Happy 4th of July! - Yankee Doodle Dandy

Warner Bros, 1942
Starring James Cagney, Walter Huston, Joan Leslie, and Richard Whorf
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Music and Lyrics by George M. Cohan

I couldn't think of a better way to end our All-American Weekdays than with this salute to one America's most patriotic songwriters. The title song, "You're a Grand Old Flag," and "Give My Regards to Broadway" remain popular to this day. When I was in kindergarten, we started off the day by singing "You're a Grand Old Flag." My mother used to put this on every 4th of July either right before or after the fireworks. Is it worth being a part of your holiday barbecue? Let's head to the Music Box Theatre in New York, where Cohan (Cagney) is performing in one of his last shows, and find out...

The Story: Called to the President (Captain Jack Young) to receive a Congressional Gold Medal, Cohan ends up relating his life story. Born on the 4th of July to vaudevillians Jerry (Huston) and Nellie (Rosemary DeCamp) Cohan, he and later on his little sister Josie (Jeanne Cagney) join the act as soon as they're able. They travel from town to town, performing wherever there's a theater. George is eager to show his stuff, but his ego often gets them into trouble, whether it's playing "Peck's Bad Boy" as a child and getting too into his role, or pushing his girlfriend Mary (Leslie) and his music to an uninterested vaudeville producer as an adult.

 He finally leaves the act, joining with producer Sam Harris (Whorf) to hawk their songs to producers. They do manage to find a taker in producer Schwab (SK Sakall). George's show Little Johnny Jones is a huge hit, enough to bring back his family to appear in his next show. He even manages to get huge star Faye Templeton (Irene Manning) to appear in one of his shows. She does get to sing the ballad he wrote for Mary, "Mary's a Grand Old Name," but Mary and George are the ones who wed.

George keeps writing hits, but things are changing. His parents and sister retire, then pass away. He writes a huge hit during World War I, "Over There," then finds himself falling out of favor with the public during the more cynical 20's. After a trip around the world, he settles down on the farm with Mary...but it takes a group of teens and their attitudes and lack of recognition to convince him to make one final show.

The Song and Dance: After Pearl Harbor happened during filming, the cast and crew set out to make the most patriotic musical they could...and they certainly succeeded. Cagney won an Oscar for his performance as the cocky, charming theatrical jack-of-all-trade. His perpetual energy fuels the entire film, especially in the first half, when he and his family are struggling and he's trying to prove to Broadway that some Irish kid can dominate the stage. Huston is warm and funny as his beloved father; Leslie's lovely as his sweet and sensible Mary. Jeanne Cagney, Cagney's real-life sister, is cute as a button as Josie.

Favorite Number: Even where the biography is pure fiction, the numbers are pretty close to the mark. The staging of Little Johnny Jones is pretty accurate to the time, including the flare going up over the boat during "Give My Regards to Broadway." Likewise, Cagney's "Off the Record" in the finale is said to be spot-on. Cagney and Leslie are charming together in their duet to impress a pair of producers, "Harrigan." "Grand Old Flag" may be the most patriotic musical number ever committed to film, with its marching everyday Americans, Civil War veterans, and Huston and DeCamp dressed as no less than Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty.

Trivia: James Cagney actually disliked Cohan because he sided with the producers during the 1919 Equity strike. He agreed to play him because he had been accused of being a communist and needed to make something really patriotic to improve his image. This did it. The movie was a smash, the second-biggest hit of 1942 after MGM's Mrs. Miniver, and Warner Bros' biggest money-maker of the year.

Along with Best Actor for Cagney, it won Best Score of Musical and Best Sound Recording.

That little dance Cagney does going down the stairs after getting his medal wasn't originally in the script. He devised it right before the scene started shooting.

That's Eddie Foy Jr. playing his father in a short sequence where he comments on Cohan's many abilities. Cagney would repay the favor by playing Cohan in the 1955 film biography of Foy and his family, The Seven Little Foys.

There would be a somewhat more accurate Broadway stage version of Cohan's life in 1968 with Joel Gray as George, George M!

What I Don't Like: Cohan himself was a consultant on this movie, and he saw to it that very little that was unflattering got in there. Mary is a condensed version of his two wives Ethel and Agnes. His mother died well before his father. Popularity was a flop...in 1906, not 1915, when the Lusitania was sunk. There's no reference to his dust-ups with Equity in 1919 that soured him on directing for the rest of his life.

The Big Finale: A perfect cast and terrific, period-accurate numbers make all the difference and keep this from feeling as bland as other musical biographies of this period. If you love Cagney or Cohan or just want a blast of Americana, this his highly recommended.

Home Media: The 2-disc Special Edition I have was just re-released this year as part of the Warner Archives, who also put out the Blu-Ray. It's also easily found on several streaming companies.

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