Lynn Kusmin

Red Group
10/13/14
The Jazz Singer, a 1927 musical movie directed by Al Crossland, is considered one of the 100 greatest American
films of all time (AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies) by the American Film Institute. The film is famous for being the first
feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences (The First Full-Length Film with Synchronized
Dialogue), but its significance extends beyond signaling the end of the silent movie era. The Jazz Singer portrays
assimilation in a way that compromises between the two contesting views (Assimilation) of the time: cultural pluralism
and melting pot assimilation. The Jazz Singer aimed to show that one did not have to give up all of one's cultural values and
traditions in order to assimilate and function as a member of American society.
The Jazz Singer opens in a Jewish ghetto in New York City just before Yom Kippur, with a scene between cantor
Rabinowitz and his wife. Rabinowitz wants his son, Jakie, to become the next in a long family line of cantors (The Jazz
Singer), and intends to have Jakie sing the Kol Nidre with him for the upcoming Day of Atonement; however,
unbeknownst to him, Jakie is performing ragtime at a local saloon. When Yudelson, a congregant at the Synagogue where
Rabinowitz is cantor, comes across Jakie in the saloon, he informs Jakie's parents of what he has seen. While his mother,
Sara, is understanding, cantor Rabinowitz declares of his son that I'll teach him better than to debase the voice God gave
him!. When Jakie returns home, he is met with a furious father who forbids him to sing jazz, thus inspiring him to proclaim
that he will run away. On the Day of Atonement, while his parents are at Synagogue, where the cantor publicly denounces
his son, Jakie says true to his proclamation and runs away, taking only his mother's picture with him.
Years later, Jakie, now known as Jack Robin, performs at Coffee Dan's Restaurant in San Francisco. He is almost
unrecognizable as the boy from the Lower East side in the opening of the movie, having left all external signs of his Jewish
heritage behind. After his performance, he is approached by Miss Mary Dale, a gentile musical theater dancer, who tells
Jack that he has a tear in his voice and that she would like to help him realize his potential. Jack joins up with Mary's
troupe, where he finds success and becomes enamored with Mary herself. When Mary tells him that she is leaving the
troupe to pursue a chance at a role in a Broadway show, Jack is sad, but agrees to exchange letters with her. After the two
part ways, Jack goes to attend the final Chicago performance of cantor Rosenblatt.
Soon after, Jack and his troupe members wait at the train station for the train that will take them to their next city.
Jack overhears a woman complaining about his booking, and suggesting that he is going to be let go. He is surprised and
hurt when the troupe manager confirms the woman's suggestion, until the manager informs him that it has been arranged for
him to perform in a revue on Broadway- as part of the same show as Mary Dale.

Lynn Kusmin
Red Group
10/13/14
The film continues with Jack's arrival in New York, upon which he is immediately recognized by Yudelson. He
returns to his old home, where he has a joyful reunion with his mother, whom he tells he intends to buy a pink dress and
take to Coney Island. The reunion is interrupted, however, by the entrance of the cantor, who finds his son playing jazz on
the piano, upon which he shouts you dare to bring jazz songs into my house! Jack attempts to explain to his father that he
loves jazz, saying that you taught me that music is the voice of God and that his songs mean as much as his father's. His
father remains unconvinced, and ends up telling Jack to leave my house- you jazz singer!
When the next scene begins, a significant amount of time has passed- it is nearly Yom Kippur, and Jack and Mary
are preparing for the final dress rehearsal. Meanwhile, cantor Rabinowitz is dying, though Jack knows nothing of this.
Yudelson comes to the theater to tell Jack that they want him to sing Kol Nidre for the Day of Atonement, and, when Jack
expresses doubt over this, to inform him that the cantor is dying. This leaves Jack with two options- perform in the show on
opening night, or sing Kol Nidre for his congregation on the very same day.
Finally, the eve of the Day of Atonement has come. The Rabinowitzes congregation still has no cantor, which is a
great source of worry to them. When cantor Rabinowitz sees his son singing in a dream, Jack's mother and Yudelson go to
talk to Jack. In the meantime, Jack and Mary are busy preparing for opening night. Jack is conflicted between his job and
his family, and, after seeing his mother's picture on his dressing table and imagining his father in the mirror, he goes to see
his father when his mother and Yudelson come. The two men reconcile before the cantor dies, and Jack agrees to sing Kol
Nidre, a sight which Mary describes as a jazz singer singing to his God. The film concludes with Jack performing jazz
songs for his mother and Yudelson.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States experienced a boom in immigration. It is therefore
unsurprising that American views on immigrant assimilation are such an important factor of this time period. A described by
the Jewish Virtual Library, there were two main opinions on assimilation which divided Americans. The first view was
cultural pluralism, in which the descendants of various European national traditions would retain their distinctiveness but
have the ability to participate in an American society that is informed by many ethnic and religious groups
(Assimilation). This is best seen in action in the Jewish ghettos of New York, as well as in places like San Francisco's
Chinatown and Philadelphias Little Italy, where immigrants of one country or religion would live somewhat removed from
broader American society, and where they retained the traditions and customs from the old world (Jewish Americans).
Pluralism would also be the philosophy to which cantor Rabinowitz and his fellow congregants subscribe. Though the

