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V t "=^ ._-,_f*t*-**i.-. * r T ♦ * « •« ft s T to * it » « ah 4 V r > ^ 1 ♦ A > ".i» .« -# Larry Parkes Talks About Al Jolson For nearly fifteen years AI Jol- son bestrode the New York stage as king of America's blackface en- tcrctainers. Then came the first talkie, and the whole world heard him say tliat impromptu line: "Hey, ma, listen to this." The fHm haa found its tongue â€" in Jolson's mouth. Al Jolson, in the words of one of his favourite song.-, was "sittin" on top of the world." F,-oni The Jazz Singer onwards he made film after film, until a fresh load of talent swept him off the screen in the middle thirties. For ten years he was a has-been. During. the war he went overseas to entertain the troops, but neither IJollywood nor Broadway 'would look at him twice writes Leonard Samson in "Ansivers." A Memory Revived And then, in 19-16, Jolson rocket- ed back to fame â€" and has stayed there ever since. Last June he was sixty-five, but the voice that sang "Sonny Boy" in 1928 is still twirling round 6n millions of new records; records that he made since the war. • These bare facts on his life are familiar to anyone who went to see that fabulously successful Hol- lywood musical called "The Jol- son Story." In Britain alone, 30 million picture-goers saw it, and thousands more are watdung the Techni - colored follow - up called "Jolson Sings Agrain." Yes, Jolson still has his voice. And the world sings again with him the songs he made famous more than thirty years ago, songs sucii as "Mammy," "California, Here I Come," ".April Showers," "Rock-a- Bye," and dozens more. The memory of a great enter- tainer has been revived. .\nd the man who did it was a young actor called Larry Parks who ii.iperson- ated Jolson in both screen biogra- phies â€" and borrowed his \oict for â-  the songs. The old Mammy singer is once again perched on top of the world, but he'd never have made the grade if Larry Parks hadn't hoiited hira up there. A little while ago the London : Palladium gallery shouted: "Give i us Jolson!" but Larry Parks â€" now . playing in Glasgow â€" just smiled and â- went into a duet with his commedi- cnne wife, Betty Garret. Afterwards, Larry said to me as we had supper in his dressing- room: 'I'm not Jolson, so why should I do his songs? It'd be like telling Bob Hope's jokes." ,\nd Betty added: "So if the audience gets restless I tell them that Larry can't do Jolson because I can't â-  imitate Ruby Keeler." After all, Larry had played in nearly forty films before the Jol- son histories came along to give him real fame, and he hopes to make at least forty more. Even so, a great many people still identify him solely with the Al Jolson characterizations. In fact, hi; portrayal seemed so credible and sincere that one would imagine that "the man and his memory" knew each other inside out. When "The Jolson Story" was presented in 1946. Hollywood gave out the news that "many were tested before the part was finally given to Larry Parks, who had impressed his studio heads with fine performances in smaller pro- ductions, and endeared himself to Jolson almost immediately. But Larr>- makes no bones about the fact that Jolson never wanted him to play the part. James Cag- ncy was the actor he iiad asked for, but after a number of tests the contract wa^ handed to Larry. •No. No. No!" "I guess they finally in^jked on me because 1 was already on the payroll and would cost less." he remarked with a smile. "Cut as for Jolson, I can hardly lell you any- thing about him, except that he's very rich. Maybe even richer than Bing Crosby. But then I don't know. He's never been to my house, and I've never been to his." An interesting scene in "Jolson Sings Again" showi Larry Parkes as himself, and Larry Parkes as Ai Jolson, rehearsing together in front of an enormous mirror, but that shot was more interesting than accurate. "When I was assigned the part," Larry said, "I got very worried about how I was going to make out. 1 was a straight actor, not a song- and-dance man, and I wasn't sure that I could synchronize with Jol- son's voice. So I got togeliier with him in a small room and sang 'Rock-a-Bye' the way I thought he'd do it. At