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48-403: The idea to musicalize Ah, Wilderness! came to David Merrick when George M. Cohan came through St. Louis with the original production of the O'Neill play. (It was rare of Merrick to mention his hometown, as he hated it, and once he refused to fly TWA to the coast because it flew over St. Louis). While producing The Matchmaker in 1955, he began working on Connecticut Summer . Things came to

96-569: A "stodgy adaptation of a definitely dated play directed in obsolete theatrical technique". It is considered a lost film . By the 1930s, Cohan walked in and out of retirement. He earned acclaim as a serious actor in Eugene O'Neill 's only comedy Ah, Wilderness! (1933) and in the role of a song-and-dance President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Rodgers and Hart 's musical I'd Rather Be Right (1937). The same year, he reunited with Harris to produce

144-430: A Half Men and The Sopranos among others. Take Me Along was directed by Peter Glenville with choreography by Onna White , production design by Oliver Smith , lighting by Jean Rosenthal , costumes by Miles White , musical direction and vocal arrangements by Lehman Engel , dances and musical numbers staging by Onna White , ballet and incidental music by Laurence Rosenthal , orchestrations by Philip J. Lang ; and

192-541: A Tony nomination for the role of Sid Davis and Gary Wright received a Theatre World Award nomination for his role as Richard Miller. The musical opened at the Irish Repertory Theater, New York City, in a limited run, from February 28, 2008, through April 13, 2008. In 1967, United Airlines ' advertising agency, Leo Burnett , adapted the title song for a massive ad campaign, anchored by promotional films directed by Michael Cimino , who would later become

240-607: A drunkard, searches for evidence to clear Johnny's name and finds out that it was Anstey that framed Jones. Jones tells his friends who are returning to America, "Give My Regards to Broadway," but he stays in London to try to regain his reputation. Jones returns to America with his name cleared, eager to propose marriage to Goldie, but he finds that Anstey has kidnapped her. He and his detective search for her in San Francisco's Chinatown, eventually finding her. Little Johnny Jones

288-663: A halt when lyricist/librettist John La Touche died suddenly in 1956 at the age of 41. But in 1957, an adaptation of another O'Neill play, Anna Christie , came to town, called New Girl in Town . Merrick decided to ask the composer, Bob Merrill , to take another stab at it. In a small Connecticut town on July 4, 1906, Nat and Essie Miller head a middle class New England family with teenage children who are coming of age, falling in love, and desperately trying to stay out of trouble. Bob Merrill's rousing and lovely score includes "Staying Young," "That's How It Starts," "Promise Me A Rose," and

336-460: A hit. Cohan further adapted it as a film in 1917, and it was adapted for film six more times, as well as for TV and radio. He dropped out of acting for some years after his 1919 dispute with Actors' Equity Association . In 1912 Cohan and Harris acquired Chicago's Grand Opera House and renamed the theatre "George M. Cohan's Grand Opera House". It was renamed "Four Cohans Theatre" in 1926 but reverted to Grand Opera House in 1928 when Cohan divested

384-601: A law case against the Internal Revenue Service that allowed the deduction, for federal income tax purposes, of his business travel and entertainment expenses, even though he was not able to document them with certainty. This became known as the "Cohan rule" and frequently is cited in tax cases. Cohan wrote numerous Broadway musicals and straight plays in addition to contributing material to shows written by others – more than 50 in all – many of which were made into films. His shows included: Cohan

432-561: A musical biopic of Cohan, Yankee Doodle Dandy , was released, and James Cagney 's performance in the title role earned the Best Actor Academy Award . The film was privately screened for Cohan as he battled the last stages of abdominal cancer, and he commented on Cagney's performance: "My God, what an act to follow!" Cohan's 1920 play The Meanest Man in the World was filmed in 1943 with Jack Benny . Although Cohan

480-583: A nightclub act, and in television appearances on the Ed Sullivan and Milton Berle shows. George Jr.'s only child, Michaela Marie Cohan (1943–1999), was the last descendant named Cohan. She graduated with a theater degree from Marywood College in Pennsylvania in 1965. From 1966 to 1968, she served in a civilian Special Services unit in Vietnam and Korea. In 1996, she stood in for her ailing father at

528-698: A noted motion picture screenwriter and director. An urban legend then goes on to say that the ad campaign backfired when United offered a two-for-one "take me along" fare in ads encouraging (male) business travelers to take their wives with them on business trips. United then sent "thank you" letters to the wives of business travelers who had taken advantage of the promotion. Unfortunately, many of these wives had not been "taken along" on those trips. Instead, many husbands had supposedly traveled with their mistresses. In truth, companions were only offered discounts, never freebies. George M. Cohan George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878  – November 5, 1942)

