Hallelujah, Im a Bum (United Artists) (1933)

Ready-made Publicity For Your Editors Jolson as Peppy as a Novice in Films Star Looks Younger Than Ever in “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum” A1 Jolson, looking younger than ever, still retains all his enthusi¬ asms, his “happy-I’m-alive” atti¬ tude and his eagerness to please and entertain the public after more than a quarter of a century as a dominant personality. Watching the singing star in ac¬ tion during the filming of his Unit¬ ed Artists picture, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” which comes to the. . theatre on _ .,., one would think his very life depended upon the success of that particular scene. And the next scene, and the next, ad infinitum. A1 is like a boy on the set, dashing hither and yon, clown¬ ing and wise-cracking one minute, and deadly serious, in huddles with directors, photographers, sound ex¬ perts, et al, the next. Everybody’s his pal. He looks with suspicion on anyone who addresses him as “Mr. Jolson.” He wonders what he has done to hurt that person’s feelings. After the first handshake with a stranger, it’s the most natural thing in the world to call him “Al.” Al likes “people.” He thrives on crowds, excitement, noise, color. You’ll find him in the front row at most of the major sporting events. He is one of the country’s most rabid boxing fans. At the ringside of any bout in Hollywood or Los Angeles, the spectator cheering the loudest probably is Al Jolson. Al is plenty handy with his own fists, as a fight patron, rather loose with his language within the hearing of Al’s wife, Ruby Keeler, discovered one night. Jolson Invents Neiv Bed-Time Story But He Suffers For It When The Other Guy Retaliates Al Jolson, star of the United Artists picture, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” sometimes has dreams and ideas when he is half awake that develop into melodies and “gags” for his screen and stage vehicles. Instead of depending upon his memory to retain them until the next day, he has a recording pho¬ nograph at the head of his bed, and he immediately hums the refrain or speaks the idea for the gag into the instrument. One night recently, about three a. m., he awoke with a melody rac¬ ing through his sub-conscious mind. Reaching for the recording in¬ strument, he tried to turn it on, and discovered it was out of order. He sprang out of bed and tele¬ phoned Irving Caesar, who has written scores of songs for Jolson and who was in Hollywood at the time. Caesar sleepily answered as the excited Al yelled: “How does this sound — um-te-de-um-tum-tum? — my phonograph’s busted and I might forget it!” The next day Al told Caesar he was sorry for getting him up in the middle of the night. The song¬ writer said it was okeh; he liked to be disturbed. The following a. m., about three, Jolson’s phone rang. “I just wanted to tell you,” Cae¬ sar informed the sleepy Jolson, “that you got me out of bed last night to sing me part of one of your old numbers.” Audience Reaction Al Jolson, the medium through whom talking pictures were launched five years ago, set a new fashion in the trying out of his songs for “Hallelujah, I‘m a Bum,” which comes to the .. theatre on __ _ The new fashion was set in San Francisco, in which city Jolson made a personal stage appearance in advance of starting work upon his new picture for United Artists, and in that appearance he intro¬ duced several songs which were being considered for the picture. The audience’s reaction guided him in the selection of the songs in the picture. Al Jolson Has Quit the Stage; Road Trips Found Too Rigorous United Artists Star May Make Few Personal Appearances, But That’s All 6 Netv Song Hits in Al Jolson’s Picture Rodgers and Hart Numbers Aug¬ ment Film’s “Photographic Music” Al Jolson <?*/Madg,e Evans ///'Hallelujah, I'm ahum.' 2 —Two Col. Scene (Mot .10; Cut .50) Al Jolson’s United Artists vehi¬ cle, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” the first screen production with “pho¬ tographic music” running through it, also will introduce a number of new song hits. Six numbers, composed by Rich¬ ard Rodgers and Lairry Hart, are an inherent part of the film story which is said to promise a revolu¬ tionary method of presenting mu¬ sic on the screen. The titles of th? numbers are “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” “You Are Too Beautiful,” “I Got to Get Back to New York,” “What Do You Want With Mo¬ ney?,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Lay¬ ing the Cornerstone.” Rodgers and Hart stumbled upop the germ of the new screen music method while working on Maurice Chevalier’s picture, “Love Me To¬ night,” and have fully developed the technique in Jolson’s comedy which is adapted from an original story by Ben Hecht. AL JOLSON Al Jolson was born Asa YoeL son, in the then St. Petersburg, Russia, on May 26, the son of a Jewish cantor, or religious singer. Brought to the United States as a child, Al spent his early boyhood in Washington, D. C., when he wasn’t running away from home to join shows, carnival troupes and circuses. Once he appointed himself mas¬ cot to a regiment in the Spanish- American war and sang for the soldiers, but, as in other expedi¬ tions inspired by the wanderlust, he was shipped home to his family. Became