Sybil Jason Part IV, Shirley Temple, Bogart, Ask Jolie and Holiday Specials
“Sonny boy in skirts” & “Warner Brother’s eight-year-old threat to Shirley Temple’s crown”
Well folks, we have just published our 19th Jolson and Friends Blog posting and its time to continue our journey down memory lane and continue with Part IV of our six-part interview with Sybil Jason. Sybil, has recently published a great book, “My Fifteen Minutes” which includes a must read chapter devoted to her life-long friend, the legendary Al Jolson. Sybil will also share with some with us some great stories and insights from her book about Jolie, Shirley Temple, Bogart, Ruby Keeler, Jimmy Durante, Cab Calloway, the International Al Jolson Society and the Golden Era of Hollywood.
Free Sybil Jason Part IV Interview Podcast
After collecting audio assets for four Jolson related interviews, I have launched the First Jolson Podcast and you can listen to Part IV of my interview with Sybil Jason.
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Jolson and Friends Blog Podcast: Sybil Jason Interview Part IV
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Jolson and Friends Blog Special Feature: Richard Halpern’s Video Play List
For those of you, who have not had the opportunity to see Richard Halpern’s recent August 24th, 2006 New York City appearance, the Jolson and Friends Blog will be featuring several video performances over the next couple of months. This includes some great songs and his personal homage to the great Tin Pan Alley songwriters and performers including Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Sophie Tucker, Irving Caesar, E.Y. Harburg, B.G. DeSylva, Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Charles Tobias, Henry Tobias and Sammy Timberg.
Copyright © 2006 Brian Marcus Decker
Jolson and Friends presents another special featured video of Richard Halpern’s performance of, "Masculine Women! Feminine Men!" (1925) - Music and Lyrics: Edgar Leslie and James V. Monaco with Richard Danley at the piano.
Click here to view video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6869FHpbliI&mode=related&search=
Upcoming Events
The Living Voice of Al Jolson: Sunday, November 26, 2006 at 3:00 pm
Clive Baldwin has an international reputation as the “Living Voice of Al Jolson”. Mr. Baldwin is an extremely gifted entertainer whose natural singing and speaking voice and even whistling is so similar to Jolson that audiences keep yelling for more, encore after encore.
222-05 36th Av
Bayside,
Tickets: $35, $32, $29
Information or Tickets Orders: 718-631-6311
Brian Gari NYC Book Signing Event for, “We Bombed In
Brian Gari will be signing copies of his new book about the inside story of his Broadway musical, “Late Nite Comic” on:
- November 28th at 7PM at
Memories of Jolson starring Gary Birkhof: Sunday December 3rd, 2006 at 2:00pm
For one performance only, the life, music and legend that was Al Jolson comes to the Capitol Arts Centre in Port Hope,
Capitol Arts Centre in Port Hope
Sunday December 3rd, 2006 at 2:00pm
Tickets $18 Adults and $15 Students and Seniors
Information call: 800-434-5092
Wait a minute, wait a minute: Last chance to enter
November Jolson and Friends Challenge:
What if you had the chance to ask Al Jolson one question, what would it be?
I will give away t-shirts to two people who submit the most original and engaging questions. These questions will be used for future article for the Jolson and Friends Blog. Note please do not expect that your questions for this challenge will be answered.
Rules: If you could ask Al Jolson one questions must be e-mailed to Brian@JolsonBlog.com, with “Jolson and Friends Trivia Challenge” in the subject line. Two winners for the November Jolson and Friends Trivia Challenge will be selected based on originality and must be received by 12:00 noon (EST) Sunday, November 26, 2006. All published questions submitted for this challenge will be covered by the Jolson and Friends Blog copyright. Please include your full name, t-shirt size and mailing address in your response. Only one response accepted per person per monthly Jolson and Friends Trivia Challenge. Previous month winner is not eligible for this special November challenge. These collector edition T-shirts, are provided by AffiniTee LLC, include a vintage black and white or color reproduction of a 1928 theatrical program promoting “The Singing Fool” feature film starring the legendary, Al Jolson. Sizes may be limited based on in-stock availability.
The Holiday
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This is a vintage color reproduction of a 1928 theatrical program.
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This is a vintage color reproduction of a hand painted tin carnival sign.
