Entertainment Firsts Trivia | Dorky Geeky Nerdy Trivia Podcast (Mini #84)

It’s time for some firsts. Entertainment firsts. Various milestones in the entertainment world from technology to awards.

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Book of the Week

Only in America

A probing biography of world-renowned Jewish singer and actor Al Jolson and the history of his performance in and the making of The Jazz Singer

Al Jolson, born Asa Yoelson, immigrated from a shtetl in Lithuania to the United States in 1894 after his father secured a job as a rabbi in Washington, D.C. A poor, Yiddish-speaking newcomer navigating a racially segregated and antisemitic America, young Jolson dreamed of becoming a star, and he did. Thanks to his immense talent and his knack for assimilating into new environments, by the time he reached his twenties he was the most famous and highly paid entertainer in America, making almost $5,000 a week at a time when the average American made $800 a year. Jolson’s public adoration and widespread acceptance as a star marked the beginning of an enriching cultural transformation, a moment when the American mind opened up to ethnic and racial differences, widening the gap of acceptability. And yet Jolson himself, despite being ferociously ambitious and gigantically talented, was crippled by insecurity, often nervous to the point of collapse, prisoner to his many vices.

Through Jolson, Bernstein simultaneously breaks open the history and legacy of the cultural sensation The Jazz Singer. Not only was The Jazz Singer the first feature length film with synchronized music and dialogue, but it was also taboo smashing in its content: The Jazz Singer is all about Jews, Orthodox and otherwise. Bernstein expounds on the making of The Jazz Singer, what the film meant then and now, introducing the many individuals involved in its production, including Samson Raphaelson, a young Jewish writer whose short story was the basis for the movie; the four Warner brothers, who made a fortune off it; and George Jessel, Jolson’s rival and the star of Raphaelson’s stage adaptation of his short story. In the background emerges a picture of old Hollywood in the Roaring Twenties: cutthroat and greedy yet visionary and progressive. And while The Jazz Singer represented the future in many ways, it also dredged up the worst of the past, including Jolson’s use of blackface, common at the time.

At once a tale of the Judaizing of American culture and an acknowledgment of the challenges to come, Only in America is a glistening examination of a man at the center of a watershed moment in the arts.

Episode Transcript/Quiz

Episode Introduction

It’s time for some firsts. Entertainment firsts. Various milestones in the entertainment world from technology to awards.

Ten quick questions to get your brains moving on a Monday. Got it? Good. Let’s go.

Entertainment Firsts Trivia Questions

What was the first movie with sound?
a. The Jazz Singer in 1927.
What was the first movie to win the Best Picture Oscar?
a. Wings. It was also released in 1927.
Who was the first African American to win an Academy Award?
a. Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind. McDaniel could not attend the premiere in Atlanta due to Jim Crow laws.
Who was the first black man to receive an Academy Award?
a. While Sidney Poitier was the first to win a competitive Oscar, James Baskett received an Academy Special Award for his role as Uncle Remus in Song of the South in 1947.
In 1971, what sitcom was the first to feature a gay character?
a. All in the Family. Archie’s drinking buddy, Steve.
What series had the first interracial kiss on US TV?
a. Star Trek. Kirk and Uhura locked lips in one episode.
What 1936 event was the first live televised sporting event?
a. The Berlin Olympics
What sitcom had the first pregnancy and birth storyline?
a. I Love Lucy. Lucille Ball’s pregnancy was written into the show. “Little Ricky” made his on-screen debut when he was just 12 hours old.
The first televised presidential debate was between what two candidates?
a. John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon
Long before The Simpsons, what was the first animated series made for prime time?
a. The Flintstones

Episode Conclusion

And we are done. How did you do? Were you inspired to watch something old? Good. Enjoy it. I’ll see you back here on Wednesday.

This has been the Dorky Geeky Nerdy Trivia Podcast. You can learn more about the podcast at DorkyGeekyNerdy.com.

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The show was written, produced, and hosted by me, Brian Rollins. If you’re into audiobooks or want to turn your book into an audiobook, contact me at TheVoicesInMyHead.com.

Thanks for listening.

Hosted & Written by Brian Rollins
Music by Jason Shaw