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    News and Articles on The Jazz Singer



    First Aussie sound film returned  Aug 19, 2008
    Four years later, the US feature film The Jazz Singer ushered in the sound era with a now-antiquated sound-on-record process. Mr Shirley said he would now seek the other of De Forest's first Australian-made films, which shows the official opening of Canberra as the nation's capital on May 9, 1927. (The Australian)

    You Don't Mess with the Zohan  Jun 6, 2008
    Well, you can see not only where this is going but also where it came from think Borat via Shampoo by way of The Jazz Singer. Now that's an unlikely trio of thefts bundled up in a single flick. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)

    HOLLYWOOD: BRING BACK THE JEWISH HEROES  May 4, 2008
    American movies have given us tragic Jews ("The Pawnbroker"), cold-blooded Jews ("Rope"), devout Jews ("The Chosen"), sidewalk Jews ("Crossing Delancey"), intellectual Jews ("Enemies: A Love Story"), thrilling Jews ("Marathon Man"), ambitious Jews ("Avalon,"), showbiz Jews ("Funny Girl"), gangster Jews ("Bugsy"), JAPy Jews ("Private Benjamin"), political Jews ("The Way We Were"), funny Jews ("Biloxi Blues"), self-hating skinhead Jews ("The Believer"), hairy Jews ("Fiddler on the Roof"), scary... (New York Post -- Opinions)

    CORRECTING and REPLACING Neil Diamond Live Concert Tour of a Lifetime  Apr 16, 2008
    Diamonds prolific body of work includes You Don't Bring Me Flowers (the powerful duet with Barbra Streisand), I Am, I Said and Cracklin Rosie, as well as hits from his album and movie The Jazz Singer (America, Love on the Rocks) and from his acclaimed 2005 album 12 Songs. The album marked his first project with Rubin, which entered the Billboard Top 200 at No. 4 marking Diamonds highest-charting debut to date and offered a stripped-down, emotionally... (Yahoo! Wire -- Entertainment News)

    More notes on home theater  Apr 11, 2008
    Home theater - Technology Live - USATODAY.com. Other USA TODAY blogs. (USA Today -- Tech)

    Diamond, Rubin Re-Team For 'Home After Dark'  Apr 8, 2008
    "12 Songs" was a critical and commercial smash, debuting at No. 4 on The Billboard 200, his best opening since 1982's "The Jazz Singer." The album has sold 570,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "I love the intimacy of it," Diamond told Billboard in 2007. (MediaWeek.com)

    'Singin in the Rain' reigns  Apr 1, 2008
    But another article hints that changes are about to occur in Tinseltown with the release of "The Jazz Singer," reputed to be "all talking, all singing.". Tension is high. (NJ.com -- Times)

    David O'Brien  Mar 28, 2008
    And I recommended a CD by the jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, Blue Light Til Dawn He totally dug it. And Ohman. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

    Orbitz Insiders Profile Favorite Film Cities to Bring Travelers Closer to the Silver Screen  Mar 20, 2008
    San Francisco was the setting for the first "talking picture," the Jazz Singer, in 1927. More recently, films shot in San Francisco include Basic Instinct, Dirty Harry, The Joy Luck Club and The Rock, which extensively features Alcatraz Island. (Yahoo News -- Press Releases)

    'Blade Runner' recognized  Mar 17, 2008
    Blade Runner also won awards for best "making of" documentary, best packaging and tied with The Jazz Singer: Three Disc Deluxe Edition for best video restoration. Warner Bros. (USA Today -- Tech)

    Hustle and merlot  Mar 16, 2008
    At a friend's wedding last fall, I was talking with the jazz singer Mary Foster Conklin about the transformation we've seen over the past decade. "Do you think the city has lost its soul?" I asked her. (Boston Globe)