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This is a vintage B/W illustration of Jolie from the 1920s.
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To order please specify style (Jolson, Cantor, Moon, Jolie, Brooklyn Baseball, Asbury Park Clown, Sherlock Double Profile, Sherlock Improbable, Sudoku), quantity, size, t-shirt color (white/natural or black), type (t-shirts or matching gift cards) and your shipping address. Please send checks to:
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Brian Marcus Decker
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Sybil Jason Interview: Part IV
“Of course there was always Shirley Temple. We became friends later in life because she was so protected by her mom”
Brian Marcus Decker: In your book you provided some really great contacts for the use of child stars around the time of the depression.
“We were barely coming out of the depression era and the studio heads were wise enough to look into the past and see that the innocence of a child helped to water down the harsher facts of life experienced generally by the American public.” - Sybil Jason (My Fifteen Minutes)
Through this period you’ve had on the screen on and off camera relationships with a number of child performers during that golden age of
Sybil Jason: Well they were all really fantastic, although we never worked together except at the very first ever Junior Oscar awards in which Jackie Cougar and I worked as co-MCs. I met the wonderful actress Peggy Ann Garner; you must remember her in The Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Brian Marcus Decker: Oh yes.
Sybil Jason: We developed such a deep friendship that I treasure to this day, and it lasted until the day she died. She died so very young, and I miss her to this day. Of course there was always Shirley Temple. We became friends later in life because she was so protected by her mom.
You know nobody could really get close to her but later in life, although we had a lot in common as kids, and then after as adults, there is one coincidence both Shirley and I could have done without. After 58 years of marriage I lost my beloved husband, Tony Drake, to lung cancer July 17th last year, 2005. And Shirley lost her husband Charles, 11 days later. Can you believe that?
Brian Marcus Decker: That is such a strange coincidence.
Sybil Jason: It is.
Brian Marcus Decker: As a child actress you were often referred to as Warner Brother’s first child star. There is an immediate association of course with Shirley Temple, certainly more than any other juvenile star. In fact some of the critics were critics and The New York Post referred to you as, “Warner Brother’s eight-year-old threat to Shirley Temple’s crown”.
Well I wanted to set the record straight. Sybil Jason was and is an original. She didn’t copy anyone. In fact in my research I found some great articles and I wanted to share a few quotes with you:
· “Sybil Jason who is as great a vamp as any actress who ever set foot on the Warner Brother’s lot.” (I just love that.)
· “Sybil has a style all her own.”
· “Sybil delivers with both barrels in her coral fiesta dishing out exactly the sort of songs which click in socko fashion.”
· “The most polite child actor to ever step before a camera.”
· “Sonny boy in skirts.” (Referring to your performance in “The Singing Kid”)
Sybil Jason: Oh my gosh! I have to laugh at this Brian. From what you have read I imagine most of it was from the Warner’s PR department. By the way can you make me copies of these hilarious quotes?
Brian Marcus Decker: Well of course. I was very curious and that was really my question. Did these quotes actually come from Warner Brother’s PR?
Sybil Jason: I would really… to be honest I think they did. In regard to me being polite, that was my upbringing, my British upbringing.
Brian Marcus Decker: Well after reading your book I started reading Shirley Temple’s Black’s biography, “Child Star” and the difference between the two books were really, really enormous. “My Fifteen Minutes” was illuminating while Shirley’s book was informative but most of the time somewhat dark. In fact her stories about how misbehaved children were treated on film sets was downright disturbing. You know she talked about a black box, which seemed more like a place you would send criminals into solitary confinement. From your personal experiences how were child performers disciplined on the set?
Sybil Jason: Well how lucky can you get? I can’t think of any horrendous things that happened to me, that would have scarred me for life. My poor contemporaries did seem to go through a terrible time and I’m grateful that I didn’t. The only thing that I can tell you is that as a co-star, I was treated no differently than my adult stars because I was expected to do my job like anyone else and was given the respect both by the stars and the directors with whom I worked. I was given a sense of responsibility fairly early on in my life and I happened to maintain that throughout my career.
Brian Marcus Decker: “The Blue Bird” is a very, very interesting film but it really seemed to close the book on a number of careers.
Sybil Jason: You’re right.
Brian Marcus Decker: Including child performers such as you, and even Shirley Temple in many ways.
