Editing The Jazz Singer (section)

==Production==
===Concept and development===
On April 25, 1917, [[Samson Raphaelson]], a native of New York City's [[Lower East Side]] and a University of Illinois undergraduate, attended a performance of the musical ''Robinson Crusoe, Jr.'' in [[Champaign, Illinois]]. The star of the show was a thirty-year-old singer, [[Al Jolson]], a Lithuanian-born Jew who performed in blackface.<ref name=CE>Carringer (1979), p. 11; Eyman (1997), p. 129.</ref> In a 1927 interview, Raphaelson described the experience: "I shall never forget the first five minutes of Jolson—his velocity, the amazing fluidity with which he shifted from a tremendous absorption in his audience to a tremendous absorption in his song." He explained that he had seen emotional intensity like Jolson's only among synagogue cantors.<ref name=CE/>

A few years later, pursuing a professional literary career, Raphaelson wrote "The Day of Atonement", a short story about a young Jew named Jakie Rabinowitz, based on Jolson's real life. The story was published in January 1922 in ''[[Everybody's Magazine]]''.<ref>Carringer (1979), pp. 11–12.</ref> Raphaelson later adapted the story into a stage play, ''The Jazz Singer''. A straight drama, all the singing in Raphaelson's version takes place offstage.<ref>Carringer (1979), pp. 22, 23.</ref> With [[George Jessel (actor)|George Jessel]] in the lead role, the show premiered at the [[Mark Strand Theatre|Warner Theatre]] in [[Times Square]] in September 1925 and became a hit.<ref>Bloom (2004), p. 229.</ref> [[Warner Bros.]] acquired the movie rights to the play on June 4, 1926, and signed Jessel to a contract.<ref name=B6>Bradley (2004), p. 6.</ref> ''[[The Moving Picture World]]'' published a story in February 1927 announcing that production on the film would begin with Jessel on May 1.<ref name="C16">Carringer (1979), p. 16.</ref>[[File:Jolson-RobinsonCrusoe.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A blackfaced [[Al Jolson]] starring in ''Robinson Crusoe, Jr.''—the performance that inspired the story that led to the play that became the film ''The Jazz Singer'']]

But the plans to make the film with Jessel would fall through, for multiple reasons. Jessel's contract with Warner Bros. had not anticipated that the movie they had particularly signed him for would be made with sound (he'd made a modestly budgeted, silent comedy in the interim). When Warner had hits with two [[Vitaphone]], though dialogue-less, features in late 1926, ''The Jazz Singer'' production had been reconceived.<ref name=B6/> Jessel asked for a bonus or a new contract, but was rebuffed. According to Jessel's description in his autobiography, [[Harry Warner]] "was having a tough time with the financing of the company.... He talked about taking care of me if the picture was a success. I did not feel that was enough."<ref>Jessel (2006), p. 88.</ref> In fact, around the beginning of 1927, Harry Warner—the eldest of the brothers who ran the eponymous studio—had sold $4 million of his personal stock to keep the studio solvent.<ref name=B6/> Then came another major issue. According to Jessel, a first read of screenwriter [[Alfred A. Cohn]]'s adaptation "threw me into a fit. Instead of the boy's leaving the theatre and following the traditions of his father by singing in the synagogue, as in the play, the picture scenario had him return to the [[Winter Garden Theatre|Winter Garden]] as a blackface comedian, with his mother wildly applauding in the box. I raised hell. Money or no money, I would not do this."<ref>Jessel (2006), p. 88. See also Bradley (2004), p. 6; Carringer (1979), p. 17.</ref>