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576-509: A performance at the town hall there each summer, and Cohan had a chance to gain some more normal childhood experiences, like riding his bike and playing sandlot baseball. His memories of those happy summers inspired his 1907 musical 50 Miles from Boston , which is set in North Brookfield and contains one of his most famous songs, " Harrigan ". As he matured through his teens, he used the quiet summers there to write. When he returned to

624-575: A play titled Fulton of Oak Falls , starring Cohan. His final play, The Return of the Vagabond (1940), featured a young Celeste Holm in the cast. In 1940, Judy Garland played the title role in a film version of his 1922 musical Little Nellie Kelly . Cohan's mystery play Seven Keys to Baldpate was first filmed in 1916 and has been remade seven times, most recently as House of the Long Shadows (1983), starring Vincent Price . In 1942,

672-588: A sketch called The Lively Bootblack . Temperamental in his early years, he later learned to control his frustrations. During these years, he originated his famous curtain speech: "My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you." As a child, Cohan and his family toured most of the year and spent summer vacations from the vaudeville circuit at his grandmother's home in North Brookfield , Massachusetts, where he befriended baseball player Connie Mack . The family generally gave

720-626: Is considered the father of American musical comedy. His life and music were depicted in the Oscar -winning film Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and the 1968 musical George M! . A statue of Cohan in Times Square , New York City, commemorates his contributions to American musical theatre. Cohan was born in 1878 in Providence , Rhode Island, to Irish Catholic parents. A baptismal certificate from St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church (which gave

768-453: Is mainly remembered for his songs, he became an early pioneer in the development of the " book musical ", using his engaging libretti to bridge the gaps between drama and music. More than three decades before Agnes de Mille choreographed Oklahoma! Cohan used dance not merely as razzle-dazzle, but to advance the plot. Cohan's main characters were "average Joes and Janes" who appealed to a wide American audience. In 1914, Cohan became one of

816-601: The Liberty Theatre on November 7, 1904. The first Broadway run of only 52 performances was followed by tours, during which some rewrites were made. One of these was a new song Life's a Funny Proposition After All , added to the finale in May 1905. Little Johnny Jones was revived twice in 1905 at the New York Theatre , playing successfully for over 200 performances through most of that year, and touring until

864-714: The United States Merchant Marine Academy Regimental Band led a successful effort to preserve Cohan's home on Long Island. As a result, Cohan's family gave the Merchant Marine Academy Regimental Band the name "George M. Cohan's Own". On July 3, 2009, a bronze bust of Cohan, by artist Robert Shure, was unveiled at the corner of Wickenden and Governor Streets in Fox Point , Providence, a few blocks from his birthplace. The city renamed

912-564: The 1942 film, Yankee Doodle Dandy . David Cassidy starred in a touring revival in 1981. After previewing at Connecticut's Goodspeed Opera House and touring, a 1982 revival, adapted by Alfred Uhry and starring Donny Osmond in the lead closed at the Alvin Theatre after only one performance. An adaptation of the show was produced by the Light Opera of Manhattan in the late 1980s, called Give My Regards to Broadway and

960-581: The English Derby. Jones falls in love with Goldie Gates, a San Francisco copper heiress, who follows him to Britain, disguising herself as a man to discover if Jones really loves her. Anthony Anstey, an American who runs a Chinese gambling establishment in San Francisco , offers Jones a bribe to lose the race deliberately, but he refuses. After Jones loses, Anstey spreads rumors that he threw the race intentionally. Jones' detective, pretending to be

1008-661: The Four Cohans when Cohan's sister Josie married, and she starred in Little Johnny Jones and other Cohan works. In 1907, Levey divorced Cohan on grounds of adultery. In 1908, Cohan married Agnes Mary Nolan (1883–1972), who had been a dancer in his early shows; they remained married until his death. They had two daughters and a son. The eldest was Mary Cohan Ronkin , a cabaret singer in the 1930s, who composed incidental music for her father's play The Tavern . In 1968, Mary supervised musical and lyric revisions for

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1056-535: The Hollywood musical film The Phantom President . The film co-starred Claudette Colbert and Jimmy Durante , with songs by Rodgers and Hart , and was released by Paramount Pictures . He appeared in some earlier silent films but he disliked Hollywood production methods and only made one other sound film, Gambling (1934), based on his own 1929 play and shot in New York City. A critic called Gambling

1104-931: The Parsons Theatre in Hartford, Connecticut on October 10, 1904, moving to the Shubert Hyperion Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut three days later. It opened at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia on October 17, 1904 for a two-week engagement, then finished its tryout period at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware starting October 31, 1904. Little Johnny Jones opened on Broadway at

