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| re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? | |
| Posted by: TheOtherOne 11:57 am EST 02/12/18 | |
| In reply to: re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? - NewtonUK 11:27 am EST 02/12/18 | |
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| Cagney was a staunchly pro-union actor who fought being controlled by the studio system (in his case, Warner Brothers), but I'd never heard of an actor being brought before HUAC until after WWII. Interesting, NewtonUK. One thing Yankee Doodle Dandy got very wrong was showing Cohan having a moment with FDR. Cohan was as staunchly anti-union as Cagney had been pro-, and showing him "supporting our president" was surely a bit of war time propaganda. He hated FDR. I don't know how accurate it is otherwise. Film biographies of that era usually played with the facts, and much of what's depicted is on the hokey side, but the musical numbers and vaudeville ambience, topped off with Cagney's ebullience, explain its enduring popularity. I have never seen George M. William Goldman depicts it as a poor show that somehow got by the critics without ever going over well with audiences in The Season. |
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| re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 12:40 pm EST 02/12/18 | |
| In reply to: re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? - TheOtherOne 11:57 am EST 02/12/18 | |
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| Yankee Doodle Dandy is a very entertaining film and Cagney is great, but it's pretty bad as an accurate biography. It falsely depicts George M. being born on the 4th of July (he was born on the July 3). It leaves out Cohan's first wife, Ethel Levey. It changes the name of his second wife Agnes Nolan to Mary and then concocts the story that the song "Mary Is a Grand Old Name" was written for her instead of for Fay Templeton in Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway. It does not mention that George M. had 4 children. It leaves out his opposition to the 1919 Actors Equity strike. It states that Nellie Cohan preceded her husband Jerry in passing when the reverse was the case -- Jerry died in 1917 and Nellie in 1928. It leaves out George M.'s movie career. It barely mentions one of his most significant stage performances in the 1933 Ah, Wilderness then falsely claims that he was retired "for 2 or 3 generations afterward". He actually returned to the stage in 1937 as FDR in I'd Rather Be Right. Nevertheless, it got one detail correct: FDR did present Cohan with the Congressional Gold Medal on 6/29/36 for his morale boosting efforts during World War I. |
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| re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? | |
| Posted by: comedywest 12:56 pm EST 02/12/18 | |
| In reply to: re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? - BroadwayTonyJ 12:40 pm EST 02/12/18 | |
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| The introduction the the published screenplay for Yankee Doodle Dandy talks about some of the differences. Given how much Cohan disliked Roosevelt I imagine that medal scene played out a bit different in real life. all this aside, I really like YDD, probably more than George M! which I saw on TV as a kid. |
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| re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? | |
| Posted by: TheOtherOne 12:52 pm EST 02/12/18 | |
| In reply to: re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? - BroadwayTonyJ 12:40 pm EST 02/12/18 | |
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| I thought for sure that FDR scene was a fabrication, because Cohan so disliked FDR. Thank you for this information, Tony. | |
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| re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 12:28 pm EST 02/12/18 | |
| In reply to: re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? - TheOtherOne 11:57 am EST 02/12/18 | |
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| Film biographies almost always play fast and loose with facts - as do all films based on fact (and most plays for that matter). I was always like to point out the major inaccuracy in the film (and play) of FINDING NEVERLAND. While the film and play tell us that BArrie is depressed after the reception of his latest play, LITTLE MARY (1903), The History of the London Stage (1576-1903) calles LITTLE MARY a great success - an enormous success. Following on his two previous big hits, QUALITY STREET and THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON. And Frohman produced 53 shows on Broadway alone in the 1903-1904 season, including Barrie's LITTLE MARY. If it had flopped in London, Frohman would not likely have reproduced the show in NYC. Yet FINDING NEVERLAND revolves around Barrie's despair at his failure. The core of what was to become PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS appeared in Barries 1902 novel THE LITTLE WHITE BIRD. So Peter Pan existed before Barrie thought to write the play. As a PS - we know that Frohman's protege Maude Adams created the role of the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up on Broadway. In London, the very first Peter Pan onstage was Nina Boucicault, daughter of the great British playwright, Dion Boucicault (the London Assurance). But we accept the fabrications because they make a more entertaining narrative |
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| re: A GEORGE M 'fabrication' | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 01:56 pm EST 02/12/18 | |
| In reply to: re: How does George M compare to the film Yankee Doodle Dandy? - NewtonUK 12:28 pm EST 02/12/18 | |
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| for good dramatic reasons. In the GEORGE M Cohan's first Broadway show, THE GOVERNORS SON is a flop - as it was, running only 32 performances. In GEORGE M this is followed by his first hit, LITTLE JOHNNY JONES. But thats not quite how it happened. A month after GOVERNORS SON died, he opened another new show, starring his family (the 4 Cohans) called RUNNING FOR OFFICE. This musical ran for 48 performances. 6 months later he contributed a song to a big holiday show at the New Amsterdam - MOTHER GOOSE. It was one of his signature songs, "Always leave them laughing when you say goodbye!" Six months after that he contributed two songs to a successful show called A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING. One of them was "I love to hear a Yankee Doodle Tune". Then 6 months after THAT, LITTLE JOHNNY JONES opened at the Liberty Theatre, and ran 52 performances before going out on tour. It came back the next year for an 128 performance 'revival'. The show had been revised for the tour. It included the two hits you recall, YANKEE DOODLE BOY and GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROADWAY - and also one of his best lesser known songs, LIFE'S A FUNNY PROPOSITION AFTER ALL. | |
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