"The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolson, the first movie that incorporated synchronized speaking parts for its actors, was released on this day in history, Oct. 6, 1927. Primitive by today’s standards, ...

A third-season episode of the television show “Mad Men,” titled “My Old Kentucky Home,” finds Don Draper and the crew from Sterling Cooper at a Kentucky Derby party. But it’s not the racing horses ...

This movie shows the idealized career of the singer Al Jolson, a little Jewish boy who goes against the will of his father in order to be in showbiz. He becomes a star, falls in love with a non-Jewish ...

Don Shirley’s commentary on Al Jolson’s life and career simply flies in the face of facts (“Let Sleeping Eras and Their Stars Lie,” May 15). He left out significant components of Jolson’s successful ...