Only in America: Al Jolson and The Jazz Singer

by Richard Bernstein Narrated by Suzanne Toren

Overview

A probing biography of world-renowned Jewish singer and actor Al Jolson and the history of his performance in and the making of The Jazz Singer

Al Jolson, born Asa Yoelson, immigrated from a shtetl in Lithuania to the United States in 1894 after his father secured a job as a rabbi in Washington, D.C. A poor, Yiddish-speaking newcomer navigating a racially segregated and antisemitic America, young Jolson dreamed of becoming a star, and he did. Thanks to his immense talent and his knack for assimilating into new environments, by the time he reached his twenties he was the most famous and highly paid entertainer in America, making almost $5,000 a week at a time when the average American made $800 a year. Jolson's public adoration and widespread acceptance as a star marked the beginning of an enriching cultural transformation, a moment when the American mind opened up to ethnic and racial differences, widening the gap of acceptability. And yet Jolson himself, despite being ferociously ambitious and gigantically talented, was crippled by insecurity, often nervous to the point of collapse, prisoner to his many vices.

Through Jolson, Bernstein simultaneously breaks open the history and legacy of the cultural sensation The Jazz Singer. Not only was The Jazz Singer the first feature length film with synchronized music and dialogue, but it was also taboo smashing in its content: The Jazz Singer is all about Jews, Orthodox and otherwise. Bernstein expounds on the making of The Jazz Singer, what the film meant then and now, introducing the many individuals involved in its production, including Samson Raphaelson, a young Jewish writer whose short story was the basis for the movie; the four Warner brothers, who made a fortune off it; and George Jessel, Jolson's rival and the star of Raphaelson's stage adaptation of his short story. In the background emerges a picture of old Hollywood in the Roaring Twenties: cutthroat and greedy yet visionary and progressive. And while The Jazz Singer represented the future in many ways, it also dredged up the worst of the past, including Jolson's use of blackface, common at the time.

At once a tale of the Judaizing of American culture and an acknowledgment of the challenges to come, Only in America is a glistening examination of a man at the center of a watershed moment in the arts.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

They say Al Jolson was the most mesmerizing performer of his generation, and, in Bernstein’s mesmerizing story of his life, you can understand why. An essential read for anyone interested in the birth of modern popular entertainment.” —Jeremy Dauber, author of Jewish Comedy: A Serious History
 
“Richard Bernstein’s brilliant book is not only a portrait of Al Jolson, the fiercely sentimental and commanding performing genius, but a detailed evocation of the culture Jolson came out of—the immigrant Eastern European Jews, the clashes between generations, the astonishing success early in the last century welcoming Jolson and other Jewish entertainers like a shower of gold.” —David Denby, author of Lit Up

“Fascinating . . . In remaking himself, [Jolson] helped remake America . . . Bernstein tells his version in remarkably concise fashion, interspersing the basic facts of Jolson’s life with rich layers of cultural history.” —Ann Levin, Forward

“A revealing study of a pioneering if problematic entertainer. . . . Within [The Jazz Singer’s] plot, Bernstein finds a rich allegory not just for Jolson’s life but for the experience of Jews in America.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The story of Al Jolson and The Jazz Singer is, in Richard Bernstein’s capable hands, the story of a generation of Jews in the entertainment industry.  It serves as a timely reminder of what America meant to successful immigrants and their children. Replete with insights concerning sensitive issues like assimilation, intermarriage, the generational divide, and Black-Jewish relations, Only in America deserves a wide readership.” —Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University
 
“Only in America is a meticulously researched and captivating literary performance that not only chronicles the remarkable rise of a Jewish immigrant to stardom but also vividly depicts the emergence of popular entertainment in the early twentieth century as a beacon of opportunity for both Jewish and Black communities.” —Clémence Boulouqe, Carl and Bernice Witten Associate Professor of Jewish and Israel Studies, Columbia University

Kirkus Reviews

2024-09-27
An exploration of Al Jolson, blackface, and Jewish migrants’ transformative role in American culture.

Today, Al Jolson (1886-1950) is famous mainly as the star of 1927’sThe Jazz Singer, the first feature-length synchronized-sound film. More specifically, he’s famous for singing its showstopper, “My Mammy,” in blackface, a performance that would be unthinkable today. But in his heyday, Jolson was the best-paid entertainer on Broadway (earning $5,000 weekly at one point). In Bernstein's thoughtful account, the author ofOut of the Blue(2003),China 1945(2014), and other works, doesn’t diminish blackface’s offensiveness, but he strives to give it some meaningful context in terms of Jolson’s life and Jewish American entertainers more generally. “In enlightened, post-civil-rights-movement America,” Bernstein writes, “blackface has come to be like the swastika and the N-word, banned from public spaces. But at the time that Jolson adopted it, it was taken for granted; it was a sort of stock image, a cliché.” Born in a Lithuanian shtetl as Asa Yoelson, Jolson arrived in America hungry to assimilate and was performing onstage by the time he was 12. At the start of the 20th century, Jolson was part of a wave of Jewish Americans leading an incursion into American culture, playing leadership roles in theaters and film. It’s often forgotten thatThe Jazz Singer, based on a short story and play by Samson Raphaelson, was inspired by Jolson’s own story: a young Jewish cantor torn between the allure of Broadway spotlights and the demands of his family’s faith. Within that plot, Bernstein finds a rich allegory not just for Jolson’s life but for the experience of Jews in America “who came nearly to dominate American popular culture, remaking themselves and remaking the country in the process.” It’s not a full-dress Jolson bio, but some elements—particularly his abusiveness toward women—are glossed over.

A revealing study of a pioneering if problematic entertainer.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159352835
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	10/08/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

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