    Coming attractions: Meloni hits Nickelodeon's 'Gym'  Mar 15, 2008
    He and Rubin first joined forces on 12 Songs, released in 2005 to widespread acclaim; Newsweek hailed it as "the best work Diamond has done in 30 years." It has sold 570,000 copies since entering Billboard at No. 4, his highest chart placement since 1980's The Jazz Singer. After completing ongoing sold-out dates in Europe, the singer plans to launch a U.S. tour this summer. (USA Today -- Life)

    Surreal to reel  Mar 1, 2008
    "I don't want to compare myself to him - I don't want people to see me as this great genius - but when I see Charlie Chaplin's movies there is a combination of drama, naivety and social meaning that I can see in myself at a different level. Movies weren't international at the time Chaplin was making movies and I think that's why he wanted to push the silent movie as far as it could go, which was way beyond the beginning of the talkies. The talkies were a big regression, with very few exceptions:... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)

    Music: Erich Wolfgang Korngold: A composer returns to the limelight  Jan 15, 2008
    Listening stations in each of the exhibit's eight rooms allow one to sample on headphones more than two hours of Korngold's music, though a piped-in song from Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer" intrudes a bit on private listening. Jolson's pioneering movie, of course, pointed the way of the future for Korngold, who first went to Hollywood in 1934 to adapt Mendelssohn's music for Reinhardt's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Meanwhile, the rise of the Nazis resulted in a ban on his music in Germany. (International Herald Tribune)

    Soundbytes: Top 10 Albums Of 2007  Jan 3, 2008
    Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly likened the record's entry into the marketplace to the release of "The Jazz Singer," the first sound motion picture that essentially rang the death knell for the silent film era. But, if you'll forgive a broad statement of my own, 2007 won't be remembered as the beginning of the end or even the end of the beginning. (KIRO TV, WA)

    Review: Run Hard To See 'Dewey Cox'  Dec 23, 2007
    This "biography" of a fictional music star gleefully parodies every other film in the genre, ranging from "Walk the Line," and "Ray," to "The Buddy Holly Story" and "The Jazz Singer." Even the Beatles animated movie, "Yellow Submarine" gets a poke. It starts with Dewey as an old man about to get his Lifetime Achievement award. (NBC4.tv, CA)

    The Savages ***  Dec 21, 2007
    The film isn't as free of sentimentality as it pretends to be: Wendy's relationship with a saintly Nigerian nursing home worker feels contrived, and there's a distinctly sitcom-like sequence where they screen the father's favourite movie, The Jazz Singer, before an embarrassed mixed-race audience. Visually, it's no better than a decent television drama, offering a simple visual contrast between the candy-coloured Arizona desert community and rust-belt Buffalo in grim mid-winter. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)

    Gin Joint History  Dec 16, 2007
    Step inside, however, and you're presented with a replica of a twisty wooden slide like the one once found at Coffee Dan's - the ham-and-egger that served hotcakes and coffee upstairs and whiskey down below (and also made an appearance in Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer," one of the first talkies). Clubgoers can either take the slide - as a stay-at-home dad who regularly visits the city's playgrounds, I'd term it the fastest, creakiest, most dangerous contraption in all of San Francisco - or, if... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)

    Hoffman, Linney ennoble The Savages  Nov 28, 2007
    Director Jenkins is a master of the awkward moment, from Jon and Wendys premature grazing at the snack table at a support group to the nursing-home screening of The Jazz Singer, which is a hit with Lenny but more than a bit awkward for the facilitys many African-American residents. The look on Hoffman and Linneys faces when they realize theyre showing a movie that involves blackface is exquisitely squirmy. (MSNBC -- Movies)

    Don't look away  Nov 12, 2007
    CALL THE Department of Social Services van: I showed "The Jazz Singer" to my children ... By the time of "The Jazz Singer," though, minstrelsy had come to stand for something nostalgic, a warm signifier of the "old days" of American stage history before vaudeville and the movies ... To see "The Jazz Singer," then, is to bear witness to a stunningly busy canvas of ethnic imposture. (Boston Globe)

    more »  Nov 6, 2007
    I even got to watch a restored version of the first talkie of The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson on a recent night. Anyway, on a recent night, I was watching an old picture when someone referred to someone who was dying of consumption. (Searcy Daily Citizen, AR)

