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According to legend, George Jessel foolishly turned down Warner Bros.' groundbreaking The Jazz Singer (1927), which he had originally performed on Broadway, due to a squabble over salary. Al Jolson, of course, replaced him and became for a while Hollywood's top box-office star. Lucky Boy, produced by small-scale Tiffany-Stahl Productions, came late in the "Mammy" cycle that The Jazz Singer had inaugurated and was seen as Jessel's chance to prove himself Jolson's equal. He sings "My Mother's Eyes" to Rosa Rosanova just like Jolson had serenaded Eugenie Besserer in The Jazz Singer. Although it is a catchy little ballad, the song has worn out its welcome long before Lucky Boy's ten reels are over. Jessel is fine in the role, a jeweler's son breaking into show business, but the film's silent-sound-silent transitory style remains disconcerting to modern audiences. Other songs are performed -- "California Here I Come" inevitably among them -- but it is "My Mother's Eyes" that stays with you, and after the umpteenth chorus, that's not to its advantage.