George M Cohan (1882-1942) was the first complete man of the American musical theatre being a playwright, song and dance man, dramatic actor as well as prolific lyricist and composer. Cohan was the first to write about American characters instead of the prevailing fashion for exotic shows and Viennese operettas.Cohan's first big show was Little Johnny Jones (opened November 7th, 1904) which featured two big hits : Yankee Doodle Boy (I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy) and Give My Regards of Broadway. The second song is arguably the more lasting standard being memorably performed by Al Jolson, Judy Garland and many others.
James Cagney performed an incredible prancing dance to it in his Academy Award winning performance as Cohan in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).
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