One of my favorite classic films to watch this time of year is YANKEE DOODLE DANDY with James Cagney as the famous Broadway song and dance man and songwriter, George M Cohan. When I was a youngster, KHJ-TV/Channel 9 was the local independent station that was connected to the Warner Bros. and RKO film libraries. Cagney had raised the goosepimples on my elementary school skin with his riveting performance as a cold-blooded gangster in 1931's THE PUBLIC ENEMY. Channel 9 aired that one and Cagney's other hoodlum films ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES and THE ROARING TWENTIES.
Then one weekend, when I was in the 3rd grade, Channel 9 aired the patriotic, extremely pleasing musical/comedy biopic YANKEE DOODLE DANDY with a wonderful singing and dancing performance from Cagney. It brought him the Best Actor Oscar for 1942. I was awestruck. The same man who sent chills up my spine as a vicious killer was absolutely lovable and touching as an all-American Broadway showman.
How do I remember I was in the 3rd grade? Well, when the movie was over, I went outside in the backyard and tried to imitate Cagney's rather eccentric but totally cool style of dance in the movie. Come Monday, during lunch hour on the playground, a guy named Steven Grady was telling some classmates about the movie and tried to imitate some of Cagney's dance steps for them. We were all in Mrs. Anderson's 3rd grade class.
If you love Cagney as much as I do in that role, dig this: George M. Cohan starred in a 1932 Paramount comedy called THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT. His co-stars were Claudette Colbert and Jimmy Durante. Cohan has a dual role. He plays a rather bland presidential candidate and the charismatic, non-famous entertainer who looks exactly like the candidate. As the election approaches, members of the candidate's team draft the entertainer into service. He pretends to be the candidate to bring in votes while the real candidate checks his relationship with his girlfriend.
Colbert plays the candidate's girlfriend. Durante practically steals the picture with his zany comedy.
Cohan dances near the end of the movie, which runs about 80 minutes. However, he's wearing a patriotic Yankee Doodle Dandy-like costume --- but he's in blackface.
When you see him dance, you realize how accurate James Cagney was in his choreography. Cagney recreated Cohan's unique style of dance. A brilliant performance. He deserved that Oscar. This shows you that Cohan really was in a Hollywood film.
Happy 4th of July.
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