According to performer [[Eddie Cantor]], as negotiations between Warner Bros. and Jessel floundered, [[Jack L. Warner]] and the studio's production chief, [[Darryl Zanuck]], called to see if he was interested in the part. Cantor, a friend of Jessel's, responded that he was sure any differences with the actor could be worked out and offered his assistance.<ref>Cantor (1957), p. 91.</ref> Cantor was not invited to participate in the Jessel talks; instead, the role was then offered to Jolson, who had inspired it in the first place. Describing Jolson as the production's best choice for its star, film historian Donald Crafton wrote, "The entertainer, who sang jazzed-up minstrel numbers in blackface, was at the height of his phenomenal popularity. Anticipating the later stardom of crooners and rock stars, Jolson electrified audiences with the vitality and sex appeal of his songs and gestures, which owed much to black american sources."<ref>Crafton (1999), pp. 108–109.</ref> As described by film historian Robert L. Carringer, "Jessel was a [[vaudeville]] comedian and master of ceremonies with one successful play and one modestly successful film to his credit. Jolson was a superstar."<ref>Carringer (1979), p. 17.</ref> Jolson took the part, signing a $75,000 contract on May 26, 1927, for eight weeks of services beginning in July.<ref>Carringer (1979), p. 18.</ref> There have been several claims but no proof that Jolson invested some of his own money in the film.<ref>Carringer (1979), pp. 18–19; Bradley (2004), p. 7.</ref> Jessel and Jolson, also friends, did not speak for some time after—on the one hand, Jessel had been confiding his problems with the Warners to Jolson; on the other, Jolson had signed with them without telling Jessel of his plans. In his autobiography, Jessel wrote that, in the end, Jolson "must not be blamed, as the Warners had definitely decided that I was out."<ref>Jessel (2006), p. 88. See also Bradley (2004), p. 7.</ref>

===Introduction of sound===
While many earlier sound films had dialogue, all were short subjects. [[D. W. Griffith]]'s feature ''[[Dream Street (film)|Dream Street]]'' (1921) was shown in New York with a single singing sequence and crowd noises, using the [[sound-on-disc]] system [[Photokinema]]. The film was preceded by a program of sound shorts, including a sequence with Griffith speaking directly to the audience, but the feature itself had no talking scenes.<ref>Bradley (2004), p. 4.</ref> On April 15, 1923, [[Lee De Forest]] introduced the [[sound-on-film]] system [[Phonofilm]], which had synchronized sound and dialogue, but the sound quality was poor, and the films produced in this process were short films only.<ref>Crafton (1999), p. 65.</ref>

The first Warner Bros. Vitaphone features, ''[[Don Juan (1926 film)|Don Juan]]'' (premiered August 1926) and ''[[The Better 'Ole (1926 film)|The Better 'Ole]]'' (premiered October 1926), like three more that followed in early 1927 (''[[When a Man Loves]]'', ''[[Old San Francisco]]'', and ''[[The First Auto]]''), had only a synchronized instrumental score and sound effects. ''The Jazz Singer'' contains those, as well as numerous synchronized singing sequences and some synchronized speech: Two popular tunes are performed by the young Jakie Rabinowitz, the future Jazz Singer; his father, a cantor, performs the devotional [[Kol Nidre]]; the famous cantor [[Yossele Rosenblatt]], appearing as himself, sings an excerpt of another religious melody, [[Kaddish]], and the song "Yahrzeit Licht". As the adult Jack Robin, Jolson performs six songs: five popular "jazz" tunes and the Kol Nidre. The sound for the film was recorded by British-born [[George Groves (sound engineer)|George Groves]], who had also worked on ''Don Juan''. To direct, the studio chose [[Alan Crosland]], who already had two Vitaphone films to his credit: ''Don Juan'' and ''Old San Francisco'', which opened while ''The Jazz Singer'' was in production.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
{{listen|filename=Jolson-WaitAMinute.ogg|title="Wait a minute, wait a minute..."| description= The spoken words that made movie history (over considerable crowd noise) and "[[Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' Bye!)|Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' Bye)]]" |format=[[Ogg]]}}
Jolson's first vocal performance, about fifteen minutes into the picture, is of "[[Dirty Hands, Dirty Face]]", with music by [[James V. Monaco]] and lyrics by [[Edgar Leslie]] and [[Grant Clarke]]. The first synchronized speech, uttered by Jack to a cabaret crowd and to the piano player in the band that accompanies him, occurs directly after that performance, beginning at the 17:25 mark of the film. Jack's first spoken words—"Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet"—were well-established stage patter of Jolson's. He had even spoken very similar lines in an earlier short, ''[[A Plantation Act]]'' (1926).<ref>{{cite web|author=Kehr, Dave|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/movies/homevideo/16dvd.html?_r=1&|title=New DVDs: ''The Jazz Singer''|work=The New York Times|date=October 16, 2007|access-date=October 16, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626224257/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/movies/homevideo/16dvd.html?_r=1&|archive-date=June 26, 2022|url-status=dead}}</ref> The line had become virtually an in-joke. In November 1918, during a gala concert celebrating the end of World War I, Jolson ran onstage amid the applause for the preceding performer, the great operatic tenor [[Enrico Caruso]], and exclaimed, "Folks, you ain't heard nothin' yet."<ref>Bloom (2004), p. 266.</ref> The following year, he recorded the song "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet".<ref>Rees (1999), p. 261.</ref> In a later scene, Jack talks with his mother, played by [[Eugenie Besserer]], in the family parlor; his father enters and pronounces one very conclusive word, "Stop!", the final line of dialogue in the film.

