Al Jolson -- The World's Greatest Entertainer

If you never heard me, "You ain't heard nothin' yet!" The World's Greatest Entertainer! That's what they called me. And they were right. When I was a little kid I ran away from my home in Washington D.C., to be a drummer boy in the Spanish-American War. That's a long time ago! But I can talk about it now, 'cause nobody can kid me about having a young wife anymore! After I got out of the Army, (They threw me out, 'cause I was awful young!) I went to California. I did a little boxin,' and I was real good, too! But I wanted to sing. I come by it naturally, for my father sometimes took the Cantor's place in the Synagogue in the little town in Russia where I was born. I actually started my career as an entertainer in nineteen hundred and six, around the time of the big fire in San Francisco. And from then on, boom! Star of a minstrel show! Vaudeville headliner! Then, the Winter Garden in New York! And then, for a zillion years, The World's Greatest Entertainer! And listen! "You ain't heard nothin' yet!" When I was way past sixty I was still making movies. And when I wasn't in 'em in person, they made my voice come out of an unknown kid's mouth! And every one of 'em was a big success! My records sold by the millions! And I beat the stock market! And I won at the race track! Whatever I did, I bowled everybody over! The story they told in the movie of my life was truer than the other life stories they've made since. They showed me as a man who was only happy when he was singin' or bowin' to great applause. I never cared much about anything or anybody... I grew away from my family. I had very few friends among the actors. I didn't want to hear 'em talk about what a big hit they made in some small town. That was nothin' to what I did! I stood 'em in the aisles wherever I went. Brother, I was somethin'! Nothing bothers me much now, except maybe I should've been kinder to the fellow who was with me for nearly forty years. His name was Louis Epstein. "Eppie" I used to call him. I intended to do a lot for him and for my piano player, Harry Akst. But I never got around to puttin' on paper. I didn't know I was going to die so quick! I was gettin' ready to do a show with Bing, and boom! I was here! I guess the best I can say now is that I'm a little sorry. Sometimes I wish I could come back on a vaudeville show with Sinatra, and Como, and Sands, and Elvis, and yes, little ol' Bing! I would like to go on last, like I always did, and throw the microphone off the stage. Who needed it? I sang at the Yankee Stadium without it. I followed Caruso singing "Over There!" after he'd sung it! I followed him right on at the Century Theatre and I said "Folks, you ain't heard nothin' yet! These kids that are singin' today, they make me laugh... If you really want to hear 'em you gotta hug 'em. Sometimes I wish I had a real son. My own flesh and blood. Then I could've watched him take up where I left off. But come to think of it I woulda' been disappointed. He couldn't have been as good as I was! Nobody was! and you wanna know somethin'? Nobody is! ~written by GEORGE JESSEL~ I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4