Good day internet friends! I'm continuing my five-part blog serial with a special anniversary salute to talking films! Who ever heard of such a novelty? Anyway, in case you missed my other week-long salute blogs, I've done special tributes to Bud Abbott and Groucho Marx, and I'm hoping to honor Buster Keaton and Larry Fine in the coming days. I can always make time for blogs.

Ever since pictures were being made in the late 1880s, people had been trying to figure out how to add sound. This is from Thomas Edison's Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894). I've seen silent versions of this clip, but I don't know if the actual audio has survived this long.

Another milestone was the ability to synchronize sound (not speech though) with the screen. The first picture to do this was Don Juan (1926).

Today is the anniversary of the first widely-recognized "talkie" This is none other than Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer (1927).

Jewish born Jack Robin (Al Jolson) must put aside his religious tradition in order to pursue his true calling as a stage star...

Despite the fact that it is very criticized for use of blackface (white dudes disguised as black dudes on stage), I found it to be a wonderful and motivating film.

Jolson sings several memorable tunes including Toot toot Tootsie, Goodbye!, Blue Skies, and Mammy (shown above). Most of the dialogue is still done as written text, but Jolson speaks in several scenes.

The film has 2 AFI honors:

1998- 90th Greatest Movie of all Time

2005- 71st Greatest Movie quote (It's ironic too)

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothing yet!" - Al Jolson

I couldn't think of a better quote to kick off the talkies! So do yourself a favor and celebrate the talkies!