Here’s what Al Jolson was like on a live stage, as filmed in 1926 on a set at the New York City Opera.
Below, read the incredible story from Ron Hutchinson about how this film and its sound were recovered.
Couldn’t let Al Jolson’s birthday go by without posting his 1926 pre-Jazz Singer short AL JOLSON IN A PLANTATION ACT (Sept., 1926). The film portion had been found by the Library of Congress c. 1993 in a can incorrectly labelled JAZZ SINGER TRAILER. It was instead this short Jolson made for $25K a year before THE JAZZ SINGER and which had been lost since 1932. LoC contacted me to try to find the missing accompanying soundtrack disk. Within a year, we did — in a barn in Towson, MD (ignore the inaccurate YouTube description). BUT the disk was cracked in 5 places then glued together with epoxy such that the grooves didn’t line up. We secured the services of Jim Cooprider who can restore badly damaged disks. He decided to put the disk between two sheets of glass and sit it in the sun to, the epoxy softened. Eventually he separated the 5 pieces and reconnected them properly. I was present when the disk was played completely thru after 70 years. The turntable had to be tilted and quarters placed on the sound head so it would track. UCLA eliminated the clicks and the sound is what you hear on this video.
– Ron Hutchinson, Facebook post, 26 May 2014