Synopsis
Al Jolson, in blackface, sings three songs before a plantation backdrop in a 1926 Vitaphone sound-on-disc short, a year before The Jazz Singer.
Synopsis, reviewed
Details
- Running time
- 9 minutes
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Feature Films
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Al Jolson
- A Plantation Act
- Blackface
- Vitaphone Varieties
- Warner Bros
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★★ · Historic restoration · goldsman · 2025-05-09
This pre-dates The Jazz Singer and was lost and unseen for 60-70 years until it's very fortunate restoration. Although the makeup is of course cringey to modern eyes (There's no excusing it really - I knew that blackface was terrible as a kid in the 70's! It actually was cringey in 1926 as well - but unfortunately ubiquitous) - Jolson's performance is historic and and unlike many of the singers who used blackface, he sang it straight and without an over-the-top racist affectation like many of the other acts did.
More like this
The Better 'Ole (1926)
His Pastimes (1926)
The Night Court (1927)
Blossom Seeley and Bennie Fields (1927)- Bernado De Pace, The Wizard of the Mandolin (1927)
The Jazzmania Quintette (1928)
Stories in Song (1928)
The Eccentric Entertainer (1929)
Early Experimental Sound Film (1923)
Vitaphone Variety Film Production Clip from 1926 (1926)