Jolson and Friends Blog

Plantation Act Bonus Material: Jazz Singer Interview Part IX

2008-12-28T16:58:00Z

Yowza,

Yowza, Yowza. This is Brian Marcus Decker, for the Jolson and Friends Blog located on the web at www.JolsonBlog.com, which is the first tech-nostalgic blog dedicated to the musical influences of Al Jolson and Friends.

Well folks, we are winding down with bonus material as part of our outstanding The Jazz Singer interview with Ron Hutchinson, one of the co-founders of the Vitaphone Project. Due to their extensive efforts working with private collectors, university film archives, the Library of Congress, Warner Bros. and Turner Entertainment they have successfully preserved hundreds of early Vitaphone and Vitaphone Variety film performances. Included in this illustrious Vitaphone catalog include performances by the legendary Al Jolson, Burns & Allen, Baby Rose Marie, Ruth Etting, Weber & Fields, The Seven Little Foys, Georgie Price, George Jessel, Joe E. Brown, Sissle & Blake, Jack Benny, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, William Demarest, Joe Frisco, Jack Norworth, Molly Picon, Rudy Vallee and many, many more.

We will also have an opportunity to discuss with Ron Hutchinson of the Vitaphone Project the overall involvement with the recent Commemorative 80th Anniversary Edition of the legendary film, The Jazz Singer: This three-disc deluxe DVD EDITION is nothing short of fantastic. For Jolson fans and anyone interested in early 20th century performing arts, music, film and nostalgia, this is a must buy. This incredible three-disc collection includes more than several hours of digital transferred and immaculately refurbished soundtracks from the original Vitaphone Sound on Disc recordings. This special collection also includes behind the scene Jazz Singer photo cards, souvenir programs that include reviews, news articles, a Vitaphone brochure, replicas of postcards that even Al Jolson sent to Jack Warner following the death of his brother and more.

80th Anniversary DVD Edition of THE JAZZ SINGER

Click here to shop for this three-disc DVD from Amazon

Free Jolson and Friends Podcasts

You can listen to the entire series of interviews including my current eight-part interview (excluding this bonus chapter material) with Ron Hutchinson of the Vitaphone Project, Rich Conaty of the Big Broadcast radio show, Asa the Magnificent Minstrel, the Vaudeville series with author Trav S.D. and our favorite child actress, Sybil Jason.

To listen to the free Jolson and Friends Blog Podcast published audio files, just click on the listen to podcast icon on the top of this blog post.

Plantation Act Bonus Material: Jazz Singer Interview Part IX

Occasionally, I will receive some great comments and information from some of the Jolson and Friends community. As Blogmaster, I always encourage feedback. As part of the Vitaphone interview with Ron Hutchinson, I received a few questions from a past president of the Jolson Society regarding the restoration of the Plantation Act Vitaphone disc. This resulted in an email from John Newton which I am sharing with the Jolson and Friends community which provides a more in-depth background on the restoration.

From: John Newton

Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:59 AM

To: brian@JolsonBlog.com

Subject: Plantation Act disc and other Vitaphone discs

Brian,

I must confess that I don't look at blogs often, rarely in fact, but a friend recently advised that some questions were circulating about the disc for the Plantation Act, I think at 78-L, with Dave W suggesting that he thought the disc came from me.

Yes, that's true, and I still have the disc within my Jolson collection, along with Vitaphone discs for the other Jolson films recorded on disc. The story, briefly, has been around for a while, fairly well documented years ago by my friend Brad Kay. We in the Vitaphone Project searched and searched for the disc and I finally located the widow of the former owner, who had died 8 or 9 years earlier. One thing not widely documented was that years earlier, when the owner was still alive, he had tried to donate it to Library Of Congress, but they weren't interested, thinking, I believe, that it was a disc for The Jazz Singer.

Anyway, I negotiated with the daughter of the widow, who was then in her late 80's, and bought the disc along with the few other unrelated discs that were still sitting on an old table in their garage (the former owner was NOT a record collector.) The disc had been broken into several pieces and glued back together with epoxy, with the grooves out of alignment, making it unplayable in that condition. I subsequently spoke with Jim Cooprider in California, knowing his ability to work wonders with damaged records. I sent the disc to him and after examining it he thought about it and worked on it

- on and off - for several months. It was ultimately taken apart and re-glued with the grooves better aligned. It was returned to me and we ultimately played it on the East Coast, still requiring adjustments, etc.

This was all done at my own personal expense. The disc was ultimately loaned to California for the restoration process, where the sound was worked on, including computer programs to "de-click" all the noises caused by the areas that had been cracked and broken so many years earlier. There's more detail, certainly, but there's the gist of the story. ... It now still sits with the rest of my Jolson collection, including the Jazz Singer discs that were used for the recent restoration of the sound for that film's ultimate DVD release (Ron H. and I, along with my wife, attended the re-premier last year in Hollywood, introduced by mutual friend Leonard Maltin.) ... So the disc sits with all my other Jolson records, including one of the two known copies of "I'm Down In Honolulu Looking Them Over" (Columbia A2143) and the Private Brunswick record that Jolson made for Ruby Keeler at the beginning of August 1929, and a plethora of other Jolson items: records, sheet music, photos, programs and so on.

I hope this helps clarify any questions.

All my best,

- John -

John Newton

This is Brian Marcus Decker and thank you once again for joining us on the Jolson and Friends Blog, the first and most important blog dedicated to the life and musical influences of the legendary Al Jolson, the world's greatest entertainer. Please come and visit us again any time at www.JolsonBlog.com and feel free to listen to our series of insightful audio podcasts.

Jolson and Friends Blog Required Viewing and Reading List

80th Anniversary DVD Edition of THE JAZZ SINGER

This three-disc deluxe DVD EDITION is nothing short of fantastic. For Jolson fans and anyone interested in early 20th century performing arts, music, film and nostalgia, this is a must buy. This incredible three-disc collection includes more than several hours of digital transferred and immaculately refurbished soundtracks from the original Vitaphone Sound on Disc recordings. This special collection also includes behind the scene Jazz Singer photo cards, souvenir programs that include reviews, news articles, a Vitaphone brochure, replicas of postcards and more.

