THE JAZZ SINGER

90th ANNIVERSARY
Directed by Alan Crosland

(1927) Al Jolson’s cantor’s son Jack Robin (né Jakie Rabinowitz), in a fictionalization of Jolson’s own life story (from the play by Samson Raphaelson, later screenwriter of Lubitsch’s Trouble in Paradise, Shop Around the Corner, etc.), forsakes the family biz for the show biz. A special Academy Award cited it as “the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry.” Tonight’s screening commemorates its world premiere 90 years ago at Warners’ Theatre, Broadway at 52nd Street, on October 6, 1927. 4K DCP restoration. Approx. 88 min.
4:10, 7:30

VITAPHONE VARIETIES: 1926-1927

The Vitaphone Project co-presents this program of vaudeville and musical shorts from the earliest days of the sound era, featuring Al Jolson (in a sound short made a year before The Jazz Singer), Abe Lyman and His Band, Willie & Eugene Howard, The Happiness Boys, Blossom Seeley & Bennie Fields, Eddie White, Waring’s Pennsylvanians, and more all in restored 35mm prints from the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Approx. 90 min.
2:40, 6:00

Both screenings introduced by Ron Hutchinson, founder of the Vitaphone Project