A Tribute by Larry Parks

star of The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again

 Jolson was big. He was a dynamic bundle of energy, and it often seemed as if his voice was just an outlet - though a rare outlet, to be sure - for his amazing vitality and endurance.

 He was a man of strong physical fiber, sparked by his talent, and his boundless yearning to share it with all. And it was this, and his sheer will to live and to be with his fellows, that sustained him through a devastating illness, which resulted from his insistence on entertaining troops in North Africa in World War II.

“The Majesty of Jolie”

 by George Jessel
A breeze from San Francisco Bay and the life of the greatest minstrel America has ever known is in the balance. A turn of a card –a telling of a gag — and within a few moments, a wife, a legion of friends, and a nation are brokenhearted.  So it was–and so, alas, it is — the passing from this earthly scene of Al Jolson. And the voice that put majesty into the American popular song must from now on come from a disc instead of the heart, from whence it came.

A Song for Al Jolson

by Walter Winchell
 
They are eulogizing Al Jolson as a great entertainer … As a titan of show business, he stood alone, but he was gifted with more than superb singing artistry - he was a great man … To say that Rembrandt was a fine artist and Beethoven a fine composer merely describes the superficial qualities of their technical brilliance, Their genius stemmed from the ability to capture deep emotions and convey them to others … Expressing universal feelings which find a home in the hearts of millions is the source of their immortality … For similar reasons, Jolson is no less immortal.

Jolie “The King”

by Eddie Cantor

I was in Mobile, Alabama, when I first got the shocking news from an NBC official in New York that Al Jolson was dead of a heart attack. The telephone operator who put the call through to me was sobbing hysterically. The elevator operator who took me downstairs couldn’t control his tears. The taxi driver who drove me to the NBC studios to do a special memorial broadcast kept mumbling to himself, “Why did he have to go?”

Robert Benchley

Robert Benchley, writing in “Life Magazine,” captured Jolson’s unique effect on audiences: “The word ‘personality’ isn’t quite strong enough for the thing that Jolson has. Unimpressive as the comparison may be to Mr. Jolson, we should say that John the Baptist was the last man to have such power. There is something supernatural at the back of it, or we miss our guess. When Jolson enters, it is as if an electric current has been run along the wires under the seats where the hats are stuck. The house comes to a tumultuous attention. He speaks, rolls his eyes, compresses his lips, and it is all over. You are a member of the Al Jolson Association. He trembles his lip and your heart breaks with a snap. He sings a song and you totter out to send a letter to your mother…while singing would run up and down his runway addressing members of the audience making them each feel that Jolson was singing to them alone.”

A Punch in the Nose

Noble Sissle (L) and Eubie Blake

“Songwriter and performer Noble Sissle, a longtime partner of the ragtime pioneer Eubie Blake, recalled Jolson’s unprompted act of kindness in 1919 after a Hartford restaurant refused to serve the two black musicians. A local newspaper mentioned the incident, and, Sissle later recalled: ‘To our everlasting amazement, we promptly got a call from Al Jolson. He was in town with his show and even though we were two very unimportant guys whom he’d never heard of until that morning, he was so sore about that story he wanted to make it up to us.’ The next evening, Jolson treated Sissle and Blake to dinner, insisting that ‘he’d punch anyone in the nose who tried to kick us out.’ “
New York Times, Oct. 22, 2000
Noble Sissle, then president of the Black Actor’s Guild, came and represented that organization at Jolson’s funeral in 1950.

A short biography

by Jack Benny

I’ve been asked to write a short biography of my friend Al Jolson.

“Try to remember an incident,” -the editor told me, “that would bring out some of the fine points about Jolie. But all day long I’ve been thinking, and, all that comes to my mind is the last time I saw Jolie.