An American success story
February 10, 2011 (Thursday)
Recently I saw the 1946 movie, “The Jolson Story,” on the Turner Classic Movies channel. The plot purported to be the life story of Al Jolson, the famous entertainer, but was edited to create a screen story. The plot was not the real emphasis of the movie, anyway, because it was all about Jolson’s songs. Larry Parks played the part of Jolson, but the voice for all of the songs was Jolson’s.
Al Jolson made the first talking movie, “The Jazz Singer,” in 1927. The movie was mostly a standard silent movie of the times, but when Jolson sang, you not only saw him, you heard him. He introduced his song like he did at his personal appearances: “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothing yet!” He was undoubtedly the most popular entertainer of his day. His style influenced many others, including Elvis Presley.
Jolson was born in Lithuania but the only home he ever remembered was the United States. He was Jewish. His father was a Cantor in the synagogue. He loved to sing. He loved having an audience.
The Jews of Europe, and many other people as well, were persecuted and killed by the millions, first by Stalin in the Soviet Union (including Lithuania) and then by Hitler during World War 2. There is a concerted effort today to rewrite history and say that the Holocaust never happened. According to the Jerusalem Post today, there is a concentrated effort in Lithuania to do just that, and a strong movement of anti-Semitism is taking hold.
Jolson’s life story would have been quite different had his family remained in Lithuania. This is truly a land of opportunity that offers the freedom to pursue our goals in life. I’m very thankful to be an American. Part of our responsibility here is to speak up for the rights and freedoms of others as well as ourselves. Unless a person is a native American, his/her ancestors came here from some other country. My ancestors lived in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, England, Ireland and Scotland. Some of their descendants came to this country with hope in their hearts for a new life. We owe a debt of gratitude to our ancestors who decided to come to America. We are their beneficiaries. Are we thankful?
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A brief biography of Jolson