30-476: The Singing Fool is a 1928 American sound part-talkie musical drama motion picture directed by Lloyd Bacon which was released by Warner Bros. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film stars Al Jolson and
60-468: A dream sequence, and the appearance of a song with sung lyrics on the soundtrack. Davey Lee Davey Lee (December 29, 1924 – June 17, 2008) was an American child actor. He was born in Hollywood, California , United States. He appeared in six feature films between 1928 and 1930. The younger brother of actor Frankie Lee (1911–1970), at the age of three, Davey Lee made his screen debut in one of
90-464: A few minutes of sound tacked onto what was basically a silent picture. Douglas Fairbanks ' last swashbuckler , The Iron Mask (1929) was based on Dumas's L'homme au masque de fer and featured a sound prologue, in which Fairbanks' voice was heard from the screen for the first time, but the body of the film had no audible dialog. In 1930 , the Lon Chaney silent film success The Phantom of
120-417: A huge ovation. Al collapses as the curtains close, but vows to his friend Grace to never give up on life again. Like The Jazz Singer , The Singing Fool was a melodrama with musical interludes, and as such was one of the film industry's first musical films. Produced during the transition period between silent film and talkies , the movie was released in both sound and silent versions. The Singing Fool
150-442: A loner until friends from Blackies rescue him from a life on the streets. Soon, Al is back in lights. But another crisis awaits: Al gets a message at the theater that Sonny is back in town and dying. Al visits him in the hospital, and moments after singing "Sonny Boy" to him, Sonny passes away. Al returns to the theater devastated, but decides to go on with the show that evening. As a tribute to his deceased son, he sings "Sonny Boy" to
180-488: A newly sound-hungry public. "You will hear the characters speak from the screen!" the ads could truthfully promise, even if all the audible speech was confined to one brief segment in an otherwise mute film. Due to the excitement of the public over sound film, films that were retrofitted with sound became successful while those that were released silent often failed to make a profit. The sound versions were often criticized by critics. However, box office receipts showed that, for
210-402: A talking film, since few movie theaters had been equipped with a sound system in 1927. The film's positive reception was also viewed as a signifier that sound films were here to stay. "Here is complete vindication for the advocates of sound pictures", wrote Film Daily . " The Singing Fool is the finest example of sound pictures made to date." Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote that
240-418: Is a follow-up to his previous film, The Jazz Singer . It is credited with helping to cement the popularity of American films of both sound and the musical genre. The film entered the public domain on January 1, 2024 . After years of hopeful struggle as a comedian/waiter at Blackies Cafe, Al Stone (Jolson) is on his way to stardom. One night, he sings a song he wrote for his long time crush Molly, impressing
270-468: Is a sound film that includes at least some "talking sequences" or sections with audible dialogue. The remainder of the film is provided with a synchronized musical score with sound effects. These films more often than not contain a main theme song that is played during key scenes in the film and is often sung offscreen on the musical soundtrack. During the portion without audible dialogue, speaking parts are presented as intertitles —printed text briefly filling
300-471: Is missing from extant prints of the film. This is due to a lawsuit initiated by the song's author, Billy Merson. Merson claimed that he, as a performer, owed his income to his own renditions of the song, and that Jolson's version would diminish his ability to earn a living. The song was removed from all prints of "The Singing Fool" shown in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, the only surviving copies of
330-612: The Opera , originally released in 1925, was reissued with some newly filmed talking segments. Although the majority of the film was five years old, the reissue was a success. It earned an additional million dollars for Universal. The highest quality known reel of The Phantom of the Opera is a copy of the International Sound Version which was made for foreign markets. Most copies of silent films that were re-released as part-talkies survive only in sound versions. This
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#1732793246784360-601: The Seven Dwarfs would any sound-era film be more financially successful than this audience-pleasing blend of sentiment and show biz. With a worldwide gross of $ 5.9 million, it would remain the most successful film in Warner Bros. history until the release of Sergeant York in 1941. According to Warner Bros records the film earned $ 3,821,000 domestically and $ 2,095,000 foreign. For the majority of movie audiences, The Singing Fool became their first experience with
390-473: The US were "100 percent all talking", although there were rare and sometimes successful exceptions. Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times , released in 1936 , is an example of an unusually late part-talkie. The only voices heard in the film are those of the factory foreman, of a salesman making his pitch by means of a phonograph record , and of Chaplin when he sings a gibberish song in a nightclub scene. The soundtrack for
420-466: The dialogue was "a little halting" and that Dunn was "not convincing", but recognized that the main point of interest in the film was "not in its transparent narrative, but in Mr. Jolson's inimitable singing", and on that basis it was "capital entertainment." John Mosher of The New Yorker also recommended the film, writing, "Fortunately, throughout this picture one has Al Jolson's own songs to listen to, for
450-462: The early talkies, The Singing Fool (1928) starring Al Jolson , in which he played the part of "Sonny Boy". The Singing Fool remained the most successful film until Gone with the Wind (1939), produced by MGM . It was Warner Bros. ' most successful film for more than ten years. The theme song " Sonny Boy " became the first film song to sell over a million copies. Lee also played the title role in
