Nothing could have introduced sound to the movies better than Al Jolson’s catchphrase, “Wait a minute, you ain’t heard nothing’ yet!  Do you want to hear ‘Toot, Toot, Tootsie Goodbye’?”

The unscripted ad-lib by Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer made a big impression on the audience on October 6, 1927.

The first talking picture was a Warner Brothers production, which premiered at the company’s flagship theatre in New York. It caused a sensation among filmgoers and film-makers alike, even though some had resisted for a short time the introduction of the talkies.

The Jazz Singer changed the face of the film industry forever worldwide.  Using the newly-perfected Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, which for the first time enabled recorded sound to be synchronised with the action on screen, the film included several sequences of spoken dialogue as well as a number of songs.

Anxious to score a hit with their innovative use of the new sound system, Warner Brothers persuaded Jolson, at that time the biggest star on Broadway, to play the leading role.

However, the company first signed a deal with George Jessel worth $30,000 to play the lead.  For three years, he was the star on Broadway playing the lead in the play.  But when Jessel learned that he had to sing and talk, he insisted for more money. Jack Warner, who was dealing with Jessel, could not come to terms with him and so the deal was struck off.

The Jazz Singer changed the face of the film industry forever worldwide

There was a youngster among the lot of Warner Brothers named Buster Collier Jr. He was a handsome boy and a fair actor and Warner tested him. He came good in photos but his voice didn’t sound right.

Next Warner called on Eddie Cantor, who was headlining at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Cantor, however, refused the offer.

Many say that he was afraid that if the first talking picture was going to be a failure, his career on Broadway would fail as well. According to Warner, Cantor refused to play the leading part because only Jessel could do it.

Then Warner thought of Jolson as he knew that the father of Jolson was a cantor in Lithuania and in Washington. He found Jolie, as Jolson was known among his friends, in Denver, playing in Big Boy with one of the Shubert road companies. Jolson agreed as regards the financial package and they struck a deal, which left Jessel disappointed for years.

Warner often wondered – and others have asked the same question – whether Jessel could have matched Jolson’s superb performance in The Jazz Singer.  Warner stated that after watching audiences leap to their feet as though they had been prodded with an electric stick and whistle and yell for 10 minutes, he realised that neither Jessel nor Cantor nor anyone else could have done it better than Jolson.

The late well-known writer on films and Hollywood, Lino Cassar, who passed away a few years ago, had written in an article on The Times on October 6, 1997: “When he (George Jessel) and I had a chat during his visit to Malta in 1968 to take part in the film Hieronimus, he admitted to me that ‘Jolson was better at it than I would have been’.”

Vince Williams is an honorary member and representative of the International Al Jolson Society.

Marking the anniversary

To mark the 90th anniversary since the release of the first talking picture, the Malta branch of the International Al Jolson Society, with the cooperation of the Paola local council, will this morning plant a tree and unveil a plaque at Sir Paul Boffa garden in Paola. An exhibition on The Jazz Singer will then open at the Paola local council  premises until October 11. These activities will start at 9.20am.

Another exhibition about the first talking picture will be held at Tal-Lira shopping complex in Fgura until October 13.