Category: Movies

Yankee Doodle George M. Cohen & “Over There”

George M. Cohen Probably the most famous Fourth of July movie is Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), starring James Cagney as George M. Cohen. It is a spectacular and fun bio-pic about the famous entertainer and songwriter. And Cagney gives one of his greatest performances while also capture much about the sound and dance of the real Cohen.

Cohen famously sang about being “born on the Fourth of July,” although he actually was born on July 3, 1878 in Providence, Rhode Island. As portrayed in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy, Cohen began with his career in vaudeville with his parents and sister in an act known as “The Four Cohans.”

In the early 1900s, he was one of the biggest things on Broadway, creating and producing successful musicals. He wrote many of the classic songs we still hear today like “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “Yankee Doddle Boy,” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

“Over There”

In Yankee Doodle Dandy, we see Cagney as Cohen creating another one of Cohen’s classic’s, “Over There.” As portrayed in the clip, Cohen wrote the song in 1917 when the United States entered World War I.

If you wonder what the real George M. Cohen danced and sounded like, Cagney gives a good sense in the film. But a surviving movie clip of Cohen shows him singing and dancing in blackface in The Phantom President (1932).

Also, one may hear the real George M. Cohen in the clip below. He is introduced at around the one-minute mark.  Then, he sings “Over There.”

“Yankee Doodle Dandy” and Death

Yankee Doodle Dandy was released on May 29, 1942, and the film went on to receive several Academy Awards. Among the awards, Cagney won the Oscar for Best Actor.

Cohen reportedly originally wanted Fred Astaire to play him. But he lived to see Yankee Doodle Dandy released with Cagney in the lead role.

Cohen died on November 5, 1942 not long after the movie’s release.  He passed away at the age of 64 at his apartment at 993 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

After Cohen died, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a telegram to Cohen’s wife Agnes Mary Nolan Cohan.  In it, he concluded, “He will be mourned by millions whose lives were brightened and whose burdens were eased by his genius as a fun maker and as a dispeller of gloom.”

What better way to be remembered than as a “fun maker” and “dispeller of gloom”?

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July, and check out our previous post on Fourth of July Songs.

Photo via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The Missing Marine From the Iwo Jima Flag Photo

    Iwo Jima Photo Marines

    The New York Times recently reported that an internal Marine Corps investigation concluded that for more than 70 years it had wrongly identified one of the men in one of the most famous American photos. The Marines found that a private first class, Harold Schultz, was one of the six men in the iconic photo of the flag being raised over Iwo Jima during World War II.

    Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer-Prize winning photo on February 23, 1945.  For years it was thought that one of the men in the photo was a Navy hospital corpsman named John Bradley. But the recent inquiry, which included careful study of the uniforms in the photo, concluded that Schultz was in the photo, not Bradley. (Below is a brief video showing the famous raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.)

    The Marines opened the investigation in response to questions raised by producers working on the documentary, The Unknown Flag Raisers of Iwo Jima. The production company, Lucky 8 TV took their evidence to the chief historian of the Marines, Charles Neimeyer, leading to the appointment of a panel to investigate the issue. The film is being shown on the Smithsonian Channel.

    Harold Schultz

    There is something sad about the news that connects together Bradley and Schultz. As for Harold Schultz, he did not live to see the news, having died in 1995 at age 70.

    The day after the photo was taken, Schultz was wounded and sent home. He lived in Los Angeles as a mail sorter, marrying for the first time at the age of 60. He married a neighbor, although they never moved in together and he rarely discussed his time in the military.

    Schultz, however, did know he was in the photo. He just did not talk about it. His stepdaughter Dezreen MacDowell said that one night during dinner, he did mention that he was one of the flag raisers. When she told him he was a hero, he responded, “No, I was a Marine.”

    MacDowell said he never talked about it again. She explained, “He was a very self-effacing Midwestern person.” She was happy to hear he would finally be getting the recognition: “He was a kind and gentle man.”

    Schultz’s story seems both happy and sad. He finally got the recognition, but he did not live to see it. Then again, it appears he did not seek any recognition for his part in the photo.

    John Bradley

    John Bradley’s story, and how it affects his child, has a tragic quality too. Along with Ron Powers, Bradley’s son James Bradley wrote a best-selling book, Flags of Our Fathers (2000). The book told the story of the men who raised the Iwo Jima flag, including Bradley’s father.

    After the battle, John Bradley participated in war bond drives with other survivors who raised the flag, Ira Hayes and Rene Gagnon. Bradley also played himself in the 1949 movie Sands of Iwo Jima, which starred John Wayne.

    John died in 1994, but his son James Bradley learned about the investigation while it was going on. And he came to conclude that his father had participated in an earlier flag-raising and mistakenly thought he was in the famous photo.

    John Bradley never heard that he was not in the photo. But I feel bad for his son, who invested so much into believing his father was in the photo. He seemed accepting of the new discovery, although he did not participate in the documentary or the New York Times story.

    Flags of Our Fathers

    Clint Eastwood directed the movie version of Bradley’s book, Flags of Our Fathers (2006). Below is the trailer.

    My favorite scene in the movie involves John “Doc” Bradley (played by Ryan Phillippe) near the end of the film. On his deathbed, John tells his son James about how he and other Marines went swimming after the battle and the famous photo.

    The movie then shows the Marines on the beach.  They are laughing and jumping in the water. They were humans.

    It is a beautiful scene, humanizing the soldiers we so often think of as something like superheroes. And the scene may remind one of how our parents and grandparents were once young men and women. No matter what they accomplished, they once were young and like their children, just having some fun on the beach.

    Two Different Kinds of Heroes

    I hope James Bradley is not too disappointed upon learning his father was not in the photo as portrayed in his book and in the film. All of the soldiers at Iwo Jima were doing something special for their country, for their families, and for their buddies.

