One of the greatest Jazz singers of all time was not whom you would typically expect. Instead of your average African American performer you might be use to seeing back in the early nineteen hundreds, Al Jolson was much more than that. His interactions with the audience, joyful appearance on stage, and thrilling personality were more then enough for thousands to attend his performances. One thing that contributed to making Al Jolson so exciting to watch was that he was a Jewish man who used blackface makeup. His attire consisted of all black from head to toe, except for his white gloves and his mouth to be outlined in white. This helped the audience to look directly at the two most important attributes on stage, his hands and mouth. To some this might seem odd when you look up on the stage and see a white man with black paint all over his body, but for others he was a large part of introducing African American music to the white community. Some may have thought that Jolson was putting on this act to mimic the African Americans, but in all reality he helped with the fight against anti-black discrimination in the musical production. Even though going “black faced” in this time was somewhat common, Jolson used it as an entertainment factor to really help all of his audiences to be entertained and amused the whole time they were watching. Besides just his appearance, he drew in his guests by connecting with the audience and every time did what ever he could to get into the show. This meant he would force himself to do outrageous acts such as cry, dance wildly, and improvised with many different jokes to keep the audience wanting more at all times. Although Al Jolson was in the entertainment business strictly to encourage people to enjoy music and to lend a helping hand to the African American’s his hard work had soon paid off. His legendary performances were earning him one thousand dollars each week, which soon rose to twenty-five hundred in a single week.
Besides singing, Al Jolson was featured a many Broadway plays, and films along with writing over eighty songs in a twenty year period. Jolson Stared in the “Jazz Singer” which was a stepping stone in production by being one of the first motion pictures with dialogue and sound. Around nineteen twenty-seven Hollywood started to take off and with Jolson’s help it soon progressed. He was the star of all Broadway shows and was basically the real reason music and plays were brought together on to one stage. Since Jolson started performing in ninteen-eveven he had never taken a real break from the limelight. In nineteen forty-one he somewhat hung up his microphone. Nothing could keep Jolson away for long, he continued to entertain troop during world ward II just for the pure joy of lightning someone’s spirit. From introducing music to the new world to amusing and audiences around the world, Al Jolson is sought to be one of the greatest entertainers we have ever seen.
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