    The remarkable trial of Richard Wills  Nov 2, 2007
    To borrow from Al Jolson in the original version of The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length movie made with snatches of audible dialogue, "Wait a minute, wait a minute - you ain't heard nothin' yet, folks.". Rick Wills is that punishingly loquacious fellow with the coffin-shaped head who last month spent 11-plus days in the witness stand, theoretically testifying in his own defence. (Globe and Mail -- National)

    The voice of Andrew Carnegie  Oct 30, 2007
    Credit for its rediscovery and its restoration goes to 59-year-old Queens, N.Y., sound artist Art Shifrin, who in the early 1980s found a copy of the Carnegie clip in the archives of the Swedish Radio Company in Stockholm and then the original cylinder sound roll in the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, N.J. What his work showed was that as early as 1913, Mr. Edison had been experimenting with the phonograph and the motion picture (two of his inventions) to create films -- 14 years... (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)

    'You ain't heard nothin' yet!'Anniversary screening of early talking pic 'The Jazz Singer' at historic Loew's  Oct 27, 2007
    Anniversary screening of early talking pic 'The Jazz Singer' at historic Loew's ... Anniversary screening of early talking pic 'The Jazz Singer' at historic Loew's ... The Vitaphone sound-on-film process was used for motion pictures such as The Jazz Singer. (Union City Reporter, NJ)

    Photo Gallery  Oct 27, 2007
    The Landmark Loews Jersey Theater in Jersey City on Nov. 10 will be holding an 80th anniversary screening of The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson, seen in still from the movie performing for his mother (Eugenie Besserer) ... Now in its 80th anniversary year, people will have an opportunity to view "The Jazz Singer" in one of its few screenings on the East Coast before year's end, when it shows at the historic Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre in Jersey City on Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. ... "The Jazz... (Jersey City Reporter, NJ)

    The Jazz Singer  Oct 21, 2007
    The first full-length talkie is out on 3 disc DVD. Jolson sings again in the 80th anniversary edition of this seminal film. (Suite101.com)

    A mighty message  Oct 20, 2007
    NEW THIS WEEK: Transformers n Grindhouse Presents: Planet Terror: Unrated n A Mighty Heart n The Invisible n The Jazz Singer (1927): Deluxe Edition. NEW LAST WEEK: Reign Over Me n 28 Weeks Later n Surf's Up n Evan Almighty. (Winnipeg Sun)

    New on DVD: There's no 'Love' crazier than Riss and Pugach's  Oct 19, 2007
    By Mike Clark, USA TODAY The Jazz Singer 80th Anniversary Collector's Edition. 1/2 (out of four), 1927, Warner, unrated, $40. (USA Today -- Life)

    'Transformers,' 'Planet Terror,' 'Mighty Heart'  Oct 17, 2007
    Among other extras are a new documentary on the transition from the silent era to sound pictures, commentary from film historians and Jolson's 1947 radio version of "The Jazz Singer." DVD set, $39. 92. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)

    On DVD: 'Transformers,' 'My Best Friend,' 'A Mighty Heart,' 'Hoax'  Oct 17, 2007
    80th anniversary edition of The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson the original talkie. The MGM Holiday Collection: A box holding The Bishop's Wife (1947), March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934) and Pocketful of Miracles (1961). (San Diego Union-Tribune)

    New on DVD: Transformers, A Mighty Heart  Oct 16, 2007
    The Jazz SingerEighty years has flown by since Al Jolson told audiences, You aint heard nothing yet, ushering in the age of talking pictures ... Among other extras are a new documentary on the transition from the silent era to sound pictures, commentary from film historians and Jolsons 1947 radio version of The Jazz Singer. (MSNBC -- Movies)

