| AL JOLSON | |
| Sonny Boy | |
| This sheet music is Very Good on my grading system. seam split slightly |  Printed in USA 1928 |
| An entertainment dynamo who quickly established himself as Broadway's leading star by the dawn of the 20th century, Jolson was America's first superstar, years before the phrase was ever coined. A truly competitive and high-energy performer, Jolson left most of the competition in the dust with his impassioned singing, dancing, and jokes (borrowing much from Black ragtime music and early jazz and performing in the then-popular minstrel blackface style). His place in popular history was assured when he starred in the first successful talking picture, The Jazz Singer, in 1927. His tireless efforts performing for American troops during World War II (he almost single-handedly started The USO) won him a whole new audience who had never seen him perform in his halcyon days. When the film biography of his life became a major hit twenty years later, Jolson's popularity leapt to legendary status, making no one doubt his title of "The World's Greatest Entertainer." Â Cub Koda |