    As for Schultz, he stands in stark contrast to our current fame-seeking fads. Here was a man who was part of something pretty cool. And he not only never Tweeted or or put it in Facebook, he barely mentioned it to those he loved. And so a man in one of the most famous photographs of all time was someone who would never have taken a selfie.

    Leave your two cents in the comments. Stamp photo via public domain.

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    Bryan Cranston As LBJ in “All the Way” (Short Review)

    LBJ Bryan Cranston HBO’s movie adaptation of Robert Schenkkan’s play about the early presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson is worthwhile viewing for largely one reason, Bryan Cranston in the lead role. With some help from make-up designer Bill Corso, Cranston gives the viewer what it might have felt like to have been around Johnson while he struggled with the major issues of those years.

    The movie begins with Johnson’s rise to the presidency when John F. Kennedy is killed, focusing on Johnson’s advocacy for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the escalating war in Vietnam amidst his worries about the next election. As Johnson, Cranston captures the brilliance, vulnerability, insecurities, compassion, and vulgarity of Johnson, one of the most complex people to have ever lived in the White House.

    All the Way features a number of outstanding performances, such as Frank Langella as Senator Richard Russell, Antony Mackie as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Stephen Root as J. Edgar Hoover, Melissa Leo as Lady Bird Johnson, and Bradley Whitford as Hubert Humphrey. One criticism, which others have noted too, is that there is too much material and too many interesting characters for one 132-minute movie. Other important people come and go in the story, but director Jay Roach remains focused on LBJ while viewers may also want more.

    Ultimately, it is not Roach’s fault that this era was rich in important events and people. As in the case of Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal in Lincoln (2012), Cranston’s portrayal of Johnson is so compelling that it made me wish for a much-longer mini-series that revealed more details of events and more layers to the former president.

    Yet, for a one-shot movie that tries to convey the essence of the time and LBJ’s years between Kennedy’s assassination and Johnson’s election as president in his own right, All the Way is worth your time, even if sometimes it deviates from the historical record for dramatic effect. Cranston’s portrayal of Johnson will be remembered as one of the great presidential roles, and the movie does an excellent job at making Johnson a three-dimensional character with the mix of both majestic strengths and deep flaws.

    What did you think of “All the Way”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Robert Osborne & The Beverly Hillbillies

    Osborne Beverly HillbilliesTurner Classics Movie host Robert Osborne was born May 3, 1932 in Colfax, Washington. While most people know Osborne for his wonderful hosting duties on TCM (and before that on The Movie Channel), Osborne had a diverse career and started out as an actor before later focusing on writing and journalism.

    One of his television roles was an appearance on the pilot for a TV series in 1962. There was a possibility of a regular role, but Osborne did not think that the series, The Beverly Hillbillies, would be much of a success. “The show itself seemed so loony and unimportant,” he later explained, adding, “I was sure the pilot would never sell.” Of course, the series then ran for nine seasons.

    In the clip below, you may see a young Robert Osborne in that pilot episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. Check it out.

    If that segment makes you want to see the entire episode, you may watch the entire pilot below.  Check out “The Clampetts Strike Oil.”

    Osborne explained that Lucille Ball had put him under contract at her studio.  And it was she who eventually encouraged him to pursue a career in writing instead of acting. She was impressed by his vast knowledge about the history of Hollywood.

    In 2015 and 2016, due to health issues, Osborne announced he would not attend the TCM Classic Film Festival. He also had to cut back on his work at TCM, and he passed way on March 6, 2017.

    I do like Ben Mankiewicz, who filled in for Osborne in a number of roles, although I miss Osborne.  Whenever I watch a movie on TCM, I would hope for Osborne or Mankiewicz to appear.  Without them, I feel like I am not getting the whole value of the movie.

    Osborne became a part of the life of anyone who watches classic movies. He became a mainstay of TCM since he introduced the first film the network aired, Gone With the Wind, on April 14, 1994.

    For one, I’m glad that his career with The Beverly Hillbillies did not quite work out. He brought us a lot of joy, and he was a wonderful and intelligent companion for many nights watching great films.

    This post was updated March 2017.  Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Daniel Ellsberg: The Most Dangerous Man

    Most Dangerous Man On April 7, 1931, Daniel Ellsberg was born in Chicago. He would grow up to serve in the Marines and work at the Pentagon and for Rand Corporation, eventually becoming disillusioned with the Vietnam War and receiving notoriety as the man behind the release of government documents about the Vietnam War. After the New York Times began publishing the papers in June 1971, the actions prompted the wrath of President Richard M. Nixon and one of the most important Supreme Court cases on the First Amendment.

    The 2009 documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers tells the story of Ellsberg’s life and the Pentagon Papers. Directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, the film is required viewing for anyone interested in the Vietnam War. The movie reveals much about the controversies on the home front as well as the lies told by U.S. leaders.

    The documentary approaches the tale by letting Ellsberg and others report the story from first-hand accounts (while Nixon’s perspective only comes through in recordings made at the White House). As much as you think you might know about Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, you likely will learn new information from the film.

    For example, we see the role that Ellsberg’s wife played in his decisions. We also learn that Egil Krogh — one of the “White House Plumbers” involved in breaking into the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist — came to see Ellsberg as a principled man.

    The Most Dangerous Man in America takes the position that Ellsberg is an American hero who was willing to go to prison if necessary to try to end an unjust war. While some may disagree with the admiring portrayal, the lessons from the Pentagon Papers still resonate in modern times as we still face issues like Edward Snowden’s release of documents. Thus, the story of Daniel Ellsberg is just as relevant today as it was in the 1970s.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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