    Summer's 'Transformers' isn't transforming  Oct 14, 2007
    Movies: "Believers"; "The Company"; "Crazy Love"; "Havoc 2"; "Ice Spiders"; "The Invisible"; "The Jazz Singer"; "Jingle All the Way"; "Michael Moore Hates America"; "A Mighty Heart"; "Planet Terror"; "The Reaping"; "Return to House on Haunted Hill"; "Safe Harbour"; "The Trials of Darryl Hunt". Read Comments > | Share This Story. (Sioux City Journal, IO)

    All That 'Jazz'  Oct 14, 2007
    Tuesday, the same studio releases a three-disc edition of "The Jazz Singer," the pioneering talkie that established Warners as a major Hollywood force. Starring Al Jolson as a young man who defies his father, a Jewish cantor, to become an entertainer, "The Jazz Singer" is a mostly silent drama ... Jolson's real life inspired the Broadway play on which"The Jazz Singer" was based, but he wasn't the Warners first, or even second, choice for the role. (New York Post -- Entertainment)

    Click for Full Story  Oct 6, 2007
    Eighty years ago in 1927, talking motion pictures arrived with the opening of The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson ... Today's Highlight in History:On October 6, 1927, the era of talking pictures arrived with the opening of "The Jazz Singer," a movie starring Al Jolson, which featured both silent and sound-synchronized scenes. (KWTX.com, TX)

    Long-vacant Modern Theatre in Boston to house Suffolk University students  Oct 4, 2007
    The 1876 building, first used as a furniture store and turned into a "talkie" cinema just as Al Jolson brought sound to American movies in "The Jazz Singer" in 1928, is adjacent to 10 West St., which Suffolk also bought and is renovating for dorm space. "Doing the Modern will make West Street a more efficient building," Nucci said. (Boston Globe)

    Talking twins, jazz, and heroes with Diana Krall  Jul 12, 2007
    The jazz singer, pianist, and wife of Elvis Costello gave birth to twin boys in December, and now she's back on the road, in a tour that lands at the Cape Cod Melody Tent tomorrow and the Bank of America Pavilion Saturday. The Berklee College of Music dropout is between albums right now -- her latest, "From This Moment On," came out last summer, and she has only just begun working on her next one -- so we decided to do what her publicist had politely asked us not to do: focus on her personal... (Boston Globe)

    A jazz singer of many talents  Jul 7, 2007
    George Melly, the jazz singer who has died at the age of 80, was a man who lived his life outrageously. He wore fedoras and deafeningly loud wide-striped suits; his sexual appetite was prodigious and included gay partners in the days when same-sex relationships were still illegal as well as bisexual and heterosexual lovers and two marriages; his appetite for alcohol was equally voracious and would have felled most men far younger; yet his excesses merely served to underline his wit,... (Financial Times)

    New Young Pony Club: Fantastic Playroom  Jul 7, 2007
    The jazz singer and author known as "Goodtime George" has died. We look back on his life in images. (Times Online)

    Earthquake in Kent damages houses  Jul 6, 2007
    "My first thought was to grab on to the window sill but by that moment the tremors had started. Across Folkestone, the town worst hit, residents were baffled as to what was happening as their houses shook, plaster came down from the ceilings and ornaments fell from sideboards. Some thought their homes had been hit by a runaway vehicle, others that there had been an attack on the Channel tunnel. Paul Stanhope, 31, who lives in Pavilion Road with his girlfriend and two children, said: The bed was... (Yahoo News -- Earthquakes & Volcanoes)

    George Melly, the last king of the swingers, dies  Jul 6, 2007
    George Melly, the jazz singer, raconteur and author, has died at the age of 80 ... " The deathbed advice that a young George Melly received from his wool-trader father was: "Do what you want - I never did". And he followed it with unique aplomb. When the jazz singer himself died yesterday, at the age of 80, he had left few stones unturned, few avenues unexplored. Indeed, his life had been as large and flamboyant as any of the trademark double-breasted suits that he habitually wore on stage. Best... (Daily Mail)