Click here to shop for this three-disc DVD from Amazon

No Applause--Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous (Paperback) by Trav S.D.

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

My Fifteen Minutes: An Autobiography of a Child Star of the Golden Era of Hollywood (Paperback) by Sybil Jason

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

When Jolson Was King: (Paperback) by Richard Grudens

Richard Grudens has written an entertaining and informative (must read) book for anyone interested in the legendary, Al Jolson "The World's Greatest Entertainer".

"The book contains many facets of Jolson' career including those around him, his competition, employers, and comments from those he inspired enough to form their own careers, the issue of minstrel, blackface performers, fabled stories of the famed Friar's Club, a chapter of the infamous Shubert Brothers, and chapters covering Jolson's experiences in film, radio and his extensive USO travels. Covered too are vignettes of the theatres in which Jolson performed, and of those great theatrical competitors like the Barrymore's and where they were voicing their talents while Jolson was pulling them in at the Winter Garden, and a full feature on Jolson's films from the first talkie, The Jazz Singer to his famed bio-pics The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again." - Richard Grudens

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

Limited edition T-shirts (With FREE Shipping)

White or Natural T-Shirt: Only $18.00 with FREE U.S Shipping

You will be "Sitting on Top of the World" with these limited edition T-shirts. These are perfect holiday gifts for collectors of nostalgia and a must have for anyone interested in the legendary Al Jolson, Baseball and Eddie Cantor. Each t-shirt order comes with FREE Shipping.

I only use brand new premium heavyweight pre-shrunk 100% cotton. These unique vintage images are applied using a high pressure industrial heat press and professional grade hot transfers and a proprietary process for extended wear.

This unique T-shirts is available in white or black in adult sizes including small (34-36), medium (38-40), adult large (42-44) and XL (46-48) sizes. Additional sizes including children, adult XXL and XXXL are available on a special order basis and are subject to a $3.00 surcharge to prices listed below.

Jolson Singing Fool Cantor Tell it to the Judge Moon Rocket Ride

Jolie Old Time Baseball Amusing Boardwalk

Here's the Deal

White or Natural T-Shirt: Only $18.00 with FREE U.S Shipping (30% off regular price of $20.00)

Al Jolson Limited Edition T-shirt "The Singing Fool": This is a vintage color reproduction of a 1928 theatrical program.

Eddie Cantor Limited Edition T-shirt "Tell it to the Judge": This is a vintage two-color reproduction of 1930s board game.

Moon Rocket Ride Limited Edition Carnival T-shirt: This is a vintage color reproduction of a hand painted tin carnival sign.

Jolie Black & White Limited Edition T-shirt: This is a vintage B/W illustration of Jolie from the 1920s.

History of Time Baseball Limited Edition T-shirt: This is real deal for real baseball fans, an authentic turn of the century History of Baseball T-shirt featuring Boston, New York, Chicago and Detroit.

Amusing Boardwalk T-shirt: This clown no longer graces the Jersey Shore Boardwalk, but this vintage color reproduction lives on.

For additional information, special orders, discounted shipping outside the U.S., payments through Pay Pal, please contact: brian@Jolsonblog.com

To order please specify style (Jolson, Cantor, Moon, Jolie, Houdini King of Cards, World's Greatest Mystery Man, History of Old Time Baseball, Amusing Boardwalk, Sherlock Double Profile, Sherlock Improbable, Sudoku), quantity, size, t-shirt color (white/natural or black) and your shipping address. Please send checks to:

Brian Marcus Decker
24 Arverne Road
West Orange, NJ 07052

Changes to Jolson and Friends Blog

In the upcoming months I am looking to continue to evolve the Jolson and Friends Blog and wanted preview some upcoming changes. I am continuing to promote the sale of Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Houdini, History of Baseball and several other unique Limited Edition T-shirt designs (featured above) all with free U.S. shipping. The sales from these items help offset the cost of maintaining this blog. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and besides they are just great T-shirts.

Due to the time intensive nature of ongoing research, content development, production and maintaining and the Blog, the next blog update will happen in the next few months. I am continuing to work on several future Jolson and Friends projects including:

Jolson and Friends Recommended Reading and Viewer Lists including cost-saving shopping links to find unique books, videos and more.

Expanded global coverage of local events (please send me event info).
Future podcasts of upcoming interviews and special performance-based content.

To ensure that you are automatically informed about new postings, please enter your email address at the sidebar on the left of this blog page or send an email to my attention, with the subject line "Subscribe", to: brian@JolsonBlog.com .

Watch for the Mail, I'll Never Fail

Your feedback is greatly appreciated and truly helps shape future content of www.JolsonBlog.com .

There are two ways to share your comments with the Jolson and Friends blog community.

1. If you would like to have your comments posted on this Blog, use

http://jolsonblog.com/2008/12/28/plantation-act-bonus-material-jazz-singer-interview-part-ix

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Jazz Singer 80th Anniversary: Part VIII Finale

2008-10-27T00:44:00Z

"Well, obviously, our main goal is to continue to seek out these wonderful, 16-inch shellac discs. So, first and foremost anybody knows record collectors, old theaters that are in their area; which is where some of these discs are found, they're closed up for years and somebody just put them in the basement or the attic. Just to describe them, they're 16-inch. They look like an old 78, except they're 16-inch, black discs and on the label, it's going to have a movie studio name, whether it's MGM, Paramount, Vitaphone, Warner Bros."

Yowza, Yowza, Yowza. This is Brian Marcus Decker, for the Jolson and Friends Blog located on the web at www.JolsonBlog.com, which is the first tech-nostalgic blog dedicated to the musical influences of Al Jolson and Friends.

