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IF AL JOLSON HADN'T MET AL GOODMAN TWENTY YEARS AGO TWO
THIS is the story of a great friendship. A tempestuous, demanding friendship, but nevertheless a great one, true and deep and abiding.
It's the story of a famous star and of the man he first started on the road to success, then grew to depend upon for success in his own career. It's a story which grew to be a legend along the Broadway of fifteen years ago; and although the Broadway of today has forgotten it, it is still fresh and strong in the hearts of Al Jolson and Al Goodman.
If these things had not happened you might not today be listening to Al Jolson on his new Rinso program ; and you almost certainly would not hear Al Goodman as maestro of the Show Boat and Lucky Strike programs. These two men as they are now, are products of the relationship which began between them in 1917. Without Al Jolson, Goodman might well have remained an obscure orchestra leader instead of the important figure in radio he is; and without Goodman, Jolson could never have reached the high position he occupies in the world of entertainment.
The story is significant for still another reason. Through Al Goodman's eyes, I saw a Jolson I hadn't met before, a more human and understandable Jolson. In the ten years during which they were closely associated, Goodman learned things about Jolson no one else knew, or could know. But their place is later in the story.
In 1916, Al Goodman was in San Francisco, leading the orchestra for "What Next," a musical comedy starring Blanche Ring and Charles Winninger — yes, the same Charles Winninger who was later to be" the beloved Cap'n Henry of Show Boat It was a road company, hastily thrown together, and although the stars were well known their supporting cast and the orchestra were of considerably less than Broadway calibre. Nobody knew who Al Goodman was, and certainly nobody cared.
Until one night when Al Jolson dropped in to listen to the show. He was on a vacation, but that couldn't keep him out of the theater. After the performance, he looked Goodman up, backstage, and said, "I'm going to have you working for me some day. I'll send for you, and you've got to come. You've got something no other musical comedy orchestra director I've ever heard has, and I need you."
Then he went away, and that was the last Goodman heard from him for almost a year. "What Next" had closed after its Coast run, and Al Goodman hadn't been able to find another steady job. It was wartime, remember, and he was in naval uniform, subject to call at any time. When
Warner Brothers
Al Jolson, above, was always fighting with his producers until he found Al Goodman who smoothed the way for his first real success. Jolson's on the air again, on a big new show.
he applied for work in a show, the manager would look at the uniform and shake his head, afraid to hire him lest he be called away suddenly in the middle of a run.
Debts began to pile up. Al and Mrs. Goodman struggled along, trying to feed their two little children and themselves, but it was uphill, hopeless work. And then — just as if he'd known when Al Goodman needed his help most — then was when Al Jolson sent for him to come to New York and direct the orchestra for his new show "Sinbad."
THEIR ffllDSHIP BROUGHT
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