Startime (TV Series) The Jazz Singer (1959) User Reviews

His faith obligation

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 12 March 2013]

I have to say I was shocked when I saw this item for rent on Amazon and could finally see it. For years the rumors had it that Jerry Lewis did not like this show and did everything he could to bury it. After seeing it I'm asking why?

It's not the best Lewis performance I've seen, but it does show a different side to him, a dramatic side that he hardly ever showed until later in his career when he was no longer a big name movie box office draw. And the role suits him well as he steps into the tradition of Al Jolson, Danny Thomas, and later on Neil Diamond.

All the versions were different. Of course the best known was Al Jolson with that finale with him singing Mammy on stage after he's done his faith obligation and sang Kol Nidre at the synagogue. All three big screen versions had the Kol Nidre scene in the films.

The role is no big stretch for Lewis, he plays a comic very much like Jerry Lewis. Eduard Franz as his cantor father and the original Jewish mother Molly Picon also slip nicely into their roles.

Molly Picon was THE star of the Yiddish theater before going mainstream. She started as a child performer and I remember her telling a story that when she was introduced to an old Jewish man who saw her on stage he asked if she was "the original". That has to be heard it loses something on the written page.

Alan Reed the future Fred Flintstone plays Lewis's uncle and registers the best performance in the supporting cast.

A Shrunk Version of the Story, But It Does Have Jerry Lewis

[jayraskin1 · 7/10 · 12 April 2014]

This has a good cast, but they are forced to do the story in just 52 minutes for a one hour television show. It is really not enough time and they are only given a couple a short scenes each. Imagine any decent play, for example "Hamlet" or "A Doll's House being cut to 52 minutes and you understand the problem. There are only a few cheap sets and the story just barely pulls you in dramatically before it suddenly ends.

The center of the piece is Jerry Lewis. He certainly makes the story seem autobiographical with the script tailored to make him a comedian instead of the title Jazz Singer. Yet he puts a good deal of feeling into it, forsaking the more outrageous and juvenile slapstick that he is known for. He acts much closer to his sincere, heart on the sleeve, Muscular Dystrophy Telephon Host.

If you don't like Jerry Lewis, you will hate it. If you're a Jerry Lewis fan, you'll forgive the shortcomings and appreciate that this is one of the few dramatic roles he played at the peak of his career.

If you're Jewish add another star for an 8 out of 10. The conflict between the Rabbi father and the son who disappoints him by seeking a secular career instead of a religious touches a Jewish cord, although it has a universal aspect.

Disappointing

[lzf0 · 5 January 2007]

When I read that Jerry Lewis appeared in a television version of "The Jazz Singer", I couldn't wait to see it. I had to wait years. Finally I was able to get a bootleg copy of the show. I expected Jerry to be doing his best Jolson impression, singing those famous Jolson songs and mugging for the camera. However, Jerry does very little singing and plays his role straight. The title is a misnomer. It's not really "The Jazz Singer", but "The Night Club Comic". Like the original story, Jerry is torn between becoming a cantor, like his father, or going into show business. The script for this version is unexciting and Jerry is completely unlikeable. Anna Maria Alberghetti shows up as Jerry's love interest and Alan "Fred Flintstone" Reed is on hand showing us both his dramatic and comic skills.

Of all of the versions of "The Jazz Singer", I believe the Michael Curtiz version with Danny Thomas and Peggy Lee is the best. The Jolson version was groundbreaking, but the acting is over the top. The Neil Diamond version is a complete waste of time. The Jerry Lewis version is only interesting for seeing Jerry in a rare dramatic role.

A 1927 plot works less and less well as the years pass...

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 19 October 2015]

There is a huge problem with any remake of "The Jazz Singer". Back in 1927 when it debuted, the plot was already old fashioned. Sure, it did well--but it was because folks were wowed by it being a talking picture*. Now, in 1959, the story seems even more old fashioned and more difficult to believe. After all, in 1959 America, Cantor Rabinowitz seems ridiculous in the way he reacts to his won, Joey (Jerry Lewis) wanting to become an entertainer--and his yelling "...better I should be dead than my son sing jazz in my house!!". If you think the story doesn't work well in 1959, try watching the 1980 version---it's an unintentional comedy!!

