... when it came to casting the Jazz Singer. George Jessel was much closer to the age of the protagonist than Jolson was, but Jolson made you forget about that with the way his dynamic performance just leaped off of the screen.
"Lucky Boy" had dialogue that was actually written by Jessel, and it has the same basic outline as the Jazz Singer - Jessel's father wants him to learn and take over the family jewelry business, but Jessel wants to entertain. After a bad break at home in New York, he takes off out west to try and make it in the entertainment business and makes it big in radio. Then when his mother turns ill he returns home, a success. But at no point does his father, unlike Warner Oland, yell "STOP!". Complications ensue.
This film HAD to have something different from The Jazz Singer in story, or the similarity would be so obvious as to be ridiculous. Thus there is a bit of a class struggle inserted. Once Jessel is a success, he falls for a rich girl out west. Her family tolerates this relationship with somebody outside of her regular crowd, but things come to a head when Jessel makes a passing remark that unintentionally almost uncovers an extramarital affair within her family.
There is one thing that is not explained very well. When Jessel is getting ready to go west and seek his fortune, he is saying an emotional goodbye to a girl for whom he obviously has strong feelings. And this girl just disappears from the plot never to be seen or spoken of again. Things like the disappearing love interest and the dearth of adequate title cards might be explained by the fact that this film was shot twice - the first time silent in 1928, and then again with sound for the musical numbers and the talking sequences. This delayed the film's release a full year into early 1929.
If you look closely, towards the beginning you'll notice Glenda Farrell in an uncredited role as a talent agent's secretary. Also, William Gargan, a rather popular supporting actor in the 1930s, is playing an actor sitting in that same outer office.
This is probably something that will be of interest to film history buffs and students of the transition to sound and the earliest sound musicals. It is for those people I give this a 7/10 rating. It's fortunate that Tiffany made this one. If Warner Brothers had made it, it would likely be lost like the vast majority of their very early talking films.
