Early life and career
The son of the Rabbi of the Talmud Torah Synagogue (now Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah) in Washington, D.C., Jolson became a popular singer in New York City in 1898, and gradually developed the key elements of his performance: blackface makeup; exuberant gestures; operatic-style singing; whistling and directly addressing his audience.
By 1911, he had parlayed a supporting appearance in the Broadway musical La Belle Paree into a starring role. He began recording and was soon internationally famous for his extraordinary stage presence and personal rapport with audiences. His Broadway career is unmatched for length and popularity, having spanned close to 30 years (1911-1940). Audiences shouted, pleaded, and often would not allow the show to proceed, such was the power of Jolson's presence. At one performance in Boston, the usual staid and conservative audience stopped the show for 45 minutes. He was said to have had an "electric" personality, along with the ability to make each member of the audience believe that he was singing only to them. However, he is best known today for his appearance in one of the first "talkies" The Jazz Singer, the first feature film with sound to enjoy wide commercial success, in 1927. In The Jazz Singer Jolson performed the song "Mammy" in blackface. In truth, Jolson's singing was never jazz, indeed his style remained forever rooted in the vaudeville stage at the turn of 20th century.
Jolson is the first music artist to sell over 10 million records. While no official Billboard magazine chart existed during Jolson's career, their staff archivist Joel Whitburn used a variety of sources such as Talking Machine World's list of top-selling recordings, and Billboard's own sheet music and vaudeville charts to estimate the hits of 1890-1954. By his reckoning, Jolson had the equivalent of 23 No. 1 hits, the 4th-highest total ever, trailing only Bing Crosby, Paul Whiteman, and Guy Lombardo. Whitburn calculates that Jolson topped one chart or another for 114 weeks.
Among the many songs popularized by Jolson were "You Made Me Love You," "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody," "Swanee" (songwriter George Gershwin's first success), "April Showers," "Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye," "California, Here I Come," "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin' Along," "Sonny Boy" and "Avalon."
Jolson was a political and economic conservative, supporting Calvin Coolidge for president of the United States in 1924 (with the ditty "Keep Cool with Coolidge") unlike most other Jews in the arts, who supported the losing Democratic candidate, John William Davis.
Jolson was married to actress/dancer Ruby Keeler from 1928 to 1940, when they divorced. The couple had adopted a son, Al Jolson Jr., during their marriage, but when he was 14 the boy changed his name to Peter Lowe after his mother's second husband, John Lowe.
After leaving the Broadway stage, Jolson starred on radio. The Al Jolson Show aired 1933-1939, 1942-1943, and 1947-1949, and these shows were typically rated in the top ten. Jolson continued performing until his death in 1950.
The Jolson story
After the success of Warner Bros. film Yankee Doodle Dandy about George M. Cohan, Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky believed that a smiliar film could be made about Al Jolson -- and he knew just where to pitch the project. Harry Cohn may have seemed to a lot of people in Hollywood like a crude, loud vulgarian, but he had one soft spot: he loved the music of Al Jolson.
Skolsky pitched the idea of an Al Jolson biopic and Cohn agreed to it. Directed by Alfred E. Green (best known today for the pre-Code masterpiece Baby Face, The Jolson Story is one of the most entertaining of the musical biopics of that era -- an era that included Yankee Doodle Dandy, Till the Clouds Roll By, Words and Music and Three Little Words. With Jolson providing almost all the vocals, and actor Larry Parks playing Jolson, The Jolson Story was released in 1946, and became one of the biggest hits of the year. Parks received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and the film became one of the highest grossing films of the year.
"The Jolson Story," and its 1949 sequel "Jolson Sings Again," led to a whole new generation who became enthralled with Jolson's voice and charisma. Jolson, who had been a popular guest star on radio since its earliest days, now had his own show, hosting the "Kraft Music Hall" from 1947-1949, with Oscar Levant as a sardonic piano-playing sidekick. Despite such singers as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Perry Como being in their primes, Jolson was voted the "Most Popular Male Vocalist" in 1948 by a Variety poll. The next year, Jolson was named Personality of the Year by the Variety Clubs of America. When Jolson appeared on Bing Crosby's radio show, he attributed his receiving the award to his being the only singer not to make a record of Mule Train, which had been a widely covered hit of that year (four different versions, one of them by Crosby, had made the top ten on the charts).
Jolson joked that he'd tried to sing the hit song. "I got the clippetys all right, but I can't clop like I used to."
Jolson's legacy is considered by many to be severely neglected today because of his use of stage blackface, at the time a theatrical convention used by many performers (both white and black), but today viewed by many as racially insensitive. Jolson was billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," which is how many of the greatest stars (including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Jackie Wilson) referred to him. Charles Chaplin wrote in his Autobiography that he was one of the most electrifying entertainers he had ever seen. A life-long devotion to entertaining American servicemen (he first sang for servicemen of the Spanish-American War as a boy in Washington, D.C.) led Jolson, against the advice of his doctors, to entertain troops in Korea in 1950 when his heart began to fail.