The film begins with Joey already being a nightclub star. However, when he returns home, fireworks occur and dad tosses his son out...and the audience is perplexed. Soon after, the old man has a heart attack and is on the verge of death--but Joey HAS to go on and his father is a butt-head anyway. What will he do?!

This television version of the story at least has some good actors. Eduard Franz plays the awful father, Molly Picon the mother, Alan Reed (Fred Flintstone's voice) the uncle and Barry Gordon plays the father's young apprentice. It also was recently restored--with a great picture but poor sound (it's very muffled). Overall, I think this is a show strictly for the curious and the die-hard Lewis fans. It's not bad but I just wish they'd picked a more timely and less boring subject.

*Over and over, I've heard folks refer to the 1927 "Jazz Singer" as a talking picture. This isn't exactly the case--it's a partial talking picture. Most of the movie is silent except for the songs and a tiny bit of dialog.

Missed opportunity: This Film would have been great as the Comic, not the Jazz Singer

[clivy · 19 March 2016]

I agree with the previous reviewer that the Jazz Singer is a film very much of its time. I've now seen four versions: the original, the Danny Thomas version, the Neil Diamond 1980s version, and Jerry Lewis' TV adaption.

I now understand why the Jazz Singer belongs to its original time period. It's not a story about a jazz singer - though all the versions over the years have kept the title. At first I thought it was Jolson's personality and performance that made the story legendary. It's interesting that Jerry echoes Jolson's makeup in the last part of the TV version (it's very strange seeing Lewis in the closing scene, in the synagogue wearing cantor's robes and his clown makeup) Certainly the power of hearing Jolson sing was instrumental in making the original a sensation.

The story is about the old clashing with the new: it's apt that it was chosen for Jolson's vehicle, part silent mixed with the scenes of Jolson singing (as I remember it, none of the scenes with sound were all dialogue: all featured singing, and two of the singing voices weren't Jolson's).

It's also about the old generation clashing with the new generation: the father's old world cantor struggling with the son's new world show business song and dance man. The story doesn't really work in Jerry's version. Jerry was a good singer and he's fantastic in the opening sequence. Lewis' Joey Robin has elements of Buddy Love, the suave, successful, gifted conceited smart Aleck. It would have been captivating if Lewis had been given the opportunity to expand on his portrait of guy who has made it but forgotten all the human values of his parents and his upbringing. Alan Reed is brilliant as the uncle, but it's a shame that Molly Picon and Eduard Franz aren't given the possibility of expanding their roles beyond brief clichés.

The movie is tied down by the elements of the Jolson movie, already long standing clichés in the 1950s: the big show, the big chance on Yom Kippur, the call to his father's deathbed, and the last scene in the synagogue singing Kol Nidre for the father.

I realized that the Jazz Singer also echoes the anxieties of the first European born generation regarding the American born second generation: will they keep the traditions, or reject everything, including morality and religious belief. The 1950s versions- both the Thomas movie and Lewis' TV play- have a father who is evidently American as well. Hence the story doesn't have the resonance of the fears of adjusting to a new country and the freedom it brings.

Lewis' Jazz Singer is entertaining, but the last two acts are badly handled: the sequence of Joey's daydream could have been come from one of Lewis' screen farces. If the play had been better directed, and focused on Lewis' character as a comic struggling with his father and his family's religious values this would have been a powerful film.

Worth Watching

[Michael_Elliott · 25 August 2017]

Startime: The Jazz Singer (1959)

Joey (Jerry Lewis) is quickly rising to fame and he gets a big opportunity on a television show. Before he can do that he returns home to his strict father (Eduard Franz) and his birthday party where more drama starts. Through flashbacks we see that the father has objected to his son going into show business.

When Al Jolson made THE JAZZ SINGER in 1927 it was a breakthrough and a landmark due to it having partial sound. With that said, the story was rather old-fashioned even by 1927 standards and it was certainly even more out-of-date in 1959. You've got to remember that this was the time when Elvis had broken things open so this Jewish tale just didn't seem like something for current audiences.

Of course, the main draw was going to be seeing Lewis in a dramatic role and for the most part he did a good job with it. There are a lot of song and comic moments but the highlight is at the end when Lewis' character has a moment where he must make a big decision and I thought the actor was good during it. Franz actually stole the show with his performance as the overly-strict father.

Fans of Lewis will want to check this out but there's no question that it has some flaws. Still, at less than a hour it's worth watching.

Episode: B-