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[opening lines, first quote and first words in the first widely-seen talking picture]
Jack Robin: Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet! Wait a minute, I tell ya! You ain't heard nothin'! You wanna hear "Toot, Toot, Tootsie"? All right, hold on, hold on...
[then he walks back to one of the band members]
Jack Robin: Lou, listen. Play "Toot, Toot, Tootsie", three chorus, you understand. In the third chorus, I whistle. Now give it to 'em hard and heavy, go right ahead.
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[title/caption appearing after Yudelson and Jakie's mother first sees him in blackface]
Moisha Yudelson: He sounds like Jakie, but he looks like his shadow!
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Mary Dale: [Listening to Jakie cantoring at Yom Kippur services after the death of his father] A jazz singer...singing to his God!
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Jack Robin: Mammy! Don't you know me? It's your little baby!
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Jack Robin: [sings] I'll walk a million miles for one of your smiles, my Mammy.
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Jack Robin: We in the show business have our religion too - on every day, the show must go on!
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Jakie Rabinowitz: You taught me that music is the voice of God! It is as honorable to sing in the theatre as in the synagogue! My songs mean as much to *my* audience as yours to *your* congregation!
The Cantor: Leave my house! I never want to see you again - you *jazz singer*!
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Jack Robin: [singing] Blue skies Smiling at me Nothing but blue skies Do I see Bluebirds Singing a song Nothing but bluebirds All day long Never saw the sun shining so bright Never saw things going so right Noticing the days hurrying by When you're in love, my how they fly Blue days All of them gone Nothing but blue skies From now on.
Jack Robin: Did you like that mama?
Sara Rabinowitz: Yes.
Jack Robin: I'm glad of it. I'd rather please you then anybody I know of. Oh darlin, would you give me something?
Sara Rabinowitz: What?
Jack Robin: You'll never guess. Shut your eyes mama, shut them for little Jackie. Ho, I'm gonna steal something.
[He kisses her, and they laugh together]
Jack Robin: I'll give it back to you to someday, you see if I don't. Mama darling, if I'm a success in this show, well, we're going to move from here. Oh yes, we're move up in to Bronx. A lot of nice green grass up there and a whole lot of people you know of, there's the Ginsburgs and the Guttenburgs, the Goldbergs, a whole lotta Burgs oh I don't know them all. And I'm going to buy you a nice black silk dress mama. You'll see, the butcher's wife, she'll be jealous of you.
Sara Rabinowitz: Oh no, no...
Jack Robin: Yes, she will, you see if she isn't. And I'm going to get you a nice pink dress that will go with your brown eyes.
Sara Rabinowitz: I, no thank you, no no, I don't need it.
Jack Robin: What do you mean no? Who is telling you? Yes, you'll wear pink or else, or else you'll wear pink.
[Chuckles]
Jack Robin: And darling, oh I'm going to take you to Coney Island.
Sara Rabinowitz: Oh really?
Jack Robin: Yes, we're going to ride on the Chute to Chute, and you know the Dark Mill? Have you ever been to Dark Mill? Well, with me it's alright, I'll kiss you and hug you, you see if I don't.
[They laugh]
Jack Robin: Now mama, mama stop now, get this. Mama, I'm going to sing this like I will if I go on the stage, like you know, with it's tune. I'm going to sing it jazzy. Now get this.
Jack Robin: [singing] Blue skies Smiling at me Nothing but blue skies Do I see Bluebirds Singing a song Nothing but bluebirds All day long Never saw the sun shining so bright Never saw things going so right Noticing the days hurrying by When you're in love, my how they fly Blue days All of them gone Nothing but blue skies From now on I never saw the sun shining so bright Never saw things going oh-so right Noticing the days hurrying by When you're in love, my how they fly Blue days All of them gone Nothing but
[the Cantor walks in and interrupts]
The Cantor: Stop!
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Opening Title Card: In every living soul, a spirit cries for expression - - perhaps this plaintive, wailing song of Jazz is, after all, the misunderstood utterance of a prayer.
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Title Card: The New York Ghetto - throbbing to that rhythm of music which is older than civilization.
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Title Card: Sara Rabinowitz. God made her a woman and Love made her a Mother.
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Sara Rabinowitz: Maybe our boy doesn't want to be a Cantor, Papa...
The Cantor: What has *he* to say? For five generations a Rabinowitz has been a Cantor - - he *must* be one!
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Pianist: Ragtime Jakie is with us - give him a break.
Jakie Rabinowitz - Age 13: [singing] They called her frivolous Sal, A peculiar sort of a gal, With a heart that was mellow, An all 'round good fellow, Was my gal Sal...
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The Cantor: I have taught him all the hymns and prayers - - he knows them as well as I do.
Sara Rabinowitz: Yes Papa - he knows all the songs - he has them in his head - - but not in his heart.
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Moisha Yudelson: In a saloon, who do you think I saw singing ragy time songs? - your son Jakie!
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The Cantor: I'll teach him better than to debase the voice God gave him!
Sara Rabinowitz: But Papa - our boy, he does not think like we do.
The Cantor: First he will get a whipping!
Jakie Rabinowitz - Age 13: If you whip me again, I'll run away - - and *never* come back!
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Jakie Rabinowitz: [singing] Dirty hands! dirty face! Little devil, that's what they say, But to me he's an angel of joy...
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Mary Dale: There are lots of jazz singers, but *you* have a tear in your voice.
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Sara Rabinowitz: Maybe he's fallen in love with a *shiksa*.
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Chorus Girl #1: He's sure goofy about her!
Chorus Girl: He hasn't a chance with Mary.
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Jakie Rabinowitz: NEW YORK! BROADWAY! HOME! MOTHER!
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Moisha Yudelson: The chicken is from Levi and I made the wine, myself...
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Moisha Yudelson: Ain't you Jakie - Jakie Rabinowitz?
Jakie Rabinowitz: You're not Yudleson - the *Kibitzer*?
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Sara Rabinowitz: You didn't do any wrong, did you, Jakie?
Jakie Rabinowitz: Mama -- you ain't heard nothing yet!
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Jakie Rabinowitz: You dare to bring your jazz songs into my house!
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Choreographer - 'April Follies': Now let's put some life into it - and don't be afraid of bustin' anything!
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Harry Lee: I hope this 'discovery' of yours, Mary, is as good as you *think* he is.
Mary Dale: Don't worry about him. If it's music - he can sing it.
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Title Card: Grief, stalking the world, had paused at the house of Rabinowitz.
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Moisha Yudelson: I want to see Jakie Rabinowitz, the ector. Excuse, please - - I mean Jack Robin.
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Moisha Yudelson: Jakie, your singing would be like sunshine to your Papa.
Jakie Rabinowitz: You don't understand - he ordered me out of the house.
Moisha Yudelson: Jakie, remember - - a son's a son no matter if his Papa throws him out a hundred times!
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Harry Lee: Dress rehearsal tomorrow at one o'clock. Come full of pep!
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Mary Dale: You're not thinking of quitting us, are you, Jack?
Harry Lee: You'll queer yourself on Broadway - you'll never get another job.
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Moisha Yudelson: What a little boy learns - he never forgets.
The Jazz Singer Quotes
Extended Reading
