Yankee Doodle Dandy

Cohan (pronounced "Coe-Han"), the actor / singer / dancer / playwright / songwriter / producer / theatre owner / director / choreographer known as "The Man Who Owns Broadway", starring James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston and Richard Whorf, and featuring Irene Manning, George Tobias, Rosemary DeCamp and Jeanne Cagney.
The movie was written by Robert Buckner and Edmund Joseph, and directed by Michael Curtiz. According to the special edition DVD, significant and uncredited improvements were made to the script by the famous "script doctors" twin brothers Julius J.

"Yankee Doodle Dandy") was Cohan's trademark piece, a patriotic pastiche drawing from the lyrics and melody of the old Revolutionary War number, "Yankee Doodle". Other Cohan tunes in the movie include "Give My Regards to Broadway", "Harrigan", "Mary's a Grand Old Name", "You're a Grand Old Flag" and "Over There".
Cagney was a fitting choice for the role, as a fellow Irish-American who had been a song-and-dance man himself early in his career.

His unique and seemingly odd presentation style, of half-singing and half-reciting the songs, reflected the style that Cohan himself used. His natural dance style and physique were also a good match for Cohan.Newspapers at the time reported that Cagney intended to consciously imitate Cohan's song-and-dance style, but to play the normal part of the acting in his own style. Although director Curtiz was famous for being a taskmaster, he also gave his actors some latitude.

Cagney and other players improvised a number of "bits of business," as Cagney called them.
Although a number of the biographical particulars of the movie are Hollywood-ized fiction (omitting the fact that Cohan divorced and remarried, for example, and taking some liberties with the chronology of Cohan's life), care was taken to make the sets, costumes and dance steps match the original stage presentations. This effort was aided significantly by a former associate of Cohan's, Jack Boyle, who knew the original productions well.

Boyle also appeared in the film in some of the dancing groups.
The movie poster for this film was the first ever produced by noted poster designer Bill Gold. This movie also has an injoke about movies-when Cohan "retires" in the 1930's and several teenagers-who know nothing about his career-ask him if he had ever been in the movies, he remarks that he had been in an actor in the "legitimate theater"!
Cast

Cast notes:
James Cagney reprised the role of George M.played the role of his own father.
Actress Jeanne Cagney, who played the part of Cohan's sister, was James Cagney's real-life sister. Cagney's brother, William Cagney, was the Associate Producer of the film.
Rosemary DeCamp, who played the mother of George M. Cohan, played by James Cagney, was, in fact, 11 years younger than Cagney.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was played by Captain Jack Young, a lookalike who is seen only from the back.

An impressionist, Art Gilmore, provided the voice of Roosevelt, uncredited.
Uncredited cast members include Eddie Acuff, Murray Alper, Walter Brooke, Georgia Carroll, Glen Cavender, Spencer Charters, Wallis Clark, William B. Davidson, Ann Doran, Tom Dugan, Bill Edwards, Frank Faylen, Pat Flaherty, James Flavin, William Forrest, William Gillespie, Joe Gray, Creighton Hale, John Hamilton, Harry Hayden, Stuart Holmes, William Hopper, Eddie Kane, Fred Kelsey, Vera Lewis, Audrey Long, Hank Mann, Frank Mayo, Lon McCallister, Edward McWade, George Meeker, Dolores Moran, Charles Morton, Jack Mower, Paul Panzer, Francis Pierlot, Clinton Rosemond, Syd Saylor, Frank Sully, Dick Wessel, Leo White and Dave Willock.


James Cagney as George M.

Cohan performing
"The Yankee Doodle Boy" from Little Johnny Jones

Awards and honors
The film won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (James Cagney), Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Sound, Recording. 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #98
Patriotic themes
A popular myth about this movie, or at least a stretching of the truth, was that it was written in response to accusations that James Cagney was a Communist.Supposedly, Cagney learned that he was in danger of being blacklisted for having Communist sympathies, so he decided to make the most jingoistic movie he possibly could, and thus clear his name. Also, the Second Red Scare did not begin until the late 1940s, well after the film was made.

Congressman Martin Dies was investigating possible communist influence in Hollywood in 1940; he in fact had a cordial meeting with Cagney. That was the end of it, except that Cagney's producer-brother William saw the Cohan story as a good opportunity to dispel any possible concerns about Cagney's loyalty.

Warner bought the rights, and Cohan retained final approval on all aspects of the film.
As the DVD also points out, production on the film was just a few days old when the Attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. The film's cast and crew resolved to make an uplifting, patriotic film.| Musical films based on actual events | United States National Film Registry films | Warner Bros.