AL JOLSON Command Performances

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Al Jolson : Command Performance

Although there is a great variety of Jolson material on this site, occasionally a favorite or meaningful song is not here, and one of the visitors to the site has requested it be posted. I'll try to post unique or requested audio or video clips of Al Jolson, based on your requests, time of year, or other criteria. While the commercially released recordings will not be included on this page, they will all be on the Monthly Recording Page within the course of a year, just about anything else is fair game. Use the convenient link below to request your favorites!

Al Jolson, a superstar long before the word was coined, started entertaining soldiers during the Spanish-American War in 1898, and never stopped. He was the first to entertain the troops during World War I, during World War II, and in the Korean War, often paying his own way. His initiative gave birth to the USO, and, ultimately, caused his own death following an exhausting tour of the Korean battlefront in 1950. This video is of Al Jolson entertaining troops in Sicily, in 1943. The silent footage is overlaid with an excerpt from a World War II vintage radio program, in which Jolson sings "There'll Never Be Another War." This segment is included on the DVD, "Jolson on Celluloid," available from the International Al Jolson Society Video Department, without the text crawl on the YouTube video.

Please send your requests for this page to me by Email to webmaster@jolson.org - be sure to put COMMAND PERFORMANCE in the Subject line of your Email!

COMMAND PERFORMANCE SONG SELECTION INFORMATION Songs for the Command Performance are selected by your votes. As a rule, the commercial recordings on the Victor, Columbia, Brunswick, and Decca label are not included on this page, as within a year, all will be featured on the Monthly Song Lists. A song may not be repeated on this list within 9 months of its being played, except for extenuating circumstances. Requests for songs go into a queue and, ordinarily, are used in the order received. However, the ultimate order and selection of songs played and whether a song is included or not is at the discretion of the webmaster.

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Updated 01 Sep 24