Town Inspired Old Jolson Song

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 233, 30 June 1939, Page 14

Town Inspired Old Jolson Song

TV-HEN it was announced that Al Jolson would sing “Avalon” in “Rose of Washington Square,” the town council c-f Avalon, on Catalina Island, sent. Jolson a letter of thanks and the key to the town. About twelve years ago Jolson and a song-writing friend, Vincent Rose, paid a pleasant visit to the spot, which inspired them to write the song. It is one of the many song hits of the last 20 years in “Rose of Washington Square,” starring Alice Faye, Tyrene Power and Jolson. American Bathing Beach Of 1911 A HALF-MILE strip of beach at Balboa, California, was transformed into an American seashore of the 1911 period for important scenes in “The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle,” in which Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are starred. The transition was not difficult. First, the bathing girls were clothed in knee-length suits, with full skirts and high necks, cotton stockings and canvas ties, and swimming hats which resembled a servant’s dust-cap. Next, the’feminine non-bathers were clad in blouses, full skirts to the ground and picture hats. The young men of the period were bedecked in multi-coloured blazers, white duck trousers and stiff straw hats anchored to their coat lapels with black elastic cords. On the water side/' the modern boats were replaced with rowing boats carrying ladies in picture hats and parasols. The pre-war atmosphere was completed with a quartette singing “By the Sea, By the Sea. By the Beautiful Sea,” to the accompaniment of a mandolin and guitar. The street facing the beach was turned back twenty-five years by the simple addition of horse-drawn vehicles instead of motor-cars.