Asa “Al” Jolson said he did not know his true birthday, but he later chose May 26, 1886, as the date he would use. From a poor immigrant childhood, he rose to become one of America’s biggest entertainers and the star of the film that helped bring sound to the movies.
Jolson was born Asa Yoelson in Srednike, then part of the Russian Empire and now Seredžius, Lithuania. His family was Jewish, and his father, Moses Yoelson, worked as a cantor. In 1894, the family moved to Washington, DC, where Moses hoped to give his children a safer and better life. The next year, Jolson’s mother, Naomi, died. Her death deeply affected the young boy.
Jolson and his brother Hirsch, later called Harry, soon found an escape in show business. By the late 1890s, they were singing on street corners for money. They often used the coins they earned to buy seats at Washington’s National Theatre. Jolson later said those early performances helped him learn what audiences liked. He wanted applause, and he learned how to get it.
In 1902, Jolson joined a circus as an usher. When the owner heard him sing, he let Jolson perform during parts of the show. The circus soon closed, but Jolson kept moving. He worked in burlesque, vaudeville, and touring acts. For a time, he performed with his brother and comedian Joe Palmer. Their act gave Jolson more experience in timing, comedy, and bold stage presence.
By 1909, Jolson was working in minstrel shows. Like many white entertainers of that era, he often performed in blackface, a practice now widely recognized as racist and offensive. It became part of his public image, especially in The Jazz Singer, and remains one of the most debated parts of his legacy.
Jolson’s energy set him apart. He did not simply stand and sing. He moved, joked, knelt, shouted to the crowd, and made each performance feel personal. In 1911, he made his Broadway debut in La Belle Paree. The show helped make him a star. He followed it with roles in several musicals, including Vera Violetta, The Whirl of Society, and Robinson Crusoe, Jr.
One of his biggest stage moments came with “Swanee.” George Gershwin and Irving Caesar wrote the song in 1919. Jolson heard it and added it to his show Sinbad. His recording sold in huge numbers and helped make Gershwin famous. The song became one of Jolson’s trademarks.
In 1921, Jolson starred in Bombo at Jolson’s 59th Street Theatre in New York. At 35, he was one of the youngest performers in America to have a theater named for him. He reportedly suffered terrible stage fright on opening night, but the show was a success. The audience called him back again and again, and Jolson told them, “I’m a happy man tonight.”
Jolson’s most famous role came in 1927, when he starred in Warner Bros.’ The Jazz Singer. The film was not a fully spoken movie, but it was the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized recorded music, singing, and spoken words in selected scenes. Jolson’s line, “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet,” became linked with the arrival of talking pictures. The film helped speed Hollywood’s shift away from silent movies.
Jolson continued making films in the 1930s, including The Singing Fool, Say It with Songs, Mammy, and Hallelujah, I’m a Bum. His style later seemed old-fashioned to some audiences, but he remained a powerful symbol of early sound entertainment. In 1946, Columbia Pictures released The Jolson Story, with Larry Parks playing Jolson and Jolson dubbing the singing. The movie was a hit, and a sequel, Jolson Sings Again, followed in 1949.
Jolson also became known for entertaining American troops. The USO had been formed in February 1941, before the United States entered World War II, to support military morale. After Pearl Harbor, Jolson pushed to perform for service members and toured widely. He sometimes gave several shows a day, including performances at remote bases.
When the Korean War began in 1950, Jolson again volunteered. He traveled to Korea at his own expense and performed 42 shows in 16 days. The trip exhausted him. Jolson died of a heart attack in San Francisco on October 23, 1950, shortly after returning home. Defense Secretary George Marshall later awarded him the Medal for Merit for his service to the troops.
Jolson’s reputation has changed over time. During his career, he was billed as “The World’s Greatest Entertainer” and was admired for his powerful voice, dramatic delivery, and close connection with audiences. Today, his story is also viewed through the painful history of blackface minstrelsy. Both parts are important to understanding his place in American entertainment history.
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Terrific article about an Entertainer in American Musicians and Singers of The Great American Songbook.
They don’t make them like that anymore
Disappointed no comment on his black-face performances. Why? Partial history is no history!
New age history, we must be politically correct because we don’t want to offend anyone!
I try to offend someone regularly….it’s the only thing left when you get old. But I really enjoyed this stamp story….learned more history from the stamps than in school. xoxox
Barbara, I love your comment!
Al Jolson has a flashy tomb in Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City California.
Jolson himself lies in a sarcophagus at the top of a hill, beneath a 75-foot-high open-air canopy made of 16 different types of imported marble. On the underside of the canopy is a mosaic of hand-set tiles depicting Moses holding the Ten Commandments, encircled with the inscription, “The sweet singer of Israel, The Man Raised Up High,” from the Old Testament. Leading from the sarcophagus down to the parking area — Jolson’s grave has its own parking area — is a 120-foot-long, five-tier water cascade. Also part of the grave is a bronze statue by sculptor Carl Romanella. It depicts Jolson on one knee, arms outstretched, delivering his signature song, “Mammy,” which he often performed in blackface (Although not in the statue). African-Americans, including Williams the architect, regarded Jolson as a friend. His tomb is in front of the Mausoleum that contains Jack Benny among others. It’s well worth seeing!