Al Jolson’s ‘Singing Kid’ was 3rd in line
Al Jolson is forever associated with a golden movie first: he starred in the first full length motion picture with synchronized sound and music. The Jazz Singer was released in 1927 by Warner Brothers Pictures.
As most film fans know, the sound portion of the film consisted of Jolson singing six songs while the rest of the movie’s storyline is propelled with silent era title cards. Jolson sings such hits as ‘Mother of Mine,” a song performed with the actor/singer in blackface.
The movie’s popularity spawned a second Jolson film using interspersed singing with full sound: The Singing Fool (1928). This was a blockbuster and held the record for movie attendance for 11 years, being surpassed in 1939 by Gone With the Wind.
In the second film, Jolson is a singing waiter who becomes a popular singer. An unfaithful wife — she is cheating with his manager — upends his success. Worst of all, he temporarily loses his beloved little boy. The loss prompts a song: ‘Sonny Boy’, a tearjerker that became the star’s signature hit.
For his third movie appearance eight years later, sound technology reflected modern films with full-length sound. In The Singing Kid, released in 1936, Jolson is obviously older. Part of the plot centers around the ‘older’ style songs of his earlier films. He plays a professional singer named Al Jackson.
