Film & Television
When did The Jazz Singer premiere?
1927 AD
The Jazz Singer premiered in New York on 6 October 1927 AD.
1 BC · 1 AD
Context
What happened?
Warner Bros. used the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, which played sound from a record synchronised to the projector. The film carries barely two minutes of synchronised speech; most of its dialogue still arrives on intertitles.
Significance
Why it matters
It was not the first film with sound, but it was the first feature to combine synchronised music with lip-synchronous singing and speech, and its commercial success ended the silent era within a few years. Its blackface performance is now a large part of why the film is difficult to watch.
Further reading
Sources
Your turn
