Well, Wikipedia does at least has rules of no bias. So I geuss it is good there is no emotional influence on the facts.

@@MattIsTheCat Wikipedia is most definitely leftwing and it locks articles that are clearly disinformation.

Delivered by a robo-voice.

RACIST ANTI BLACK USING BLACK FACE TO DEHUMANIZE A WHOLE PEOPLE.

RACIST ANTI BLACK USING BLACK FACE TO DEHUMANIZE A WHOLE PEOPLE.

Racism at its finest

they will say anything on the internet!!!! dont believe them.

Existing documentation and personal remenicies suggest AL JOLSON live was the best of him, but the millions and millions who have enjoyed him every other way as well, confirm to them it makes no difference!

Lights of New York was the first all-talking feature released in July, 1928. The Jazz Singer was synchronized dialogue. Big difference. Not that I didn't love the Jazz Singer or Jolson...

EVER ! IMITATATING MELANATED PPL

He also beat his wife.

is this true or just and early metoo.

@@zaftra Stanwyck had the scars for life. He was a nasty individual.

@@63mckenzie I googled, couldn't find anything about it.

@@zaftra It's in Stanwyck's bios

These voiceovers are usually AI which explains the pronunciation of most simple words

Parks was good...

A wonderful movie, and Larry Parks was great, but it took great liberties with the facts.

And "Mo- Sha" not Mosh.

Tragic to the melanated ppl that he imitated

With the tragic end of Jolson, there is no one to sing Mammy.

You might read a book before you open your mouth. He was a godsend for black entertainment. Jazz couldnt have succeeded if it werent for a flow of white money, and you have him to thank for that. He demanded black castmembers. Not even jimmy fallon has that big of balls.

INTERESTING!@@MichaelOfRohan

I agree

@georgiadawg9064 thats why youre 11 and the rest of the world knows how to spell dog.

Jolson died in 1950. The war started 1950

​@@janefearns3960 That war started on June 25, 1950. He died on October 23.1950. Do the math. From Wikipedia: On September 17, 1950, a dispatch from 8th Army Headquarters, Korea, announced, "Al Jolson, the first top-flight entertainer to reach the war-front, landed here today by plane from Los Angeles...." Jolson traveled to Korea at his own expense. "And a lean, smiling Jolson drove himself without letup through 42 shows in 16 days." Those shows were the reason Jolson had to fly back home: they sucked the last vestiges of life out of him. Three weeks later, he was dead. Larry Parks said afterwards that Al Jolson "was a casualty of the Korean War."

jews are White??? maybe when it's convenient

Jolson was not a racist. He was very close to New York's African American community, both a patron of African American art and a proponent for civil rights. At the time, the African American community saw him as one of the few performers who could get their music onto the national stage, and they celebrated him for it... which is where things again get a bit sticky. One of the reasons Jolson started performing in blackface was to avoid discrimination against himself. He used the makeup to disguise his Jewish heritage and the exaggerated southern accent to disguise his native one. One of the reasons he was such a proponent of African American culture and rights was because he saw parallels between how they were still being treated in the US and how his people had been treated in Europe. In addition, the reason Jolson was one of the few national outlets for African American music was because it wouldn't be until after the Harlem Renaissance that African American performers like Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway were allowed onto the national stage.

​​@@selene8572doesn't excuse it bro all that yapping for no nothing .

Sadly, this was all too common.

And a reason hes not liked by blacks

Which explains the mispronunciation of Jolson's first name, Asa.

Who knows? Maybe he did.

He may or may not have. He would NOT have refused to play for them. The fact is Jolson premiered many songs composed by the top black composers of the 20's and 30's, and the hits he made, made those composers successful. More than that, the stories are many regarding Jolson walking into a restaurant with those same composers, and telling the owner "if my friends aren't welcome, then Jolson isn't welcome." He opened a lot of doors for blacks in music and entertainment. Those are facts. Viewing performing in "blackface" only through today's lenses does not provide the full story of how and what people had to do to get into show business. Lord knows the man had his faults. Being racist, most certainly by today's standards, was not necessarily one of them.

@@KenDatMo Well said. Thank you.

He was 8 when she passed.

