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

Newspaper Campaign on J o l s o n ’s Picture "Photographic Music" Makes Bow in Al Jolson's Newest Picture "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" Introduces New Method of Aiding Story by Songs Still Stage-Stricken Inaugurating a radically differ¬ ent method of presenting music upon the screen, United Artists will introduce a new technique when Al Jolson’s starring picture, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” has its opening at the . theatre on . The innovation is fully expected to revolutionize entertainment of this kind and to prove in many ways' as novel as the switch from silent to talking films. All previous forms of music on screen or stage have been thrown overboard in creating this picture, according to executives at the stu¬ dio where Jolson’s melodious com¬ edy is about half completed. “Photographic Music” “Photographic music,” which runs throughout the picture and constantly moves with the story, is the term coined by the famous New York composer-lyrist team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart to describe the new screen form. Rodgers and Hart are credited with having stumbled upon the germ of this method while work¬ ing on the Maurice Chevalier pic¬ ture, “Love Me Tonight,” and now they have fully developed the tech¬ nique for Jolson’s vehicle. Although Jolson will introduce several new numbers that fit per¬ fectly into the story as a whole, there will be no songs, as such, de¬ spite the fact that Al is the great¬ est popular singer America has ever produced”, declared Hart. “Instead, dramatic action, the flow of photography and the humor and pathos of the characters of the story will be inherent in the music. In other words, whole scenes will be played to photographic music and lyrics. This form is not like that of the stage comic-opera or musical comedy, nor is it like the movie stories which are interpreted by popular songs. It is music and lyrics written expressly for the camera.” Rodgers and Hart believe that the singing of popular songs, and the musical comedy antics of chorus dancing, while excellent things on the stage, are fatal to a motion picture. Film Must Move “A moving picture must move, and the movement of its story line can be traced like the zig-zag rise and fall of a graph,” said Hart. “When a singer steps in front of a microphone, stands still and has his lips photographed mouthing a song, the action is stopped. What was dynamic suddenly becomes static, and the story is cast into the sea, never to emerge again with any strength or life.” Rodgers and Hart have many New York and London stage hits to their credit, such as “The Con¬ necticut Yankee,” “The Girl Friend,” “Heads Up” and “Simple Simon.” Their song hits include “My Heart Stood Still,” “The Girl Friend,” “You Took Advantage of Me,” “With a Song In My Heart,” “Ten Cents a Dance,” “I’ve Got Five Dollars” and "Sentimental Me.” “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” with Madge Evans, Frank Morgan, Harry Langdon, Chester Conklin and other well-known personalities supporting Jolson is a Lewis Mile¬ stone production. The story is an original by Ben Hecht. Chester Conklin Back With His Moustache Comedian Has Leading Role in Al Jolson’s Picture Chester Conklin’s walrus mous¬ tache, familiar to fans since the earliest days of pictures, is making a return bid for popularity in Al Jolson’s comedy with music, “Hal¬ lelujah, I’m a Bum,” which comes to the . theatre on ----—.. Conklin is one of several come¬ dians, including Frank Morgan, Harry Langdon, Victor Potel, Tammany Young and Bert Roach, who appear in Jolson’s supporting cast. Madge Evans supplies the love interest. Madge, you know, is the former child star who has become one of Hollywood’s most popular leading ladies. United Artists promises a brand new idea in music on the screen in Jolson’s picture. It is called “pho¬ tographic music.” The Broadway team of Rodgers and Hart com¬ posed the melodies and lyrics for Ben Hecht’s original story. Despite the fact that he has been entertaining people for nearly twenty -five years, Al Jolson, star of “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” the United Artists picture, is still as stage-stricken as any mere novice when he appears for the first time in a new vehicle or in a new me¬ dium. The opening of a new stage show or a picture is anathema to him, and perhaps his worst experience in this respect was his recent de¬ but on the microphone over a na¬ tion-wide hook-up. Al has already broadcast for several weeks, but he still is in deathly fear of dat ol’ mike. By AL JOLSON I believe I have read something in history to the effect that Julius Caesar had a slave ride with him in his chariot to keep him humble. In Hollywood, when you’re mak¬ ing pictures and you get to feel¬ ing important, they have directors, assistant directors, cameramen, sound experts, electricians and plenty of others to take the im¬ portance out of you. Oh, boy, how they can roust you around if they want to! Sure He’s a Star Do I hear someone asking, “Why, aren’t you the star, and don’t you do what you like?” Ha, Ha. Sure, I’m the star—and what? Remember the old story about the fellow who joined the army, dreaming of strutting in dashing uniform, and whose first job was valeting a bunch of mules. His pal, who had joined up with him, found him at his task. “Why,” says the friend, “even if you are in the