I have used a Jewish youth as my protagonist because the Jews are determining the nature and scope of jazz more than any other race—more than the negroes, from whom they have stolen jazz and given it a new color and meaning. Jazz is Irving Berlin, Al Jolson, George Gershwin, Sophie Tucker. These are Jews with their roots in the synagogue. And these are expressing in evangelical terms the nature of our chaos today.
You find the soul of a people in the songs they sing. You find the meaning of the songs in the souls of the minstrels who create and interpret them. In “The Jazz Singer” I have attempted an exploration of the soul of one of these minstrels.
Samson Raphaelson.
New York, October, 1925.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Cast of characters in the first production of “The Jazz Singer,” by Lewis and Gordon in association with Sam H. Harris at the Fulton Theatre, New York City, Sept. 15, 1925.
| Cantor Rabinowitz | Mr. Howard Lang |
| Moey | Mr. George Shafer |
| Sara Rabinowitz | Miss Dorothy Raymond |
| Yudelson | Mr. Sam Jaffe |
| Jack Robin | Mr. George Jessel |
| Clarence Kahn | Mr. Robert Russel |
| Gene | Mr. Ted Athey |
| Eddie Carter | Mr. Barney Fagan |
| Harry Lee | Mr. Arthur Stewart Hull |
| Mary Dale | Miss Phoebe Foster |
| Randolph Dillings | Mr. Robert Hudson |
| Miss Glynn | Miss Mildred Leaf |
| Franklyn Forbes | Mr. Paul Byron |
| A Stage Doorman—Jimmy | Mr. Tony Kennedy |
| Levy | Mr. Nat Freyer |
| Six Chorus Girls | Misses Mildred Jay, Ruth Holden, Eleanor Ryan, Mildred McDonough, Viola Thomas, Betty Wilton, Rita Crane |
| A Scene Shifter | Mr. Jack Hill |
| Doctor O’Shaughnessy | Mr. Tony Kennedy |
THE JAZZ SINGER
SYNOPSIS OF SCENES
ACT I—The home of the Cantor on the East Side. The 14th of August, afternoon.