Movies: Al Jolson

This short traces the history of sound in the movies, beginning with French scientist Leon Scott's experiments in 1857. Featured are snippets from early sound pictures....

Joe Lane, radio entertainer and songwriter, learns that the manager of the studio, Arthur Phillips, has made improper advances to his wife, Katherine. Infuriated, Lane engages him in a fight, and the encounter results in Phillips' accidental death. J...

Gus, the trusty family retainer, has hopes of riding his boss' horse, Big Boy, to victory at the Kentucky Derby....

In this sequel to The Jolson Story, we pick up the singer's career just as he has returned to the stage after a premature retirement. But his wife has left him and the appeal of the spotlight isn't what it used to be. This time Jolson trades in the s...

Orphaned horse-trainer's little daughter has reciprocated bond with horse, which needs her presence to win races....

Broadway actress leaves New York to become a star in Hollywood, and succeeds despite sleazy directors and her own ego....

A New York tramp falls in love with the mayor's amnesiac girlfriend after rescuing her from a suicide attempt....

The Fania All Stars perform for 44,000 fans at Yankee stadium in New York. Besides concert footage, there's also included a history of Salsa, and vintage film clips of Hollywood's portrayal of Latinos in movies during the 1930's and 40's....

Mammy features Al Jolson as the star of a travelling minstrel show, appearing in cities and towns across the U.S. Jolson falls in love with an actress in the troupe (Lois Moran), but she loves another (Lowell Sherman). Sherman is shot onstage as part...

This short was released in connection with the 20th anniversary of Warner Brothers' first exhibition of the Vitaphone sound-on-film process on 6 August 1926. The film highlights Thomas A. Edison and Alexander Graham Bell's efforts that contributed to...

A young husband becomes a game-show participant in the hopes of winning the cash to pay his pregnant wife's doctor....

A trio of singers entertaining hospitalized soldiers during WWII encourage a wounded soldier in his love for a nurse....

Show girl Jill Deverne is married to song writer Fred Deverne, and everyone is involved in the Broadway night life and endless parties. Jill is being pursued by a gangster, and she leaves her husband after he spends the night with a floozie. Jill end...

Ice skating is the theme; at the Tropical Ice Garden, in Westwood Hills, are seen a flock of skating stars including Irene Dare and Phyllis Ann Thomoson, as well as Hollywood luminaries such as Franklyn Pangborn, Norma Shearer, Rita Hayworth, Mickey ...

Feature-length compilation of 1920s newsreel footage, with commentary about news, sports, lifestyles, and historical figures....

A short promotional film about Ruby Keeler and her upcoming film "Flirtation Walk." It provides a brief look at her career on Broadway, early films, and personal life away from the studio before showing a trailer for the new film....

A tour of Hollywood, featuring such star frequented spots as the Vendome, the Lakeside Golf Club, the West Side Tennis Club, the Santa Anita Racetrack, the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove, the Biltmore Bowl, and the American Legion Stadium....

Al Jolson's first sound film. Dressed in overalls and wearing black-face makeup, he sings three of his hit songs: "When the Red, Red, Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along ", "April Showers", and "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody "....

Jack Benny narrates the Screen Snapshots that, utilizing archive footage, traces the career of Al Jolson, and rare off-stage shots of Jolson with stars such as Bob Hope, Eddie Cantor and Pat O'Brien....