Georgie Jessel, in later years he was interviewed and he said that all of his life he sort of tolerated Jolson, and he said, "You know he was a real son of a bitch", he said, "but he was the greatest performer that ever lived".


Yowza, Yowza, Yowza. This is Brian Marcus Decker, for the Jolson and Friends blog located on the web at www.JolsonBlog.com, which is the first tech-nostalgic blog dedicated to the musical influences of Al Jolson and Friends.

Well folks, we now conclude this interview series with Part VI of, "Asa, the Magnificent Minstrel". I am very excited to inform you of my next project which starts on October 7, 2007. This is a very special interview with Rich Conaty from WFUV. He has been the host of the Big Broadcast radio program for over 30 years. This spectacular Sunday night radio show features only classic songs from the '20s and '30s. He will be sharing his thoughts on Al Jolson, Cab Calloway, Connee Boswell, the upcoming newly restored and digitally mastered DVD release of the Jazz Singer, the Ziegfeld Follies, Vince Giordano's Nighthawks and more.

Free Jolson and Friends Podcasts

After collecting audio assets for five Jolson related interviews, in the last few months I launched the First Jolson Podcast and you can listen to the entire series of interviews including Asa, the Magnificent Minstrel, the seven-part series on Vaudeville with author Trav S.D. , Sybil Jason and the upcoming interview with the Rich Conaty of the Big Broadcast radio show.

To listen to the free Jolson and Friends Blog Podcast published audio files

Use feed.jolsonblog.com and click on:

Jolson and Friends Blog Podcast: Asa the Magnificent Minstrel Interview Part VI

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Use www.apple.com/itunes/download/ or www.podcastalley.com or www.bloglines.com/ to set-up account and then search on Jolson and Friends Blog Podcast.

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80th Anniversary Celebration of "The Jazz Singer" October 5 - 7 Event Schedule on Friday October 5 - 8:00 PM

Come see the screening of the newly restored and digitally mastered film, "The Jazz Singer". This event is presented by the American Cinematheque in association with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and Warner Home Video. This event will be hosted by Leonard Maltin on Friday October 5th at 8 PM.

Tickets are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members. Tickets for this event will be available beginning September 4 at the Academy during regular business hours, online, by mail (HTML or PDF format), or on the night of the screening, if still available. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills. Doors open at 7 p.m. All seating is unreserved. For additional information, please call the Academy at (310) 247-3600 or go to www.oscars.org .

80th Anniversary Celebration of "The Jazz Singer" Saturday, October 6 - 7:30 PM

The historic event continues on Saturday October 6th with a Gala Reception including a live Cabaret performance at 7:30 PM by our very talented Richard Halpern in "Al Jolson: On the Road to The Jazz Singer" with the Dean Mora Trio. This special event will be Emceed by Maxwell De Mille with a  special rare screening of the 1926 Vitaphone short: "Al Jolson in A Plantation Act" followed by a panel discussion at 8:45 PM. Confirmed Panelists include:

Herbert G. Goldman: Leading authority on Al Jolson, and the author of his most prolific biography, "Jolson: The Legend Comes To Life";

Brad Kay: Musician and vintage jazz historian who chronicled the amazing tale of this restoration. Brad will act as ringmaster of the panel discussion;

Ron Hutchinson: Head of The Vitaphone Project. Their mission is to restore as many of these lost early sound treasures as possible. Very influential with this restoration as well as providing audio commentary on the new "JAZZ SINGER" DVD.

John Newton: One of the country's leading record collectors and owner of the damaged sound disc ultimately used for the restoration of "A PLANTATION ACT", John also provided the pristine sound discs used in the up-coming "JAZZ SINGER" DVD;

Jim Cooprider: Alchemist who repaired the damaged sound disc for "A PLANTATION ACT";

Robert Gitt: From UCLA's Film and Television archive, Robert was involved in one of the first public screenings of "A PLANTATION ACT" shortly after the final restoration.

Tickets are $15.00 for general admission and can be purchased at www.Fandango.com or at the Egyptian Theatre Box Office. Note that special discounted tickets are available for members of the Cinematheque and the International Al Jolson Society. The event be be held at:

Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian,

6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA

For additional information, please call (323) 466-3456 or go to www.AmericanCinematheque.com

80th Anniversary Celebration of "The Jazz Singer" Sunday, October 7 - 7:30 PM

Al Jolson double feature at 7:30 PM of two Jolson classics, "Hallelujah, I'm A Bum" (1933) and "Big Boy" (1930).

