| The Jazz Singer (1927) starring Al Jolson, is
considered a cinematic revolution for its introduction of talking pictures
into the American cinema. The first motion picture to use lip synchronization
for dialogue and musical numbers, it marked the end of silent movie domination
in the movie industry, creating a frenzy amongst studios and movie houses
for sound systems, such as the Vitaphone. Based on Alfred Cohn's "The Day
of Atonement," and first brought to the public as a Broadway play, it told
the story of Jakie Rabinowitz (later Jack Robin), a Jewish man torn between
his love for ragtime and the stage, and the resistance of his father, the
Cantor, whose traditional and orthodox beliefs cause him to see his son's
pursuit as a disgrace to family tradition. |