    Postal workers to strike again next Thursday  Jul 6, 2007
    Allan Leighton now has the opportunity to avoid more strikes simply by returning to meaningful negotiations," Dave Ward, the union's Deputy General Secretary, said. If he is again dismissive of his employees, then there will be further strikes. Mr Ward claimed that more than 95% of Royal Mail s workforce took part in last Friday's strike, which he said showed the overwhelming support for the union s campaign, however Royal Mail said backing for the walkout had been "patchy" and that 60% of its... (Times Online)

    Larry Doby: Proud to bat 2nd  Jul 5, 2007
    The Perfect Crime (1928): Second movie with dialogue, behind Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer. Clarence Duncan Chamberlin: Second, after Charles Lindbergh, to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. (AZCentral -- Sports)

    Connick honoured at Montreal jazz festival  Jul 3, 2007
    The jazz singer and actor was given the Ella Fitzgerald award at this year's edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, which runs until July 8. Connick plays the Montreal festival today. (Edmonton Sun)

    A Niche Strategy Now Under Stress  Jun 6, 2007
    Della Reese, the jazz singer and actress, seemed a natural choice to star in ads for Avandia, when Glaxo signed her on in 2004. Not only does Ms. Reese have broad appeal, known most recently for her role in the television series ;Touched by an Angel,; but she has Type 2 diabetes. (Shoals TimesDaily)

    Walt Disney Academy Award Winner  May 30, 2007
    With the success of the mischievous Mickey Mouse in Plane Crazy and Gallopin' Gaucho in the late 1920s and the award of an Oscar in 1929 for The Jazz Singer, was firmly established as a successful sound motion picture pioneer. His success continued to grow throughout the 1930s. (Suite101.com)

    Walt Disney the Early Days  May 30, 2007
    Following the success of The Jazz Singer in 1927 Disney realised the potential for sound motion pictures and quickly produced Steamboat Willie but the mischievous , introduced in 1928, took the world by storm. In Plane Crazy and Gallopin' Gaucho Disney himself provided the voice of Mickey. (Suite101.com)

    Asian celebs dazzle on French shores  May 18, 2007
    Norah Jones, the jazz singer and star of My Blueberry Nights alongside Jude Law, is half Asian as her father is noted Indian musician Ravi Shanker. In the film, Norah plays a heartbroken New York girl, who goes on a cross-country trip after being ditched by her boyfriend. (Electric New Paper)

    Things to do  May 5, 2007
    Karen Marguth1-4 p.m. Sunday / 2658 E. Alluvial Ave., (866) 246-7717After performing at the Rogue Festival, the jazz singer takes the stage backed by members from Stolen Thunder for the groundbreaking ceremony of Fresno Cohousing's Celebration of Community. The community will consist of 28 private homes with shared common facilities where residents socialize. (Fresno Bee)

    Witness Preparation Becomes Oversight  Apr 4, 2007
    During just one year, the first talking picture (The Jazz Singer) and the Academy Awards debuted, Babe Ruth hit 60 homers (more than any other American League team), Charles Lindbergh soloed from New York to Paris, the Russian communists kicked Trotsky out of their party, Sacco and Vanzetti were electrocuted, the Holland Tunnel opened, Peking man s remains were found and electronic television was born. This year was 1927. (Human Events Online)

    When Betty Got Frank  Apr 3, 2007
    Like the cantor's son in The Jazz Singer, or pert Owl Jolson in the Tex Avery cartoon I Love to Sing-a, he had to battle his family's resistance to mainstream pop. Indeed, Loesser's nearly operatic score for The Most Happy Fella might have been his way of saying, Papa, can you hear it. Arthur, can you see it. (Time.com)