Well folks, we are winding down with Part VIII of our outstanding The Jazz Singer interview with Ron Hutchinson, one of the co-founders of the Vitaphone Project. Due to their extensive efforts working with private collectors, university film archives, the Library of Congress, Warner Bros. and Turner Entertainment they have successfully preserved hundreds of early Vitaphone and Vitaphone Variety film performances. Included in this illustrious Vitaphone catalog include performances by the legendary Al Jolson, Burns & Allen, Baby Rose Marie, Ruth Etting, Weber & Fields, The Seven Little Foys, Georgie Price, George Jessel, Joe E. Brown, Sissle & Blake, Jack Benny, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, William Demarest, Joe Frisco, Jack Norworth, Molly Picon, Rudy Vallee and many, many more.

We will also have an opportunity to discuss with Ron Hutchinson of the Vitaphone Project the overall involvement with the recent Commemorative 80th Anniversary Edition of the legendary film, The Jazz Singer: This three-disc deluxe DVD EDITION is nothing short of fantastic. For Jolson fans and anyone interested in early 20th century performing arts, music, film and nostalgia, this is a must buy. This incredible three-disc collection includes more than several hours of digital transferred and immaculately refurbished soundtracks from the original Vitaphone Sound on Disc recordings. This special collection also includes behind the scene Jazz Singer photo cards, souvenir programs that include reviews, news articles, a Vitaphone brochure, replicas of postcards that even Al Jolson sent to Jack Warner following the death of his brother and more.

Perfect Holiday Gift: 80th Anniversary DVD Edition of THE JAZZ SINGER

Click here to shop for this three-disc DVD from Amazon

Free Jolson and Friends Podcasts

You can listen to the entire series of interviews including my current eight-part interview with Ron Hutchinson of the Vitaphone Project, Rich Conaty of the Big Broadcast radio show, Asa the Magnificent Minstrel, the Vaudeville series with author Trav S.D. and our favorite child actress, Sybil Jason.

To listen to the free Jolson and Friends Blog Podcast published audio files, just click on the listen to podcast icon on the top of this blog post.

"We also love to hear from people who are relatives of performers. And again, if we can help the family members, once again, see their relatives' performances, we'd love to do that, anything related to early talkies also, whether it's stills, posters, and so on. It's really, though, a grassroots organization...This is still, I think this is the reason for our success, basically record collectors; film buffs all working together in a very cooperative way with the archives and with the studios in a very unique arrangement, where everybody works together to make these things happen again."

Jolson Blog: The Jazz Singer and Vitaphone Interview with Ron Hutchinson Part VIII

Brian Marcus Decker: You had mentioned before we started the interview that you are working on some potential restorations of things that actually were technically Vitaphone, but certainly early sound films. Can you talk about some of the projects that you're working on right now with Vitaphone?

Ron Hutchinson: Yeah. What happened was, of course it's the Vitaphone project. But that doesn't mean that if it says something else, we're not interested. Pretty much what it's evolved to is anything related to early sound. So, some of the things we've gotten involved with are, first of all, we do hear from a lot of relatives of Vitaphone shorts performers, vaudevillians. They're very often the grandsons and granddaughters of vaudevillians who made a short. Somehow, they find us. And it's really nice when, in fact, it turns out that Grandfather Joe's short can be restored and the families very often step up and fund it.

We work a lot with documentarians. There's a fellow doing a documentary on Earl Carroll's Vanities and George White's Scandals, and we helped him find early material and so on. You mentioned the vaudeville documentary from American Experience on PBS a while ago. They started planning to do that documentary with still pictures. And I said, "Hey, there are loads of Vitaphone vaudeville shorts. And wouldn't it be nice to show Baby Rose Marie and then cut to her today commenting on her performance?" So, we hear a lot from PBS and have worked on a lot of things with Turner Classic Movies and so on.

And then there are also features, Emperor Jones and All Quiet on the Western Front, two non-Vitaphone films, but they did have discs, were restored by the Library of Congress. And by having the discs, you knew everything that was on the sound track and you could take little, missing pieces of film and put it back to create the restored, more complete version. I don't think a week goes by that I don't hear from a relative. Or this morning, I heard from a guy who has six Vitaphone discs. So, it just never ends.

Brian Marcus Decker: Ron, how can this online blog community get involved and support the Vitaphone project?

Ron Hutchinson: Well, obviously, our main goal is to continue to seek out these wonderful, 16-inch shellac discs. So, first and foremost anybody knows record collectors, old theaters that are in their area; which is where some of these discs are found, they're closed up for years and somebody just put them in the basement or the attic. Just to describe them, they're 16-inch. They look like an old 78, except they're 16-inch, black discs and on the label, it's going to have a movie studio name, whether it's MGM, Paramount, Vitaphone, Warner Bros. So, first and foremost, anybody who has them or knows where some are, please let us know. We have a website, www.vitaphoneproject.com. And certainly, they can contact us and we'll let you know if it translates into a possible restoration.

We also love to hear from people who are relatives of performers. And again, if we can help the family members, once again, see their relatives' performances, we'd love to do that, anything related to early talkies also, whether it's stills, posters, and so on. It's really, though, a grassroots organization. My wife laughs. Sometimes, people call. They think we're an arm of the federal government and we have wings in the building where we keep different things. This is still, I think this is the reason for our success, basically record collectors; film buffs all working together in a very cooperative way with the archives and with the studios in a very unique arrangement, where everybody works together to make these things happen again. Nobody's making a lot of money releasing 1927 shorts. But it's very rewarding to kind of rediscover and preserve this stuff again.

Brian Marcus Decker: And if they want to get in touch with you directly?

Ron Hutchinson: Probably the best is my email, which is ron@vitaphoneproject.com . And that email will get to me. We'd love to hear from you and certainly keep spreading the word on the DVD set; because that's going to ensure more Jolson and other stuff is going to be put out. And I think together, we're going to just keep driving the stuff. It's more popular than ever, really.

Readers interested in the Vitaphone Project are invited to visit its website at www.vitaphoneproject.com where all back issues of its newsletter, lists of shorts awaiting restoration, stills and other materials reside. Those with leads on soundtrack discs, nitrate film, and underwriters may write to The Vitaphone Project, 5 Meade Court, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.

