WOW, holy black face!!!! it's a wonder how far we've come with racial equality. Couldn't even hire a black guy to play a black guy. incredibly racist HAHA
Wow-he was awesome! Thank you for sharing this rare clip!! I thought James Cagney was great (he was of course!) but this is the original-and he was great too!! :)
This clip is actually from "The Phantom President", one of only 2 talkies, along with "Gambling", that Cohan filmed. I wish TCM would put it on as I haven't seen it in years.
I've seem several films like this from the early 30's. It's like an Operetta with rhyming songs AND dialogue. It takes a talent to do it well. Did anyone recognize the man in the white hate and glasses as Sidney Toler, the movie's Charlie Chan just a few years later? BTW: I can see why Cohan was a big stage star. His aura even comes through from this bit of B&W ancient clip!
Why haven't the lame stream media gotten word of this? Here he is, people, the flag-waver of all flag-wavers. The poster boy for scoundrels wrapped up in the american flag, oh what patriotism. Go ahead, tea-party a-hole, stomp that lady's shoulder, yes it was her shoulder, but do stomp that move-on witch, you can always wrap yourself in the american flag. Newt Gingrich should put on some black face and make fun of fat women, and big-nose jerks, and do a little patriotic song and dance.
James Cagney had his imitation of G. M. Cohan perfect! Cagney's dance in Yankee Doodle Dandy was exaclty like Cohan's here. Cagney did the same 'talking' instead of singing delivery of the song too.
It is good to see Durante. He was a good man, I'll never forget how he covered up for Carmine Miranda on his show. Carmine was unable to finish her act, Durante made it seem like she had performed it perfectly. Carmine died the next day.
1932 hu, It sounds like today except for the black face (I could be worng) but we have all the same problems and no one to fix it..looks like we need a medical man...
Thanks for posting this video. You an really see how James Cagney was the perfect choice for Cohan, not only in stature, build and voice but he remarkably recreated his dance moves and routines.
I don't know why Cohan was required to do the song & dance in blackface. The song is almost a parody of Cohan's patriotic songs, and Cohan himself never put on blackface when he was on stage. It's fun to think that when this movie was released, Cagney was working on the musical "Footlight Parade". The resemblance between Cohan's and Cagney's dance style is due to Cagney hiring Cohan's dance choreographer for "Yankee Doodle Dandy".
Great seeing this clip. You can see that Cagney obviously watched this film and used the dance Cohan does in this clip in Yankee Doodle Boy scene in the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy.
He got his "start" dancing with his family (the Four Cohans) on the vaudeville circuit (Keith's) only occassionally performing as part of minstrel shows.
By the time Cohan burst on the scene the Minstrel show was dead. It had evolved into something entirely different from what it was traditionally.
Ironically, Cohan attempted to revive it with Sam Harris but it failed miserably. (about 1908 or so).
How come the author of this video posting didn't want to say that it was Mr. Cohan who would be appearing? I know Mr. Cohan needs no itroduction, but I am just curious otherwise.
That wasn't Sidney Greenstreet, it was George Barbier, who ironically would also appear in Yankee Doodle Dandy. Also that is not Marjorie Main, but probably Louise Mackintosh. And while the other man was Sidney Toler, Toler was the second Chan, Warner Oland was the original Chan and played Al Jolson's father in the Jazz Singer.
Amazing how well great dancing of the past still looks today and how badly great comedy of the past plays today. Watching Cohan dance is a sublime miracle - but Durante's comic antics make me want to throw my laptop out the window.
You can't compare Cohan to Jolson as a stage performer( I see some comments).
No one could beat Jolson on stage. But Jolson couldn't create a song. He couldn't write a song and he was a terrible actor.His forte was live stage. Cohan could do it all though some of his talants were better then others. I use to live in walking distance to his grave( Woodlawn Cemetary Bx.NY) and often visited. Two mosoleums side by side George M. Cohan and Sam Harris( why dosen't Sam ever get mentioned)?
Sam H. Harris was Cohan's partner and sometime brother-in-law. Harris took care of most of the behind the scenes stuff while Cohan wrote and performed. Dietz and Goff were fictional producers in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy who reject Cohan's idea for the play Little Johnny Jones and wind up regretting it.
For the record, it was actually James Cagney who would--a decade later (1942)--be doing a cinematic impression of THIS fellow in the Academy Award-winning biopic "Yankee Doodle Dandy".
