Since I am about the only one reading this blog tonight, and my pumping the hits approaches 8,000 (since mid-March), I am going to write about a bunch of nothing right now. Or, if you are a nonfan of this weblog, a continuation of the usual bunch of nothing.
It is my understanding, for what it's worth, that there are plans in the works for a movie based on the life of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones. One can just expect what this movie is going to be about. It'll be about all of the excesses he was known for: too many women, too many kids by too many women, the drugs, the whole nine yards. Then there is allegedly going to be exploration about his "mysterious" death in July of 1969, long believed to be from drowning, but some conspiracy nuts believe Jones was murdered. In any case, it won't be about the music since it is ridiculous to make a biopic about a person whose life is music, and the music can't actually be duplicated accurately on film. Especially when the person being depicted is dead.
The only time a musical biopic ever really worked was the classic film The Jolson Story (1946) about, of course, Al Jolson (c. 1886-1950). It worked in spite of itself. The movie was in no way a true biography of Jolson. There's lot of fictionalization in the movie. It had to be fiction, for if it had been based on Jolson's real life, Jolson would never have participated in it. He was, as sometime friend often-time enemy George Jessel said, "a no-good son of a bitch, but he was the greatest entertainer I ever saw." And to get his participation in the immortal soundtrack, his life couldn't be accurately depicted.
But that's okay with me. What works in this film are the songs, perfectly lip-synched by Larry Parks, and in my view the soundtrack is one of the greatest of all time. I can watch this film over and over and over again and never tire of it. What a shame that most people today are unfamiliar with Jolson except for the notion he was this hideous bigot who paraded around in blackface and sang "Mammy." That's their loss.
But Jolson was bigger than life, and it wasn't enough that he had just one film about his life. Jolson had to have TWO films based on his life. The second one was a continuation of the story, which covered his later years and fourth marriage (depicted as his second marriage after "Julie Benson" i.e., Ruby Keeler--who wouldn't allow her name to be used in The Jolson Story--left him) to nurse Erle Galbraith (given a different name in the sequel). It was called, appropriately, Jolson Sings Again (1949). The songs were and are still great, but it is arguably one of the weirdest movies of all time.
To somewhat paraphrase a footnote from the hilarious book Who's Had Who, Jolson Sings Again features star Larry Parks once again playing Jolson. The movie ends with the filming and premiere of The Jolson Story starring Larry Parks playing Jolson. In the preview of the rushes of The Jolson Story in the movie Jolson Sings Again, Parks, playing Jolson, meets the actor Parks played by Larry Parks. Parks, playing Jolson, coaches Parks playing Parks to play Jolson, played by Parks. Then, when The Jolson Story in the movie Jolson Sings Again has its premiere, Jolson played by Parks watches Parks playing Jolson. Parks playing Jolson even sees a clip of The Jolson Story where Jolson playing Jolson is singing "Swanee" on the runway.
The movie is okay, but it is more of a curio than anything else. Only Al Jolson could pull off such a feat as to have two films on his life. Furthermore, only Al Jolson could have a burial site that is the most elaborate in all of show business. He was bigger than life, and we will never see another like him again.
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