In His Own Words - Jolsonmania !

Al Jolson gave few really revealing interviews throughout his life. One exception was his talk with Barry Gray on a late night radio show on 27th October 1946. On top of the world from the recent success of The Jolson Story (1946) he was probably as genuine and revealing as he ever was on radio. What follows are some excerpts from that programme, probably the closest we have to Al Jolson telling his story in his own words.

Al's attitude to his mother and father was important to the way he saw the world. Listen here as he talks about his father :

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/Cantor.mp3

Blackface is controversial now but listen to Jolson talk about how his act was groundbreaking and certainly not derogatory to the negro.

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/Blackface.mp3

Here Jolson recalls the days when he was King of Broadway and the famed Sunday Concerts.

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/SundayConcerts.mp3

He also knew the powerful as this demonstrates :

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/Presidents.mp3

He could be very encouraging to youngsters starting out in showbusiness :

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/BuddyDeSylva.mp3

Here Al recounts an anecdote about Davey Lee who had played Sonny Boy in The Singing Fool (1928) :

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/DaveyLee.mp3

Al talks here about his exploits entertaining the troops in WW2 :

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/Overseas.mp3

and about his fourth wife Erle Galbraith :

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/Erle.mp3

Two segments about working on The Jolson Story (1946) :

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/JolsonStory.mp3

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/JolsonStory2.mp3

Interesting to hear Al talk about radio in the year before he returned to the medium to host the Kraft Music Hall :

http://goldenageofhollywood.co.uk/Jolsonmania/Radio.mp3