Al Jolson

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Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson; c. 26 May [N.S. 7 June] 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. Self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer", Jolson was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1910s and 1920s. He was known for his "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach" towards performing, along with popularizing many of the songs he sang. According to music historian Larry Stempel, "No one had heard anything quite like it before on Broadway." Stephen Banfield wrote that Jolson's style was "arguably the single most important factor in defining the modern musical." Jolson has been referred to by modern critics as "the king of blackface performers". Although best remembered today as the star of the first major talking picture, The Jazz Singer (1927), he starred in a series of successful musical films during the 1930s. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was the first star to entertain...

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