Wow. . . I've always loved the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy, and now I have a new appreciation of Cagney's performance as Cohan. Thanks so much for posting.
I was looking for a book on his life and I purchased one that's pretty old and has an original transcription in it from someone who saw him on stage and knew him - so now it's a rare possession of mine. I love seeing Jimmy Durante so young and so funny and Cohan, well, he's just terrific, I love his dancing, I would love to have seen him in person. Cagney did a great job!!!
Like Jolson, Cohan was the supreme egocentric...greatly talented(like Jolson) but difficult, hated among his peers(the actor's strike and the villanous role he played in it was never forgotten)and only interested in self-promotion...nevertheless he got a statue on Times Square..the old hawk wrote pretty irresistible tunes :-)...of course the one you hear in this clip is pretty awfull.
Except for the brief chorus of a song by Eddie Leonard, this song was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart . When working with this film, Cohan wanted to write his own material .... but that didn't happen and he was very displeased with the whole film. Fortunately, he made the movie and this is his only SURVIVING performance in a full length feature film.
Um, Cohan did a bit more than write some songs, perform and act like a villain. He was a writer, producer, songwriter, musical variety star, actor, etc, etc, and is rightly credited with inventing the modern American "musical comedy."
He was not the talent that Jolson had for mesmerizing, galvanizing, and holding an audience in the palm of his hand, but there was no aspect of the stage in which he did NOT excell. His peers disliked him? How many turned down roles in his shows? Guess.
of course they didn't turn down roles because he was a shit, they had to eat...but that didn't mean they liked him...as for him being or not being as mezmerizing as Jolson in the theatre...mm..were you there ?
Oh, and I think this song is pretty swell. Listen to the lyrics..... pretty topical for today: "every time our congress goes in session, they achieve a gain in the depression !"
"String the free together and fly them in the air. You are men, and you are free men, maybe someone ought to wave the flag"
you mean more flagwaving will solve the credit crunch ? well, Rooseveld DID solve some of the great depression and Cohan hated Rooseveld...he played him in "I'd rather be right" but he DID hate him....
I firmly believe that our current poor economy can be traced to new deal style policies.... that have been embraced by BOTH Republicans and Democrats in my country. The USA no longer has a political party that embraces capitalism and freedom. We need one.
Jimmie Durante was an old vaudeville performer, but had real class. I'll never forget his TV show featuring Carmen Miranda. She was very Ill and botched her gig. He covered for her, and was very gentlemanly. She died very soon after.
@pebble976 Durante grew into a fine performer but in the early 1930's he could come off as rather overbearing. He had a loud manner and the studios just let him go on and on, sometimes riding over the lead players. Eventually he learned the effectiveness of holding back and being quiet.
I have this movie, I got it form a collector in Hollywood. As a boy Yankee Doodle Dandy was my favorite movie, then one day in 1960 I was home sick from school and this flim came on TV. I could not belive Cohan was such a good Cagney. In 2004 I found this movie on Ebay.
Cohan made several other films, includ. some silents. After this, he did a film called "Gambling"(now-lost). This is fascinating, however. My grandfather was the man, who with Cohan, intro'd "Over There." Years later, he wrote the "special material" for "Yankee Doodle"("Good-luck Johnny", "All Aboard for old Broadway": Music by M.K. Jerome, lyric, Jack Scholl). Besides Barbier, Sidney Toler is also in this clip. Rogers & Hart composed, Norman Taurog-directed for Paramount. R.J.
I was always bothered by the fact that Cagney talked most of his songs in Yankee Doodle Dandy. But after seeing this, and hearing Cohan's own comment that he was "no Caruso", I see that Cagney was being as faithful to his subject in song as he was in dance. Thanks for posting.
This clip is from The Phantom President which I believe was Cohan's only film appearance. Also appearing is George Barbier. He is the heavy set fellow on the right side of the screen later in the clip. This is interesting as he also appeared in Yankee Doodle Dandy.
I'm not sure, at least in regards to the plot. But during the 19th and into the early 20th Century, there were certain performing acts which required Caucasian actors to wear "Black face", makeup. It was originally done as a form of mockery against people who were black, but it had become so popular that it became accepted as a form of entertainment. Nowadays, it and any form of racial entertainment in that fashion is officially recognized as racist.
The putting on of blackface was the same as wearing a mask in ancient Greece.
