Richard Bernstein wastes no time dealing with the radioactive subject of blackface in his fascinating new biography of the Jewish singer and actor Al Jolson. He puts the rightly reviled practice ...
Jolson has a revelation, that the staid repertoire of the minstrel troupe can be transformed by actually playing black music in blackface. He tells Dockstader that he wants to sing ... [81] Despite ...
Upon receiving a copy of Richard Bernstein’s “Only in America: Al Jolson and The Jazz Singer ... He is literally the poster boy for blackface minstrelsy as it was in its final hurrah ...
Its logo was a man in blackface likening the image of Al Jolson, a white performer who mocked African Americans in minstrel shows in the midst of the Jim Crow era. The idea was that blackface ...
Known as both "The World's Greatest Entertainer" and the biggest egomaniac in show business, Jolson got his start as a blackface singer in vaudeville around 1906. By the 1910s, he was starring in ...
About the Album: Rare early recordings, some live, of Al Jolson from Chip Deffaa's own extensive collection. "Swanee," "Medley: Whispering / My Melancholy Baby / Poor Butterfly," "Ma Blushing ...
About the Album: In the 1920s, Al Jolson was America's most famous and highest-paid entertainer and dubbed The World's Greatest Entertainer. He popularised many songs that benefited from his ...