    Every generation faces a different set of challenges  Mar 18, 2007
    When my mom was about 10, the first talking movie, "The Jazz Singer," was released. In the old days there were no computers, no Internet, no cell phones, no MP3 players, or any of the myriad of technological advances that we deem necessary today. (Pensacola News Journal)

    Sir Philip throws 6m birthday party  Mar 17, 2007
    The revellers were also serenaded by Roberta Flack, best-known for her 1973 hit Killing Me Softly, the American soul singer James Ingram, and the jazz singer Patti Austin. Jilly Johnson, the former Page 3 girl, Eddie Jordan, the Formula 1 boss, and Charles Dunstone, the Carphone Warehouse owner, who were pictured at Stansted airport, were also thought to be amongst the guests. (Telegraph.co.uk)

    Lights, camera … silence  Jan 29, 2007
    It is 80 years since Al Jolson uttered the immortal words "You ain't seen nothin' yet" in The Jazz Singer, the talkie that ended the silent movie era. Now, as cinema moves into the digital age, a curious thing is happening - silent films are having a revival. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)

    Opening night at Fox Theatre  Jan 28, 2007
    It was a hurried-up job as they wanted to open before Christmas and introduce the "talkies" with Al Jolson singing in "The Jazz Singer.". There were new Fox Theatres in Fresno, Visalia, Hanford and other places. (Hanford Sentinal, CA)

    Verdict? Punters vote with their seats  Jan 26, 2007
    Linehan does not shy away from arguments that he mismatched some performers and venues or, moreover, that he neglected opera and classical music in favour of populist musical fare, such as Stomp's big noise machine, or presenting the jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux at the cavernous State Theatre, even though she was on tour here recently. "It's a question of focus and how you can best make classical music fit," he said. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)

    France's arbiters of high art anoint animator Walt Disney's 'genius'  Jan 16, 2007
    This month, a tap-dancing musical honoring Josephine Baker's 100th birthday just closed; the jazz singer was born in St. Louis but felt most at home in the Paris of the late 1920s. "Looking for Josephine" travels to Barcelona and then to New Orleans, La. (Christian Science Monitor)

    A DVD black hole  Dec 12, 2006
    -The Jazz Singer, the landmark 1927 talkie with Al Jolson. Also needs cleaning up. (USA Today -- Life)

    Wonderful World  Dec 5, 2006
    In October, 1927, for instance, America woke up to The Jazz Singer. By May, 1928, Disney was calling a halt to the production of silent cartoons. (New Yorker)

    Looking for beauty? Watch the Sunrise, says  Nov 19, 2006
    Sunrise opened one month after the first official studio talkie, The Jazz Singer, changed everything. How was it received. (Toronto Star -- Arts)

    Hollywood all set to take viewers on an animated ride  Nov 18, 2006
    Sure, when The Jazz Singer came out, people turned up to see sound pictures. In a handful of years, people no longer turned up to hear movies. (India Times)

    Screen Legends: Jack Warner  Nov 10, 2006
    Warner Brothers was founded in 1923, its place etched in history with the first talking picture in 1927, The Jazz Singer featuring superstar Al Jolson. The studio had a gritty image with tough guys like James Cagney and dangerous divas like Bette Davis. (Toronto Star -- Arts)

    The Race Issue  Nov 8, 2006
    Hollywood s checkered race-relations record reaches back to the industry s salad days from D.W. Griffith s three-hour-plus silent epic The Birth of a Nation (1915), widely recognized for both its undeniable contribution to filmmaking (critic James Agee likened Griffith s now-standard cinematic innovations to the invention of the wheel) and its unrelenting racism (the film features a heroic Ku Klux Klan, argues for segregation, and is populated by black villains, largely portrayed by white... (San Antonio Current, TX)

    Jazz-age entertainers helped acculturate American Jews  Nov 4, 2006
    Films like "The Jazz Singer" reveal an ambivalence among Jews of the 1920s about their immigrant heritage, Merwin said. "It's paradoxical," he said. (Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, KS)