His wife, not his mother. He was a violent, abusive bully

@@dshe8637 His possesivenes not any thing else! She had the hots for a younger man, and was carrying on with him, when married to Al

@@margaretthomas8899 He had four marriages. His wives divorced HIM because of his behaviour, except his last wife who was forty years younger than him.

@@margaretthomas8899 And abusive possessiveness is not ok

I am "thinking" "servicemen" might be in reference to those who fight ... of course, some women were near the front lines but not going on bombing runs, in the trenches, womaning a battleship turret, driving submarines. Sure, some lost their lives but not from direct battle confrontation ...

@@Psychiatrick Also, many women flew B-17s from America to Europe.

Stop

My great Aunt was a Navy Captain in the late 1980's, not many women were. She considered herself included in the word servicemen. She was always the smartest person in a room full of smart people. Miss her.

Henrietta keller 1st, ruby keeler 3rd.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery means that someone who copies someone admires that person and wants to be more like him or her.

Please remember the times.

Read a biography. He championed the career of Black vaudeville entertainers.

You had to have seen him live. Those who did swore that his stage presence was electrifying. Nobody ever regarded him as a “nice guy” but Frank Sinatra and John Lennon had tempers that alienated a lot of people, too. Performers as diverse as Eddie Cantor, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Eddie Fisher, Connie Francis, Wayne Newton and Jackie Wilson all credited Jolson with having a huge impact on their performing styles. Until the day he died in 1950 he was regarded universally and indisputably as the world’s greatest entertainer. As for blackface, Jolson personally supported the careers and opened doors for Eunice Blake, Cab Calloway and many other black performers. But, to each his (or her) own. No one can persuade or convince you to appreciate Jolson if his talents are lost on you. In my case, I will never understand the appeal of rap, hip-hop, acid rock or glitter rock, no matter how popular stars of those genres become.

@@robertmcewen4764 Very few now, have, or can remember experiencing Al Jolson live, I knew 2, and of course have heard celebrities like George Burns, Jack Benny, and others. What was left behind, movies, radio, records, some live footage, varies, but there is still plenty of indication of what he would have been like live, and there has been enough attraction in it all, purchase of his music, movies etc etc, plus you tube posts interest etc etc. What I have, read, heard, particularly by those who experienced it, not somebody who wrote it in a book, taken from what somebody else wrote, what made Jolie so good, or appealing live, was that he had the ability to make it feel like he was making it all up, then and there, just as the mood suited him, giving it all a spontaneous, authentic, personal, natural, believable, personal connection with everybody in an audience . His singing, comedy, and other talents were significant with in themselves, but it was how he tied it all together that was the icing on the cake!

His time was the 1st 3 decades, not today. He was, for over 20 years, the most popular and highest paid entertainer. Yes, ego was a part. He was on his own from his early years, having to work n forge his way in life initially with an older brother.

What do you mean by your wanting to like him?

i hope your plea to be accepted in THE NOW, is accepted?

He could sing

Prove it?

@@margaretthomas8899 he was a bully. Berkeley wrote in his autobiography that Jolson would keep EVERYONE on the stage while he continued to sing and raid the stage..

@@tomreedyjr3631 Berkley who?

@@margaretthomas8899 Milton Berle.damn spell check....

@@tomreedyjr3631 Milton Berle started various expanded discriminatory descriptions of Al Jolson, I.E stealing other people's material [ Berle himself has a bigger reputation of doing that more than anybody ] In the earlier days of show biz everybody did it, not so much when later bodies, song writers etc had laws come in to control things better, but it still went, and goes on. COPYING Is basically OK .or accepted by most, because in show biz, taking, sharing, benefits all! As for bullying, have a listen to some of The Friar's Roasts, after Jolie passed, and often M C'd by Berle himself. Milton Berle was in nappies [ very young ] when Al Jolson was dominating Show Biz, like most everybody then Al Jolson was his idol, particularly those with ambitions to make it in Show biz. Naturally as time passed, and Al Jolson himself did, Berle, and others found it more a need to be accepted by later generations, it pays, keeps them in jobs. So why not attack the biggest Entertainment star of the past. the man, he describes as not the nicest person who ever lived but always The World's Greatest Entertainer! There is much more about what Berle thought of Jolson, interviews etc with him via www.jolson.org. Go there and in search type in Milton Berle.