Jazz Singer, The

Directed by Alan Crosland and produced in 1927, The Jazz Singer was the first feature film to incorporate music and voice into a film. Starring Al Jolson, the film was based on Samson Raphael-son's short story from 1922, “The Day of Atonement.” The Jazz Singer was a landmark film for two reasons: First, it showcased the rise of sound technology and its integration into the movies in the 1920s, and second, it reflected the general acceptance of jazz music and Jewish immigrants’ acculturation to American society.

The story of The Jazz Singer is that of a conflict between personal ambitions and cultural tradition. On one hand, it illustrates Jakie Rabi-nowitz's aspiration to become a popular singer. On the other hand, born to Jewish immigrant parents in New York, he is expected to become the cantor in their synagogue, as the successor to his father. He defies his family's Jewish tradition by leaving the family to pursue his career in jazz. He changes his name to Jack Robin and experiences enthusiastic receptions from the audience at a cabaret.

With the help of a musical dancer, Mary Dale, he secures his career on the vaudeville circuit. He returns to his father only on his 60th birthday. Jack sings and plays Irving Berlin's “Blue Skies” for his mother on his father's piano. His father tells Jack to stop and leave the house. Jakie's father becomes ill only two weeks after this encounter. His final wish is clear: He wanted his son to sing “Kol Nidre” for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, as a substitution singer at the synagogue. Jakie, however, was scheduled to perform on Broadway. He manages to fulfill his father's wish and still makes it to Broadway.

Immigrants and their families, especially youth who were born in the United States, undergo difficult decisions about the old world values that their parents subscribe to and the new world values that are frequently more appealing to them. The Jazz Singer promotes balancing of ethnic identity and acculturation to the new society to achieve economic success in the early 20th century. For Jakie, the means for such prosperity is jazz, the symbol of American culture, values, and lifestyles.

The Jazz Singer is also significant because of its use of blackface in Jack Robin's Broadway stage production. Jack wears a minstrel costume to prove his American identity. This is a replication of earlier European immigrants’ assimilation processes, through which they resorted to blackface in order to integrate into their new American society by participating in a form of popular culture that was prototypically American. It granted them privileged status at the cost of African Americans. Although Samson Raphaelson explains that the film used blackface not as a means for Jews to attain whiteness, but for them to realize modern Jewish identity, it is ironic that the film reinforced stereotypical depictions of African Americans from the 19th century. The author also explains that the inspiration of his short story came from Al Jolson, a Russian-born Jewish performer who performed in the musical Robinson Crusoe, Jr., in blackface.

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