George M. Cohan Statue Unveiled in Providence
Rhode Island's Legendary and Patriotic Songwriter is Honored
Jul 5, 2009
"Ladies and gentlemen, my mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you," was George M. Cohan's signature farewell when "The Four Cohans" exited a stage. The early-1900s, Irish-American vaudeville performers lived out of suitcases as they traveled across the country and gained success. George, however, went on to become a renowned entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, director and producer. He was heralded as "The Man Who Owns Broadway" and known as the father of the American musical comedy.
George M. Cohan Remembered in Providence, Rhode Island
But it took the City of Providence, which is Cohan's birthplace, 131 years to properly thank him for his flag-waving patriotic and prolific contribution to America's musical past. And had it not been for transplanted New Yorkers, Judi and Sy Dill, and the ad hoc committee they formed to honor him, the event might not have happened. Their one-year effort resulted in a fitting statue to commemorate the songwriter's birth that occurred in Providence. His birth certificate reads July 3, 1878, however, the family claimed that was a clerical error. Cohan always celebrated his birthday on the Fourth of July.
The bronze statue, from waist up, depicts Cohan with a Derby in his raised hand, and an expression that looks like he's ready to sing. Renowned sculptor Robert Shure created the likeness that rests on a granite base. The newly named George M. Cohan Plaza is at the corner of Wickenden and Governor streets and nearby the performer's first home. The Fox Point neighborhood is the city's oldest with colonial roots dating from the mid-1600s. During Cohan's era, the multi-family homes housed Irish immigrants, many of them crammed into cold-water flats.
George M. Cohan is Honored in New York City
In his later years, Cohan was staunchly anti-union and grew disenchanted with Broadway's formation of Actors' Equity. He was a founding member of the non-union American Society of Composers, Authors and Producers (ASCAP). And despite little formal education, he wrote about 500 songs and contributed to countless plays and musicals.
After his death, a memorial committee comprised of Irving Berlin and Oscar Hammerstein sanctioned a George M. Cohan full-size statue to be placed in Times Square. It was unveiled in 1957 at the southern end of the triangle between West 45th and West 47th Streets known as Father Duffy Square. Give my regards to Broadway is the inscription, which refers to a Cohan song. To date, he is the only actor to have a statue on Broadway.
James Cagney, President Roosevelt and George M. Cohan
Yankee Doodle Dandy, staring song-and-dance man James Cagney, is a dazzling two-hour movie that depicts Cohan's life of bravado and talent. The musical won Cagney a Best Actor Academy Award and the approval of Cohan. Made in 1941, it was half finished when Pearl Harbor occurred, which transformed the movie message to one with a strong patriotic viewpoint. Over There and You're a Grand Old Flag are some of the songs heard in the movie.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt awarded Cohan the prestigious Congressional Medal of Honor for Over There that undoubtedly boosted enlistments. Although Cohan was anti-Roosevelt, he was the first American songwriter to receive the honor. Notable past recipients are George Washington, Thomas Edison and Winston Churchill.
George M. Cohan died on November 5, 1942 in New York City. He had married twice and fathered four children. The movie version of his life has one wife, which spared Irish-Catholic Cohan the stigma of a divorced man. He is buried with his mother, father and sister in the Bronx's Woodlawn Cemetery.
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