Movie Music: Toot Toot, Tootsie

Warners' 1927 production of The Jazz Singer was not, as most people assume, the first feature film to use synchronized sound, but it was the first to contain synchronized dialogue sequences. The very first line of spoken dialogue ever heard in a feature was the ad-libbed "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet!" (#71 on AFI's list of the top 100 movie quotes of all time), exclaimed by an excited Al Jolson before he launches in to his spirited rendition of "Toot Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye".

Another memorable musical moment from the film (pictured) is when Jolson, visiting his mother (Eugenie Besserer), serenades her with Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies", followed by the first conversation ever heard on film. But the most well known song from The Jazz Singer was Jolson's signature number, "My Mammy", sung (in black face) at the film's finale. This song was so popular, it was often used as a punchline in many movies of or set in the era, such as seemingly every cartoon made at the time, as well as in Singin' in the Rain, set during the dawn of the "talkies".

The Jazz Singer is finally making its debut on DVD October 16, and it looks like it was well worth the wait. Warner Home Video is going all out with a deluxe, three-disc edition, which includes an all-new digital transfer and refurbished soundtrack for the film itself, plus a host of bonus material: commentary from film historians, a slew of cartoon and live action short subjects, the new feature-length documentary The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk, plus such goodies as lobby card reproductions and a recreation of the original souvenir program book.

So what are you waiting for? Click here to pre-order The Jazz Singerfrom Amazon.com now!

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet!": In conjunction with the film's DVD release, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be holding a special, 80th anniversary screening of The Jazz Singer October 5 at their Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The restored version of the film will be seen for the first time in public at this event, hosted by Leonard Maltin.

Click here to purchase The Jazz Singer soundtrackfrom Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com, Wikipedia.org, AFI.com and Oscars.org.