Tickets are $10.00 for general admission and can be purchased at www.Fandango.com or at the Egyptian Theatre Box Office. The event will be held at:

Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian,

6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA

For additional information, please call (323) 466-3456 or go to www.AmericanCinematheque.com

New Series of Houdini and History of Baseball T-shirts and for a Limited Time, Save 20% on Special Edition T-shirts (Still Includes FREE Shipping)

You will be "Sitting on Top of the World" with these limited edition T-shirts. These are perfect holiday gifts for collectors of nostalgia and a must have for anyone interested in the legendary Al Jolson, Houdini, Baseball and Eddie Cantor. Each t-shirt comes with a FREE matching gift card.

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To order please specify style (Jolson, Cantor, Moon, Jolie, Houdini King of Cards, World's Greatest Mystery Man, History of Old Time 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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Jolson Blog Part VI Conclusion: Asa the Magnificent Minstrel Interview

Now we all know, or at least my generation, know and heard Fanny Brice. She was on the networks in her later life as Baby Snooks. When Jolson died, they interviewed her and she said, "I never liked the guy, never liked him."


Brian Marcus Decker: Well, Jolson was clearly revered by his peers as a human dynamo with endless energy, second-to-none, as supported by some of the of the really great quotes in your film by people like George Burns and Georgie Jessel and William Demarest. However, you also note that there was another side of Jolson's personality that was extremely egotistical and openly criticized by some of his fellow performers. Who were some of these performers?

Dr. Larry I. Gaum: Well, number one, the one that comes to my mind is Fanny Brice. Now we all know, or at least my generation, know and heard Fanny Brice. She was on the networks in her later life as Baby Snooks. When Jolson died, they interviewed her and she said, "I never liked the guy, never liked him." Now, when I heard that, I sort of went back into the history books and I said, "I wonder why Fanny Brice did not like Jolson." There were others that didn't like him as well. But let me just give you some of my thoughts on the subject.

First of all, in 1912 there was a Broadway play called "The Whirl of Society" and Jolson played Gus, the butler, Fanny Brice, an upcoming star who already had a couple of good write-ups, was Sadie,] the maid or the domestic. And in 1913 "The Honeymoon Express" was on Broadway with Jolson as Gus again, and Fanny Brice played the maid, Marcella. Now, when these plays were being performed, it was not unusual for Jolson to step up half-way through them and to say to the audience, "Did you come here to watch this play or did you come to listen to me sing?" And they would invariably say, "We want to hear Jolson sing, we want to hear you sing, Al." Now what he did then was interrupt the play and record shows that Fanny Brice, on many occasions, never got to sing her song. She had a few songs that she sang and here was a guy by the name of Al Jolson that stopped the damn play in the middle and she wasn't given that opportunity to perform.

I'm sure that those were some of her reasons. He was tough, he was tough. He had many facets to his personality. But when they asked George Burns about his friend, Jolson, he said, "Jolson never finished, he just wore the audience out."

Brian Marcus Decker: I love that quote.

Dr. Larry I. Gaum: I do too. I think it sums up the whole being of Al Jolson as a performer.  Of all of the songs that he sang, "Rock-a-Bye" was my favorite.

Dr. Larry I. Gaum: Georgie Jessel, in later years he was interviewed and he said that all of his life he sort of tolerated Jolson, and he said, "You know he was a real son of a bitch", he said, "but he was the greatest performer that ever lived". Why would Georgie Jessel say that about Jolson? That he tolerated him, it may not have been those exact words but there was conflict between the two of them. Well, in 1925 Jessel was playing the lead role in "The Jazz Singer" on Broadway, and in 1925 Jessel was negotiating with Warner Brothers. They wanted to make the movie "The Jazz Singer" and he held out for more money. Jessel and Jolson were good friends, and Jolson went off, unbeknownst to Jessel, made an agreement with Warner Brothers and got the leading role. Now, is it any wonder that Jessel always resented him for that fact?

Brian Marcus Decker: I was curious about your new project. Would you like to share that with us?