1152-525: The actors' employment. During the strike, he donated $ 100,000 (equal to $ 1,757,390 today) to finance the Actors' Retirement Fund in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. After Actors' Equity was recognized, Cohan refused to join the union as an actor, which hampered his ability to appear in his own productions. Cohan sought a waiver from Equity allowing him to act in any theatrical production. In 1930, he won

1200-710: The behest of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II , a $ 100,000 bronze statue of Cohan was dedicated in Duffy Square (the northern portion of Times Square ) at Broadway and 46th Street in Manhattan. The 8-foot bronze remains the only statue of an actor on Broadway. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6734 Hollywood Boulevard. Cohan

1248-489: The ceremony marking her grandfather's induction into the Musical Theatre Hall of Fame at New York University. Cohan was a devoted baseball fan, regularly attending games of the former New York Giants. Cohan died of bladder cancer at the age of 64 on November 5, 1942, at his Manhattan apartment on Fifth Avenue, surrounded by family and friends. His funeral was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral , New York, and

1296-548: The corner the George M. Cohan Plaza and announced an annual George M. Cohan Award for Excellence in Art & Culture. The first award went to Curt Columbus , the artistic director of Trinity Repertory Company . From 1899 to 1907, Cohan was married to Ethel Levey (1881–1955; born Grace Ethelia Fowler ), a musical comedy actress and dancer. Levey and Cohan had a daughter, actress Georgette Cohan Souther Rowse (1900–1988). Levey joined

1344-556: The dance steps and comedy features for which he would become famous. This musical is credited as the first American musical, albeit with several rivals to the title such as The Black Crook and Evangeline . For clarity, only the principal speaking parts are listed. Lead Supporting Featured Settings: Act I - Courtyard of Cecil Hotel, London; Act II - American Line dock at Southampton; Act III - Chinatown, San Francisco A brash, patriotic American jockey, Johnny Jones, goes to England to ride his horse, Yankee Doodle, in

1392-411: The founding members of ASCAP . Although Cohan was known as generous to his fellow actors in need, in 1919, he unsuccessfully opposed a historic strike by Actors' Equity Association , for which many in the theatrical professions never forgave him. Cohan opposed the strike because in addition to being an actor in his productions, he was also the producer of the musical that set the terms and conditions of

1440-463: The musical George M! Their second daughter was Helen Cohan Carola , a film actress, who performed on Broadway with her father in Friendship in 1931. Their youngest child was George Michael Cohan, Jr. (1914–2000), who graduated from Georgetown University and served in the entertainment corps during World War II. In the 1950s, George Jr. reinterpreted his father's songs on recordings, in

1488-477: The next Broadway revival in 1907 for a short run at the Academy of Music. The production was mounted with a huge cast. Little Johnny Jones was adapted twice for the motion pictures, first as a silent film released in 1923 by Warner Bros. First National followed this in 1929 with an early talkie musical version directed by Mervyn LeRoy , who played a bit part in the 1923 film. Eddie Buzzell , who co-wrote

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1536-457: The plays Cohan wrote or composed, he produced with Harris, among others, many of which were adapted for film, It Pays to Advertise (1914) and the successful Going Up in 1917, which became a smash hit in London the following year. His shows ran simultaneously in as many as five theatres. One of Cohan's most innovative plays was a dramatization of the mystery Seven Keys to Baldpate in 1913, which baffled some audiences and critics but became

1584-578: The property and the Shubert family became the sole owners of the theatre. In 1925, he published his autobiography Twenty Years on Broadway and the Years It Took to Get There . Cohan appeared in 1930 in The Song and Dance Man , a revival of his tribute to vaudeville and his father. In 1932, he starred in a dual role as a cold, corrupt politician and his charming, idealistic campaign double in

1632-440: The screenplay with Adelaide Heilbron, played the title role. Only two of Cohan's original songs survived the transition to the screen ("Give My Regards To Broadway" and "Yankee Doodle Boy"). The five other tunes in the film's score were contributed by various other songwriters, mainly Herb Magidson and Michael H. Cleary . James Cagney appeared in a play-within-a-play staging of numbers and dances from Little Johnny Jones in

1680-525: The standards " Over There ", " Give My Regards to Broadway ", " The Yankee Doodle Boy " and " You're a Grand Old Flag ". As a composer, he was one of the early members of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers ( ASCAP ). He displayed remarkable theatrical longevity, appearing in films until the 1930s and continuing to perform as a headline artist until 1940. Known in the decade before World War I as "the man who owned Broadway", he

1728-467: The title song. Knights on White Horses was added for Lily (Beth Fowler) in the 1985 revival. Volunteer Firemen's Picnic has been borrowed twice by animated TV show Family Guy : first for the episode PTV as The Freakin' FCC . The song then returned for a special appearance at the Emmy Awards as If You Want It You Can Find It On TV , taking potshots at Desperate Housewives , Two and