480-576: The film Sonny Boy (1929), starring Betty Bronson . He returned to play opposite Al Jolson in Say It With Songs (1929). Other films in which he appeared were Frozen River (1929), in which he played opposite canine film star Rin Tin Tin , Skin Deep (1929) as the son of John Bowers , and The Squealer (1930) as the son of Jack Holt . This was Lee's last film. After suffering
510-505: The film are also from the U.K., hence are missing the song. These copies also have the majority of the original decorative Warner Brothers title cards replaced with simple British made ones which were used to remove Americanisms which the British would not understand or appreciate (a common practice during the silent era). Only the soundtrack survives on extant Vitaphone discs. Notes Further reading Part-talkie A part-talkie
540-509: The film, while the rest is a synchronized film with intertitles and only a recorded orchestral accompaniment with sound effects. As the financial success of early part-talking feature-length sound films such as The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool became apparent, producers of silent films which were either in production, or had recently been completed but not yet released, hastened to add or retrofit synchronized dialog segments so that their films could be advertised as "talking pictures" to
570-477: The film. They also made a sound prologue featuring three of the stage musical's actors singing five songs from the show. (The prologue was intended to be shown just before the actual film at every theatre wired for sound.) The film, prologue and all, was finally released in 1929. The film made a handsome profit, with rentals totaling $ 1,643,000 at the box office. The first film version of Thornton Wilder 's The Bridge of San Luis Rey , also released in 1929 , had
600-400: The general public, sound versions were by and large preferred over silent films. The success of the pictures can be gauged by how quickly theme songs from these sound films became best sellers. Seemingly overnight, the top selling records, sheet music, and piano rolls all became songs that were associated with sound films. The Paul Fejos film Lonesome (1928) was a hit with the public and
630-421: The head of a Broadway theater that was in attendance that night. Molly immediately falls for Al, knowing that he will soon be a big star. Broadway success, marriage and a child (Sonny) soon follow. Before long, Molly begins an affair with John, a mutual friend. Molly eventually abandons Al, and takes Sonny with her to Paris. Before leaving, she announces she will seek a divorce while overseas. Heartbroken, Al becomes
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#1732793246784660-447: The interim, studios reacted by improvising four solutions: fast remakes of recent productions, the addition of one or two sound segments spliced into already finished productions, dual sound and silent versions produced simultaneously, and part-talkies. The famous "first talking picture", The Jazz Singer (1927), starring Al Jolson , is a part-talkie. It features only about fifteen minutes of singing and talking, interspersed throughout
690-534: The most popular child star since Jackie Coogan . Lee was re-teamed with Jolson in Say It With Songs and starred in a few other films—including 1929's Sonny Boy —until his parents pulled him out of the movie business. The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: Popular songs from the catalogs of DeSylva, Brown and Henderson, and Rose and Jolson were primarily used. Al Jolson's rendition of " The Spaniard That Blighted My Life "
720-399: The rest of the film is simply an orchestral score accompanying the action, with occasional sound effects. The film The Artist (2011), winner of the 2012 Academy Award for Best Picture , was promoted as a silent film and the first of its kind to win a major Oscar award since the 1920s, but it was really a part-talkie due to the use of on-screen dialog at the end, audible female laughter in
750-515: The screen—and the soundtrack is used only to supply musical accompaniment and sound effects. In the case of feature films made in the United States, nearly all such hybrid films date to the 1927–1929 period of transition from "silents" to full-fledged "talkies" with audible dialog throughout. It took about a year and a half for a transition period for American movie houses to move from almost all silent to almost all equipped for sound. In
780-488: The sound version made a profit of $ 407,923.23 for Universal. The film was nevertheless criticized by some critics who disliked the addition of several minutes of small talk between the lead characters. They argued that these additions caused previously sympathetic audiences to abruptly lower their opinions of the characters' personalities and level of intelligence. What these critics (all of whom lived in big cities with theatres that could afford large orchestras) failed to grasped
810-425: The story has been contrived to exploit to the full his special talents. Whenever the action begins to slump and lag, Al has only to step forward and do his stuff, and the day is saved." One trade paper commentator stated that The Singing Fool "will be to talking pictures what The Birth of a Nation has been to silent pictures". For a time, the film also made Davey Lee , Jolson's 3 1 ⁄ 2 year old co-star,
840-407: Was a part-talking feature, which featured a synchronized musical score with sound effects along with synchronized musical and talking sequences, although in this film roughly 66 minutes of talking and singing were included. Al Jolson's first all-talking feature, Say It With Songs , would appear in 1929. The Singing Fool solidified Jolson's position atop the movie world; not until Snow White and
870-428: Was because the silent versions made little or no profit for the studios and the demand was low for these versions which were already perceived as outdated by the public. Many famous silent films, like Lonesome , survive only in their sound versions, which is incidentally what most audiences saw, because the majority of the public had no interest in viewing silent films. By late 1929, virtually all films in production in
900-460: Was that even audiences in rural areas were now able to experience a proper orchestra to accompany their films. Before this, they had had to settle for something simple such as organ accompaniment. In 1928 , Universal Pictures began filming Edna Ferber 's novel Show Boat as a silent film. Then, influenced by the success of the smash hit Broadway musical version , they halted filming midway through production in order to add two sound segments to
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