Here's an amazing nine minutes from The Phantom President, a 1932 movie starring Jimmy Durante and George M. Cohan. That's right: George M. Cohan, the real James Cagney. Cohan was a great song writer ("Over There," "Give My Regards to Broadway," et al) and a popular entertainer and from all accounts, a pretty unpleasant guy to work around. Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, who did the songs for the movie, sure felt that way. The film was supposed to launch Cohan into a movie stardom that would supplant his then-fading stage career but audiences did not warm to him on the screen.
The film stands as our best chance to get a look at the legendary George M. and here we see him singing and dancing a number about how we should all wave the flag and celebrate the fact that we're all free men. And just to drive the point home, he performs the number in blackface. Take a look and thank Shelly Goldstein for telling me about it…
