Original artwork, not a still
Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't heard nothin' yet!
— The Jazz Singer ‧ 1927
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is a showman's boast that turned out to be a prophecy. Jolson meant that the next song would be better; the film was announcing that cinema had found its voice. The line has outlived the movie as a stock promise that the best is still to come, and film histories quote it when they date the start of the sound era.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The Jazz SingerShow the scene
In The Jazz Singer (1927), about fifteen minutes in, Jack Robin finishes his first song for a cabaret crowd and then speaks to them and to the pianist in his band. These are the first synchronized spoken words in the film, at around the 17-minute mark. Al Jolson, who played Jack, had used this patter on stage for years, and had shouted a version of it in November 1918 at a concert where the tenor Enrico Caruso had just performed. In total the film holds barely two minutes of synchronized talking, much of it improvised.
Sources (1)
- Wikipedia: The Jazz SingerPlot and production sectionsReference checked
Context reviewed