    Today in history: October 6  Oct 6, 2006
    Todays Highlight in History:On October 6, 1927, the era of talking pictures arrived with the opening of The Jazz Singer, a movie starring Al Jolson which featured both silent and sound-synchronized scenes. On this date:In 1536, English theologian and scholar William Tyndale, who was the first to translate the Bible into Early Modern English, was executed for heresy. (MSNBC -- Race)

    Porn film Deep Throat achieves place on 'landmark' films list  Oct 6, 2006
    SELECTED 'LANDMARK' FILMS The Birth of a Nation (1915) The Jazz Singer (1927) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) Citizen Kane (1941) Vertigo (1958) Easy Rider (1969) Jaws (1975) Blade Runner (1982) Pulp Fiction (1994) Brokeback Mountain (2005). Andrew Collins, the magazine's film editor, said: "While many of these movies are truly great, this is not a list of the greatest films of all time. "These are films, major and minor, whose influence is still felt; time, context and circumstances have... (BBC News -- Entertainment)

    MIKE WEATHERFORD: Pizzarelli might finally be where he belongs  Sep 21, 2006
    The jazz singer and guitarist and his quartet should find a cozy fit at the Suncoast this weekend, showcasing his Frank Sinatra tribute album, "Dear Mr. Sinatra." Pizzarelli endured a lot of audience chatter when he opened a Jerry Seinfeld stint at Caesars Palace in 1994. He also played a Bellagio lounge when the hotel opened in 1998, before management realized the casino itself was such a draw that name attractions weren't required. (Las Vegas Review-Journal -- Life)

    Regal Rialto  Sep 17, 2006
    Silent films would soon go the way of vaudeville, as patrons flocked to the talkies, such as The Jazz Singer, with Al Jolson. The Rialto building, which changed ownership several times, thrived for decades. (Montana Standard, MT)

    Well-known choreographer visits dance students  Sep 12, 2006
    He was recently named by the Dance Heritage Coalition as "one of America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures: The First 100." McKayle has received Tony awards for his works on Broadway and has done choreography for a number of well-known films, including Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" and "The Jazz Singer.". After a break, McKayle returned to his chair in the studio to work with the dance students again. (University News, MO)

    * Silent cinema has never been this loud  Sep 8, 2006
    Before The Jazz Singer came out in 1927, the world of cinema was silent. But the silent cinema was not totally silent. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)

    Sound equals space  Aug 3, 2006
    In the 1920s, the company's founders provided the first commercial professional sound system for the motion picture, "The Jazz Singer." The movie was the first feature-length film to have dialogue and sound effects. The popularity of the Warner Bros. (Times Herald-Record, NY -- Business)

    Artistic inspiration drives producer Rick Rubin  Jul 7, 2006
    Diamond was delighted when 12 Songs generated his strongest reviews since 1980's The Jazz Singer. "It's been a long wait," he says. (USA Today)

    SUSHIL CHEEMA  Jul 6, 2006
    Despite the increase, Lanam, the jazz singer, is planning on staying in his current apartment, one in which he says he has lived for the past 11 years, hoping that the rates won t continue to increase too much. In the meantime, Lanam will continue to delight audiences with his melodies, and maybe one day he ll be able to feel as good about his rent situation as he does about his music. (New York Press)

    More of this story  Jun 27, 2006
    Diana Krall and husband Elvis Costello announced Sunday that the jazz singer is pregnant and due in December just in time for their third wedding anniversary. Costello, 51, is touring with Allen Toussaint in support of their album, he River in Reverse. (Auburn Citizen, NY)

    The daily dish ...  Jun 27, 2006
    Diana Krall and husband Elvis Costello announced Sunday that the jazz singer is pregnant and due in December - just in time for their third wedding anniversary. A spokesman confirmed the pregnancy. (Buffalo News -- Entertainment)

