Side of Manhattan. And they certainly did embrace their ethnicity. No differently than the Puerto Ricans or Haitians that currently reside there.
And, swallow hard, folks. Minstrel shows were a form of entertainment during the 1920s. Like it or not. They were a function of the times. Were they appropriate? Probably not, but, indeed, they are no more offensive than hip hop music, in which African-Americans denigrate each other. If you want to throw a brick at a glass house, be prepared to clean up the mess afterward. And don't complain either about the annoying sound it makes.
And it's the sound that people should focus on when they consider "The Jazz Singer." Regardless of whether or not it was the innovative groundbreaker folks think it was, it still represents a moment in our film heritage that, even for its small contribution, should be embraced, not denounced.
Dinner last night: BLT at Islands.
1 comment:
According to the DVD commentary, Jolson worked in blackface on stage to emphasize his eyes and mouth. The audience in the nosebleed seats could see his emoting better. The white gloves were used for a similar purpose. These were practical choices for a vaudeville performer. And as you noted, blackface was a tradition going back to the 1800's. It survived into the 1930's with everyone doing it, including Mickey Mouse! Charges of racism come from people ignorant of the history of American pop culture.
Post a Comment