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==Production== Larry Parks had been a fixture at Columbia for four years, first as an actor in screen tests, then as a featured player in major films and as the star of minor ones. In November 1944 he was the first actor tested for ''The Story of Jolson'', as the project was then titled. Then the studio tested dozens of other candidates until, as Parks recalled, "someone said 'Let's test that first guy again.' I had the dubious honor of making the first and last tests for the role."<ref>Larry Parks to Dorothy O'Leary, "The Parks Story", ''Screenland'', Mar. 1947, p. 46.</ref> Larry Parks' vocals were recorded by Al Jolson; Scotty Beckett's songs were recorded by Rudy Wissler. Al Jolson, determined to appear on screen somehow, persuaded the producer to film him instead of Larry Parks for the blackface "[[Swanee (song)|Swanee]]" number. Jolson is seen entirely in long shot; he performs on a theater runway, recreating his famous fluttering dance step. Filming was already under way as a [[black-and-white]] feature when studio chief [[Harry Cohn]], encouraged by the scenes already filmed, decided to start the project all over as a [[Technicolor]] production. Cohn had been impressed by director Joseph H. Lewis's handling of the musical numbers in the 1944 [[Producers Releasing Corporation|PRC]] feature ''[[Minstrel Man (1944 film)|Minstrel Man]]'', and hired Lewis to stage the musical sequences for the Jolson project. Jolson had a 50% share of the profits,<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=Inside Stuff-Pictures|date=February 5, 1947|page=18|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety165-1947-02#page/n17/mode/1up}}</ref> but was uncredited for his dubbed vocalizations.
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