1935 San Francisco, California

Edwin Shonfeld

1930

San Francisco, CA

Interviewed on 9/20/19

Interviewed by Charles Tananbaum

The first movie I remember seeing… Oh boy, maybe it was that one Al Jolson movie. I’m forgetting the name of it – it was so long ago. I do remember it was the one where he sings that very famous song: The Jazz Singer, I think it was called. I don’t remember too much about the story or the characters, but I definitely remember Al Jolson. He was such a famous person at the time, and everyone was excited to see him on the screen. Al Jolson was such a good singer and he had this way of dancing, almost like he was shaking. He was a very famous entertainer, and a great musician. He also used to paint his face black a lot and pretend he was black. People really knew him for that too, and it’s a good thing that actors aren’t doing that anymore. I always cared more about the actors than the movie and what it was about. Back then people only ever cared about which actor was in the picture, and which co-star would date them. It’s not like today anymore, where there are all these complex plots. People would just go for their favorite actor or actress – it’s why my mom took me to see Al Jolson, she just loved him. A few other names were always big draws. I loved Roy Rogers and his partner Dale Evans, they were famous cowboys from that time. The movies I actually remember seeing the most with my mom were always the cowboy films. I loved The Lone Ranger and Tonto. I am sure I know the story of those better than I remember the story of the Al Jolson picture.

I must have been about 5 years old when I saw his film, but I could have been a little older. I think we had just moved to San Francisco – I don’t remember going to the theatres in Pittsburg so the first time must have been after we moved. Back then, it wasn’t like how it is with televisions and Netflix and the likes now. There was no way to see a movie at home, everyone had to go to the theater. There were those eight-millimeter projectors for film, but I don’t think you would be able to even see a film on any of those anymore. There always used to be problems with the film roll when you saw it in the theater though. My mother always complained about that, but we still went to see a film every Saturday when we were in San Francisco. I always got the same candy when I went – I didn’t love every movie we saw together, but I always got my candy. The theater on Fillmore had the Mounds bars with coconut filling and they were my favorite. It also was much cheaper. I don’t even know how much it is now, I don’t think I’ve been to a theater in ten years at least. When I used to go with my mother, it was about thirty cents for your ticket, and popcorn or candy was a nickel. It made it easy for everyone to go, so when I went to Lowell (a local high school) my friends and I would go a lot. We all liked the Westerns the most.

Seeing a movie today is more intellectually challenging, I think. When I grew up, the plots were always more synthetic, simplistic, and repetitive. All everyone ever wanted to see was the actors. I don’t think I would have remembered anything about the film if not for Al Jolson. He definitely wouldn’t have been a big star today, but anyone that could sing and dance and look like him got all of the attention. He was part of the first group to start talking in pictures – when I started going they were all out of fashion. There are a few stars that are like that today. People all know about Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio like they used to know about the big stars, but there aren’t as many of them anymore.