Brian Marcus Decker: Fantastic. Well, on behalf of the Jolson and Friends blog community, once again, I'd like to personally thank Ron Hutchinson and the Vitaphone Project for their ongoing contribution for keeping the memory and the spirit of Al Jolson alive and their supporting role in the recent Commemorative 80th Anniversary DVD Edition of the legendary landmark film, The Jazz Singer.

This is Brian Marcus Decker and thank you once again for joining us on the Jolson and Friends blog, the first and most important blog dedicated to the life and musical influences of the legendary Al Jolson, the world's greatest entertainer. Please come and visit us again any time at www.JolsonBlog.com and feel free to listen to our audio podcasts.

Ron Hutchinson: Thanks a lot, Brian.

Wait a Minute, wait a minute, wait a minute:

Jolson Blog: Vitaphone Interview Bonus Material: December 28, 2008

Jolson Blog shares community feedback on Vitaphone Interview

Jolson and Friends Blog Required Viewing and Reading List

Perfect Holiday Gift: 80th Anniversary DVD Edition of THE JAZZ SINGER

This three-disc deluxe DVD EDITION is nothing short of fantastic. For Jolson fans and anyone interested in early 20th century performing arts, music, film and nostalgia, this is a must buy. This incredible three-disc collection includes more than several hours of digital transferred and immaculately refurbished soundtracks from the original Vitaphone Sound on Disc recordings. This special collection also includes behind the scene Jazz Singer photo cards, souvenir programs that include reviews, news articles, a Vitaphone brochure, replicas of postcards and more.

Click here to shop for this three-disc DVD from Amazon

Perfect Holiday Gift No Applause--Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous (Paperback) by Trav S.D.

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

Perfect Holiday Gift My Fifteen Minutes: An Autobiography of a Child Star of the Golden Era of Hollywood (Paperback) by Sybil Jason

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

Perfect Holiday Gift: When Jolson Was King: (Paperback) by Richard Grudens

Richard Grudens has written an entertaining and informative (must read) book for anyone interested in the legendary, Al Jolson "The World's Greatest Entertainer".

"The book contains many facets of Jolson' career including those around him, his competition, employers, and comments from those he inspired enough to form their own careers, the issue of minstrel, blackface performers, fabled stories of the famed Friar's Club, a chapter of the infamous Shubert Brothers, and chapters covering Jolson's experiences in film, radio and his extensive USO travels. Covered too are vignettes of the theatres in which Jolson performed, and of those great theatrical competitors like the Barrymore's and where they were voicing their talents while Jolson was pulling them in at the Winter Garden, and a full feature on Jolson's films from the first talkie, The Jazz Singer to his famed bio-pics The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again." - Richard Grudens

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

Limited edition T-shirts (With FREE Shipping

White or Natural T-Shirt: Only $18.00 with FREE U.S Shipping

You will be "Sitting on Top of the World" with these limited edition T-shirts. These are perfect holiday gifts for collectors of nostalgia and a must have for anyone interested in the legendary Al Jolson, Baseball and Eddie Cantor. Each t-shirt order comes with FREE Shipping.

Jolson Singing Fool Cantor Tell it to the Judge Moon Rocket Ride

Jolie Old Time Baseball Amusing Boardwalk

Here's the Deal

White or Natural T-Shirt: Only $18.00 with FREE U.S Shipping

Al Jolson Limited Edition T-shirt "The Singing Fool": This is a vintage color reproduction of a 1928 theatrical program.

Eddie Cantor Limited Edition T-shirt "Tell it to the Judge": This is a vintage two-color reproduction of 1930s board game.

Moon Rocket Ride Limited Edition Carnival T-shirt: This is a vintage color reproduction of a hand painted tin carnival sign.

Jolie Black & White Limited Edition T-shirt: This is a vintage B/W illustration of Jolie from the 1920s.

History of Time Baseball Limited Edition T-shirt: This is real deal for real baseball fans, an authentic turn of the century History of Baseball T-shirt featuring Boston, New York, Chicago and Detroit.

Amusing Boardwalk T-shirt: This clown no longer graces the Jersey Shore Boardwalk, but this vintage color reproduction lives on.

For additional information, special orders, discounted shipping outside the U.S., payments through Pay Pal, please contact: brian@Jolsonblog.com

Brian Marcus Decker
24 Arverne Road
West Orange, NJ 07052

Changes to Jolson and Friends Blog

Due to the time intensive nature of ongoing research, content development, production and maintaining and the Blog, the next blog update will happen on December 28th. I am continuing to work on several future Jolson and Friends projects including:

Jolson and Friends Recommended Reading and Viewer Lists including cost-saving shopping links to find unique books, videos and more.

Expanded global coverage of local events (please send me event info).

Future podcasts of upcoming interviews and special performance-based content.

Watch for the Mail, I'll Never Fail

Your feedback is greatly appreciated and truly helps shape future content of www.JolsonBlog.com .

There are two ways to share your comments with the Jolson and Friends blog community.

1. If you would like to have your comments posted on this Blog, use

http://jolsonblog.com/2008/10/26/jazz-singer-80th-anniversary-part-viii-finale

2. If you want to share your comments privately, send via email to:

brian@JolsonBlog.com .

Subscribe to JolsonBlog.com

Privacy Policy

We value your privacy which is an important issue for all online consumers. JolsonBlog.com does not sell, rent, barter, swap, share, auction, grant permission or provide your email address with any outside third-party companies.

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80th Anniversary Jazz Singer Interview Part VII

2008-09-27T19:34:00Z

"But, what you get is, first of all, a beautifully restored The Jazz Singer. So, if you've seen it 50 times, you haven't seen it until you've seen it in this digitally restored version. The sound is not from what you've seen in the past, which is from an early 30's sound-on-film version."

Yowza, Yowza, Yowza. This is Brian Marcus Decker, for the Jolson and Friends Blog located on the web at www.JolsonBlog.com, which is the first tech-nostalgic blog dedicated to the musical influences of Al Jolson and Friends.

