George M Cohan

Bio

(1878-1942) Playwright, composer, actor, lyricist, librettist. George M. Cohan wrote numerous Broadway musicals and straight plays. He had his first big Broadway hit in 1904 with the show “Little Johnny Jones,” which introduced his tunes “Give My Regards to Broadway” and “The Yankee Doodle Boy”. His shows “Forty-five Minutes from Broadway” (1905), “George Washington, Jr.” (1906), “The Talk of New York” and “The Honeymooners” (1907), “The Yankee Prince” (1908), “Broadway Jones” (1912), “The Cohan Revue of 1918” (co-written with Irving Berlin), “The Tavern” (1920), “The Song and Dance Man” (1923). He earned acclaim as a serious actor in Eugene O’Neill’s “Ah, Wilderness!” (1933), and in the role of a song-and dance President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Rodgers and Hart’s musical, “I’d Rather Be Right” (1937). He lived in Nassau County and in the Actors Home in West Brighton. He is probably the most honored American entertainer. In 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented him with a Congressional Gold Medal in honor of his contributions to World War I morale, in particular the songs “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “Over There”.