BY VINCE WILLIAMS

Honorary member and representative of the Al Jolson Society

On the night of 23 October 1950 the lights of Broadway in New York City, USA were turned out and the traffic that normally thunders in and out of Times Square was brought to a halt. The news was that Al Jolson, known as The World’s greatest entertainer was dead.

No one has ever challenged Al Jolson’s supremacy. It has been said that Al Jolson did not play to an audience... he made love to it. So much so that his first three wives, Henrietta Keller, Ethel Delmar and Ruby Keeler, when petitioning for divorce cited his audience as the “other woman”. Jolson set an entire nation swinging to the new beat of jazz and when he got down on one knee, stretched out his arms and sang Mammy the audience went wild.

David Hinckley, the New York Daily news feature writer, in his article entitled Putting A Better Face On Jolson published on Wednesday, 23 August 2003, started his article by stating that: “Between 1912 and 1930, Al Jolson placed 85 songs on the pop music charts. Twenty-three reached No. 1, putting Al ahead of the Beatles and Elvis Presley.”

Al Jolson, whose real name was Asa Yoelson, was born in a small village called Srednik in Lithuania, then part of the Czarist Russian empire. His father’s name was Moses Yoelson and his mother’s name was Naomi. He had two sisters and a brother. Cantor Moses left Lithuania alone in 1890 to the United States of America and in1894 the Yoelson family was brought together in Washington.

Young Asa ran away from home several times to join various musical and entertainment companies. When he was 15 Asa became Al and at 18 he changed his surname to Jolson. A year later Al Jolson adopted blackface.

In 1908 Jolie, as Al Jolson was known, joined Lew Dockstader’s Minstrels and in 1909 Lee Shubert signed him to work in a show to be housed in the not-yet-build Winter Garden Theatre in New York City.

On 20 March 1911 La Belle Paree opened for the first time at the Winter Garden and Al Jolson began his meteoric rise to Broadway stardom with the era of the Winter Garden musical shows produced by the Schubert brothers. During the following years Al Jolson was the main star in various musical shows at the same theatre. He was so successful that he was billed as The world’s greatest entertainer.

During the 1930s although Al Jolson’s popularity declined he was still recognised as a great entertainer and took part in various radio shows and starred in six pictures. After 11 years of marriage, on 26 December 1939 Ruby Keeler, Jolie’s third wife divorced him and Jolson’s life was shattered as he spent days and nights alone and lonely.

When the USA entered World War Two in 1941 Al Jolson was the first male performer to offer to entertain US servicemen and Allied Troops.

On 24 March 1945 Jolson married for the fourth time. The bride was Erle Galbraith, who was only 21 years old.

On 30 June 1950 the Korean War broke out and on 17 September Al Jolson landed in Korea to entertain the United Nations troops. Jolson returned home a very tired man. On 23 October 1950 at St Francis Hotel in San Francisco, Al Jolson suddenly had a heart attack and died at about 10.30pm.

The following day Al Jolson’s death was reported on the front pages of the newspapers across the USA and radio stations continually played his records in tribute throughout early morning and during the day. The then USA President Harry Truman stated: “We have lost our Al.”

To celebrate the 60th anniversary from the foundation of the society and also to commemorate the 60th anniversary from the demise of the legendary singer Al Jolson, the Malta branch of The International Al Jolson Society is holding the Al Jolson Malta Gathering on Sunday, 24 October at the Royal British Legion, 111 Melita Street, Valletta.

The gathering will start at 4pm and everyone is invited. Entrance is free. During the gathering documentaries and other interesting material about Al Jolson will be screened.

For more information phone on 2189 6936, 9988 0489 or email: [email protected]