The Jazz Singer

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The Jazz Singer

The Jazz Singer (1927) is a landmark motion picture: Its immense popularity as a sound film ushered in the talking motion picture. Prior to the film's release, the actors were in silent movies (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1); they performed pantomime-style. When these silent films were shown to audiences, live musical accompaniment provided background sound. With the newly developed ability to synchronize sound with image, movies began to be released with synchronized music and sound effects. The smashing success of The Jazz Singer—which included a talking scene with several song numbers and a synchronized musical track—encouraged major film studios to convert their production facilities to sound stages. Theaters converted their projection equipment to accommodate sound. By 1928, it was clear that movies would no longer be silent.

The Jazz Singer, directed by Alan Crosland (1894–1936), was based on a short story, "The Day of Atonement" (1922), by Samson Raphaelson (1896–1983). Al Jolson (1886–1950) starred in the screen adaptation. Jolson was one of the early twentieth century's most popular and influential stage performers and singers. His presence in the film is largely responsible for the film's box office success.

The Jazz Singer is the story of immigrant integration into American culture. Its hero is Jakie Rabinowitz, the son of Jewish immigrant parents and the descendent of a long line of religious leaders, who is expected to succeed his father as cantor of the neighborhood synagogue. But Jakie has ideas of his own. Even as an adolescent, he yearns for success onstage as a jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) singer, interpreting American popular songs rather than traditional Jewish religious music. This desire puts Jakie at odds with his stern, unyielding father. The youngster sets out to win success on his own terms.

The Jazz Singer often is referred to as the first sound film, but this is not the case. By the early 1920s, a workable method of recording sound in synch with the image, and then amplifying the sound in theaters, had evolved. However, Warner Bros., the studio that produced The Jazz Singer, was the first to undertake sound-film production of feature-length films on a commercial scale. The studio's initial efforts were short, plotless films spotlighting the stage acts of musicians, singers, and dancers. The Fox studios also entered the market, producing its Movietone newsreels. Before the release of The Jazz Singer, Don Juan (1926), a silent swashbuckler featuring stage and screen star John Barrymore (1882–1942), arrived in movie houses with prerecorded music and sound effects.

The Jazz Singer, which was also remade in 1953 and 1980, capably integrates song numbers and dialog into parts of the scenario. After one musical sequence, Jakie utters a prophetic line: "You ain't heard nothin' yet." Given the rousing public response to The Jazz Singer and the new sound film industry that it spawned, this was no small boast.

—Audrey Kupferberg