Actor His father eventually despaired of making Asa the seventh in the direct line of the Yoelson cantors, and the youth, as Al Jolson, en¬ tered vaudeville. Reaching San Francisco right after the earthquake and fire of 1906, Al became a popular enter¬ tainer in tent theaters erected dur¬ ing the rebuilding of the city. While playing a small theater in Brooklyn, N. Y.; he took the tip of an old Negro and made up in blackface. He was an instant suc¬ cess, and his unique personality, combined with his inimitable style . of singing, won him an engage¬ ment with Dockstaders’ Minstrels. After two years as a minstrel star, Jolson was signed by the Shuberts as a featured attraction in the new¬ ly opened Winter Garden. Became an Institution This was in 1909. Jolson soon be¬ came the greatest entertainer in the history of the New York stage and for years packed theaters with his roles in shows such as “Bow Sing,” “La Belle Paree,” “The Whirl of Society,” “The Review of Re¬ views,” “Vera Violetta,” “The Honeymoon Express,” “Dancing Around,” “Robinson Crusoe, Jr.,” “Sinbad,” “Bombo,” and “Big Boy.” A theater was named for him, his short excursions away from Broadway to play in other cities were triumphal tours, and Al Jol¬ son became an international figure, and his “Mammy” style of singing, an American institution. Film producers for years had sought his services, but it was not until the advent of talking pictures that he was persuaded to seek screen honors. With the filmization of “The Jazz Singer,” he was an overnight sensation and the first great talking picture star. Where millions had seen and heard him on the stage and thrilled to his voice on phonograph records, countless more millions now were able to enjoy the king of enter¬ tainers. His Latest Film “The Singing Fool,” his second picture, was an even greater sensa¬ tion. Then followed “Say It With Songs,” “Mammy,” and “Big Boy.” Before starting his latest picture, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” under his new contract with Joseph M. Schenck and United Artists, Jolson returned to the New York stage to star in “Wonder Bar.” In “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” an MADGE EVANS Although Madge Evans has just reached the age when most girls are beginning their careers, she is a real veteran of motion pictures and has had millions of admirers in America and abroad for more than fifteen years. Miss Evans, who plays opposite Al Jolson in the star’s United Art¬ ists picture, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” was born in New York City on July 1. Privately Educated Educated by private tutors, she has been in the public eye almost since babyhood. Miss Evans made her film debut with the old World Company at the age of six. The picture was “Sudden Riches,” and Robert War¬ wick was the star. The director, Emil Chautard, now a Hollywood character actor, was living in the Evans home in New York, and he asked Madge’s mother if he could use her. Since then she has en¬ joyed an uninterrupted, brilliant career on the screen and stage. Following her overnight rise to fame in 1917, Madge was a child star for seven years, all her pic¬ tures being made in New York. She played with Alice Brady, Ethel Clayton, Montagu Love, Holbrook Blinn and other screen luminaries of the period. She was John Barry¬ more’s leading lady at the age of thirteen, in “Peter Ibbetson.” Went to Stage Back in 1925, Miss Evans made her last appearance in a silent pic¬ ture, opposite Richard Barthelmess in “Classmates,” and then went on the stage to duplicate the success she has won on the silent screen. Her stage plays included “Daisy Mae,” “Philip Goes Forth,” “The Marquis,” “Our Betters,” “Dread” and “The Conquering Male.” Brought to Hollywood for talk¬ ing pictures, she made her first ap¬ pearance with Ramon Novarro in “Son of the Rajah.” Since then she has been featured in pictures such as “West of Broadway,” “Lovers Courageous,” “Are You Listen¬ ing?,” “Horseflesh,” ‘‘Guilty Hands,” “Sporting Blood,” “The Greeks Had a Word For Them” and “Huddle.” Posed For Ads As a child actress, Madge also posed for advertisements that made her likeness familiar to countless millions. She was the golden-haired elf who perched upon a bar of soap, forming the background for the caption, “Have You a Little Fairy in Your Home?” Miss Evans is now five feet, four inches in height, weighs 116 pounds and has blonde hair and blue eyes. original story by Ben Hecht, Jol¬ son makes a radical departure from previous characterizations and plays a happy-go-lucky vagabond. His starring vehicle, in which he is supported by Madge Evans, Frank Morgan, Harry Langdon, Chester Conklin, Edgar “Blue Boy” Con¬ nor, Bert Roach and other person¬ alities, gives him an opportunity to introduce a number of new song hits. FRANK MORGAN Frank Morgan, noted character actor of the screen and stage, who plays the Mayor of New York in Al Jolson’s United Artists comedy with music, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” was born in the American metropolis. His family, the Wup- permans, was prominent in the business life of New York, and controlled the United States, Can¬ adian and Mexican agencies for Angostura Bitters. Educated in public and private schools of New York and at Cor¬ nell University, Frank