army they can’t make you do that!” Well— The other night I had just fin¬ ished a scene—or thought I had finished a scene—in my United Artists picture, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum.” The action called for me to jump in a lake and rescue Madge Evans. It was three o’clock in the morning, and plenty chilly, even if it was balmy California. I had done a Johnny Weismuller, carried Madge to safety in approved hero fashion, and hurried my dripping self to a friendly log fire to dry out. Called For Encore I thought it had been great, and was congratulating myself and thinking of hot coffee and a warm bed when an assistant director came running. “Hurry, Al,” he ordered. “Get into another suit. We’re going to shoot it again right away.” A friend of mine, not connected with pictures, who had come with me on location, was puzzled. “Why,” he whyed, “you’re soaked to the skin. They can’t make you do that.” “I know they can’t ,” I told him, “but here I go for another duck¬ ing.” And before we got through that scene, and the director and the photographers and the sound re- Al Jolson,57o'/'o/ 'Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" 3 —One Col. Star Head (.Mat .05; Cut .30) corders and electricians, and every¬ body else were satisfied, Madge and I had done the would-be suicide and rescue nine times. The sun was just peeping over the hills when the director finally said, “okay,” and we could start back to Los Angeles. Start Early, Too “Don’t forget we have a ten o’clock call at the studio,” said the director. “Al will have to be on the set at nine,” reminded a sound man. “That big orchestra has been called for nine and a rehearsal of one of Al’s numbers and we can’t keep them waiting.” “Make it eighty-thirty if you can, Al,” piped a wardrobe man. “We’ve got to fit you for that new outfit in the next sequence.” “Get going,” I yelled to my driver. “If we don’t get away from here some one will want me at seven and I won’t even have a chance to grab an hour’s sleep.” Who’s important? Which reminds me of a few years ago when I appeared in my —and the world’s—first all-talking picture. They said it was going to revolutionize the screen. Natur¬ ally I was proud and enthusiastic. I was visiting my father just be¬ fore the picture was about to be released. Confides in Dad “Papa,” I said to him one eve¬ ning, “it’ll be the greatest thing that ever happened in pictures. It’ll make history.” My father nodded and looked at his watch. “Almost seven o’clock,” he mur¬ mured to himself. “Listen, father,” I repeated, “I’m afraid you don’t understand. It’s going to be the greatest picture ever made, and your son is the star. Be sure to see it when it comes.” My father made no comment, but again glanced at his watch and murmured, “Yes, almost . seven o’clock.” “For heaven’s sake,” I burst out. “Why don’t you . listen to me. What’s all this seven o’clock busi¬ ness? What’s coming off then?” Father gazed at me in astonish¬ ment. “What, you don’t know? Why, Amos and Andy are on the radio at seven.” Bee Sounded Like Airplane As Jolson Made His Picture The noise of airplanes, flying high over location during the filming of scenes in Al Jolson’s United Artists picture, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” made the director and sound experts tear their hair. For the fifth time the cameras had started and the sound-recording machinery been set in motion, and for the fifth time Jolson and sup¬ porting players, including Madge Evans, Frank Morgan, Harry Langdon, and Chester Conklin, had been forced to stop the action in the middle of the scene when sensitive microphones picked up the drone from the sky. Finally the company waited until the planes were out of sight, and the scene was tried again. Everything was going fine, and the director was congratulating him¬ self that the scene would be completed without interruption, when the sound chief emerged from his booth, yelling: “They’re back again!” But the sky was clear of flyers. The director dashed into the booth and listened. Sure enough, there was a drone like airplanes that made recording impossible. A check of the sound system solved the mystery. A bumble-bee had flown under the wind-cap over the microphone! Humility Chief Virtue in Studios , Declares JolsonWho Ought to Knoiv Star Who Believes He is Boss of His Company is Craz j. Says United Artists Comedian "Mammy" Is Dead, Says Jolson, Who Supported Her For Years "Sonny Boy" Also Permitted to Fade into Limbo as Star Drops Black Face and Jolson Sensation in His Latest Picture “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum” Introduces New Technique in Musical Films (Review) Al Jolson, who five years ago launched a major revolution with the first talking picture, appears to have caused a new sensation in “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” the Unit¬ ed Artists picture which had its opening yesterday at the . —.theatre. For, in this production, the famed comedian has introduced an entirely new screen technique, one which in its turn might prove as revolutionary as did the first talkie. New Technique At its opening yesterday, the pic¬ ture was not two minutes old when one could see at a glance that it bears out all the advance informa¬ tion about it. From the very be¬ ginning Jolson and his stellar sup¬ porting cast put their story over in what, for want of a better term, might be called “musical conversa¬ tion.” Perhaps “rhythmic dialogue” would