Sybil Jason: Right.
Brian Marcus Decker: However despite a good cast, a great director, interesting use of black and white in the first reel, (a transition to color very similar to the “Wizard of Oz” and just an absolutely spectacular effect during that fire scene), the film was really still considered a commercial failure. What do you think were some of the reasons behind the film’s lack of success?
Sybil Jason: Well you know it actually bombed with the public, but I must say that the fire sequence you just talked about in “The Blue Bird” in my opinion could stand up to anything for special effects in the “Wizard of Oz”. By the way Fred Sersen received an Oscar for special effects.
Only in this day and age is “The Blue Bird” recognized as a fine film. Now my part in “The Blue Bird” was very small to start with but my sister and I were counting on my very dramatic scene where a crippled girl discovers she can walk due to the miracle of receiving the blue bird. Now just before the premier of the movie the director, Walter Lang, who was a very good friend of my sister and I called us into his office and said as far as he is concerned that scene was the best in the whole movie. But Mrs. Temple said that if that scene was kept in she and Shirley would leave the studio. It was a great disappointment to me and my sister. As far as I know that scene ended up on the cutting room floor never to see the light of day again.
Brian Marcus Decker: You know that is really one of the most upsetting things because it would be really phenomenal if that footage still existed. Do you think there ever would be an opportunity to re-edit the movie the way it was supposed to be seen?
Sybil Jason: Oh that would be absolutely wonderful, but I doubt it. Like I said I’m sure it landed up on the cutting room floor.
Brian Marcus Decker: One of my theories why the movie was not as successful as it should have been, I think, had to do with the character that Shirley Temple played. I think people were so shocked to entertain the fact that Shirley Temple might actually be this spoiled, ungrateful brat, instead of the cute, adorable, loving character that she portrayed in her previous films.
Sybil Jason: Right. Well that’s a good supposition. I think it was probably a combination of many things, but like I said, Shirley is a brat in the movie and all combined the public just didn’t accept it.
“Needless to say Bogey was a real character, he really was, and I would not have traded that experience for anything in the world”
Brian Marcus Decker: Now there was some conflict and bad behavior between the director William Dieterle and Humphrey Bogart on the set of “The Great O’Malley” . Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Sybil Jason: Well let me see. I’m trying to think of; really it’s in my book. It’s too long a story to really to go into. They were just at odds from the word go and the story’s far too long so really I suggest that if anyone’s interested in this really they should read my book. Needless to say Bogey was a real character, he really was, and I would not have traded that experience for anything in the world. It certainly opened up my eyes and I think you know what I mean.
Brian Marcus Decker: Yes actually I do. It’s one of the absolute best stories in the entire book.
Sybil Jason: Well typical of Bogey right?
Brian Marcus Decker: Absolutely.
Coming December 1, 2006: Sybil Jason Interview Part V
- What are some of your favorite Al Jolson songs?
- “A Day at Santa Anita” has recently been included as bonus material with the newly released James Cagney DVD, “Each Dawn I Die”. Can you provide us any background on how Warner Brothers made the decision to put it on that DVD?
- What was the background behind the Sybil Jason Drama Award?
This is Brian Marcus Decker and thank you for joining us on the Jolson and Friends blog. This is the first and most important blog dedicated to the life and musical influences of the legendary Al Jolson, The World’s Greatest Entertainer, as well as his friends. And please visit us again http://www.jolsonblog.com.
My Fifteen Minutes: An Autobiography of a Child Star of the Golden Era of
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Changes to Jolson and Friends Blog
In the upcoming months I am looking to continue to evolve the Jolson and Friends Blog and wanted preview some upcoming changes. As of this post, I am promoting the sale of Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and six new Limited Edition T-shirt designs (featured above) and matching gift cards. The sales from these items will help offset the cost of maintaining this blog.
Due to the time intensive nature of ongoing research, content development, production and maintaining and the Blog, I will am publishing twice a month instead of weekly. The next blog update will happen on December 1, 2006.
I am starting to work on several future Jolson and Friends projects including:
· Expanded global coverage of local events (keep sending me local events to post).
· Future podcasts of upcoming interviews and special performance-based content.
· Jolson and Friends Recommended Reading and Viewer Lists including cost-saving shopping links to find out-of-print books, videos and more.
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