Happy Birthday: James Cagney!

James Cagney, Jr. (July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986), he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." Cagney's seventh film, The Public Enemy, became one of the most influential gangster movies of the period. Notable for its famous grapefruit scene.



In 1938, he received his first Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for Angels with Dirty Faces, before winning in 1942 for his portrayal of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy. He was nominated a third time in 1955 for Love Me or Leave Me. Cagney retired for 20 years in 1961, spending time on his farm before returning for a part in the film, Ragtime after a stroke.

I'm A Yankee Doodle Dandy

Since we were so disappointed about nor going to our various family Christmases, and with nothing planned, that we had to open our present A.K.A a film projector. We have watched North By Northwest, Star Wars: A New  Hope, and Yankee Doodle Dandy. After watching James Cagney's yet again spot-on performance as the real life singer-songwriter-playwright-dancer-actor-patriot George M. Cohan, he knocked William Holden out of his place in my top 10 actors list. With some rearranging it put him in 4th place. Here is the review.

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Cast:

• James Cagney as George M. Cohan
• Joan Leslie as Mary Cohan
• Walter Huston as Jerry Cohan
• Eddie Foy, Jr. as Eddie Foy
• Richard Whorf as Sam Harris
• Irene Manning as Fay Templeton
• George Tobias as Dietz

Plot:
WW2 has recently started and coaxed out of retirement by his devoted wife, Mary, aging theatrical star and composer George M. Cohan is playing Franklin Roosevelt in a new musical "I'd Rather be Right Than Be President". One night he gets a telegram from the president asking him to go and see Roosevelt at the White House. Still theatrical in his old age, his immediate reaction is that he is to be shot at sunrise. When he gets there he is pleasantly surprised to meet a Cohan enthusiast who wants to hear his life story...
~~~Curvy fade into flashback~~~
It's 1878 and on the 4th of July baby George Micheal Cohan is being born. As soon as he could walk and talk he joined his family in their act as a dancer/singer. "The Three Cohans" soon became four as George's mother Nellie had another baby named Josie. They toured the country playing in vaudeville shows. As George says, "They kept adding new stars to the flag and The Four Cohans kept rushing out to meet them."

One month they all get jobs in the new show "Peck's Bad Boy", and George is cast as the lead. After finishing the play with the line, "But I can still lick any kid in town!" he becomes a nightmare with his showing off, and when he goes out to meet some boys backstage he is severely beaten up. Sure he has had the beating he deserves, Jerry Cohan leaves spanking him for a while. A few minutes after, big-time producer Mr. Albee comes to offer them a job, but is put of by George's narcissistic behaviour. Never the less, they get employment in theatres around the country. George meets and falls in love with young singer/dancer Mary, but after he instructs her to sing one of his songs on stage without permission, he is blacklisted by all theatres.

Auditioning a musical for musical producers Dietz and Goff

Partnered up with Sam Harris he produces hit musical after hit musical. Now a one man band with Josie married, Nellie dead and his father aging fast, he travels to see his father as he lies on his deathbed. In an attempt to comfort his father, he says his thank-you speech from the shows they did, "My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you," moments before he dies.

Now retired on a farm, George gets an offer from his old partner Sam Harris to star in a show about the president.
~~~Curvy fade into the present~~~
President Franklin Roosevelt presents him with the Congressional Gold Medal. Overcome with emotion, he tap dances down the stairs of the White House.

The Review:
If you want a good patriotic film this is the best you can do. Watching this on my screen with the perspective of a few years since I last watched the film, I realized just how incredible James Cagney's performance is. I cried my way through Jerry's death scene and felt extremely emotional during "It's a grand ol' flag". The direction is really good, It's by Micheal Curtiz who I think is generally known to be a trustworthy good filmmaker. Another amazing performance is that of Joan Leslie who was only 17 when she played opposite 43 year old Cagney.

~Bette

Love Me Or Leave Me

This is title of one of my favourite gangster-showbiz movies, and I suppose the same could be said of it's two main stars. You either love em'... or leave em'. Said stars are Doris Day and Jimmy Cagney. I guess this could be said more of Doris than Jimmy and... Oh my goodness, I have to interupt the post just to tell y'all that... IT'S SNOWING!!! That's big in England, and it's not just little flakes, IT'S BIG ONES!!! Yay!!!