By the 20th century it was completely divorced from "blackface Minstrelsy" which had been in decline beginning after the Civil War. Not that Cohan's use of blackface (as most perfomers of the time) included not a trace of "black" or "Negro" attributes, either in accent or behavior.
Jolson has been villified for it's use, completely falsely, of course, by revisionist historians since the fifties.
I wouldn't conclude that it was meant as a "form of mockery." Certainly, great performers like Al Jolson meant no ill intention whatever in wearing blackface.
Wonderful to watch George M. in action. To think I used to credit Cagney for his marvelous hoofing style in Yankee Doodle Dandy, when it was pure Cohan all along! The only thing that mars it for me is the blackface -- not for PC reasons, but because it seems weirdly incongruous with Cohan's theatrical accent. I doubt if Cohan used blackface often during his career, and it would have been nice to see his real face during his routine. Still, a priceless show-biz document. And Durante is no slouch!
Thanks for this rare footage - a real piece of history. This is the incredible miracle of internet, it's like oral tradition, handing down from generation to generation these great documents helping us conserve our cultural heritages. A tip o' the hat to these 2 great showmen!
@olivej1914 boy I agree! Watching this I couldn't help but compare Cagney's tribute to him. Spot On! (Of course, Cagney was a chorus boy in New York during Cohen's time, so he probably was able to see Cohen live on stage at least once...wouldn't you if you had the opportunity?)
I love these old clips. "Da nose knows". Cohan and Durante were great entertainers who couldn't sing a note. They talked a song. I plan on doing a medicine show - for VIAGRA! Thanks for posting.
Great upload. Never saw Cohan before,and his dancing style is covered so well by Cagney in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" that its uncanny. Only now do I appreciate what Cagney was doing in those dance scenes.
This clip should be preserved. George M Cohan is an American classics.
loverosesbabyv 1 month ago
WOW, holy black face!!!! it's a wonder how far we've come with racial equality. Couldn't even hire a black guy to play a black guy. incredibly racist HAHA
NAWWMANNN 2 months ago
wow Jimmy Durante looks so different when he was younger
Blackjesus3 3 months ago
this film is too much talent in one moment and time -i am freaking out my God the footage and the gags!
acent2112 5 months ago
Wow-he was awesome! Thank you for sharing this rare clip!! I thought James Cagney was great (he was of course!) but this is the original-and he was great too!! :)
faeryquene 7 months ago
This clip is actually from "The Phantom President", one of only 2 talkies, along with "Gambling", that Cohan filmed. I wish TCM would put it on as I haven't seen it in years.
jazz1929 8 months ago
I've seem several films like this from the early 30's. It's like an Operetta with rhyming songs AND dialogue. It takes a talent to do it well. Did anyone recognize the man in the white hate and glasses as Sidney Toler, the movie's Charlie Chan just a few years later? BTW: I can see why Cohan was a big stage star. His aura even comes through from this bit of B&W ancient clip!
dplomin1954 8 months ago
Cohan was in his 50s when he made this movie. Pretty spry for an old fellow.
joeparkson 8 months ago
Absolutely Grand my birth year
eeldu1 11 months ago
This amazing clip shows how incredible James Cagney was in capturing Cohan's dance style and mannerism's in "Yankee Doodle Dandy".
Altair6films 1 year ago
The only statue in Times Square, right in the middle of everything.
Onlymusical 1 year ago
Is Jimmy`s gettin` smaller . . . . . . or his Nose gettin` bigger ! ?
Ha-cha-cha !
jazzmanzoot 1 year ago
Why haven't the lame stream media gotten word of this? Here he is, people, the flag-waver of all flag-wavers. The poster boy for scoundrels wrapped up in the american flag, oh what patriotism. Go ahead, tea-party a-hole, stomp that lady's shoulder, yes it was her shoulder, but do stomp that move-on witch, you can always wrap yourself in the american flag. Newt Gingrich should put on some black face and make fun of fat women, and big-nose jerks, and do a little patriotic song and dance.
hummlyhummly 1 year ago
holy shit, first time i have ever actually seen black face makeup..
Fraeg 1 year ago
Wonderful performer, absolutely kissed by God. Thank you!
louisa1832 1 year ago
George M's only appearance in the soundies...
odd because he's quite entertaining ...
RoryVanucchi 1 year ago
Cohan and Durante.....the greatest of the great
slm21ea9 1 year ago
James Cagney had his imitation of G. M. Cohan perfect! Cagney's dance in Yankee Doodle Dandy was exaclty like Cohan's here. Cagney did the same 'talking' instead of singing delivery of the song too.
