Probably the most famous Fourth of July movie is Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), starring James Cagney as George M. Cohen. It is a spectacular and fun bio-pic about the famous entertainer and songwriter. And Cagney gives one of his greatest performances while also capture much about the sound and dance of the real Cohen.
Cohen famously sang about being “born on the Fourth of July,” although he actually was born on July 3, 1878 in Providence, Rhode Island. As portrayed in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy, Cohen began with his career in vaudeville with his parents and sister in an act known as “The Four Cohans.”
In the early 1900s, he was one of the biggest things on Broadway, creating and producing successful musicals. He wrote many of the classic songs we still hear today like “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “Yankee Doddle Boy,” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”
“Over There”
In this scene from Yankee Doodle Dandy, we see Cagney as Cohen creating another one of Cohen’s classic’s, “Over There.” As portrayed in the clip, Cohen wrote the song in 1917 when the United States entered World War I.
If you wonder what the real George M. Cohen danced and sounded like, Cagney gives a good sense in the film. But a surviving movie clip of Cohen shows him singing and dancing in blackface in The Phantom President (1932).
Also, one may hear the real George M. Cohen in the clip below. He is introduced at around the one-minute mark. Then, he sings “Over There.”
“Yankee Doodle Dandy” and Death
Yankee Doodle Dandy was released on May 29, 1942, and the film went on to receive several Academy Awards. Among the awards, Cagney won the Oscar for Best Actor.
Cohen reportedly originally wanted Fred Astaire to play him. But he lived to see Yankee Doodle Dandy released with Cagney in the lead role.
Cohen died on November 5, 1942 not long after the movie’s release. He passed away at the age of 64 at his apartment at 993 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
After Cohen died, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a telegram to Cohen’s wife Agnes Mary Nolan Cohan. In it, he concluded, “He will be mourned by millions whose lives were brightened and whose burdens were eased by his genius as a fun maker and as a dispeller of gloom.”
What better way to be remembered than as a “fun maker” and “dispeller of gloom”?
Have a safe and happy Fourth of July, and check out our previous post on Fourth of July Songs.
Photo via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.
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