1776-536: The town in the cast of Ah, Wilderness! in 1934, he told a reporter "I've knocked around everywhere, but there's no place like North Brookfield." Cohan began writing original skits (over 150 of them) and songs for the family act in both vaudeville and minstrel shows while in his teens. Soon he was writing professionally, selling his first songs to a national publisher in 1893. In 1901 he wrote, directed and produced his first Broadway musical, The Governor's Son , for The Four Cohans. His first big Broadway hit in 1904

1824-504: The violin and then as a dancer. He was the fourth member of the family vaudeville act called The Four Cohans , which included his father Jeremiah "Jere" (Keohane) Cohan (1848–1917), mother Helen "Nellie" Costigan Cohan (1854–1928) and sister Josephine "Josie" Cohan Niblo (1876–1916). In 1890, he toured as the star of a show called Peck's Bad Boy and then joined the family act. The Four Cohans mostly toured together from 1890 to 1901. Cohan and his sister made their Broadway debuts in 1893 in

1872-456: The wrong first name for his mother) indicated that Cohan was born on July 3, but he and his family always insisted that he had been "born on the Fourth of July!" His parents were traveling vaudeville performers, and he joined them on stage while still an infant, first as a prop, learning to dance and sing soon after he could walk and talk. Cohan started as a child performer at age 8, first on

1920-464: Was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer. Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudeville act known as "The Four Cohans". Beginning with Little Johnny Jones in 1904, he wrote, composed, produced, and appeared in more than three dozen Broadway musicals. Cohan wrote more than 50 shows and published more than 300 songs during his lifetime, including

1968-483: Was attended by thousands of people, including five governors of New York, two mayors of New York City and the Postmaster General. The honorary pallbearers included Irving Berlin , Eddie Cantor , Frank Crowninshield , Sol Bloom , Brooks Atkinson , Rube Goldberg , Walter Huston , George Jessel , Connie Mack , Joseph McCarthy , Eugene O'Neill , Sigmund Romberg , Lee Shubert and Fred Waring . Cohan

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2016-767: Was called "the greatest single figure the American theatre ever produced – as a player, playwright, actor, composer and producer". On May 1, 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal for his contributions to World War I morale, in particular with the songs " You're a Grand Old Flag " and " Over There ". Cohan was the first person in any artistic field selected for this honor, which previously had gone only to military and political leaders, philanthropists, scientists, inventors, and explorers. In 1959, at

2064-532: Was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006. The United States Postal Service issued a 15-cent commemorative stamp honoring Cohan on the anniversary of his centenary, July 3, 1978. The stamp depicts both the older Cohan and his younger self as a dancer, with the tag line "Yankee Doodle Dandy". It was designed by Jim Sharpe. In 1999, Captain Kenneth R. Force and

2112-648: Was inspired by real-life Hall of Fame jockey Tod Sloan . The show was Cohan's first full-length musical. A famous American jockey, Tod Sloan , had gone to England in 1903 to ride in the Derby for King Edward VII of England. This gave Cohan the idea for the story. The musical is patriotic in tone and contains a number of quips aimed at European targets, such as, "You think I'd marry an heiress and live off her money? What do you take me for? An Englishman?" and, "French pastry ain't worth 30¢ compared to American apple pie." In Little Johnny Jones Cohan introduced some of

2160-527: Was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City, in a private family mausoleum he had erected a quarter century earlier for his sister and parents. Cohan acted in the following films: Notes Bibliography Further reading Little Johnny Jones Little Johnny Jones is a musical by George M. Cohan . The show introduced Cohan's tunes " Give My Regards to Broadway " and " The Yankee Doodle Boy ." The "Yankee Doodle" character

2208-626: Was produced by David Merrick . It opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on October 22, 1959 and closed on December 17, 1960, after 448 performances. A revival opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theater in April 1985, closing after 7 previews and 1 regular performance following seven months of successful runs at The Goodspeed Opera House , The Shubert Theatre New Haven , and The Kennedy Center . Kurt Knudson scored

2256-411: Was produced by Sam H. Harris and directed by George M. Cohan , who also performed in it. Other members of The Four Cohans in the cast were his parents, and his then wife Ethel Levey , who had replaced Cohan's sister Josie in the family act. Cast lists were not a usual feature of theater reviews in 1904-1905, so the following is dependent on a few exceptions. The musical was first tried out at

2304-523: Was the show Little Johnny Jones , which introduced his tunes " Give My Regards to Broadway " and " The Yankee Doodle Boy ". Cohan became one of the leading Tin Pan Alley songwriters, publishing upwards of 300 original songs noted for their catchy melodies and clever lyrics. His major hit songs included: From 1904 to 1920, Cohan created and produced over 50 musicals, plays and revues on Broadway together with his friend Sam H. Harris . Aside from

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