Playwright, songwriter, and producer George M...
Cohan was born on July 3, 1878, in Providence, Rhode Island. He began his performing career in his parent's vaudeville act. He took on comedy roles and was soon writing popular songs and skits for the vaudeville stage. In 1904, Cohan opened in the Broadway production Little Johnny Jones. That play, which Cohan also directed and for which he wrote the music and lyrics (including the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy"), catapulted him to national stardom and also helped to make him one of America's most representative dramatists.
Cohan is best known for the innovative Broadway musicals he produced in the 1920s, such as The Tavern (1921), The Song and Dance Man (1923), and American Born (1925). He later made memorable appearances in Ah, Wilderness! (1933) and I'd Rather Be Right (1937).
A gifted composer of popular songs, Cohan wrote such favorites as "You're a Grand Old Flag," "Mary's a Grand Old Name," "Give My Regards to Broadway," "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy," and the World War I standard "Over There." His career was the subject of the movie, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and the Broadway musical George M! (1968).
Explore the following American Memory Collections to find more information on George M. Cohan and the vaudeville stage:
- The collection of Theater Playbills and Programs in American Variety Stage, 1870-1920 includes a vaudeville comedy written by Cohan and performed in Washington, D.C., in 1909. The Belle of Barber's Ball was billed as "A New Minstrel One-Act Musical Comedy," part of Cohan and Harris' [sic] Minstrels with Raymond Hitchcock and 100 Honey Boys Presenting an Entertainment Embracing Minstrelsy, Vaudeville, Burlesque and Musical Comedy.
- The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920 provides an overview of the world of vaudeville entertainment where Cohan began his career. Browse the Subject Index to explore the collection, a multimedia anthology that illustrates the vibrant and diverse forms of popular entertainment, especially vaudeville, that thrived from 1870-1920.
- There were some 20,000 vaudeville performers still working in the 1920s. Among these was Bob Hope whose life is documented in the Library's online exhibition Bob Hope and American Variety. Hope, like Cohan, gained his professional training in vaudeville theaters.
- To find more material on the history of the performing arts, browse the American Memory Performing Arts collections or visit the Imagination section of the American Treasures of the Library of Congress exhibition.
