Though April Showers...

I'd guess The Jolson Story was seen at least a half dozen times by each of my kv friends during endless repeats of the million dollar movie

Life is not a highway strewn with flowers,
Still it holds a goodly share of bliss,
When the sun gives way to April showers,
Here is the point you should never miss.
Though April showers may come your way,
They bring the flowers that bloom in May.
So if it's raining, have no regrets,
Because it isn't raining rain, you know, (It's raining violets,)
And where you see clouds upon the hills,
You soon will see crowds of daffodils,
So keep on looking for a blue bird, And list'ning for his song,
Whenever April showers come along.
And where you see clouds upon the hills,
You soon will see crowds of daffodils,
So keep on looking for a blue bird, And list'ning for his song,
Whenever April showers come along.

as for Larry Parks

Larry Parks (December 13, 1914 – April 13, 1975) was an American stage and movie actor. His birth name is believed to have been Samuel Klusman (or Klausman) Lawrence Parks. His career was virtually ended when he admitted to having once been a member of a Communist party cell, which led to his blacklisting by all Hollywood studios.

as for Al Jolson. At some point he was on the lower east side:

Al Jolson was born as Asa Yoel in Seredžius, Lithuania, then a part of the Russian Empire, the fourth child of Moses Reuben Yoelson and his wife Naomi. His siblings were Rose, Etta, Hirsch (Harry), and a sister who died in infancy. Moses Yoelson moved to the United States in 1891, and was able to find a job as a rabbi and cantor at the Talmud Torah Synagogue in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Three years later, his family would join him.Hard times hit the family when his mother, Naomi, died in late 1894. Following his mother's death, young Asa was in a state of withdrawal for seven months. Upon being introduced to show business in 1895 by entertainer Al Reeves, Asa and Hirsch became fascinated by the industry, and by 1897, the brothers were singing for coins on local street corners, using the names "Al" and "Harry". They would usually use the money to buy tickets to shows at the National Theater. Asa and Hirsch spent most of their days working different jobs as a team.
Asa ran away from home to escape from his strict father. He went to New York City to seek a career in show business. Being under the legal work age of 16, he was unable to find work and lived in poverty for two years. His days were spent milling around booking agencies and befriending out-of-work actors who crowded the benches in Union Square. When the weather got too bad, he stayed in his room at a local hotel, but eventually ran out of money and was forced to sleep in a wagon near the East River. There, he caught a serious cold and cough which was treated as possible tuberculosis at a free clinic.