JOLSON SINGS AGAIN
US, 1949, 96 minutes, Colour.
Larry Parks, Barbara Hale, William Demarest.
Directed by Henry Levin.
The storyline for The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again is continuous. The sequel begins exactly where the original ended. (A reminder that there was a passion for sequels to successful films as far back as the 1940s.)
Larry Parks achieves a lifetime high in his impersonation of Al Jolson, even though he looks nothing like him. Jolson was alive at the time – and the screenwriters were shrewd in the comments made after the original that it was a fictionalised, even idealised, portrait of the singer in having a scene where Parks impersonates Jolson having a conversation with Larry Parks after seeing one of Parks’s performances of his songs.
Larry Parks brought a genial presence to the character of Jolson (which many said was not exactly the same as the more acerbic reality). Parks is also skilful in his lip-synching of Jolson’s famous songs including ‘Swanee’, ‘April Showers’, ‘California, Here I Come’. This emphasis on the songs continued from the original into the sequel.
The film was well acclaimed, winning Oscar nominations for Larry Parks and William Demarest for their performances as well as musical score and colour photography.
While these films revived Al Jolson’s career though he was to die fairly soon after they were released, the films did not save the career of Larry Parks who was accused of being a communist and was blacklisted. He appeared in very few films afterwards but made an appearance in John Huston’s Freud. The ban also affected his loyal wife, the singer-comedienne Betty Garrett who was so much to the fore in some MGM musicals including Neptune’s Daughter and On the Town.
The films compress Jolson’s life, but highlight his relationship with his Jewish background, especially his father. It shows the choices he made of taking up the stage rather than following in his father’s footsteps and committed to his religion. The films also show him having only two wives – whereas he had four. Ruby Keeler, singer-dancer of many of the Warner Bros films of the 1930s, including some with Jolson like Wunderbar, is compressed into the character of Julie Benson, played by Evelyn Keyes. In the sequel, the wife who takes care of him and persuades him to calm down is played by Barbara Hale. William Demarest plays his manager Steve Martin in both of the films.
There was a popularity of doing biographies of living singers and composers during the 1940s and 1950s including Rhapsody in Blue about George Gershwin, Night and Day about Cole Porter, Till the Clouds Roll By about Jerome Kern, Words and Music about Lorenz Hart, The Danny Thomas story about Danny Thomas. The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again stand out as some of the best of these biopics.
1. The value of the sequel with the success of the original? The commercial value of the sequel? Interest in Jolson in the forties? The revival of interest in the person, his music and singing styles? An indicated at the end of the film?
2. The continued production values of the original? Music, songs, Larry Parks' skill in miming Jolson's songs?
3. Further insight into the person of Jolson? His age, retirement and wasting time, reaction to his mother's death, caring for his father, Stove and his career during the war, illness, marriage and settled retirement, failure and confronting this, the film biography and the rejuvenation of his career and interest in singing? The consistency of the character portrayal with the original?
4. The obsession with singing and his whole lift centred upon his singing, his having to learn the more humane aspects of life and enjoying it? How well did he do this?
5. The immediate linking of the sequel to the original (even though three years difference in production?), the initial production, the sequence continued from the earlier film, the later summary during the preview? The sequences of Parks as Jolson meeting Parks as Parks?
6. The continued portrayal of the family and their love for him, worry about his age and failure, the divorce, his mother's death? His father's presence in his later years? Stove's continued friendship and devotion, management?
7. The importance of Ellen and the contrast with Julie? The nurse and her caring for Jolson and her interest in his singing career? Their courtship, her shrewdness, marriage, her support, buying the house to exorcise his memories, her continued encouragement for his career, singing at the Benefit the film? Peaceful happiness with him?
8. The portrayal of Bryant during the war and the singing in Alaska, his memories of Jolson, role as a film producer, his hearing Jolson at the benefit and his idea about the film, the support that he gave to Jolson?
9. The brief picture of his reaction to the divorce, the closing down of his career, retirement, wasting time and money? The revival of interest in helping the troops during the war?
10. Stove and his role of hiring artists to work for the war effort, Jolson's collaboration, the devices for shoving his tours and schedule, his collapses and illness?
11. The impact of retiring on him, the benefit when he was amongst many others and the irony of his final success?
12. His reaction to the filmmaking, his exhilaration after hearing himself recorded, of seeing Larry Parks mime his songs, his emotional involvement in the filmmaking, the film preview?
13. The film ended with a sense of achievement, of his popularity with the new generation? A satisfying life on the level of profession, as a human being?