Well folks, we are winding down with Part VII of our outstanding The Jazz Singer interview with Ron Hutchinson, one of the co-founders of the Vitaphone Project. Due to their extensive efforts working with private collectors, university film archives, the Library of Congress, Warner Bros. and Turner Entertainment they have successfully preserved hundreds of early Vitaphone and Vitaphone Variety film performances. Included in this illustrious Vitaphone catalog include performances by the legendary Al Jolson, Burns & Allen, Baby Rose Marie, Ruth Etting, Weber & Fields, The Seven Little Foys, Georgie Price, George Jessel, Joe E. Brown, Sissle & Blake, Jack Benny, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, William Demarest, Joe Frisco, Jack Norworth, Molly Picon, Rudy Vallee and many, many more.

Perfect Holiday Gift: 80th Anniversary DVD Edition of THE JAZZ SINGER

Click here to shop for this three-disc DVD from Amazon

Free Jolson and Friends Podcasts

To listen to the free Jolson and Friends Blog Podcast published audio files, just click on the listen to podcast icon on the top of this blog post.

Connie Haines, Peppy Singer, Dies at 87

New York Times Obituary
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/arts/music/25haines.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Jolson and Friends Blog: Richard Grudens (Author) on Connie Haines

"I have very sad news in that we lost Connie Haines on Monday of this week. Connie was one of America's great singers of the Golden Age of Music who sang shoulder-to-shoulder with Frank Sinatra in the bands of Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, and with Beryl Davis, Jane Russell, and Rhonda Fleming as the Bible singers who performed on almost every radio show and television that was on the air. Connie and I put together her book Snootie Little Cutie back in the late 90s. She was always high-spirited and a wonderful and thoughtful friend. I, like others, spoke often to her from her Clearwater, Florida home over the years. We got together, along with Tony B., in 2003 in Stonybrook New York when she appeared on a host of radio shows including Joe Franklin's and Jack Ellsworth and we held a book signing and dinner in her honor. I loved that girl. May God grant her peace and joy always."

Jolson and Friends Blog:Tony Babino (Performer) on Connie Hayes

"It is with deep sorrow that I learned of the passing of my dear friend Connie Haines earlier this week.

Connie was a singers singer, and a consummate professional. I had the great honor of performing and sharing the stage with Connie for many years, and I will miss her dearly. She was a tremendous performer, a great friend, and a wonderful humanitarian. She was also the swinginest singer I've ever heard. I had the great fortune to perform in concert with her in front of 10,000 people in Tallahassee Florida. She was simply amazing, and the crowd went crazy for her. The last time I saw her was a few years ago when she surprised me by flying in to catch one of my shows. I will never forget the curtain opening and seeing her sitting there smiling in the front row...this after her having just been through physical rehab from being in a serious car accident. She was a truly amazing person, and I will never forget her. To all who read this message, please say a prayer for this wonderful lady of song who gave her all every time she walked on to a stage.

We had a lot of fun performing together, and I am grateful to her for everything that she taught me about LIVE stage performance, at which she was masterful, classy, and grace personified. The world has lost one of it's truly wonderful people.

God rest your beautiful soul Connie...you will be in our hearts forever."

Perfect Holiday Gift: Limited edition T-shirts (With FREE Shipping)

White or Natural T-Shirt: Only $18.00 with FREE U.S Shipping

Jolson Singing Fool Cantor Tell it to the Judge Moon Rocket Ride

Jolie Old Time Baseball Amusing Boardwalk

Here's the Deal

White or Natural T-Shirt: Only $18.00 with FREE U.S Shipping

Al Jolson Limited Edition T-shirt "The Singing Fool": This is a vintage color reproduction of a 1928 theatrical program.

Eddie Cantor Limited Edition T-shirt "Tell it to the Judge": This is a vintage two-color reproduction of 1930s board game.

Moon Rocket Ride Limited Edition Carnival T-shirt: This is a vintage color reproduction of a hand painted tin carnival sign.

Jolie Black & White Limited Edition T-shirt: This is a vintage B/W illustration of Jolie from the 1920s.

Amusing Boardwalk T-shirt: This clown no longer graces the Jersey Shore Boardwalk, but this vintage color reproduction lives on.

Houdini Limited Edition T-shirt "King of Cards": No slight of hand with this vintage reproduction of a historic King of Cards poster.

Houdini Limited Edition T-shirt "Escape Artists": Try breaking out of this vintage reproduction of publicity photo of Houdini in chains.

Houdini Limited Edition T-shirt "Death Defying Mystery": There is no escaping from this vintage reproduction of Houdini's personal stationary.

Sherlock Double Limited Edition T-shirt: Looking left and right "the game is afoot" with this vintage, black and white illustrated, Sherlock t-shirt, with no clues overlooked.

Sherlock Improbable Limited Edition T-shirt: Vintage Sherlock, black and white illustrated profile, on t-shirt with famous quote, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Sudoku Clueless Limited Edition T-shirt: Sudoku aficionados can proudly challenge the world with this puzzling T-shirt.

For additional information, special orders, discounted shipping outside the U.S., payments through Pay Pal, please contact: brian@JolsonBlog.com

Brian Marcus Decker
24 Arverne Road
West Orange, NJ 07052

Jolson Blog: Jazz Singer and Vitaphone Interview with Ron Hutchinson Part VII

"These are not museum pieces. These are really entertaining films. And, so there are like three or four hours. So, when you get the set, block out a lot of time, because you're not going to want to turn the DVD player off after you start."

Brian Marcus Decker: As I mentioned earlier, this newly-released, three-disc deluxe DVD edition commemorative 80th Anniversary Edition of The Jazz Singer is marvelous. In fact, it exceeded any expectations I ever had. The quality of both the audio and the visual restorations of most of the material is really, really stunning.

Beyond just The Jazz Singer and A Plantation Act, since it is a three-disc set, we kind of go through each one of them. Could you provide us an overview of some of the other material on Disc 1?