Death
Jolson died on October 23, 1950, in San Francisco at a card game, at the age of 64, apparently of a heart attack, and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California, where a statue of Jolson beckons visitors to his crypt. On the day he died, Broadway turned off its lights for 10 minutes in Jolson's honor.
Al Jolson has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:
1. For his contribution to the motion picture industry at 6622 Hollywood Blvd.;
2. For his contribution to the recording industry at 1716 Vine St.;
3. For his contribution to the radio industry at 6750 Hollywood Blvd.
Forty-four years after Jolson's death, the United States Postal Service acknowledged his contribution by issuing a postage stamp in his honor. The 29-cent stamp was unveiled by Erle Jolson Krasna, Jolson's fourth wife, at a ceremony in New York City's Lincoln Center on September 1, 1994. This stamp was one of a series honoring popular American singers, which included Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Ethel Merman, and Ethel Waters. Al Jolson is one of Mr. Burns' (from The Simpsons) favorite actors - he still believes that he is alive.
Jolson's song I'm Sitting on Top of the World was played during the opening montage of 1930's New York City in the 2005 remake of King Kong.
In August of 2006, Al Jolson had a street in New York named after him.
About A Quater To Nine
Al Jolson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Life begins when you get your gal all alone.
From morning until twilight
I don't know I'm alive
But I know love begins at 8:45.
The stars are gonna twinkle and shine,
How they'll shine!
My loving arms are going to tenderly twine
Around you around a quarter to nine.
I know I won't be late
Cause at half past eight,
I'm going to hurry there.
I, I'll be waiting where the lane begins
Waiting for you on needles and pins.
And then the world is going to be mine
Mine all mine!
This evening about a quarter to nine.
I know I won't be late
Cause at half past eight
I'm going to hurry there.
I'll be waiting where the lane begins
Waiting for you on needles and pins.
And then the world is going to be mine
Mine all mine!
This evening about a quarter to nine.
The song "About a Quarter to Nine" by Al Jolson is a song about the excitement that one feels when waiting to meet their lover at 8:45 PM. The lyrics talk about how life begins when somebody's eyes look into your own, and how getting your lover alone can give you a sense of purpose. The singer of the song is so excited about the prospect of meeting his lover that he says he doesn't know he's alive until that moment.
The song captures the anticipation and energy of being in love and waiting for that special moment to arrive. The lyrics describe how the stars will twinkle and shine at a quarter to nine, and how the singer's loving arms will tenderly twine around his lover's. He won't be late because he plans to hurry there at half past eight, and he'll be waiting for his lover where the lane begins. The world will be his at a quarter to nine when he's finally reunited with his love.
Overall, the song is a celebration of the joy and excitement that come with being in love. The imagery of the stars and the singer's loving arms create a sense of longing and anticipation, while the upbeat and catchy melody perfectly captures the ebullience of the lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
Life begins when somebody's eyes look into your own.
The moment you gaze into someone's eyes and connect with them is the start of a beautiful, exciting journey called life.
Life begins when you get your gal all alone.
When you are alone with your beloved, you feel like life finally makes sense because you are where you are supposed to be.
From morning until twilight
I don't know I'm alive
But I know love begins at 8:45.
During the day, time seems to pass quickly, and life may seem like a routine. However, at 8:45, the magic of love ignites passion and excitement in your heart.
The stars are gonna twinkle and shine,
How they'll shine!
This evening about a quarter to nine.
As the sun sets, the stars in the sky will shine brighter and brighter, heralding the time when magic is about to happen - at around 8:45 in the night.
My loving arms are going to tenderly twine
Around you around a quarter to nine.
In a few moments, someone is going to wrap their arms around their beloved and hold them close, showering love and affection on them.
I know I won't be late
Cause at half past eight,
I'm going to hurry there.
The person is eagerly awaiting their beloved and is determined not to be late, so they plan to head to the meeting place well in time at 8:30.
I, I'll be waiting where the lane begins
Waiting for you on needles and pins.
The person's anticipation is so high that they feel like they are on pins and needles, waiting eagerly at the starting point of a lane, at the promised meeting place.
And then the world is going to be mine
Mine all mine!
This evening about a quarter to nine.
When their beloved arrives and they are together, the person feels like all the world belongs to them - this feeling of being together and in love makes everything right and magical.
I know I won't be late
Cause at half past eight
I'm going to hurry there.
Repetition of the earlier lines to emphasize the eagerness and excitement felt by the person.
I'll be waiting where the lane begins
Waiting for you on needles and pins.
Repetition of earlier lines for the purposes of emphasis.
And then the world is going to be mine
Mine all mine!
This evening about a quarter to nine.
Repetition of earlier lines to reinforce that the person feels like they have the whole world to themselves when they are together with their beloved.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: AL DUBIN, HARRY WARREN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind