Broadway Watches the Silent Era End

On the night of October 6, 1927, Warner Bros. premiered 'The Jazz Singer' at Warners' Theatre, 1664 Broadway, in a house strategically timed to open after sundown on the eve of Yom Kippur. Al Jolson starred as Jakie Rabinowitz, a cantor's son who runs off to sing jazz under the name Jack Robin, and when he broke into spoken dialogue on top of the synchronized Vitaphone songs, he used his own well-worn stage line: 'Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet.' None of the four Warner brothers were in the house. Sam Warner, the one who had pushed hardest for the Vitaphone sound system, had died of pneumonia the day before, and his brothers were already on a train back to California for the funeral. The audience that stayed didn't know they were watching pictures learn to talk, but critics in the room did.