It is good to see Durante. He was a good man, I'll never forget how he covered up for Carmine Miranda on his show. Carmine was unable to finish her act, Durante made it seem like she had performed it perfectly. Carmine died the next day.
TheGranule 1 year ago
Jimmy Cagney made a better Cohen than Cohen! LOL.
pegcage 1 year ago
this is awesome and I think the entertainment from long ago is much nicer than anything today
RentandWicked 1 year ago
This is great...I had never seen video of Cohan though i had heard recordings, shows you just how brilliant CAgney was....
TheHachmom 1 year ago
((((((((((( Great ! )))))))))))
CurzonRoad 1 year ago
1932 hu, It sounds like today except for the black face (I could be worng) but we have all the same problems and no one to fix it..looks like we need a medical man...
SuperMrduncan 1 year ago
Thanks for posting this video. You an really see how James Cagney was the perfect choice for Cohan, not only in stature, build and voice but he remarkably recreated his dance moves and routines.
TheGoodCrop 1 year ago
Best Vaudeville talents. carnival acts went to Hollywood to Star in movies
best example: jimmy durante = "the nose knows"
famedmlp 1 year ago
I don't know why Cohan was required to do the song & dance in blackface. The song is almost a parody of Cohan's patriotic songs, and Cohan himself never put on blackface when he was on stage. It's fun to think that when this movie was released, Cagney was working on the musical "Footlight Parade". The resemblance between Cohan's and Cagney's dance style is due to Cagney hiring Cohan's dance choreographer for "Yankee Doodle Dandy".
joeparkson 1 year ago
WOW! Cagney really studied this man.
MillaHead 1 year ago
$1 back then was alot of money. I dunno what it would equal in todays society but yeah $1 was alot to spend back then.
Chaniyth 1 year ago
Who is this?
298625 1 year ago
Thid id the real thing folks. I would love to hsave seen himmin person.
riitade644 1 year ago
Funny how Cohan's character, a quack or snake-oil salesman, is said by the men at the back of the room to look just like a politician called Blair!
postscript67 2 years ago
And Jimmy Durante makes a perfect foil to Cohan.
JCJasion 2 years ago
Is that Cohan in blackface and that old fashion tux?
143AC 2 years ago
He's not supposed to look like Cagney; Cagney is supposed to look like him. But Cagney did a really good job!!!! My favorite!!!
riitade644 2 years ago
He doesn't look a thing like Cagney!
hemming57 2 years ago
Great seeing this clip. You can see that Cagney obviously watched this film and used the dance Cohan does in this clip in Yankee Doodle Boy scene in the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy.
CarlDuke 2 years ago
Cohan did a movie called "Gambling" two years later in 1934. It was made for Fox Studios , but amazingly it is a lost film today
deepseadirt 2 years ago
but you dont see cohan doing the "shuck and jive" racist impression with the singing and dancing in blackface
Dravenswraith 2 years ago
The movie is 'The Phantom President"
diablogirl59 2 years ago
Cohan got his start in minstrel shows....
mookindahouse 2 years ago
Nope.
He got his "start" dancing with his family (the Four Cohans) on the vaudeville circuit (Keith's) only occassionally performing as part of minstrel shows.
By the time Cohan burst on the scene the Minstrel show was dead. It had evolved into something entirely different from what it was traditionally.
Ironically, Cohan attempted to revive it with Sam Harris but it failed miserably. (about 1908 or so).
LazlosPlane 2 years ago
that's sidney toler &george barbier-----the woman isn't majorie main
lebow1 2 years ago
isnt the other guy eddie foy? just curious
bsubumm 2 years ago
That is Jimmy Durante
dajghoti25 2 years ago
jimmy Durante,
kellykemp01 2 years ago
Jimmy Durante
WittyMilady 2 years ago
who did he tell stay in the rear?
curt1947 2 years ago
standies. people who are standing.
bambizzoozled 2 years ago
How come the author of this video posting didn't want to say that it was Mr. Cohan who would be appearing? I know Mr. Cohan needs no itroduction, but I am just curious otherwise.
apatriot73 2 years ago
Duarnte and Cohen were great,,but in the back ground did you notice Sydny Greenstreet,Margery Maine and the original Charlie Chan??
girlkilledbycake 2 years ago
That wasn't Sidney Greenstreet, it was George Barbier, who ironically would also appear in Yankee Doodle Dandy. Also that is not Marjorie Main, but probably Louise Mackintosh. And while the other man was Sidney Toler, Toler was the second Chan, Warner Oland was the original Chan and played Al Jolson's father in the Jazz Singer.
