WHERE
DID CAGNEY GET THOSE STEPS?
Today
is for anyone who has ever watched James
Cagney in the movie "Yankee Doodle
Dandy." (We figure that's pretty much
everyone.)
You'll
be happy to know that we're going to tell
you precisely where Cagney got that
eccentric dance style he uses when he
performs in the title tune.
But,
naturally, first things first:
We
have always wondered what inspired those
quirky dance moves James Cagney performs as
George M. Cohan in "Yankee Doodle Dandy."
So,
while watching hundreds of dance numbers in
preparation for this calendar, we came
across some very rare footage of a
"black-faced" George M. Cohan in a scene
from "The Phantom President," a movie with
Jimmy Durante and Claudette Colbert from
1932.
At
the 1 minute 43 second (1:43) point in this
video clip, Cohan dances and -- damn -- if
he doesn't do many of the steps Cagney does when
imitating Cohan in "Yankee Doodle Dandy":
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