AL JOLSON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 October 1939, Page 4

AL JOLSON

RETURN TO PICTURES. Tn all theatrical history, ho name has loomed brighter or more enduring than Al Jolson’s, and in all his amazingcareer as the “King of Entertainers” he has never had a vehicle of such tremendous appeal as "Rose of Washington Square.” Lured back to the screen by Darryl Zanuck, Jolson in the role of Ted Cotter, literally plays himself and recreates the triumphs he enjoyed from the time he first burst into world fame. The star who wrote the first great chapters of talking picture history with “Jazz Singer” and “The Singing Fool" and other early hits, and by sheer ability and personality, became the world's foremost introducer of song hits which have never lost their popularity, brings back his earlier success of the New York Winter Garden days. In the dramatic plot weaving through the cavalcade of melody, Jolson portrays Alice Faye’s devoted admirer who loves her enough to give her up to his rival, Tyrone Power.

them for the difficult job of making make-believe. Stars hate to play with these performers, because they know before the picture even begins that scenes are going to be stolen from them, possibly their best ones. too. Let's take a look at recent pictures and see how this grand larceny occurs. In "Union Pacific" you'll see two old-timers in Akim Tamiroff and Lynn Overman literally wrap tip this huge epic and steal off with it, leaving stars Joel..McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck practically stranded. The studio was forced to cut their parts to a minimum to save something for the two principals. These two fine actors didn’t have many lines to say, but when they did they got the most out of them. And when they had no lines to say, but just had to stand by while the stars acted, they raised an eyebrow, grinned, or looked bored, and at once your attention was focused on them to the loss of the stars. Harking back a little further, we saw old Walter Brennan outplay Loretta Young and Richard Greene in “Kentucky.”