CarlDuke 2 years ago
Swish, sister, swish?
gjford1951 2 years ago
Cohan starts dancing around the 2:50 mark. It's interesting to compare his "marionette" style with Cagney's imitation in Yankee Doodle Dandy.
parodyzone 2 years ago
Are we sure that's Cohan? Even the voice sounds like Cagney.
gjford1951 2 years ago
"My God, what an act to follow."
maxbest2 3 years ago
"My God, what an act to follow!"
maxbest2 3 years ago
I don't think I've laughed this hard in a long time as I have at 8:07.
Xmchord 3 years ago
Amazing how well great dancing of the past still looks today and how badly great comedy of the past plays today. Watching Cohan dance is a sublime miracle - but Durante's comic antics make me want to throw my laptop out the window.
189beacon 3 years ago
You can't compare Cohan to Jolson as a stage performer( I see some comments).
No one could beat Jolson on stage. But Jolson couldn't create a song. He couldn't write a song and he was a terrible actor.His forte was live stage. Cohan could do it all though some of his talants were better then others. I use to live in walking distance to his grave( Woodlawn Cemetary Bx.NY) and often visited. Two mosoleums side by side George M. Cohan and Sam Harris( why dosen't Sam ever get mentioned)?
carm4765 3 years ago
Sam did get mentioned - in a large part - in "Yankee Doodle Dandy".
However, who was the Dietz and who was the Goff in the partnership of Cohan & Harris?
Fortunately, Cohan got to see his biopic, which was completed just before his 1942 death.
OldsVistaCruiser 3 years ago
who ws Harris and who were Goff and Dietz?
cushtichavi 2 years ago
Sam H. Harris was Cohan's partner and sometime brother-in-law. Harris took care of most of the behind the scenes stuff while Cohan wrote and performed. Dietz and Goff were fictional producers in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy who reject Cohan's idea for the play Little Johnny Jones and wind up regretting it.
CarlDuke 2 years ago
Ted Lewis had a lot of the same mannerisms.
8891randy 3 years ago
This is the worst impression ever of James
Cagney.
joeparkson 3 years ago
For the record, it was actually James Cagney who would--a decade later (1942)--be doing a cinematic impression of THIS fellow in the Academy Award-winning biopic "Yankee Doodle Dandy".
mecdutempsjadis 3 years ago
Ha ha!
opelske 3 years ago
to bad cohan's in face
monky999 3 years ago
Wow. . . I've always loved the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy, and now I have a new appreciation of Cagney's performance as Cohan. Thanks so much for posting.
journeymanwriter 3 years ago 2
Didn't these two guys just run for some kind of public office?
mouseman71 3 years ago
Movies were movies
letsdance33904 3 years ago
I was looking for a book on his life and I purchased one that's pretty old and has an original transcription in it from someone who saw him on stage and knew him - so now it's a rare possession of mine. I love seeing Jimmy Durante so young and so funny and Cohan, well, he's just terrific, I love his dancing, I would love to have seen him in person. Cagney did a great job!!!
ritade45 3 years ago 3
Isn't this from "The Phantom President"?
jvbrown95 3 years ago
Like Jolson, Cohan was the supreme egocentric...greatly talented(like Jolson) but difficult, hated among his peers(the actor's strike and the villanous role he played in it was never forgotten)and only interested in self-promotion...nevertheless he got a statue on Times Square..the old hawk wrote pretty irresistible tunes :-)...of course the one you hear in this clip is pretty awfull.
Dirkdebruyne 3 years ago 3
Except for the brief chorus of a song by Eddie Leonard, this song was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart . When working with this film, Cohan wanted to write his own material .... but that didn't happen and he was very displeased with the whole film. Fortunately, he made the movie and this is his only SURVIVING performance in a full length feature film.
perfectjazz78 3 years ago
Um, Cohan did a bit more than write some songs, perform and act like a villain. He was a writer, producer, songwriter, musical variety star, actor, etc, etc, and is rightly credited with inventing the modern American "musical comedy."
He was not the talent that Jolson had for mesmerizing, galvanizing, and holding an audience in the palm of his hand, but there was no aspect of the stage in which he did NOT excell. His peers disliked him? How many turned down roles in his shows? Guess.