Ron Hutchinson: I was very lucky to be able to work on this work with Warner Home Video, the producer, George Feltenstein [sounds like], who has had this as a goal to do for I think the last 10 years, and was able to do it. First of all, I was shocked at how little it cost. And this is not a promotion. It was like how do you get 10 hours or more of stuff on Amazon for around $28? It's just unbelievable.

But, what you get is, first of all, a beautifully restored The Jazz Singer. So, if you've seen it 50 times, you haven't seen it until you've seen it in this digitally restored version. The sound is not from what you've seen in the past, which is from an early 30's sound-on-film version. They went back to the original discs. We actually recorded them downstairs in my house here, a bunch of years ago. So, you get the absolute most sound out of it. And it's digitally cleaned up, but not to the point where you get any false echo or anything. They got the best negatives in existence, which, again, you have not seen. They have helped to clean it up with some digital efforts. But it is just awesome. It's like it was made yesterday.

Separately on that first disc is there's an audio commentary track that I and band leader Vince Giordano do. And hopefully, we add some perspective on some of the individual scenes and the background and so on. First time I'd ever done that, but it was a lot of fun doing that.

And then, in the next DVD, there is a brand new feature length documentary all about the coming of sound. And I must tell you, a little over a year ago, when I first heard about this, I thought this might be some cursory, quick, cheap look at talking pictures, how they came to be. This is an absolutely stellar job. And they talk about Edison and you see Edison talkies from 1913. You see all about Fox Movietone and all the tests. It's just incredible; lots of interviews from Baby Rose Marie to you name it. And it's a feature-length documentary.

And then there are a whole bunch of shorts, I think, five or six, that are all about the coming of sound, from Fleischer Studios in 1929, just wonderful stuff. There is one of my favorite cartoons ever, which is basically the cartoon version of The Jazz Singer. And the title, do you know the title?

Brian Marcus Decker: I Love to Singa.

Ron Hutchinson: I Love to Singa, wonderful. People have bought the set just because of I Love to Singa, Brian. And basically, it's got Owl Jolson instead of Al Jolson and wonderful, beautiful Technicolor short from 1936. Of course, it uses its song from The Singing Kid, I Love to Singa, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

And then, I think the gem of the package is Disc 3, which for the first time on DVD, and mostly the first time ever anywhere on any format of home video, are 24 1926 to 1930 restored Vitaphone shorts. All of these were made originally sound-on-disc, vaudeville. There, of course, is A Plantation Act. There's Baby Rose Marie, Burns and Allen. But then, there's a whole slew of vaudevillians you never heard of, but after you see them, you're going to say, "Well, why didn't I know about these people?" They are just wonderful, very entertaining. These are not museum pieces. These are really entertaining films. And, so there are like three or four hours. So, when you get the set, block out a lot of time, because you're not going to want to turn the DVD player off after you start.

Brian Marcus Decker: There were so many fantastic, fantastic things that were in there. Also, if you never saw A Day at Santa Anita, actually, I had bought it because it was actually included in bonus DVD material with one of the recent James Cagney releases (Each Dawn I Die). But, that, itself, stars one of our favorite child actresses and friend of the Jolson Blog Community, Sybil Jason.

Ron Hutchinson: Oh, yeah.

Brian Marcus Decker: And Sybil is just one of my favorite people and there are so many special appearances by Jolie, Ruby Keeler, Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis and a cast of thousands of people who were in many of the Warner Bros. stable movies.

Ron Hutchinson: And in beautiful Technicolor, too.

Brian Marcus Decker: Absolutely. In addition, I do think you're right. I had spent probably the most amount of time with Disc 3, which did have over three hours of material. There is everything from barbershop quartets to all girl orchestras. And I've actually seen some of these Vitaphone Variety shorts before at special screenings, performances in New York, and exhibitions, as well as I had seen the documentaries. One of them was on vaudeville, which actually did include things like the Baby Rose Marie. However, the variety and quantity of some of the obscure material was almost overwhelming in a very good way and really needed to be savored the way that you might savor a very old, rare bottle of wine, one sip at a time.

There were a number of these early talking Vitaphone Variety shorts that were filmed actually in New York City featuring some of these vaudeville performers. While some of these performers would go on to have very, very successful careers in film, the question came up that some of these performers, it almost feels like you could hear the death bells tolling for them. In fact, who were some of these more obscure vaudevillian performers? And can you share with us some of your favorite material on Disk 3?

Ron Hutchinson: Yeah. Well, of course, what happens is when we work with Warner Bros. and UCLA and we give them a title of a vaudeville short, Mayer & Evans, well whoever heard of them? I hadn't heard of them. It just sounded like it might be good, based on a little bit of written material or maybe hearing a disc. So, these are really obscure. These were mainly, I'd say, either kind of like high second string, say B plus level performers. And they were touring in vaudeville, which by 1927- 28, mainly because of radio and the beginning of talking pictures, was already seen as starting to die. But, big-time vaudeville still existed.

So, you see some of these performers, who other than the title, we don't have a clue. And then, yet, after they're restored, I think the telling thing was Robert Gitt, the Head of Preservation at UCLA, who actually oversees all of the work on these shorts, was mainly interested from an historical perspective and a technical perspective. He was not really into the content, which was fine. And when I would start to get from him, after the first few years of the Vitaphone project, a call, "Ron, this thing is fantastic; this is hilarious," he was getting into and getting caught up with the performances. So, they were a comedy team.

There's a comedy team on the set, which is probably the biggest hit of every show when we screen these publicly, Shaw and Lee. These are two deadpan comics, delivering one bad joke after the other, beautifully timed, some comedy songs. And we've shown it at Film Forum and people are apoplectic when they see them. They were just so funny.

Certainly, Baby Rose Marie after each song, always got applause in these public screenings, and so on. And then, there are some wonderful bands. Separate from all of vaudeville, the jazz performers of today are just in love with these shorts and they see these great, great performers playing as they did, not only on stages, but at dances and so on. So, there's a lot of stuff to be enjoyed. I have to tell you, Brian, this set has done extremely well. This is a litmus test of how much more early stuff is going to get released on DVD. And fortunately, it passed the test beautifully on Amazon when it was released in mid-October of 2007. Keep in mind, to find a black and white film of any kind, Citizen Kane or anything in the top 5,000, is incredible. The first week, you know what it debuted at?