    People in the news  Jun 26, 2006
    Diana Krall and husband Elvis Costello announced Sunday that the jazz singer is pregnant and due in December, just in time for their third wedding anniversary. A spokesman in New York confirmed the pregnancy. (Sun-Sentinel.com)

    Kidman, Urban Say 'I Do' In Twilight Clifftop Nuptials  Jun 26, 2006
    " The British rocker's songs include "Veronica," "Pump It Up" and "Alison (Tampa Bay Online, FL -- News)

    Turner Classic Movies Donates $100,000 to the Magic Johnson Foundation for New State-of-the-Art Screening Room  May 20, 2006
    "The screening room is an excellent venue for providing them with quality entertainment and a secure environment where they can watch movies." TCM's Race wood: Black Image on Film month long film series including Birth of a Nation (1915), The Jazz Singer (1927), Gone with the Wind (1939), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) airs on Tuesday and Thursday primetime evenings. TCM will look at not only the more controversial or striking films but also the evolution of... (PR Newswire)

    They're Marching to 'America'  May 9, 2006
    It was Neil Diamond, singing his own exodus anthem: "America," from the pop elder statesman's 1980 remake of America's first talkie, "The Jazz Singer." ... Its association with "The Jazz Singer," a cinematic flop with a platinum-selling soundtrack, raises the specter of American entertainment's most controversial border crossing blackface minstrelsy. (Los Angeles Times)

    HOLLYWOOD ON THE ROPES  May 7, 2006
    But The Jazz Singer, the Al Jolson-starring part-talkie released to startling success by the upstart Warner Brothers studio in 1927, nevertheless took Hollywood by surprise. The Warner Brothers release had simply come too soon: most of the theatres in America were not only owned and controlled by the studios, they were not yet equipped with the necessary technology for the switch to talkies. (Toronto Star -- Arts)

    The gifts of Bette Davis (Gary Arnold)  Apr 29, 2006
    Also arranged more or less chronologically, Mr. Bogle's series begins Tuesday with a recap of the silent period that includes D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation," a 1927 remake of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "The Jazz Singer," the Al Jolson sensation that made talking pictures inevitable. By the time the series ends, with a ninth installment on May 30 that includes showings of Carl Franklin's "Devil in a Blue Dress" and Spike Lee's "Get on the Bus," Mr. Bogle will have traversed 80 years of... (Washington Times)

    Conan director Fleischer mourned  Mar 28, 2006
    Fleischer's later films included Soylent Green with Charlton Heston, Mr Majestyk with Charles Bronson and the Neil Diamond remake of The Jazz Singer. His last film was 1989's Call from Space, though he was executive producer on a 1994 Betty Boop feature that was eventually never made. (BBC News -- Entertainment)

    Richard Fleischer  Mar 27, 2006
    The film that marked his breakthrough, The Narrow Margin (1952), a low-budget thriller filmed almost entirely in a railroad car, is considered by some critics to be one of the best B movies ever made. His autobiography, published in 1993, Just Tell Me When to Cry - subtitled "Encounters with the Greats, Near-Greats and Ingrates of Hollywood" - is one of the most absorbing of its kind. (Telegraph.co.uk)

    Max Beesley: Access all areas  Jan 17, 2006
    The son of the jazz drummer Maxton Beesley and the jazz singer Chris Marlowe, Beesley attended Chetham's School of Music, in Manchester, and was once a choirboy in Manchester Cathedral. He has penned the score to the movie The Emperor's Wife, and written songs for Geri Halliwell. (The Independent, UK)

    Maverick Mogul  Jan 14, 2006
    And, astonishing as it may seem, he and Wagner just may be to cinema's digital age what the Warner brothers became by dragging the industry out of the silent era with The Jazz Singer. Today, as major studios fret about their sagging box-office revenues--and kick and scream about the digital bogeyman at their door--Cuban and Wagner are embracing the beast and embarking on an ambitious series of experiments intended to make better movies, and to make movies a better business. (FastCompany)


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