LazlosPlane 3 years ago 2
of course they didn't turn down roles because he was a shit, they had to eat...but that didn't mean they liked him...as for him being or not being as mezmerizing as Jolson in the theatre...mm..were you there ?
Dirkdebruyne 3 years ago
Oh, and I think this song is pretty swell. Listen to the lyrics..... pretty topical for today: "every time our congress goes in session, they achieve a gain in the depression !"
"String the free together and fly them in the air. You are men, and you are free men, maybe someone ought to wave the flag"
Nice metaphor if you ask me!
perfectjazz78 3 years ago 3
you mean more flagwaving will solve the credit crunch ? well, Rooseveld DID solve some of the great depression and Cohan hated Rooseveld...he played him in "I'd rather be right" but he DID hate him....
Dirkdebruyne 3 years ago
"every time our congress goes in session, they achieve a gain in the depression !"
-- We need to band together as free citizens and beat our NEW great depression without toxic government "help" (which = harm)
perfectjazz78 3 years ago
@perfectjazz78 Great comment!
celtickimba 11 months ago
The New Deal (old crooked transfer of wealth with a new name) solved little to nothing, and prolonged the depression. I agree with Cohan.
opelske 3 years ago
The story goes that Cohan first refused the Medal of Honor because it would be presented by President Roosevelt, whom he detested.
hemming57 2 years ago
@Dirkdebruyne I hate him too. FDR's own mother said "get that man out of the white house"!
celtickimba 11 months ago
I firmly believe that our current poor economy can be traced to new deal style policies.... that have been embraced by BOTH Republicans and Democrats in my country. The USA no longer has a political party that embraces capitalism and freedom. We need one.
perfectjazz78 3 years ago
@perfectjazz78 Yes:)
celtickimba 11 months ago
@Dirkdebruyne I don't know, I heard Jessel give a great tribute to him about how generous he was to other actors
ciroalb3 1 year ago
@Dirkdebruyne .....there are always a few like that ...
you can't deny that he made such a great contribution to musical theater and the country !
krmartin9 7 months ago
Jimmie Durante was an old vaudeville performer, but had real class. I'll never forget his TV show featuring Carmen Miranda. She was very Ill and botched her gig. He covered for her, and was very gentlemanly. She died very soon after.
pebble976 3 years ago 5
@pebble976 Durante grew into a fine performer but in the early 1930's he could come off as rather overbearing. He had a loud manner and the studios just let him go on and on, sometimes riding over the lead players. Eventually he learned the effectiveness of holding back and being quiet.
albanybeardguy 5 months ago
Awesome video! It gives new appreciation for Cohan's stage mastery and Cagney's reenactment! Two birds, one stone!
ARHowe 3 years ago
I have this movie, I got it form a collector in Hollywood. As a boy Yankee Doodle Dandy was my favorite movie, then one day in 1960 I was home sick from school and this flim came on TV. I could not belive Cohan was such a good Cagney. In 2004 I found this movie on Ebay.
msherer260 3 years ago
Cohan made several other films, includ. some silents. After this, he did a film called "Gambling"(now-lost). This is fascinating, however. My grandfather was the man, who with Cohan, intro'd "Over There." Years later, he wrote the "special material" for "Yankee Doodle"("Good-luck Johnny", "All Aboard for old Broadway": Music by M.K. Jerome, lyric, Jack Scholl). Besides Barbier, Sidney Toler is also in this clip. Rogers & Hart composed, Norman Taurog-directed for Paramount. R.J.
bchfront 3 years ago 4
I'm surprised to find out he wasn't much of a singer. Also, he doesn't look a thing like Cagney!
hemming57 3 years ago 2
I was always bothered by the fact that Cagney talked most of his songs in Yankee Doodle Dandy. But after seeing this, and hearing Cohan's own comment that he was "no Caruso", I see that Cagney was being as faithful to his subject in song as he was in dance. Thanks for posting.
rclavin 3 years ago
As great a dancer as he is, even he can't top Jimmy Cagney.
weikko79 3 years ago 3
Fabulous. Really.
Thanks.
joeyjojo4 3 years ago
Jimmy Durante in one of his early roles as well. Quite a clip.
jessied44 3 years ago
my mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you and I thank you!!!!!
