A few simple words draw applause from astonished audiences “Wait a minute, wait a minute – you ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”
Perhaps no words in the history of cinema are better known than these, spoken by Al Jolson in the 18th minute of the film The Jazz Singer, released on 6 October 1927 and considered the world’s first feature-length ‘talkie’. In that moment, the silent film era ended; in that moment, perhaps, the modern world began. Yet there’s more to the story behind The Jazz Singer than a mere handful of words.
The film was based on a play by Samuel Raphaelson, telling the tale of a brilliant young entertainer torn between the demands of his traditional Jewish family and the glamour of his career as a jazz singer. That play was inspired by the life of Al Jolson, born Asa Yoelson in what’s now Lithuania. In a sense, Jolson was playing himself – and pocketing the equivalent of £1m in today’s money into the bargain.
Contrary to popular belief, The Jazz Singer was not the first time audiences had heard sound in movies. As early as 1921, DW Griffith’s film Dream Street had featured three very short sound sequences, including a few words from Griffith himself. What’s more, most of The Jazz Singer’s dialogue was delivered on caption cards because sound was both expensive and fiddly. In total, the film features no more than two minutes of audible dialogue.
Even so, Jolson’s first words proved a revelation. Unused to hearing sound at such length or of such quality, many people applauded as soon as they heard the words “wait a minute”. Writing in Life magazine, the dramatist Robert E Sherwood declared that those first words were “fraught with tremendous significance”. “I for one,” he reflected, “realised that the end of the silent drama is in sight.”
