A Reuters dispatch from London, July 15, 1998:

A British impersonator could manage only a pale imitation of his hero Al Jolson after a local council ruled his black face paint was politically incorrect.

But the audience at a theater in Hull, northern England, decided otherwise. Their protests stopped the show until 64-year-old Clive Baldwin agreed to break the rules and "black-up" for his rendition of Jolson's hit song "Mammy."

"I regard myself as the world's greatest minstrel with the living voice of Al Jolson," Baldwin told reporters.

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