Fun Facts

I agree. "The Jazz Singer" is really a silent film with a few talking scenes. Theres the talking scene with Al at the piano with his mother, and Al Jolson's performance "Toot Toot Tootsie' "Mammy", and "Kol Nidre", and the immortal line "You ain't heard nothin yet!" Otherwise it is really a silent film.The first commercial all talking film was "Lights of New York" in 1928. "Broadway Melody", produced in 1928 and released in early 1929 created the mold of the back stage musicals to come in Hollywood. It was MGMs first All Talking film and was the first original Hollywood musical. It was all talking, it boasted an original popular score which included "You Were Meant For Me", "Broadway Melody", and "Wedding of a Painted Doll", and it was a sensation. What followed "Broadway Melody" were a series of revues that included "Hollywood Revue of 1929", "Gold Diggers of Broadway", "Paramount on Parade", and musical comedy or operettas that included "The Love Parade", "Cocoanuts", "Flying High" and "Whoopie". There were so many of these musical following the success of "Broadway Melody" that the genre eventually dried out. In 1933, "42nd Street" revived the genre, and like "Broadway Melody" it was a backstage musical.