Celebrity Graveland

May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950

Look, I’m not here to judge.

I wasn’t around in the first quarter of the 20th century to understand what was and wasn’t culturally acceptable.  I don’t know, first hand, what race relations were like.  I don’t know whether it’s okay or not that the primary image that comes to mind when one hears the name “Al Jolson” is this:

That’s not my business. What I DO know is that Al Jolson was THE biggest stage star of the early 1900’s. His energy as a singer and performer are the stuff of Broadway folklore.  He took his success on stage and cashed in on the silver screen becoming something of legend by starring in the first, full-length, sychronized sound motion picture (AKA, “talkie,”) The Jazz Singer. Jolson went on to do other stage shows and movies, as well as USO tours in both World War II and the Korean War. Exhausted from the pace of wartime performing, Jolson suffered a major heart attack during a game of cards in San Francisco and died at the age of 64.

Burial

Hillside Memorial Park – Culver City, CA

Specific Location

Center of the park, you literally cannot miss his column/canopy/waterfall-surrounded sarcophagus which is situated directly in front of the main mausoleum.

This entry was posted on March 12, 2013 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Hillside Memorial Park with tags Actors, Hillside Memorial Park. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.