The Real Deal
On Friday, I posted here a TV adaptation of the Broadway musical George M! with Joel Grey recreating his Tony-nominated performance as George M. Cohan. I thought this way the absolutely appropriate way to follow-up/
This may be the only existent footage of George M. Cohan himself. And it’s him singing a verse from one of his classic songs, “Over There.” Don’t be fooled by the notation saying it’s on the Ed Sullivan Show. It may have been shown on that program in 1949, but it was filmed years before, I believe in 1940 at an event in San Francisco called “A Cavalcade of American Music.”
UPDATE: Reader Brian McNicholl wrote to explain that the clip comes from newsreel footage of Cohan in Providence, Rhode Island in 1934. It was "when he came to that town to launch the national tour of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness. Cohan, as you know, starred in it on B'way and then took it on tour the following year."
By the way, the logistics of the play's tour are a bit unclear. While Cohan did tour with Ah, Wilderness after it closed on Broadway in June, 1934 -- Will Rogers actually starred in the play on the road before then, opening in San Francisco the month before, on May 1, 1934. (Perhaps they did East Coast and West Coast tours?) Rogers was scheduled to tour with the show, but for a specific reason finished his run in San Francisco but didn't continue on with the show. In fact, I wrote about that in an article, because it's a fascinating story and one that's even important in pop culture. You can read about it here.
It's still possible (in fact, likely) that this footage below was shown on The Ed Sullivan Show, perhaps as part of some tribute years later. After all, the video was posted by the official Ed Sullivan show account and has their logo on it. In any case, it's good to know its provenance. Brian also wrote that there is other footage of Cohan, which I'm not surprised to know. I thought it unlikely that there would only be one piece of film of Cohan. He says there is other footage of Cohan at a piano and singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Give My Regards to Broadway" for WWI vets. While I can't find that, he did sent to link to Cohan being interviewed and doing a scene from the Rogers and Hart musical, "I'd Rather Be Right." I'll post that later.
For now, here is George M. Cohan singing "Over There."
As a bonus, here is in what I think is the only studio recording of Cohan of the same song, made in 1936 for a radio broadcast. Though it’s also him singing “Over There,” I include it’s longer and also because he makes some comments before singing. There’s a bit of an introduction first by the host, so if you want to skip that you can jump to the :50-mark.
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