Al Jolson

Al Jolson. N. V. Universum S. A., Antwerp.

While one would hope that the Lithuanian-born cantor’s son Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson, 1886–1950) still needs no introduction, few are perhaps aware of just how much of a superstar he was in his time. Film students will, of course, know him for his role in the first feature-length sound film, The Jazz Singer (1927), in which he played a prodigal cantor’s son. When Variety asked it readers in 1948 whom they considered the most popular singer, Jolson beat numerous stars including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Perry Como. He bequeathed his fortune equally to various Jewish, Protestant and Catholic charities.

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