Wupperman started in his father’s business, but office work proved irksome, and he obtained a job selling advertising for the Boston Traveler. Another chapter of his youthful career was punching cows on a ranch in New Mexico. Brother an Actor Frank’s brother, Ralph, had es¬ tablished himself on the Broadway stage under the name of Morgan. Ralph had admired A. E. Morgan, a leading actor of the day, and as¬ sumed the name, so when Frank heeded the call of the footlights, he also became a Morgan. Frank Morgan launched his the¬ atrical career in a vaudeville sketch written for him by his friend, Ed¬ gar Allan Wolff, now a Hollywood scenarist. Frank Morgan soon earned his spurs as one of New York’s lead¬ ing actors and for years could not find time to play all the roles of¬ fered him. Among his stage suc¬ cesses were “Mr. Wu,” “The Man Who Came Back,” “Seventh Hea¬ ven,” “My Lady Friends,” “Gen¬ tlemen Prefer Blondes,” “Among the Married” and “Topaze.” He also made excursions into musical com¬ edy and revue work, appearing in Ziegfeld’s “Rosalie,” “The Band Wagon” and “Rock-A-Bye-Baby.” He once deserted the stage for a short time to play in silent pic¬ tures, made in the east by the old Vitagraph company. Before com¬ ing to Hollywood, Morgan ap¬ peared in a talking picture; “Laugh¬ ter,” with Nancy Carroll. Frank an Athlete Since transferring his activities to the film capital, Morgan has played featured roles in “Secrets of the French Police,” “Phantom Fame” and “The Billion Dollar Scandal.” Morgan likes tennis, swimming and golf, and is a real baseball en¬ thusiast. While starring in a New York show, he organized a baseball team and played against nines or¬ ganized by members of other Broadway productions. The Gate-Crasher Even Hollywood’s forbidding portals are not impregnable to Tammany Young, nationally-known “gate-crasher.” Tammany man¬ aged to “crash” the gate at the United Artists studios and to be assigned a prominent part in “Hal¬ lelujah, I’m a Bum,” Al Jolson’s starring film, which comes to the . theatre on .. Thus Tammany has another scalp hanging from his belt. Now that he is back making pic¬ tures, Al Jolson, star of the United Artists picture, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” has quit the stage for good. The footlights will see him no more, he says, with the exception of an occasional personal appear¬ ance or a short vaudeville swing. And it isn’t because of lack of success upon the stage either. For his last season’s tour in “Wonder Bar” was one of the most success¬ ful of his career. It’s just that the grind of travelling over the coun¬ try, giving several shows a week, has grown too burdensome. A Methusela There’s another consideration, too, says Al. It’s this: If an actor- stays on the stage for twenty years everybody thinks he’s a hundred. “People come into the theatre,” he added, “and the minute they set eyes upon me they say, ‘I saw him in the Winter Garden years ago’. That sounds as if I am so old, and when it is added that I was with Primrose and Dockstader and in vaudeville even before my Winter Garden days—well, you can imag¬ ine.” The trouble, Al explained, is that people seem to forget that he went to the stage as a very young boy. One thing Al wanted to make clear was that there is still money to be made “on the road.” “There’s money there, all right,” he said, “but it isn’t easy money. I learned that in my tour of ‘Won¬ der Bar’. It was all right when we happened to play theatres, but we struck a lot of auditoriums in which the only way to put on the show seemed to be by long-dis¬ tance telephone.” The Gargling Kid “I put in all my spare time gar¬ gling. But the auditoriums weren’t the toughest spots. I’ll never for¬ get Nebraska. In Lincoln we played in the stadium of the state university, with a swimming con¬ test and a basketball game as com¬ petition. But I didn’t realize what real competition was like until we hit Omaha, where we were up against a live-stock show under the same roof. I put both lungs into my songs, but the cows and their gentlemen friends were in such good voice that I had to hand it to them. “The ‘road’ has plenty of perils, and the long jumps are the worst —simply ruinous. It would be bet¬ ter, I think, for a company to re¬ main in the East and Middle West and play such cities as Troy and Dayton and Columbus. Ethel Bar¬ rymore blazed the trail. There’s a brave woman.” Noses to Grindstone Al Jolson, working day and night for weeks on his United Art¬ ists comedy with music, “Hallelu¬ jah, I’m a Bum,” looked forward to a vacation trip to Europe with his wife, Ruby Keeler, of New York stage fame. Everything was set. But at the last minute Warner Brothers signed Ruby to a picture contract, and by the time Al was ready for a rest she was busy starting a screen career. So the vacation is off. In lolson Picture Apple Mary, one of the import¬ ant characters in Al Jolson’s Unit¬ ed Artists starring picture, “Halle¬ lujah, I’m a Bum,” is portrayed by Dorothea Wolbert, widely-known character actress on the stage be¬ fore she switched to the screen a few years ago. Miss Wolbert is perhaps best-remembered in pic¬ tures for her part of the scrub woman in “The Front Page.” Al-Jolson. in "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" 5 —One Col. Scene (Mat .05; Cut .30)