the end, lie said: 'I\o, no, no, not like that I You're moving around too much. This is the way to do it.' "Well, by the time he'd finished he was practically hanging from the chandelier, and he said to me: 'See? I didn't move a muscle." "From then on I decided to work tilings out my own way." So Jolson recorded the numbers and Larry Parks rehearsed by him- self. Although Larry's singing voice wasn't heard once on the screen, he sang so many duets with Jolson's records that he suffered badly from laryngitis. "You see," he said, "I had to be perfect Either I was synchronizing or I wasn't. There's no in-between." The two films were before the cameras for a total of fifteen months, and in that period Larry sang Jol- son's numbers more times than the Mammy singer did in half a century of show business. But not once has Jolson complimented him on the way he handled the part. Facing the Crowd "I can understand it, of course," said Larry. 'Tt can't be very plea- sant for Jolson to have to watcli someone else play his part be- cause he's too old to do it himself. I know I'd feel the same way. "For a long time Jolson was known as 'the world's greatest en- tertainer,' and he went through a hard school to qualify for that title. Thirty years ago there was no such thing as being groomed for star- dom. You had to fight ever>' inch of the way. And if you weren't filled with a colossal ego and un- tiring driving force you couldn't maki it. Then the entertainer was on his own, with a backc'oth be- hind him and a rowdy audience in front." Larry is beginning to have an inkling of what it feels like to stand up and face the crowd. Although he has appeared in several plays, this is only the sixth week that he has faced an audience a:i Larry Parks, and not as a character in a story. But Betty helps him along. When the couple return to Holly- wood they plan to co-star in a film to be made by their ow.i newly-formed company. BTk. Larry is still under contract to Cdlumbia, and the latest reports indicate that he will make yet a third Jolson n.usical. Well, why not? The first two were successful enough for Jacic Benny to say: "If I had my life over again I'd get Larry Parkes to do it for me!" Sign in shop window: Evening Gown Cut Down Ridiculously Low. "What are you planning to do. Labor Day?" . ??::.,i] ^^^CTsSEâ€" tf ;„.. â-  '» ^. ,.-.''-•» X"^»« J*' r 11 Iff:' ^ ..3' , ,iit___ !j».-!i:.-'"-*' . 'i^^HS^^k^ Bvflnfr t ' '^ j^SBh^ ».«. f >.i6*«e^S|S-%*> x.:' I^E \ ^ ,^.**^*j^^P , -^^ m "^ ^mm ' ~ â-  " â-  ~ %â-  "A Little Wider. Please!" â€" While a nearby elephant chortled â- ad a crowd of children chuckled, this chagrined hippo per- mitted keeper Franr Eck to give his bicuspids the brush-off. The dental doings took place at the Frankfurt. Germany, zoo. wliere this two-ton and toothsome giant tnaices his home. War-Weary And No Wonder. â€" Utterly exhausted United States soldiers fall asleep on the ground after one of their many discouraging retreats in South Korea. 6 Menâ€" 4300 Miles of Ocean On A Carpet-Sized Raft Six men camping on a 30 ft. raft the size of a large carpet crossed 4.300 miles of Pacific ocean in just over three months! Huge whales nosed under and around them, sharks dogged th;m and were caught and hauled aboard. Storms bulreted them. In the end they were battered on a reef and all but drowned! A boy's adventure storyf No, a njan's â€" and a true one. Thor Hey- erdahl, a Norwegian, lived in the South Sea Islands studying native life before the war. Local legends convinced him that the original Polynesians came not from Asia but from .America. In Peru he dis- covered another legend which claimed that some of the original natives, fleeing from the Inca in- vasion to the coast, sailed west- wards on rafts, led by a high priest named Kon-Tiki. Experts Only Laughed After serving in the Free Kor- wegian Air Force, he went to the L'.S. A. to try out this theory on experts, but they only laughed. "Th; Indians." they said, "had no boats, only rafts, and there arc more than 4,000 miles of open sea between South Am-rica and Polynesia. You try crossing? that on a raft!" To tiieir astonishment he said he would. And named his raft thi Kon-Tiki. Four other Norwegians and a Swede joined him in the crazy venture; the Washington and Lini.i governments supported it. The ral't was built of nine giant Balsa logs from the Ecuador jungle â€" because' the Indians used this light-as-cork v.ood for their rafts â€" and lashed with hemp rope, .