LARRY PARKS (aka: AL JOLSON): A One-Person Play in Two Acts Michael

In 1946, when Larry Parks burst onto the screen as Al Jolson, in THE JOLSON STORY, he was considered an overnight success, even though he'd already appeared in close to thirty B and C films during the previous five years.Parks' triumph would be short... Read more

In 1946, when Larry Parks burst onto the screen as Al Jolson, in THE JOLSON STORY, he was considered an overnight success, even though he'd already appeared in close to thirty B and C films during the previous five years.Parks' triumph would be short lived. Within the next few years, he would become a victim of the House Un-American Activities Committee and, although he would just miss becoming a member of the infamous Hollywood Ten, his career was damaged for the rest of his life. A virtual pariah in Hollywood, he would make only two more films in his lifetime, both in Europe.Larry Parks, however, was not one to quit. When he and his wife, actress Betty Garrett, were not appearing in live theatre or nightclubs around the USA and abroad, he was building and renting out apartment buildings in the Los Angeles area, owning almost twenty at one point.LARRY PARKS (aka: AL JOLSON), not only involves the actor's dealings with the House Committee and its aftermath, but also his sometimes contentious relationships with both Al Jolson and Columbia Pictures head, Harry Cohn. The play also features many of the now standard songs that Al Jolson made famous. Less