The Jazz Singer was the first Hollywood feature film that had people speaking in it. It actually is more of a silent movie interspersed with singing and some dialogue. The Jazz Singer is kind of sad. Its the American Jew's assimilation's dream.
A short synopsis of the film is in order. Jakie Rabinowitz is a cantor's son who lives on the lower east side in New York . The story starts out when he is about 10 years old in about 1910 and he is enticed by the jazz music in what looks like bars. He actually goes and sings in the these places. His father the chazan wants him to follow in his footsteps. He of course has other thoughts. Jakie leaves his parents and pursues his musical career. . Eventually a gentile woman named Mary helps him get his big break. He sends his mother news of his success. She is pleased his career is doing well, but not happy that he is dating a shiksa (the word used in the film). When his father turns 60 he visits his parents again. His father is displeased that he is still OTD and tells him never to return.
Years later Jakie aka Jack Robin is scheduled for a big show to premiere on Yom Kippur night. At the same time his father is very ill and is dreaming of his son being the chazan for Kol Nidre at his shul .First a family friend urges him to do Kol Nidre for his father in the shul. Next his mother goes to get him from the theater and hears him sing. She realized that her son is meant to be a jazz singer. She still implores him to do Kol Nidre as his father is very ill and this is his dying wish. Eventually his duty to his family culminates with him doing Kol Nidre for his father's shul.
In the end Jakie/Jack does perform Kol Nidre for his father's shul. He remembers it despite his many years OTD. This of course does not keep him on the derech. He continues to perform on stage. The film ends with him singing the song Mammy in black face.
The parents always look old in this film even when they are young. They are always old because their ways are old, therefore they always look old.
When I first saw this film I was in my early twenties and I was horrified.. It was such a glorification of assimilation. My grandmother who was about 15 when she saw the movie absolutely adored the movie and was so happy that I had seen it. Then again, the era The Jazzz Singer was the era my grandmother grew up in. By then there were a lot of Jewish immigrants who were trying to fit in with the general culture as well as retain their religious identity. Though all Jews experience this in the current era,it was different then. They were of the first to be Jewish in America after immigrating to the United States at the turn of the century.
After watching this film years later I have a different take on it. The Jazz Singer is very much in the tradition of Yiddish films. In fact its almost "too Jewish". Jakie's parents are authentically orthodox Jews. The shul has a mechitzah. Since Jolson was Jewish and was born in Russia he sings Kol Nidre perfectly. I think that the OTD factor is sad, but there is also a lesson to be learned. Jakie's emotional connection to both of his parents were still drawing him to his Jewish identity. His mother's love kept him connected and his father's teachings were still ingrained in him otherwise he would not have returned to do Kol Nidre even that one last time. The black face scenes were there to show how Jakie was not really being himself when he was on stage. He was trying too hard to fit in and be someone else instead of be himself. At that time (1927) Jews did not want to flaunt their Jewishness due to so much anti-Semitism.
I think that a lot can be learned from The Jazz Singer . The saga of OTD is not a new one. Even if a family member does not observe Judaism as one would like them to , one must not abandon them. One needs to show them love but also try to make them understand why what one believes in (Judaism) is important . They may never return to full observance, but there is zero chance of their return if one cuts them off.
You may not agree with me on my analysis of this movie, but you won't regret watching it if you haven't yet watched it. It is of great significance that a film on this topic was the first feature talking film.
If The Jazz Singer disappoints you too much , be sure and watch the 1937 Yiddish Moishe Oysher film The Cantor's Son. It is the anti-Jazz singer movie about a cantor's son who comes to the United States to become a singer and ends up returning to Poland to marry his sweetheart and to return to his roots.
A short synopsis of the film is in order. Jakie Rabinowitz is a cantor's son who lives on the lower east side in New York . The story starts out when he is about 10 years old in about 1910 and he is enticed by the jazz music in what looks like bars. He actually goes and sings in the these places. His father the chazan wants him to follow in his footsteps. He of course has other thoughts. Jakie leaves his parents and pursues his musical career. . Eventually a gentile woman named Mary helps him get his big break. He sends his mother news of his success. She is pleased his career is doing well, but not happy that he is dating a shiksa (the word used in the film). When his father turns 60 he visits his parents again. His father is displeased that he is still OTD and tells him never to return.
Years later Jakie aka Jack Robin is scheduled for a big show to premiere on Yom Kippur night. At the same time his father is very ill and is dreaming of his son being the chazan for Kol Nidre at his shul .First a family friend urges him to do Kol Nidre for his father in the shul. Next his mother goes to get him from the theater and hears him sing. She realized that her son is meant to be a jazz singer. She still implores him to do Kol Nidre as his father is very ill and this is his dying wish. Eventually his duty to his family culminates with him doing Kol Nidre for his father's shul.
In the end Jakie/Jack does perform Kol Nidre for his father's shul. He remembers it despite his many years OTD. This of course does not keep him on the derech. He continues to perform on stage. The film ends with him singing the song Mammy in black face.
The parents always look old in this film even when they are young. They are always old because their ways are old, therefore they always look old.
When I first saw this film I was in my early twenties and I was horrified.. It was such a glorification of assimilation. My grandmother who was about 15 when she saw the movie absolutely adored the movie and was so happy that I had seen it. Then again, the era The Jazzz Singer was the era my grandmother grew up in. By then there were a lot of Jewish immigrants who were trying to fit in with the general culture as well as retain their religious identity. Though all Jews experience this in the current era,it was different then. They were of the first to be Jewish in America after immigrating to the United States at the turn of the century.
After watching this film years later I have a different take on it. The Jazz Singer is very much in the tradition of Yiddish films. In fact its almost "too Jewish". Jakie's parents are authentically orthodox Jews. The shul has a mechitzah. Since Jolson was Jewish and was born in Russia he sings Kol Nidre perfectly. I think that the OTD factor is sad, but there is also a lesson to be learned. Jakie's emotional connection to both of his parents were still drawing him to his Jewish identity. His mother's love kept him connected and his father's teachings were still ingrained in him otherwise he would not have returned to do Kol Nidre even that one last time. The black face scenes were there to show how Jakie was not really being himself when he was on stage. He was trying too hard to fit in and be someone else instead of be himself. At that time (1927) Jews did not want to flaunt their Jewishness due to so much anti-Semitism.
I think that a lot can be learned from The Jazz Singer . The saga of OTD is not a new one. Even if a family member does not observe Judaism as one would like them to , one must not abandon them. One needs to show them love but also try to make them understand why what one believes in (Judaism) is important . They may never return to full observance, but there is zero chance of their return if one cuts them off.
You may not agree with me on my analysis of this movie, but you won't regret watching it if you haven't yet watched it. It is of great significance that a film on this topic was the first feature talking film.
If The Jazz Singer disappoints you too much , be sure and watch the 1937 Yiddish Moishe Oysher film The Cantor's Son. It is the anti-Jazz singer movie about a cantor's son who comes to the United States to become a singer and ends up returning to Poland to marry his sweetheart and to return to his roots.
2 comments:
In an interesting historical tidbit, Yossele Rosenblatt the famous cantor was asked to perform in the Jazz Singer, but refused initially since he would not perform Kol Nidre in a make believe setting. They later convinced him to appear as himself.
Its also interesting to note that Jolson and Oisher perform the same nusach for Kol Nidre, one that is distinct from that of Rosenblatt.
Wow. Very interesting.
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