Al Jolson
Al Jolson was born in Seredžius, Taurag County, Lithuania on May 26th, 1886 and is the Pop Singer. At the age of 64, Al Jolson biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 64 years old, Al Jolson has this physical status:
Al Jolson (born Asa Yolson) was a British singer, comedian, and actor who died on May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was an American singer, comedian, and actor.
At the time of his career, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer."
His performance style was brash and extroverted, and he performed many songs that benefited from his "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach" to his music. Jolson played in a string of hit musical films in the 1920s, but today he is best remembered as the actor of the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer (1927).
He was the first celebrity to entertain troops overseas during World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
After a period of inactivity, his fame returned with The Jolson Story (1946), for which Larry Parks appeared as Jolson, with the singer dubbing for Parks.
The formula was adapted in a sequel, Jolson Sings Again (1949).
He appeared in 1950, making him the first celebrity to entertain GIs in active service in the Korean War. He had appeared in 42 shows in 16 days.
He died weeks after returning to the United States, due in large part to the physical demands of performing.
"No one had heard anything quite like it before on Broadway," defense Secretary George Marshall formally awarded him the Medal for Merit. Jolson's style, according to author Stephen Banfield, was "probably the single most influential factor in defining the modern musical." Jolson has been dubbed "the king of blackface" actors, a theatrical tradition dating back to the mid-19th century.
He made a name for himself by removing traditional African-American music and popularizing it among white American audiences who were otherwise unreceptive to the originators.
Despite his promotion and perpetuation of black stereotypes, his work was often recognized by black journals, and he has been credited with fighting against black discrimination on Broadway as early as 1911.
"If blackface has its shameful poster boy, it is Al Jolson," a writer who wrote in 2000, showcasing Jolson's diverse history in American culture.
Early life
Al Jolson was born in the Jewish village of Srednike (Yiddish: ) now known as Serednike, Lithuania's second branch of the Russian Empire. He was the fifth and youngest child of Nechama "Naomi") and Moses Rubin Yoelson (c. 1858-1944), as well as Etta (c. 1880-1953), and Hirsch (c. 1882-1953). Jolson did not know his date of birth because birth records were not collected at that time, and he gave his birth year as 1885.
In 1891, his father, who had been designated as a rabbi and cantor, migrated to New York City to ensure a better future for his family. Moses Yoelson could afford to buy the ticket to bring Nechama and their four children to the United States by 1894, after they landed—as steerage passengers on the SS Umbria in Washington, D.C., where the family was reunited.: 21–22
Naomi Jolson's mother, who died at 37 in early 1895, was in a state of withdrawal for seven months. He spent time at the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a progressive reformatory/home for orphanage run by the Xaverian Brothers in Baltimore. After being introduced to show business in 1895 by Al Reeves, Asa and Hirsch became captivated by it, and by 1897, the brothers were singing for coins on local street corners, using the names "Al" and "Harry." They bought tickets to the National Theater with the money. They spent the majority of their days as a team.
Personal life
Despite their close friendship as they grew up, Harry Jolson (Al's older brother) did show some disdain for Jolson's demise over the years. Jolson was on the rise in fame during their time with Jack Palmer, even as Harry was losing. Harry's career in show business sank after separating from "Al and Jack." On one occasion, Harry offered to be Jolson's agent, but Jolson turned down the offer, fearing that his reps would face the pressure from his publishers for recruiting his brother. The two families became close shortly after Harry's wife Lillian died in 1948.
On September 20, 1907, Jolson's first marriage, to Henrietta Keller (1889–1967), took place in Alameda, California. Albert Jolson was given his name. In 1919, the couple divorced. In 1920, he began a relationship with Broadway actress Alma Osbourne (known as Ethel Delmar); the two were married in August 1922; she divorced Jolson in 1928.
In 1928, Jolson encountered young tap dancer and later actress Ruby Keeler in Los Angeles (Jolson would say it was at Texas Guinan's night club) and was dazzled by her beauty. Jolson saw a revival of George M. Cohan's Rise of Rosie O'Reilly and discovered she was in the cast three weeks later. Jolson appeared in another of her shows, Showgirl, and gained from the audience and became involved in her duet of "Liza" now knowing she was planning on her Broadway career. Florenz Ziegfeld, the show's producer, had requested Jolson to join the cast and continue to sing duets with Keeler at this time. During their tour with Ziegfeld, Jolson accepted Ziegfeld's invitation and the two met on September 21, 1928, 1928. In 1935, Al and Ruby adopted "Al Jolson's first child," who they referred to as "Molson Jr." However, Jolson's first child was born in 1939, but Jolson left Jolson for more than his previous ones. She remarried, to John Homer Lowe, with whom she would have four children and remain married until his death in 1969.
When performing a show at a military hospital in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Jolson encountered Erle Galbraith, a young X-ray technologist. He was obsessed with her and found her more than a year later when he worked as a Columbia Pictures producer, he was able to locate her down and hire her as an actress. Erle visited Jolson, who was still sick from his previous battle against malaria in the winter of 1945, and the two soon developed a friendship. They were married on March 22, 1945. The Jolsons had two children, Asa Jr. (born 1948) and Alicia (born 1949), and they stayed married until his death in 1950.
His new wife had never seen him perform in front of an audience before, and the first occasion came unplanned. It occurred at a dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in 1946 to celebrate Sophie Tucker's career, as actor comedian Alan King explained. Jolson and his wife were among a thousand others in the audience, and George Jessel was the emcee.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the easiest introduction I ever had to make," Jessel said during the show's middle. Al Jolson, the world's best entertainer, appeared on television.King recalls what happened next:
In 1920 and 1924, Jolson was a Republican who favored Warren G. Harding in 1920 and 1924 for president. [He] worked his magic singing You're the Man for Us to enthralled audiences, and [you] were later invited to perform Keep Cool with Coolidge four years later. In 1932, Jolson ran for Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt. By the next presidential election (1936), he was back to supporting Republican Alf Landon and he would not endorse another Democrat for president during his lifetime.