Wonder Bar (Warner Bros.) (1934)

Al Jolson Has One Blackface Scene In “Wonder Bar” No makeup specialist has ever been able to put blackface makeup on Al Jolson to the actor’s satisfaction. When it comes time for the comedian to don burnt cork and a wool wig he shuts himself up in his dressing room and does it himself. After more than twenty years of practice Jolson can put on or take off the black make-up at a record breaking speed. He dislikes to do it but has become resigned to the public’s demand that he appear at least once in every stage and screen production in_ blackface. In ‘‘Wonder Bar,’’ his latest First National picture now showing at the 0.0... Theatre, in which he appears with Dolores Del Rio, Kay Francis, Dick Powell, Ricardo Cortez and Hal LeRoy, he sings one song and _ works through one sequence in what he calls ‘‘the dark.’’ He demonstrated his old time speed with the cork while working on this sequence, a speed which enabled him when playing blackface roles on the stage, to appear in the finale in white face and formal clothes. ‘Wonder Bar’’ is the international famous musical drama in which Al Jolson starred for two years on the American stage. The picture is set amid the gay revelries of a Parisian night club with spectacular music and dances. Jolson May Quit Movies, Then Again He May Not “King of the Blackface”? now in Hollywood Can’t Make Up His Mind on Subject By AL JOLSON (Appearing COMES TO TRE oicceicciccccccceccccccceeecccsseuecs EOPLE keep asking me. in ** Wonder Bar’? the mammoth musical drama which TREATS OM occicccccccccccccteccececeeveceeeecce ) Some of them have heard that after ‘‘Wonder Bar’’ I will make no more pictures. Others are just guessing. Both are as much in the dark about it all as I am. The one’s who’ve heard I’m quitting—definitely—seem to know lots more than I do. I’ll say that for them. I belong with the boys and girls who are just guessing. There’s a lot to be said for quitting, especially if I finish with a picture that promises to be a knockout. ‘Wonder Bar” is that, or the old minstrel of Broadway doesn’t know his show business. There’s a perfect cast —people like Kay Francis, Dolores Del Rio, Ricardo Cortez, Dick Powell, Hal Le Roy, Louise Fazenda and plenty of others. There are five or six elegant song numbers by Warren and Dubin. There’s Lloyd Bacon, a grand director. First National has given us a script and a scenic production that are aces. And with Busby Berkeley’s spectacular numbers with 300 beautiful girls, it ought to be a wow. There are other factors too. I’m one of those boys who can be happy without working. People say to me: “I don’t believe it. How can you be?” Well, I am. I just am. I’ve sfill got a couple of million salted away, in spite of the whole menageries of bulls, bears and wolves at the door. I’ve got a marvelous wife —and when she’s working I can play golf. I love to entertain audiences. It does something swell to me inside. But—so I argue when I’m looking at it this way—I can still do that. And. without the fuss and worry of making a picture. For instanee, while ’m working in “Wonder Bar,’ it’s costing me money every week. I had to give up a good AL JOLSON radio contract at No. 14—10c to do it. Then there’s the other side to all of this. When I’m trying to make up my mind about the future, I can remember quite a few hot arguments for staying in Hollywood, too. Ruby has made a big success in pictures. For the next few years she will have to spend much of her time here. Naturally, I’d like to be around. Who wouldn’t? Some of ’em seem to know lots more about it all than I do. Some have decided I must be on the point of quitting. Others are sure I’m keeping right on making pictures. I’m still as right, or as wrong, as any of them. Jolson Starts Film Work on Thirteenth Al Jolson threw all old stage superstitions into the discard when he started work on his new First National picture, ‘¢Wonder Bar,’’ the musical drama which comes to _ the pais avtaeeneovees Theatre on ............ siavetsnetarca , on the thirteenth day of the month. He staked his whole career on a ‘‘hunch.’? That hunch accounts for the fact that the ‘‘Wonder Bar’’ sets were all housed under the roof of sound stage No. 2. It was on that stage that Al Jolson’s wife, Ruby Keeler, danced her way to motion picture fame in ‘42nd Street.’’ It was on that stage that the spectacular ‘‘Shadow Waltz’? number, which increased her popularity enormously when ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1933’? was released, was rehearsed and filmed. Jolson and Keeler Will not Perform Together in Films Whether or not Al Jolson retires from the screen and in spite of any effect his open attempt to bribe Ruby Keeler, his wife, to abandon her career may have, one thing remains certain about this interesting couple. They will never appear together in any one picture. They are agreed about that. “Als too nervous,” explains Ruby. “It would never do to have him worrying about my part as well as his own.” “It wouldn’t be smart,” agrees Al. “We’ve considered it often but we know it wouldn’t be smart.” The fact is that Ruby held off her screen career for nearly five years because of Al. The chance to play a leading part in “42nd Street” was the first chance Ruby actually had to play a part entirely outside of Al Jolson’s sphere of influence. But it is certain the two of them will not appear together in any picture. “Wonder Bar” is the mammoth musical and dramatic spectacle in which Al Jolson starred for two seasons on the stage. It is enacted by an all star cast which includes, Kay Francis, Dolores Del Rio, Ricardo Cortez, Dick Powell, Hal LeRoy, Jolson, Guy Kibbee, Ruth Donnelly, Hugh Herbert, Louise Fazenda, Fifi D’Orsay and Merna Kennedy. The sensational ensembles and dance numbers were created and directed by Busby Berkeley with music and lyrics by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. Lloyd Bacon directed the production from the screen play by Earl Baldwin, based on the play by Geza Herczeg, Karl Farkas and Robert Katscher. Jolson and Ruby Never Visit Each Other on Set Although Ruby Keeler was in Hollywood most of the time that Al Jolson was working in the First National musical drama, ‘‘Wonder Bar,’’? now showing at GG: <2 ec decesertestteon, Theatre, she never once appeared on the set to visit her husband. When Ruby, who is under contract to the same studio, is working, Al, in turn, never visits her to watch her performance. They are the greatest love birds in Hollywood but neither likes to watch the other work. Jolson Back on Home Lot It’s a long career that has no returning and Al Jolson, after almost three years away from his ‘home lot’’ returned to the scene of his first great cinema success to make ‘‘Wonder Bar,’’ the mammoth musical drama, which comes to the Strand Theatre soon. AL JOLSON A Personality Portrait 2) I NOWN to millions as a ‘‘mammy singer,’’ Al Jolson’s ambition is to be a ‘‘pappy singer. erazy about children. He is simply Records show him to be forty-seven years old, but a stranger would guess him to be ten years younger. Healthy, browned complexion, from days spent on the Pacific Ocean fishing for marlin swordfish, and hours spent working out in a gymnasium, gives him that youthful appearance, His lips have never touched intoxicating liquor, despite career of more than thirty-five years in the theatrical profession. He drinks milk. Loyalty to friends is a salient characteristic. Old friends are best friends to him. Jim Donnelly, his driver, confidant and best friend, has been in his employ for twenty years. His dresser has worked for him for eighteen years. His _ business manager, a comparative newcomer, has been handling his affairs only for nine years. Maybe the reason Donnelly and the dresser have been with him so long is the fact that both play a wonderful game of Hearts. Jolson would rather play Hearts than any other pastime. His greatest happiness is his wife, Ruby Keeler. Her swift success as a screen star has made him as proud as a clucking hen over a new chick. Despite his great experience and knowledge of the acting profession, Jolson encourages Ruby to steer her own course. Very wealthy, his exact holdings are a mystery even to his intimates. He says he needs the money. Others estimate he is worth between two and four million dollars. He is proud of his acquaintance with great men. He knew the late Presidents Harding and Coolidge, and is a friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He has an amazing memory, not only for jokes, songs, but for incidents going back to the Spanish-American war, during which he was mascot to a regiment quartered in his home town, Washington, D. C. Jolson himself was born in Russia, near the Polish border, the son of a Jewish cantor. His parents brought him to America when he was eight. Despite his fame as an entertainer, Jolson gets so nervous and moody while working in a picture that he usually feels like quitting several times during the course of a picture. He likes to be driven in his automobile at a speed of seventy or eighty miles an hour. He has made numerous transcontinental motor trips. “Wonder Bar” is a dramatic spectacle laid amid the gay revel How’m Ah Doin’? Al Jolson and a pickaninny pal in a scene from “Wonder Bar,”’ now at the Strand. Mat No. 9—10ce ries of a fashionable Parisian night club with a peep into the back stage life of the entertainers. Sensational musical spectacles in which 300 beautiful girls take part were created and staged by Busby Berkeley, while music and lyrics were written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. The all-star cast includes Kay Francis, Dolores Del Rio, Ricardo Cortez, Dick Powell, Al Jolson, Hal Le Roy. Lloyd Bacon directed the picture. Daddy Of ‘Em All! Al Jolson, greatest blackface singer of all time, shows the world why he achieved that reputation in “Wonder Bar,” First National’s new musical cocktail at the Strand. Kay Francis, Dick Powell, Dolores Del Rio, Ricardo Cortez, and many others are in the cast. Mat No, 33—200 Page Nine