Taken in my kitchen (with the french window open, much to my family's dismay ;D)

A-N-Y-W-A-Y... There are Doris Day obsessives, and Doris Day hate groups. I love her. She is so moving in this, and The Man Who Knew Too Much - so funny in things like Send Me No Flowers and Pillow Talk - and has one of my favourite singing voices. Here is the review. But first, R.I.P to Blake Edwards: director of the stupendous Pink Panther movies, and Husband to my beloved Julie Andrews.

Love Me Or Leave Me
Cast:

• James Cagney  as gangster Martin Snyder
•  Doris Day as Ruth Etting (whose life the bio-pic is based upon)
• Cameron Mitchell as Ruth's pianist, Myrl Alderman

Plot:
(This film is in colour, but all the pics I liked from it are in black and white. No change there!)
Ruth Etting is a dancer in a "rent a dancer" club (not unlike in Sweet Charity), but yearns for a career in singing. One night after she kicks a man in the leg for dancing "innapropriately" with her, she is fired. She then meets Martin Snyder, owner of a laundrey service, who offers to get her a job at a club he's "involved" with. She jumps at the oppertunity. As she had told him of her singing aspirations, she had assumed it would be a singing job. It was as a backup dancer. Quite angry, she tells Martin that she wanted a job as a singer he replies with "Ya said j'a wanned ta be awn stage, didn't cha?!".

He agrees to let her rehearse with the pianist, Myrl Alderman, to train. One day he arranges for her to be the announcer-singer for the main artist, but she is still not satisfied. She gets the chance to sing as the main act. From then on it's up, up, up for Ruth's career. One day she is offered a job in The Zigfield Follies to sing "Shakin' The Blues Away" amoung other classics.

This goes well, until Martin has a fight with a stage-hand and takes her out of the show. She manages to get her way to Hollywood through her own radio show. Now married to Snyder, Ruth grows more and more unhappy. Martin really loves her, despite his attitude, but she is too ambitous. And in love with her piano player...

The Review:
This film is really great. Great songs and great performances. The only thing I have to say against it, is that they don't show how much Martin loves her enough. The movie could have done with that. I know it's just a fictionalized bio-pic, but I still wanted Cagney to have more tender scenes than he did. I really find Jimmy Cagney amazing in this film. I seem to be forever excusing someone of their accused one-dimensional-ness, but Jimmy Cagney is an amazing singer and dancer! In Yankee Doodle Dandy (one of my favourite musicals) he does both amazingly. Just thought I'd tell ya that. Also, whenever I see clips of Bette Davis and him in movies together, it astounds me how similar their speech pattern and habits are. I found this Bette Davis blooper video (sorry, no embeding code! I think I've posted this before, but it's really cool.) a while ago. It's so funny. There are some bits with her and Jimmy Cagney in them, but beware, there is quite a bit of strong language from Miss Davis!

Can't wait for Christmas. I can't remember if I've told you all this, but we are getting a film projector for Christmas, and we are having a double bill of Christmas movie showings on Christmas Eve on it (if we didn't open it on Christmas Eve we wouldn't be able to watch Christmas Movies!), Meet Me In St. Louis at 4:30ish, and It's A Wonderful Life at 7:30ish. Can't wait!

~Bette

Happy Birthday: James Cagney!

James Cagney, first performing role was dancing dressed as a woman in the chorus line of the 1919 revue Every Sailor. He spent several years in vaudeville as a hoofer and comedian until his first major acting role in 1925. He performed in many roles, receiving good reviews before landing the lead in the 1929 play Penny Arcade. After rave reviews for his acting, Warner's signed him on to reprise his role. Over the years, Cagney won major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys."



Later in life Cagney became a diabetic and Zimmerman then took it upon herself to take care of Cagney, preparing his meals to reduce his blood triglyceride level. She was successful, that Cagney made a rare public appearance at his AFI Lifetime Achievement award ceremony in 1974 he had lost 20 pounds and his vision had improved. The ceremony was opened by Charlton Heston and he was introduced by Frank Sinatra, the ceremony was attended by so many Hollywood stars—said to be more than for any event in history—that one columnist wrote at the time that a bomb in the dining room would have brought about the end of the movie industry. During his acceptance speech, Cagney lightly teased impressionist Frank Gorshin, saying, "Oh, Frankie, I never said 'MMMMmmmm, you dirty rat!' What I actually said was 'Judy, Judy, Judy!" which was one of Cary Grant's famous misquotations.