be nearer the point. But, whatever the term, suffice •' to say that in ninety per cent of the picture the characters carry along their plot on the wings of lilting song and spoken rhyme, the rhyme being the most free form of verse imaginable. And it’s as light as a feather, too. Story by Hecht The story, written originally for Jolson by Ben Hecht and then put to lilt and song by Richard Rodg¬ ers and Lorenz Hart, concerns a tatterdemalion band of happy-go- lucky vagabonds who live in New York’s Central Park and who find life one grand minute after an¬ other until one fine day their leader does them a scurvy trick by goim? to work. And, worse, he also falls in love with a girl. Of course, such goings-on prove indefensible, and the brash leader is summarily tried by a kangaroo court. But it all unravels itself in the end, and there’s enough of hap¬ piness for all. Jolson, portraying a character the like of which he never before has attempted, is a revelation in the role of “Bumper,” leader of the vagabonds. Discarding his black¬ face, he plays a straight role whose poignancy and comedy alternately twang the heart-strings and give one a pain from laughing. He is marvelously abetted bv Harry Langdon and Chester Conk¬ lin, star comics, who in this pic¬ ture mark their return to Holly¬ wood following months of stage work. Ralph Morgan, also a stage star, has one of the few dignified parts in the picture, and he has never done better. Madge Evans Heroine Madge Evans, who gets better with each succeeding film, is a most appealing feminine lead, and other women in the cast include Doro¬ thea Wolbert and Louise Carver. They pair up with Bert Roach, Tammany Young, Tyler Brooke and Edgar Connor. The picture is a Lewis Milestone production. Former Extra Climbs John Orlando, one-time extra and “prop” boy, has been promoted to an assistant directorship at the United Artists studio, his first as¬ signment having been on Al Jol¬ son’s picture, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum.” For the past several years head property man on Lewis Milestone productions, Orlando started his studio career in 1924 as an atmos¬ pheric player. Then he applied for a job on Milestone’s staff, the di¬ rector instead found work for him as a laborer. Orlando eventually became chief of properties and was associated with Milestone in mak¬ ing pictures such as “Two Arabian Knights,” “The Racket,” “The Front Page” and “Rain.” All Its Trappings Mammy’s song is ended, so far as Al Jolson is concerned. Her memory lingers on, but the grand old mythical lady is dead and will be permitted to rest in peace. Minus blackface and definitely alienated from Mammy, Sonny Boy and other of his old standbys, the screen and stage star will make a new bid for character acting hon¬ ors in his United Artists picture, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” which comes to the... theatre on . New Role More Modern Although Jolson isn’t a comedian with a Hamlet complex, he says the trend, even for comedians, is toward down-to-earth, believable characters that audiences can un¬ derstand and sympathize with as well as laugh at. Jolson’s new role, he says, is geared to the times. His character, and practically all the other char¬ acters in Ben Hecht’s original story, haven’t any money, but they refuse to let depressions, politics and other worries of the day, get them down. Jolson will sing, but it won’t be about Mammy or Sonny Boy, and he won’t face the audience on bended knee even once. It is twenty years since Jolson started making the world Mammy¬ conscious. He has. t .sqen armies of Mammy singers come and go since he first warbled about the dear old colored lady in a Winter Garden show in New York. And now Jol¬ son, who introduced her and did the most to popularize her on the stage and screen, wants to report her demise and pay respect to her memory. Madge Evans the Girl In his new venture, Jolson will have a love affair with Madge Evans, but lose her to Frank Mor¬ gan. Two veteran comedians, Harry Langdon and Chester Conklin, are returning to the screen after a long absence to appear with Jol¬ son. Kangaroo Court Tries Jolson in Film Vagabond Sequence Important Part of “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum” Al Jolson now knows how it feels to be tried by a kangaroo court. The vagabonds’ tribunal se¬ quence, one of the most spectacu¬ lar phases of Jolson’s United Art¬ ists comedy, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” which comes to the . . theatre on -.. ., was filmed and recorded to the accompaniment of a forty- piece symphony orchestra, with hundreds of supporting players on the set. The scene was made in an inter¬ ior-exterior, a setting of real trees, and grass that matches the Cen¬ tral Park atmosphere filmed dur¬ ing the past few months on loca¬ tions near Hollywood. In the screen story, adapted from an original by Ben Hecht, Jolson plays a city vagabond chieftain who is haled into kangaroo court by his ragged followers for falling in love and going to work. Supporting personalities in “Hal¬ lelujah, I’m a Bum” include Madge Evans, Frank Morgan, Harry Langdon, Chester Conklin and scores of others. Jolson’s latest song hits and the revolutionary “photographic music” which runs throughout the produc¬ tion, were composed by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Al Jol-son and Harry Langdon in "Halleluj ah, I'm a Bum'' 4 —One Col. Scene (Mat .05; Cut .30)