The Jolson Story - Be VERY careful listing on Ebay

[Melvin England]

Be very careful if you list The Jolson Story (and I assume Jolson Sings Again) on Ebay UK.

I innocently listed a copy for sale that has been removed and cancelled by Ebay. Apparently they have updated their "Offensive Materials Policy" that now prohibits items that "portray negativity or stereotypes based on race or ethnicity" and now "items.... related to Black Americana are now covered under that policy and are no longer allowed on Ebay."

I think that possibly the photograph on the front cover of the Mountain 400' version that shows Larry Parks as a minstrel probably triggered the red flag.

[Osi Osgood]

Congratulations eBay! You've now just given these films an elevated value, as people tend to like collecting "things against the universal conscience"!

[Ed Gordon]

Be very careful if you list The Jolson Story (and I assume Jolson Sings Again) on Ebay UK.

I innocently listed a copy for sale that has been removed and cancelled by Ebay. Apparently they have updated their "Offensive Materials Policy" that now prohibits items that "portray negativity or stereotypes based on race or ethnicity" and now "items.... related to Black Americana are now covered under that policy and are no longer allowed on Ebay."

I think that possibly the photograph on the front cover of the Mountain 400' version that shows Larry Parks as a minstrel probably triggered the red flag.

There are 6 videos of this movie on Youtube, and a search on the US ebay gives 548 hits for The Jolson Story. Re-post the film without any pictures that Ebay Bots will flag. Oddly enough there is an Ad for this movie currently on US Ebay without the Larry Parks minstrel photo, but below that is another Ad for the same movie on Betamax with the minstrel photo.

[Alan Paterson]

I guess that means Tom & Jerry 'His Mouse Friday' will rocket in value. Also 'Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs' will be astronomical.

By the way, I'm looking for a print with good colour of 'The Jolson Story' 400' as mine has gone pink.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Pretty soon, they will ban all other racist content: Peter Pan, little Hiawatha, Aristocats, Horse Hare, Winterhawk (and all other Westerns with Non-Indian actors as Indians - or with Westerns using the incorrect term „Indian“), …
… get yourself a copy of „Fahrenheit 451“ (in a real „brick and mortar“ bookstore - but don’t pay with credit card or other traceable ways) while it’s still legal. (Just kidding, of course. )

[Lee Mannering]

It's sad Melvin. Social history is being erased for right or wrong, but who is the judge? Them.
The colour in my Jolson feature faded badly so I guess I'll still be allowed to watch it. Seen a few faded now, but what great music.

Just a shame we can't all just be looked on as equal on this globe of ours, what a paradise we would have.

[Ken Finch]

They will never list any copies of The Jazz Singer then! For the same reason Disney has never released Song of the South on vhs or dvd. I think some bits of it may have been available on Super 8. You are so right Lee. You cannot erase what happened in the past, but we can try to make sure it doesn’t continue. Unfortunately, there are some who do not want to do so. “All power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely” Ken Finch 😏

[Graham Ritchie]

Hi Ken

I bought the VHS tape released by Disney
from Woolworths on a visit to the UK back in the early 1990s. I still have it, below are a couple of pictures of it, I haven't watched it in years.



A couple of screen shots of the trailer on Super 8, and this excellent 200 footer of "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby", color still looking great

[Ed Gordon]

I have the German release on DVD. It includes an "Easter Egg" hidden copy of Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs^*. The source material for the DVD is substandard but watchable.

No, this movie had not been banned. It remains widely available on the Internet.

^*

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs is a 1943 Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on January 16, 1943.

The film is an all-black parody of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Snow White, known to its audience from the popular 1937 Walt Disney animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The stylistic portrayal of the characters is an example of "darky" iconography, which was widely accepted in American society at the time. As such, it is one of the most controversial cartoons in the classic Warner Brothers library, being one of the Censored Eleven. The cartoon has been rarely seen on television, and has never been officially released on home video.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_B..._Sebben_Dwarfs