The Singing Fool

The Singing Fool


Warner Bros. / Vitaphone, 1928, B/W, 102 minutes

Released September, 1928



Warner Bros. and Al Jolson followed up their "Jazz Singer" success with this part-talkie, part-silent tearjerker. Songwriting waiter Jolie weds a singer and finds success on Broadway, but falls on hard times after his wife flees to France with their young son. With Betty Bronson, David Lee; songs include "Golden Gate," "I'm Sittin' on Top of The World," "Sonny Boy."



Producer: none credited

Directed by: Lloyd Bacon

Assistant Director: Frank Shaw

Written by: Leslie S. Barrows

Adaptation: C. Graham Baker

Dialogue and Titles: Joseph Jackson

Musical Score and Vitaphone Symphony Orchestra Conducted by: Louis Silvers

Sound: George R. Groves

Technicians: Lewis Geib, Esdras Hartley, F. N. Murphy, Victor Vance

Photography: Byron Haskin

Edited by: Ralph Dawson



Cast: Al Jolson [Al Stone], Betty Bronson [Grace], Josephine Dunn [Molly Winton], Arthur Housman ["Blackie Joe"], Edward Martindel [Louis Marcus], Helen Lynch [Maid], Reed Howes [John Perry], David Lee [Sonny], Robert Emmett O'Connor [Cafe Manager], Additional Cast: Agnes Franey [Balloon Girl]



Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:14] It All Depends on You (sung by Al Jolson); [0:22] I'm Sittin' on Top of the World (sung by Al Jolson); [0:25] There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder (sung by Al Jolson); [0:30] Golden Gate (introduced and partly sung by Al Jolson, danced by night club patrons); [0:48] Sonny Boy (sung by Al Jolson); [1:12] Keep Smiling at Trouble (sung by Al Jolson); [1:23] Sonny Boy (sung by Al Jolson); [1:37] Sonny Boy (sung by Al Jolson)