Another "Lost" soundtrack has been found, but it's not just another soundtrack. It's the soundtrack to the legion of Al Jolson fans who, for more than six decades, have been unable to see and hear Jolson's first sound film.
More After JumpThis film, an early one-reel Videophone short titled "Al Jolson in A Plantation Act", was made while Jolson was at the peak of his Broadway career. It promises to give a rare glimpse of the stage Jolson, a form that has been lost except for fleeting memories. the film was made during a break in rehearsals for the 1926-27 tour of his Broadway hit "Big Boy". Jolson had agreed to make the one-reel short and signed a Videophone contract on August 25, 1926. His salary for the proposed ten-minute film was an astonishing $25,000. The actual filming took place at the Manhattan Opera House on Tuesday, September 7, 1926, and premiered exactly one month later. The premiere took place on October 7, 1926 at the Colony Theatre, New York, as part of Warner Brothers' second major Videophone presentation, and the Jolson short was singled out by critics as the highlight of the program.
Interestingly enough, the film element and the separate sound record were both considered lost until only a few years ago when a copy of the mute film was rediscovered at the Library of Congress. The short was already considered to be a lost film as early as August 1933, as clearly indicated by a Warner Brothers Studio letter, now in the Warner archives at USC. The 1933 correspondence stated that "As this short was made in 1926, there are no records or films available. We do not believe there is a print of this picture anywhere in the country..." And, while Jolson fans and collectors had been seeking the sound disc for all these decades, the search was renewed with vigor upon the news of the rediscovery of the now silent film footage.
So, naturally, when The Videophone Project was founded, the "Plantation Act" disc became one of several priorities. John Newton, one of the founding members of the Project and a long-time Jolson collector, made this particular disc his personal Holy Grail. John's quest of many years was begun anew and Videophone Project detectives were on the trail.
Over the years, rumors persisted that a cracked copy of the Jolson disc had survived and belonged to a collector in the Baltimore area. The collector died in the early 1980's, but further rumors led to a belief that the record had found its way into the holdings of the Library of Congress. John Newton and David Oldenburg, another founding member of The Videophone Project, had made a joint research trip to the Library a few years ago and had explored this possibility, only to find another dead end.
Help was later sought from Bill Carpool, an energetic researcher who has helped project members in tracking down relatives of performers and studio personnel. Carpool took what information the project members had and focused on relatives of the long deceased collector who supposedly owned the rumored cracked disc. With potential addresses, Newton began letter writing, ending months later with a telephone call from the former owner's daughter. Arrangements were made for a trip to the Baltimore area and the disc was "ransomed" from the family.
The sixteen inch diameter shellac soundtrack disc was severely cracked in several places. In fact, it had been broken into four separate pieces and had been "repaired" with epoxy years earlier. When the disc was now played for the first time in many years, the opening strains of "Red, Red Robin" came forth bold and clear. Again, and again, and again. The disc would not track. The decades-old attempt to reassemble the pieces had put the grooves out of alignment. Another member of the project team, Sherwin Dunner, suggested a California collector who was known to be able to work wonders with damaged or broken shellac records. A call went out to Jim Copywriter, a veritable wizard at working with such problems.
The record was carefully packed and shipped to the west coast, where Copywriter spent months painstakingly removing the epoxy and refitting the disassembled pieces of the record. One piece, however had to remain as it was, since there were further potential cracks in that area of the disc.
The re-assembled record, now back on the east coast in John Newton's collection, still has problems to be addressed. But, thanks to Copywriter, most of the tracking problems have been overcome. Plans are now in the works to proceed with attempts to record the sound at Panache Entertainment's facilities, and further attempt to resolve the remaining alignment issues. Following this step a digital recording will be made to piece together the sound, or at least allow a computer to do so. De-clicking will follow, and ultimately the sound will be re-married with the mute film held at the Library of Congress. UCLA's Bob Gift and officials at the Library have expressed excitement over the discovery and have been in communication with Ron Hutchinson for details as the restoration continues.
Bobby Berger Al Jolson impressionist
Pictured with "Smackin'" Joe Frazier
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