Lynn Kusmin
Red Group
10/13/14
dialogue of the movie is not in Yiddish, aside from several religious songs, many aspects of pluralism are evident in Jakie
Rabinowitz' ghetto. The married men in his community all have beards and cover their heads, and his father is shown
wearing a prayer shawl at times. All these are aspects of more conservative Judaism. In addition, the people all seem well
acquainted with one another, and with their cantor. The congregants of the Synagogue that the Rabinowitzes attend all
purchase gifts for their cantor's sixtieth birthday, and Yudelson recognizes Jakie Rabinowitz well enough that he knows who
to go tell when he comes across Jakie performing ragtime. It can be inferred because of these things that the community in
which the Rabinowitzes live is a tight-knit one, as many Eastern European Jewish communities were at the time that the
movie was made and took place.
The other prominent view of the time was the one held by the dominant American Protestant cultural and political
establishment(Assimilation). The American Protestants believed in a melting pot model of assimilation, in which
the ideal condition was one of complete assimilation in which all ethnic and religious differences would
disappear. Upon arrival in the United States the new immigrant was to undergo the process of Americanization as
rapidly as possible and surrender his foreignness, that is, he was to learn to behave and live in imitation of the
dominant modes. (Assimilation)
This view can be seen in the efforts of Settlement houses. As stated in a paper by Elizabeth Jackson, in reference to the
Milwaukee Settlement House; The Settlement, and its founders...had the ultimate goal of Americanizing the men,
women, and children who came through [its doors] (Jackson, 4).
The increase in Jews emigrating from Eastern Europe, which began in the 1880s, is said by everyculture.com to
[mark] the first significant resistance to acculturation, as well as a rise in anti-Semitism among the American people.
These factors would contribute to the need for a film such as The Jazz Singer, which portrayed Jews in a non-negative light,
and communicated to Jewish viewers that it was not necessary for them to sacrifice their values and traditions in order to
fully assimilate into American society. The movie hoped to offer a compromise between pluralism and melting pot
assimilation, and, given its success it grossed $3.5 million- it is likely that it reached most of its intended audience.
In addition to its culturally historical significance, The Jazz Singer represents an important development in the film
industry: the advent of talkies. While The Jazz Singer was not the first film to feature a pre-recorded score and
synchronized sound effects (Talking Motion Pictures), it was the first to use spoken dialogue as part of the dramatic
action (Talking Motion Pictures), and the second in a series of Warner Brothers box office hits featuring sound, the

Lynn Kusmin
Red Group
10/13/14
combination of which led to the rise of so-called talkies in the motion picture industry, and the eventual downfall of the
silent film. This development heavily affected the film industry, as well as the other industries that surrounded it; for
example, the live orchestras hired by theatre owners...[for] musical accompaniment (Talking Motion Pictures) suffered
a blow, while Western Electric, who supplied the Vitaphone sound for Warner Brothers profited immensely from the advent
and the rise of talking pictures.
Due to its significance to both American culture and the history of the film industry, as well to its value as a story,
the Jazz Singer has earned a spot at number ninety on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American Films
of all time.

Lynn Kusmin
Red Group
10/13/14

Works Cited
"AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies." American Film Institute. American Film Institute, 1998. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.afi.com/100years/movies.aspx>.
"Assimilation." Jewish Virtual Library. American-Isreali Cooperative Enterprise, 2008. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0002_0_01522.html>.
"The First Full-Length Film with Synchronized Dialogue." History of Information.com. Jeremy Norman& Co., 7 Jan. 2012.
Web. 12 Oct. 2014. <http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=3522>.
Jackson, Elizabeth. "Americanization and 'The Settlement': Jewish Immigration to Milwaukee, 1880-1920." 12 May 2014.
MS.
"Talking Motion Pictures." American Studies at the University of Virginia. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
<http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug00/3on1/movies/talkies.html>.