\midships was z small cabin of bamboo and banan.-, leaves to give shelter from the sun. Steering was by a 19 ft. oar at the stern, so heavy that it would sink if it fell overboard. This oar gave them their first headache when they sailed fron*. CaiI.io into roaring soas swept bv a trade ninil. U swung the steers- man romid like a helpless acrobat : not even two men could hold it steady as the seas poured over. Its movement had to be limited with ropes run from the blade to each side of the rait. Terrors of the Deep Wlien a big sea came the helms- men left the steering to the ropes and hung on to a bamboo pole fro:n the cabin roof, flinging them- selves at the oar again before the raft could turn round and the sail thrash about. In the struggle arms and chests were sore with pressing: the oar knocked them green and blue in front and behind. "Terrors of the deep" were no figment to these raftmen. Some- times at night they would be scared by two round shining eyes glaring at them from the sea with nypnotic stare â€" it might have been the Old Man of the Sea himself!" Often these were bis .s<]tud.s u 't'' devilish green eyes; sometimes the eyes of deep water t-.sh which i n.y came up at night. Several tinu- when the sea was calm the black water round the raft was suddenly full of round heads two or three feet in diameter . . . motionless . . . staring. Or 3 ft. balls of light would flash at intervals down in the water. Some of the monsters â€" possibly giant ray-fish â€" looked bigyer than elephants in the glimmer of the raft- light. One daylight visitor had the ugliest face they had ever seen â€" broad, flat head like a frog's, with two small eyes at the sidos and a toad-like jaw four or rive feet wide, with long fringes drooping from the corners of the mouth. The huge brownish body ended in a long, thin tail with a straight-up pointed fin. It came swimming astern, grinning like a bull-dog. In front swam a crowd of zebra-striped pilot fish, and large remora fish and other parasites sat firmly attached to its body. "W'alt Disney himself could not have created a more hair-raising sea monster than that which thus suddenly law with its terrific jaws along the raft's side," Mr. Heyer- dahl writes in his vivid account of the voyage, "The Kon-Tiki Expedi- tion". It was a rare whale-shark, the world's largest known fis'i. which weighs 15 tons and may reach 65 ft. in length. Another menace was tne octo- pus or sijuid, which coula board the raft or teel about ever corner of it with its long tentacles. Not liking the prospect of groping cold arms about their necks, draggin.u: them out of their sleeping bags at night, the raftmea slept witli long machete knives at their side. Young squids were actually found aboard: one with its arms twined round the bamboo by the cabin door, another on the palm-leal roof. Sharks Aboard Many times they were visited by whales larger than the raft. One headed straight for the port side, v/ith seven or eight following, then glided right underneath and lay there, dark and motionlcs-. while the men held their breath. One mighty heave, and . . . but. to their intense relief, it slowly sank out 01 sight. Sharks, six to ten feet long, were baited and hauled aboard. Some- times the captive would jerk itself round in great leaps and thrash at the batiiboo wall of the cabin, using its tail like a sledge-hammer, with its huge jaws opened wide, its rows of teeth snapping at the men's legs as they tagged with all their might, jumping nimbly aside. Occasionally, for a diversion. ;wo or three of them would row out in a rubber dinghy to photograph the raft or just laugh at it â€" for it looked so ludicrous in that wast; of water. Once, when wind and sea were higher than they thought jud the Kon Tiki was moving more quickly than they reckoned, the dinghy party had to row desper- ately with their toy oars to regain it and avoid being left behind. "Those were horrible minutes out on the sea before we got hold