Listen to Al Jolson’s music—or peruse film archives online

Friday, February 23, 2001 | by

James Besser

A while back we looked at a Web site devoted to Al Jolson, the son of a Washington rabbi and a pivotal figure in American popular culture.

Marc I. Leavey, the site's proprietor and a Baltimore-area doctor, recently wrote to say the overhauled site is better than ever. And he was right.

The site includes all the basics—information about Jolson's interesting life, a complete discography, descriptions of movies starring the legendary star and movies about him.

There are fascinating stories about his four marriages, detailed information about some of his most memorable songs and even a little Jolson quiz.

The historic pictures are terrific—so is the selection of Jolson songs, available for your online pleasure in Real Audio format. There's also information about the International Al Jolson Society, a group of more than 1,000 diehards.

The site's organization is great, the multimedia features attractive. Only one drawback: It is supported by advertising, and some of the panels are too intrusive.

But that's a minor quibble; if you're interested in popular culture, American Jewish history or both, this site is definitely worth a visit. Check it out at http://www.jolson.org.

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If you've seen Jolson in the first feature-length talking picture, "The Jazz Singer," or you're an avid moviegoer, you may think that half the films showing in movie houses around the country are about Jews, or star Jews, or have some other Jewish connection.

If Jewish flicks are your thing, check out the Jewish Film Archive Online, a compendium of information for serious film buffs who want to know more about Jewish movies—the big-name films, but also the little films and documentaries that only aficionados know.

The no-nonsense site offers a lot of information, but getting through it can be a chore.

The core of this site contains vast lists of movies with Jewish content. Click on a name and you get the basics—when it was made, who made it, a paragraph or two about what it's about.

The range here is incredible. You can read about "Exodus," the 1960 Paul Newman smash hit about the creation of Israel, but also "Echo Soup," a 13-minute video documentary featuring interviews with an African-American musician in a klezmer band and a straight drummer in a gay band.

There are also lists of Jewish films by year, "best film" lists and links to sites highlighting the growing number of Jewish film festivals.

You can also peruse Jewish films by topic—everything from Jewish adolescence to Yiddish films.

This is a nonprofit site, but it provides direct links to Amazon.com so you can buy videos. The site is a bit jumbled, and there's no graphical razzle-dazzle. But it's packed with information that will satisfy Jewish film buffs and entertain more casual visitors. Check it out at http://www.jewishfilm.com.

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While you're placing orders for videos, you may notice how online shopping offers nothing comparable to the local mall, where you can browse.

But some sites are trying; that's the idea behind Jewishstreet.com, which uses the visual metaphor of the mall to bring together an array of online merchants who want your business.

The site's home page is a cartoonish picture of a main street. Each "store" represents a category; click on the store and you'll go inside a mall and see different shops, each housing a different online marketer.

So click on "Judaica," and you'll see a bunch of online Judaica sellers. Click on "Jewish and religious goods" for shops that sell benchers, kippot, kiddush cups and the like.

There's a "synagogue" offering a modest collection of audio lectures on Jewish topic, and a Jewish information center.

The site never veers from its mall metaphor. But if you'd rather navigate without all the pictures, go to the "site map" on the opening page.

Web newcomers will find Jewishstreet.com a particularly easy way to do their Jewish shopping on the net, but veterans may find the graphics irritating. Check it out at http://www.jewishstreet.com.

The writer is a Washington-based correspondent who has been writing about Jewish Web sites since the early 1990s. His columns alternate with those of Mark Mietkiewicz. Besser can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).