Brian Marcus Decker: No.

Ron Hutchinson: Of all of the DVD's, this is of every subject, pop, blockbusters and everything, number 26. And it was in the top hundred for the first week and then settled into the top few hundred, which, again, is beyond belief. It's competing against Seinfeld. So, I think it bodes well, because while this Disc 3 has 24 shorts, there are at least another 60 or more that people still can see right now. So, there's still a wealth of stuff to be seen and enjoyed again.

Next Up on Jolson Blog: Vitaphone Project Interview Part VIII: October 26, 2008

Can you talk about some of the projects that you're working on right now with Vitaphone?

How can this online blog community get involved and support the Vitaphone project?

Jolson and Friends Blog Required Viewing and Reading List

Perfect Holiday Gift: 80th Anniversary DVD Edition of THE JAZZ SINGER

Click here to shop for this three-disc DVD from Amazon

Perfect Holiday Gift: No Applause--Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous (Paperback) by Trav S.D.

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

Perfect Holiday Gift: My Fifteen Minutes: An Autobiography of a Child Star of the Golden Era of Hollywood (Paperback) by Sybil Jason

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

Perfect Holiday Gift: When Jolson Was King: (Paperback) by Richard Grudens

Richard Grudens has written an entertaining and informative (must read) book for anyone interested in the legendary, Al Jolson "The World's Greatest Entertainer".

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

Changes to Jolson and Friends Blog

Due to the time intensive nature of ongoing research, content development, production and maintaining and the Blog, the next blog update will happen on October 26th. I am continuing to work on several future Jolson and Friends projects including:

Jolson and Friends Recommended Reading and Viewer Lists including cost-saving shopping links to find unique books, videos and more.
Expanded global coverage of local events (please send me event info).
Future podcasts of upcoming interviews and special performance-based content.

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Jolson Breaks Sound Barrier: Part VI Vitaphone

2008-08-31T15:42:00Z

"What happened was, with the stock market crash, things changed and this idea of high living and the flappers and all that, that was the past. So, what happened was some of these gritty Broadway stars and performers like Jimmy Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, Joan Blondell, went west and there was a different type of performer coming in. And also, you had stars that couldn't make it in silent films, because they relied on speaking. Marx Brothers, hard to imagine a Marx Brothers film where it was silent. It was not going to work. And then other stars like Laurel and Hardy and W.C. Fields, who had made silent films and some of them quite successful, gained a much bigger career, because now you had that added dimension of talking."

Yowza, Yowza, Yowza. This is Brian Marcus Decker, for the Jolson and Friends Blog located on the web at www.JolsonBlog.com, which is the first tech-nostalgic blog dedicated to the musical influences of Al Jolson and Friends.

Well folks, it's now time to continue with Part VI of our outstanding The Jazz Singer interview with Ron Hutchinson, one of the co-founders of the Vitaphone Project. Due to their extensive efforts working with private collectors, university film archives, the Library of Congress, Warner Bros. and Turner Entertainment they have successfully preserved hundreds of early Vitaphone and Vitaphone Variety film performances. Included in this illustrious Vitaphone catalog include performances by the legendary Al Jolson, Burns & Allen, Baby Rose Marie, Ruth Etting, Weber & Fields, The Seven Little Foys, Georgie Price, George Jessel, Joe E. Brown, Sissle & Blake, Jack Benny, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, William Demarest, Joe Frisco, Jack Norworth, Molly Picon, Rudy Vallee and many, many more.

We will also have an opportunity to discuss with Ron Hutchinson of the Vitaphone Project the overall involvement with the recent Commemorative 80th Anniversary Edition of the legendary film, The Jazz Singer: This three-disc deluxe DVD EDITION is nothing short of fantastic. For Jolson fans and anyone interested in early 20th century performing arts, music, film and nostalgia, this is a must buy. This incredible three-disc collection includes more than several hours of digital transferred and immaculately refurbished soundtracks from the original Vitaphone Sound on Disc recordings. This special collection also includes behind the scene Jazz Singer photo cards, souvenir programs that include reviews, news articles, a Vitaphone brochure, replicas of postcards that even Al Jolson sent to Jack Warner following the death of his brother and more.

80th Anniversary DVD Edition of THE JAZZ SINGER

Click here to shop for this three-disc DVD from Amazon

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To listen to the free Jolson and Friends Blog Podcast published audio files, just click on the listen to podcast icon on the top of this blog post.

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Jolson Blog: Jazz Singer and Vitaphone Interview with Ron Hutchinson Part VI

"Crossland before The Jazz Singer, had worked on as a director, Don Juan, with another one of Warner Bros.' let's say potentially difficult stars, John Barrymore. That was a silent film, but it was already felt that he had some experience with a Vitaphone film. And so, he was not a great director. He certainly made some films that were quite good, but he was somewhat of a journeyman director, who worked well with "potentially difficult stars." And that is one of the reasons he worked with Jolson."

Brian Marcus Decker: Andrew Sarris, the film critic, also said, "The Jazz Singer marked the beginning of the end, rather than the end of the beginning." We see that there were a number of professional casualties associated with the advent of talking pictures among silent film actors, directors and vaudeville performers. Can you share with us some examples of some of these casualties, both from film and theater?

Ron Hutchinson: Well, this is another myth, to some degree. Obviously, there were casualties, but relatively few had to do with talking pictures. They had more to do with just changing times. Let me give you an example. There were a couple that were just absolutely career-enders. Emil Jannings is a good example.

Brian Marcus Decker: A brilliant actor.

Ron Hutchinson: Brilliant actor, thick accent. There were a few foreign stars at the time, who because of their accent, just could not make it. And they went back to their home country and continued their film career in talkies in their country.

