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Here is my customized repaint of a chalkware Al Jolson statuette made in the 1970s. The Esco company made hundreds of these statuettes of movie stars, singers, and other prominent people over the course of about 30 years.

The original Jolson statuette showed him in blackface (a common theatrical convention of the musical theater at the beginning of the 20th century.) The eyes were rendered hollow.

Being a HUGE Jolson fan ever since college, I got my hands on one of these recently and decided to turn it into something more. I always wanted a statuette of Jolie to place next to my framed autograph/photo of Jolson, so I decided to do away with the blackface which hid the features of this otherwise very accurate little statuette. I filled in the hollow eyes with putty.

As the basis for the color of the costume I referred to the costume worn by Jolson in one of the Technicolor sequences of his 1930 film “Mammy” about a travelling minstrel troupe. I created a top hat which he wears in several sequences from the same film.

I made the hat from foam sheets bought at Michaels.