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In
1980 Sol was offered his dream job, working as the rabbinical
consultant on the Neil Diamond's new movie, The Jazz Singer.
In the film Diamond plays a conflicted cantor who leaves his
family and religious responsibilities and sets out on the road
to find fame and fortune in the music business. What with the
obvious similarities between Sol's life and Diamond's character,
a fast friendship was formed. After three weeks holed up in
a penthouse suite at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Diamond and
Blazowitz emerged with an entire rewrite of the script that
survived almost completely intact as the Jazz Singer movie you
now know and love. Again, despite his best efforts, every scene
Sol wrote himself into was taken out and he did not appear in
the film.
"The
producers felt the Rabbi's character was actually too strong
and that it would upstage Diamond," says an industry insider.
Despite
the set back the Rabbi continued to unconditionally support
Diamond even though many of his friends felt that it was secretly
the superstar's ego and not the producers that kept Sol out
of the movie. To this day, the singer/songwriter sites the Rabbi
for "putting his career back on track" and bringing him
closer to God. In just a few years that steadfast belief in
Diamond would prove to be the best move of Sol's career.
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