None of this could have been achieved without
the efficiency of the studio system, which standard-
ized the way movies were produced. It provided a
top-down organization with management control-
ling everything, especially the employees, who
regardless of their status were treated as employ-
ees, not artists, and whose careers were subject to
the strict terms of their contracts. The transition
to sound began in 1926 with the production of some
short as well as feature films with recorded sound,
and earlier experimental “talkies” were well known
back to 1900. But once audiences saw Al Jolson—
who in his prime was known as “the world’s great-
est entertainer”— in Alan Crosland’s The Jazz Singer
(1927), with its synchronized music score and a few
sequences of synchronized sound, they wanted
more. Its appeal was probably due less to the few
moments of sound than to Jolson’s exciting screen
persona and his unexpected vocal ad- libbing. The
first all- talking film was a routine gangster melo-
drama, Brian Foy’s The Lights of New York(1928).
Once the conversion to sound was completed in
1930, weekly attendance at the movies and box-
office receipts had increased by 50 percent, again
proving the Hollywood principle that profits derive
from giving the public what it wants. Between 1927
and 1941 (when film production was reduced
sharply due to wartime considerations), Hollywood
produced over 10,000 movies, an average of 744
each year (compared to 607 produced in 2006).Populism and popcornFrank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to
To w n(1936), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington(1939), and Meet
John Doe(1941) are often described as a populist trilogy.
Indeed, they are emblematic of populism in their belief that
ordinary people have the right and power to struggle against
the privileged elite. Mr. Smith Goes to Washingtonoffers a
very sentimental vision of America, filled with stereotypes.
Yet it was very successful with the American public, which
was dissatisfied with Washington at the end of the Great
Depression. In this image, Smith (James Stewart) finishes his
filibuster before the U.S. Senate by pleading with his fellow
senators to stand up and fight the corruption that is
preventing the realization of his dream to finance a national
camp for boys. Considering the national situation, this is a
small issue indeed. And while it is almost impossible to
imagine a similar incident paralyzing Washington today, it
gives hope that the common man still has a voice in the
direction of our country.
“Wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!”While
these are not the first words we hear Jack Robin (Al Jolson)
speak in The Jazz Singer(1927; director: Alan Crosland), they
are the most memorable. Imagine the excitement of the 1927
audience hearing—for the first time—actors speaking in a
movie. This is the highly melodramatic story of a young
Jewish boy, Jakie Rabinowitz, who does not want to follow in
his father’s footsteps and become a cantor; instead, he
becomes Jack Robin, a famous “jazz singer” in Broadway
shows. It’s a classic show-business movie, and Jolson, the
country’s biggest star in the 1920s, gracefully sings, whistles
(image), and dances his way through it. His performance of
several songs in blackface makeup may lead us today to
make assumptions about Jolson’s attitudes about race. Those
assumptions should be tempered, however, by an
acknowledgment that Jolson was a prominent leader in the
fight against show-biz segregation and was influential in
promoting the careers of African American actors, singers,
songwriters, and writers.A SHORT OVERVIEW OF FILM HISTORY 451