Say It with Songs

A 1929 American pre-Code musical drama film directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Al Jolson and Davey Lee. Joe Lane (Jolson), a radio entertainer and songwriter, learns that studio manager Arthur Phillips has made improper advances to his wife, Katherine (Marian Nixon). Infuriated, Lane engages him in a fight, and the encounter results in Phillips' accidental death. Joe goes to prison and insists that Katherine divorce him for her and their son's sake. When Joe is released, he visits his son, Little Pal (Lee), at school — but the boy follows him downtown and is struck by a truck, causing paralysis of his legs and loss of his voice. This was a follow-up to The Singing Fool (1928), reuniting Jolson with child star Davey Lee, and was the first film in which Jolson did not appear in blackface.