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The Jazz Singer Overview:

The Jazz Singer (1927) was a Drama - Musical Film directed by Alan Crosland and produced by Jack L. Warner.

The film was based on the short story The Day of Atonement written by Samson Raphaelson published in Everybody's Magazine and as a Stage Play "The Jazz Singer" (Jan 1922 (magazine) and Sep 14, 1925 - Jun 1926 (play performed at Fulton Theatre, NY)).

SYNOPSIS

A cinema landmark, this is the film most identified with the coming of sound. Though sound schemes had been envisioned at the dawn of motion pictures (even sound-on-film techniques similar to modern methods), The Jazz Singer made the commercial potential of sound apparent. The major studios had resisted disrupting the profitable silent-film production engine that had only recently been standardized, and making the huge investment required retrofitting studios and theaters for sound. Sam Warner must be credited with taking a chance on a sound-on-disk system developed by their Vitaphone subsidiary; he died just before the thronged premiere that proved his prescience. The first Vitaphone feature film depicts the dilemma of a cantor's son who garners show business success over his father's objections. With the line, "You ain't heard nuthin' yet!," movie history changed forever. Note that The Jazz Singer is mostly silent, with just some Jolson ad-libbed asides in addition to the synch-sound (more or less) musical segments. The first all-talking feature was Lights of New York, a squalid little potboiler that featured dialogue in 22 scenes. Songs include "Mammy," "Toot, Toot, Tootsie," "Blue Skies," and more.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

The Jazz Singer was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1996.

Academy Awards 1952 --- Ceremony Number 25 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best WritingAlfred CohnNominated
Special AwardTo Warner Bros., for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry.Won
Best Music - ScoringRay Heindorf, Max SteinerNominated
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The Jazz Singer BlogHub Articles:

Musical Monday: The Jazz Singer (1952)

on Sep 14, 2015 From Comet Over Hollywood

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals. This week’s musical: Jazz Singer (1952) – M... Read full article

THE JAZZ SINGER ( 1927 )

By Crystal Kalyana on Apr 16, 2015 From In The Good Old Days Of Classic Hollywood

MUSICAL MONTH THE JAZZ SINGER ( 1927 ) My parents have always been avid fans of Neil Diamond, and growing up I became accustomed to his music, later becoming an ardent supporter of his work myself. When I was younger they purchased the 1980 remake of “The Jazz Singer” which stars Neil Di... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)

By Jennifer Garlen on Feb 26, 2013 From Virtual Virago

If people think of Al Jolson at all today, they think of him in blackface, belting out his plaintive "Mammy" song at the end of The Jazz Singer (1927) or in countless cartoon parodies of it. It may well discourage viewers from giving the original movie a chance, which is a shame because, as problema... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)

By Jennifer Garlen on Feb 26, 2013 From Virtual Virago

If people think of Al Jolson at all today, they think of him in blackface, belting out his plaintive "Mammy" song at the end of The Jazz Singer (1927) or in countless cartoon parodies of it. It may well discourage viewers from giving the original movie a chance, which is a shame because, as problema... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)

By Jennifer Garlen on Feb 26, 2013 From Virtual Virago

If people think of Al Jolson at all today, they think of him in blackface, belting out his plaintive "Mammy" song at the end of The Jazz Singer (1927) or in countless cartoon parodies of it. It may well discourage viewers from giving the original movie a chance, which is a shame because, as problema... Read full article

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The Jazz Singer Quotes:

Mary Dale: [Listening to Jakie cantoring at Yom Kippur services after the death of his father] A jazz singer...singing to his God!
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The Jazz Singer Facts
Al Jolson's famous line "you ain't heard nothin' yet" was an ad-lib. The intention was that the film should only have synchronized music, not speech, but Jolson dropped in the line (which he used in his stage act) after the song "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face". The director wisely left it in.
Included among the '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die', edited by Steven Jay Schneider.
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on Monday, August 10th, 1936 with Al Jolson reprising his film role. They did a second one on Tuesday, June 2nd, 1947. 3,949 days, 564 weeks and 1 day differ between the two radio adaptation dates.
The theatrical date of release, was on Saturday, February 4th, 1928. But it was first shown to and shown seen by the Warner Brothers' cast and crew, of directors, producers, actors and actresses, on Thursday, October 6th, 1927. 121 days, (17 weeks & 2 days), differ between the movie's date of release & the date, it was first shown to and seen by the Warner Brothers' cast and crew, of directors, producers actors and actresses.
The movie's line "Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't heard nothing yet" was voted as the #71 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100), and as #57 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
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