Jim
flemingtonjim 3 years ago
This clip is from The Phantom President which I believe was Cohan's only film appearance. Also appearing is George Barbier. He is the heavy set fellow on the right side of the screen later in the clip. This is interesting as he also appeared in Yankee Doodle Dandy.
CarlDuke 3 years ago 3
why was he dressed like a black?
jamierourketen 3 years ago
Maybe it was part of the story line. Lifting out a clip takes it out of context.
tkhering 3 years ago
I'm not sure, at least in regards to the plot. But during the 19th and into the early 20th Century, there were certain performing acts which required Caucasian actors to wear "Black face", makeup. It was originally done as a form of mockery against people who were black, but it had become so popular that it became accepted as a form of entertainment. Nowadays, it and any form of racial entertainment in that fashion is officially recognized as racist.
EmilyGreene1984 3 years ago 3
The putting on of blackface was the same as wearing a mask in ancient Greece.
By the 20th century it was completely divorced from "blackface Minstrelsy" which had been in decline beginning after the Civil War. Not that Cohan's use of blackface (as most perfomers of the time) included not a trace of "black" or "Negro" attributes, either in accent or behavior.
Jolson has been villified for it's use, completely falsely, of course, by revisionist historians since the fifties.
joeyjojo4 3 years ago 10
I wouldn't conclude that it was meant as a "form of mockery." Certainly, great performers like Al Jolson meant no ill intention whatever in wearing blackface.
madamerotten 2 years ago
cagneyplayed him better!
jamierourketen 3 years ago
Wonderful to watch George M. in action. To think I used to credit Cagney for his marvelous hoofing style in Yankee Doodle Dandy, when it was pure Cohan all along! The only thing that mars it for me is the blackface -- not for PC reasons, but because it seems weirdly incongruous with Cohan's theatrical accent. I doubt if Cohan used blackface often during his career, and it would have been nice to see his real face during his routine. Still, a priceless show-biz document. And Durante is no slouch!
SirCyrano 3 years ago 3
And do you realize Cohan was 50 years old when this was filmed? You'd think he was only 30. Where did he get that energy! Fantastic!
tkhering 3 years ago 4
Dear Pomeroy, Along with Mr.Toler(The character actor and
dialectician..who was one of the movies'"Charlie
Chan").."The Phantom President!"also featured
George Barbier..who worked with Cagney in
"Yankee Doodle Dandy!"in 1942.
143AC 3 years ago
Thanks for this rare footage - a real piece of history. This is the incredible miracle of internet, it's like oral tradition, handing down from generation to generation these great documents helping us conserve our cultural heritages. A tip o' the hat to these 2 great showmen!
astrocelestial 3 years ago 4
Couldn't take my eyes off of Cohan. I wish I could have seen him on stage in his heyday.
Cagney did an amazing job impersonating him. Thanks for posting this.
olivej1914 3 years ago 9
Well, if you did you would be well over 100 years old now. ;-)
visaman 3 years ago
@olivej1914 boy I agree! Watching this I couldn't help but compare Cagney's tribute to him. Spot On! (Of course, Cagney was a chorus boy in New York during Cohen's time, so he probably was able to see Cohen live on stage at least once...wouldn't you if you had the opportunity?)
barochial 10 months ago
I love these old clips. "Da nose knows". Cohan and Durante were great entertainers who couldn't sing a note. They talked a song. I plan on doing a medicine show - for VIAGRA! Thanks for posting.
Fretkillr 4 years ago
What fun. Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is in this clip too!
pomeroy40144 4 years ago
Great upload. Never saw Cohan before,and his dancing style is covered so well by Cagney in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" that its uncanny. Only now do I appreciate what Cagney was doing in those dance scenes.
saxophoney 4 years ago 4
After seeing this, I can see where Jimmy Cagney got his dance routine in Yankee Doodle Dandy and how Jimmy played him so fanatastically well.
rewturn 4 years ago 4
My god this is fantastic
mikesha2 4 years ago 2
From The Phantom President. The witty rhyming dialogue is by Lorenz Hart; the score by Richard Rodgers. Great to see this clip.
ChaseOnMars 4 years ago 2
Beats me where people get these rare clips from yet you never see the movies I've truely enjoyed this & others
petertwitham 4 years ago 5
Great upload, very rare footage of a great man!
soundslikefrank 4 years ago 3
Looks like a great movie! I've got to look it up. hanks for sharing it Ned. Regards, J.
fuzzbear6240 4 years ago