In total, the movie contains barely two minutes' worth of synchronized talking, much or all of it improvised. The rest of the dialogue is presented through the caption cards, or [[intertitles]], standard in silent movies of the era; as was common, those titles were composed not by the film's scenarist, Alfred Cohn, but by another writer&nbsp;– in this case, Jack Jarmuth.<ref name=block-wilson/>

While Jolson was touring with a stage show during June 1927, production on ''The Jazz Singer'' began with the shooting of exterior scenes by the [[second unit]]. In late June, Alan Crosland headed to New York City to shoot the Lower East Side and Winter Garden exteriors on location. Jolson joined the production in mid-July (his contract specified July 11). Filming with Jolson began with his silent scenes; the more complex Vitaphone sequences were primarily done in late August.<ref>Carringer (1979), pp. 18–19.</ref> Both Jolson and Zanuck would later take credit for thinking up the ad-libbed dialogue sequence between Jack and his mother; another story had it that [[Sam Warner]] was impressed by Jolson's brief ad-libbing in the cabaret scene and had Cohn come up with some lines on the spot.<ref name=C110>Crafton (1999), p. 110.</ref> On September 23, ''Motion Picture News'' reported that production on the film had been completed.<ref>Carringer (1979), p. 19.</ref>

The production cost for ''The Jazz Singer'' was $422,000<ref name=Crafton111>Crafton (1999), p. 111.</ref> (approximately US${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US-GDP|422000|1927}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}} dollars),<ref name=block-wilson/> a large sum, especially for Warner Bros., which rarely spent more than $250,000. It was by no means a record for the studio, however; two features starring [[John Barrymore]] had been costlier: ''[[The Sea Beast (1926 film)|The Sea Beast]]'' (1926), a loose and entirely silent adaptation of ''[[Moby-Dick]]'', at $503,000 and ''Don Juan'' at $546,000.<ref>Glancy (1995) [pp. 2, 4 online]. Both Schatz (1998), p. 63, and Gomery (2005), p. 44 (possibly relying on Schatz), claim ''The Jazz Singer'' cost $500,000 and was the most expensive picture in Warners history. Glancy's and Crafton's well-sourced figures belie those claims.</ref> Nonetheless, the outlay constituted a major gamble in light of the studio's financial straits: while ''The Jazz Singer'' was in production, Harry Warner stopped taking a salary, pawned jewelry belonging to his wife, and moved his family into a smaller apartment.<ref>Eyman (1997), p. 137.</ref>