of the runaway raft and crowded on hoard to the others, home again. ' From that day it was strictly for- bidden to go out in the rubber dinghy without having a long line made fast to the b"ws. One there was a frantic cry of "Man overboard!" as Hennan, try- ing to save a sleeping i>ag from slipping into the sea. fell in him- self and was soon far aster;:, swim- ming frantically after the raft but losing way. Knut dived in atter him with a lifebelt and just managed to reach him in time, while the others hauled on the line and dragged them both to safety. Last Desperate Fight Their worst ordeal came at the end. when they reached a.i island cast of Tahiti and crashed on a reef pounded by massive rollers. .\s a mighty sea came over. Hey- erdahl chrag to a masthead stay, the others to lashed boxes, guy ropes, anything that offered hand- hold. "I determined." he says, "that if I was to die. I would die in this position, like a knot on the stay 7he sea thundered on. over and past, and as it roared by it revealed a hideous sight. The Kon-Tiki was v.holly changed, as by the stroke of u magic wand. The vessel we knew from weeks and months at sea was no more; in a few seconds our pleasant world had become a shattered wreck." The cabin itself was crushed like a house of cards. They had a des- perate fight to reach the shore of the small uninhabited atoll, but they managed it. and after a brief Crusoe e.xistence were rescued by nativ^ from another island and eventu- ally reached Tahiti. Mr. Heyerdahl had proved that those original natives fleeing from the Incas could have reached the i-lands by raft. His story, translated by F. H. Lyon, with excellent pho- tographs of tiie life aboard, ia worthy to rank with the classics of sea adventure. Crazy and Dangerous This crazy and dangerous fad of cluttering up the windshield of car or truck with a lot of swa. ins; doo- cads brings well merited criticism f.'om the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. It was time something ".as said ai'out this. Driving today on any street or highway is a job that calls for constant concentration and un- obstructed vision. That is why windshields are made of glass or other transparent material. Foi- the safety of others, all others who use the highway, as well as the occu- pants of any car, these windshields should be kept clean and clear. Even a small sticker adds some hazard but these imitation birds and dolls which dangle in front of the driver's eyes are a standing in- vitation to suicide and manslaugh- ter. The other day a magistrate fined a motorist who was attempting to comb his hair and also drivo. In the interests of common safety most people will approve of that magis- trate's decision and they would also approve of a similar action against those responsible for these wind- shield puppet shows. LOTS LIKE HIM The lecturer was rantin,-; on hi» favorite subject â€" the evils of to- bacco. "CarefBlly compiled statistics," he asserted,' "demonstrate that every cigar a man smokes shortens his life by a week, and each cigarette by three days."-' -\ man in the audience rose to inquire. "Are those statistics ac- curate?" "Absolutely accurate, sir," de- clared the lecturer. "Why?" "It's quite important to me." re- plied the man. "for if they're accur- ate. I've been dead some 237 vears." Tasteless Entering a drugstore" a girl ask- ed how to take a dose of castor oil without tasting it. The assistant said he would look up some sugges- tions, but meanwhile would the >oung lady like to try a new lemon- ade powder tiiey had just got in. The young lady would, and when the glass was finished the assistant asked, with a smile: Well, did you taste it?" "Good Heavens!" gasped the girL "Was the castor oil in that lemon- ade? I wanted it for mv small brother." 1?^ Newest Light Transport â€" Si.x jet rocket units and three engines enable the newest light assault transport to take off in a space of less than 500 feet. Weighing 20 tons, the North- rop Raider C-15 was designed to tratisport heavy loads in and out of small .unimproved clearings. The photograph was made during one of the ship's test flights. JITTER 90 7WS IS TW COTTAGE fW> RENTS) JITTER, GCrSOMCW/trER rnOMTW LAKS By Arthur Pointer \