Dr. Larry I. Gaum: I'm working on a documentary on Sophie Tucker. Sophie Tucker was referred to as the "female Al Jolson". Tough lady, could handle herself and her performances were always a thrill to anyone that listened. I remember seeing Sophie Tucker perform on the Ed Sullivan Show when I was a kid. She just stood there, she was as big as a mountain and she belted out "Some of These Days", I tell you, you could just shiver. Despite the fact that probably half a dozen people around the world today, or maybe a few more, know something about Sophie Tucker, I want to put her on video. I want to tell her story. It won't be as extensive as the one I did on Jolson, but I have a lot of nice film footage that a good friend of mine in Australia has sent me, some albums etc. and so forth. Alan Davis, by the way is the good friend in Australia, a wonderful, wonderful individual, an Honorable Member of the International Al Jolson Society and a good friend. And I've never met him; he's been so helpful to me.  

Brian Marcus Decker: Larry, one last question, how can people purchase "Asa, the Magnificent Minstrel"?

Dr. Larry I. Gaum: They can send me an e-mail, Brian. My email address, I believe you have it. lgaum@ca.inter.net or they call me at; can I give you my phone number?

Brian Marcus Decker: Of course.

Dr. Larry I. Gaum: My office phone number, 905-275-2535. It's on DVD; I don't have it on the VHS format anymore. I think most people have DVD's nowadays but I appreciate that very much. Again, as I said, I have other ways of earning a living and I'm not really looking to make profits on Asa, the Magnificent Minstrel. I try to sell it to re-coop some of my expenses and that's all. I'm not in the multi media business and that's the short and the long of it.

Brian Marcus Decker: Well on behalf of the Jolson and Friends blog I'd like to personally thank you, Dr. Larry Gaum, for your ongoing contribution in helping the memory of Al Jolson alive 57 years after his death.

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 and friends. And please come visit us again at www.jolsonblog.com, and certainly feel free to listen to the audio podcasts.

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" and Friends including Jewish entertainers Eddie Cantor, Sophie Tucker, Fanny Brice, George Jessel, Jack Benny, and George Burns. Jolson, the "immortal Jewish minstrel" was the first 20th century Jewish performer who was loved, worshipped and adored by millions of people all over the world.

Interview with Rich Conaty: Jolson meets The Big Broadcast starts on October 7, 2007

• The music of the '20's and '30's represents a real highpoint for American culture. With a melting pot of ethnic influences, it generated almost limitless pool of talented tin-pan alley song writers and musical comedic stage film and radio performers. The artists that created this Golden Era that changed not just American culture but redefined the 20th century on a global basis. Rich, you clearly have a strong affinity with the '20's and '30's. Why do you think this time period is so important?
• Can you share with us some of the nostalgic music that inspired you at an early age?
• What do you think were some of Jolson's greatest accomplishments?

Jolson and Friends Blog Required Reading List

No Applause--Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous (Paperback) by Trav S.D.

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

My Fifteen Minutes: An Autobiography of a Child Star of the Golden Era of Hollywood (Paperback) by Sybil Jason.

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

When Jolson Was King: (Paperback) by Richard Grudens.

Richard Grudens has written an entertaining and informative (must read) book for anyone interested in the legendary, Al Jolson "The World's Greatest Entertainer".

"The book contains many facets of Jolson' career including those around him, his competition, employers, and comments from those he inspired enough to form their own careers, the issue of minstrel, blackface performers, fabled stories of the famed Friar's Club, a chapter of the infamous Shubert Brothers, and chapters covering Jolson's experiences in film, radio and his extensive USO travels. Covered too are vignettes of the theatres in which Jolson performed, and of those great theatrical competitors like the Barrymore's and where they were voicing their talents while Jolson was pulling them in at the Winter Garden, and a full feature on Jolson's films from the first talkie, The Jazz Singer to his famed bio-pics The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again." - Richard Grudens

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon


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, Houdini, History of Baseball and several other unique Limited Edition T-shirt designs (featured above) and matching gift cards (with free shipping). The sales from these items 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, the next blog update will happen on October 7, 2007.

I am starting to work on several future Jolson and Friends projects including:

• More Jolson and Friends Recommended Reading and Viewer Lists including cost-saving shopping links to find out-of-print books, videos and more.
• Expanded global coverage of local events.
• Future podcasts of upcoming interviews and special performance-based content.

To ensure that you are automatically informed about new postings, please enter your email address at the sidebar on the left of this blog page or send an email to my attention, with the subject line "Subscribe", to: brian@JolsonBlog.com .

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