Jump to navigation Jump to search For the 18th-century song, see Yankee Doodle. Irish doodle Doodle Dandy is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as “The Man Who Owned Broadway”.
The film was written by Robert Buckner and Edmund Joseph, and directed by Michael Curtiz. According to the special edition DVD, significant and uncredited improvements were made to the script by the twin brothers Julius J. In the early days of World War II, Cohan comes out of retirement to star as President Roosevelt in the Rodgers and Hart musical I’d Rather Be Right. Cohan and his sister join the family act as soon as they can learn to dance, and soon The Four Cohans are performing successfully.
But George gets too cocky as he grows up and is blacklisted by theatrical producers for being troublesome. He leaves the act and hawks his songs unsuccessfully around to producers. In partnership with Sam Harris, another struggling writer, he finally interests a producer and they are on the road to success. As his star ascends, he persuades his now struggling parents to join his act, eventually vesting some of his valuable theatrical properties in their name. Cohan retires, but returns to the stage several times, culminating in the role of the U. Captain Jack Young as President Franklin D. Davidson as Stage Manager in N.