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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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