The myth that John Gilbert, the biggest male star, without any question whatsoever, that talkies ruined his career, absolutely untrue. What hurt his career was that the initial talkie features that he starred in had incredibly stilted dialogue that nobody could succeed with, without people laughing at you. He would say, "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you." Now, nobody can deliver that dialogue and not be laughed off the screen. And yet, in Hollywood Review of 1929, you see him and Norma Shearer do a takeoff on Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. And he's very natural. His voice level is fine. He doesn't have this high-pitched voice. However, because of a few really bad early talkies, his career ended pretty rapidly. And he continued to make films for a number of years, but they were not successful.

Those were the main casualties. But, then you look at somebody like Clara Bow. Clara Bow's transition to sound, even though she hated making talking pictures and was very nervous, her films pretty well capture her Jazz Baby, It Girl persona. And her films were very successful. So, they're not these stilted or very badly performed films.

What happened was, with the stock market crash, things changed and this idea of high living and the flappers and all that, that was the past. So, what happened was some of these gritty Broadway stars and performers like Jimmy Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, Joan Blondell, went west and there was a different type of performer coming in. And also, you had stars that couldn't make it in silent films, because they relied on speaking. Marx Brothers, hard to imagine a Marx Brothers film where it was silent. It was not going to work. And then other stars like Laurel and Hardy and W.C. Fields, who had made silent films and some of them quite successful, gained a much bigger career, because now you had that added dimension of talking.

So, there were very few people whose careers ended. There were certainly silent stars who just could not act, because they had to have the director talk them through every single nuance and emotion, and those people, Norma Talmadge is a good example, perhaps, or some whose careers were starting to end even then, Mary Pickford and so on. So, there is a transition, but it was as much because of changing times. It was much more than that. It was not somebody with a squeaky voice, which is parodied in Singing in the Rain. There were relatively few of those.

Brian Marcus Decker: Alan Crossland had a successful career in film as a director from 1916 to his untimely death on July 16th 1936, in a car crash. Why was Crossland specifically chosen to direct The Jazz Singer?

Ron Hutchinson: Crossland before The Jazz Singer, had worked on as a director, Don Juan, with another one of Warner Bros.' let's say potentially difficult stars, John Barrymore. That was a silent film, but it was already felt that he had some experience with a Vitaphone film. And so, he was not a great director. He certainly made some films that were quite good, but he was somewhat of a journeyman director, who worked well with "potentially difficult stars." And that is one of the reasons he worked with Jolson.

He did a very good job with Jolson. If you stand back and watch the film today, especially in the restored version, you can see there's some really good acting done by Jolson, who was extremely uncomfortable before the camera. People forget that just before he was about to film the talking scenes where he's at the piano with Eugenie Besserer as his mother and everything, he was still extremely nervous, almost to the point of throwing up. And Crossland allegedly hinted that, "Al, we understand if you're nervous about this. You know, Jessel said he really wants back in if you go out." And that convinced him and that supposedly really happened. So, he dealt well with him and got some, I think, really good performances out of Jolson. But, he was really picked because he had the mindset and mentality to deal with potentially difficult, nervous; which Jolson certainly was, concerned performers.

Remember, a couple of years earlier, he was supposed to do a film feature with D.W. Griffith, His Darker Self. And apparently, he was so concerned and worried about doing that, he kind of ran away and there were a bunch of lawsuits and the film was never made. Later in his career, he did a number of other things. He did My Man with Fanny Brice, who was promoted as the female Jolson by Warner Bros., and did some other things. And then he did some fairly stilted films like On With the Show, several operettas and so on, and after about three in a row, his career seemed to shift to more B pictures. He did the Perry Mason features in the early 30's and he was unfortunately killed in an automobile accident.

But, I think Warner Bros. was smart in putting them together. He did later Big Boy with Jolson in 1930, but, more of a personality director. He wasn't a Hitchcock, but he was really good for Jolson, I think.

Jolson Blog: Vitaphone Project Interview Part VII: September 28, 2008

Could you provide us an overview of some of the other great material on the three-disc DVD set of The Jazz Singer?

Wait a Minute, wait a minute, wait a minute:
Jolson and Friends Blog Required Viewing and Reading List

80th Anniversary DVD Edition of THE JAZZ SINGER

Click here to shop for this three-disc DVD from Amazon

No Applause--Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous (Paperback) by Trav S.D.

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

My Fifteen Minutes: An Autobiography of a Child Star of the Golden Era of Hollywood (Paperback) by Sybil Jason

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

When Jolson Was King: (Paperback) by Richard Grudens

Richard Grudens has written an entertaining and informative (must read) book for anyone interested in the legendary, Al Jolson "The World's Greatest Entertainer".

"The book contains many facets of Jolson' career including those around him, his competition, employers, and comments from those he inspired enough to form their own careers, the issue of minstrel, blackface performers, fabled stories of the famed Friar's Club, a chapter of the infamous Shubert Brothers, and chapters covering Jolson's experiences in film, radio and his extensive USO travels. Covered too are vignettes of the theatres in which Jolson performed, and of those great theatrical competitors like the Barrymore's and where they were voicing their talents while Jolson was pulling them in at the Winter Garden, and a full feature on Jolson's films from the first talkie, The Jazz Singer to his famed bio-pics The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again." - Richard Grudens

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

Changes to Jolson and Friends Blog

Due to the time intensive nature of ongoing research, content development, production and maintaining and the Blog, the next blog update will happen on September 28th. I am continuing to work on several future Jolson and Friends projects including:

Jolson and Friends Recommended Reading and Viewer Lists including cost-saving shopping links to find unique books, videos and more.
Expanded global coverage of local events (please send me event info).
Future podcasts of upcoming interviews and special performance-based content.

Watch for the Mail, I'll Never Fail

Your feedback is greatly appreciated and truly helps shape future content of www.JolsonBlog.com .

There are two ways to share your comments with the Jolson and Friends blog community.

1. If you would like to have your comments posted on this Blog, use

http://jolsonblog.com/2008/08/31/jolson-breaks-sound-barrier-part-vi-vitaphone

2. If you want to share your comments privately, send via email to:

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