GEORGE M. COHAN WEDS.
Married to Actress Agnes Nolan by a Jersey Justice of the Peace.
George M. Cohan, who is playing in "The Honeymooners" on the roof of the New Amsterdam Theatre, was married to Agnes Nolan of Brookline, Mass., at Freehold, N. J., yesterday by a Justice of the Peace. The wedding had been announced for July 4, but on Monday last the couple made their arrangements for an earlier marriage. Miss Nolan, who is 22 years old, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Nolan. For three years she had been on the stage .... ago she played in "George Washington, Jr."
An automobile accident last Monday detained the couple, who were taking a short trip, for several hours in Freehold, and during that time they decided to get married. They returned to Freehold yesterday and were married by the Justice. Samuel Harris, Mr. Cohan's partner, and Alice Nolan, a sister of the bride, were the only witnesses. The couple returned to New York in an automobile, reaching the city in time for a dinner given them at their new apartments in Thirty-fifth Street by Mr. Harris. Last night Mr. Cohan played his regular part in "The Honeymooners. On his first appearance he was loudly applauded. He made a brief speech.
Mr. Cohan's first wife was Ethel Levy. They were divorced last February.Composer, Producer, Entertainer, Actor. He is best remembered for his popular World War I morale songs "Over There" and "You're a Grand Old Flag," as well as his numerous Broadway plays. He was often referred to as the greatest single figure the American theater ever produced, as a player, playwright, actor, composer, and producer, and is considered the father of American musical comedy and "The Man Who Owned Broadway." Born to Irish Catholic parents who were traveling vaudeville performers, he learned to dance and sing soon after he could walk and talk. He was the fourth member of the family vaudeville act which included his parents and older sister who toured from 1890 to 1901. While in his teens, he began writing skits and songs for the family act and sold his first songs to a national publisher in 1893. In 1901, he wrote, directed, and produced his first Broadway musical,
The Governor's Son, which was followed in 1904 with his first big Broadway hit,
Little Johnny Jones, featuring his famous tunes "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "The Yankee Doodle Boy." He soon became one of the leading Tin Pan Alley songwriters with around 300 published songs to his credit that were noted for their catchy melodies and clever lyrics, including his major hit songs "Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway," "Mary Is a Grand Old Name," "The Warmest Baby in the Bunch," "Life's a Funny Proposition After All," "I Want to Hear a Yankee Doodle Tune," "You Won't Do Any Business If You Haven't Got a Band," "The Small Town Gal," "I'm Mighty Glad I'm Living, That's All," "That Haunting Melody," "Always Leave Them Laughing When You Say Goodbye," and his World War I (WWI) morale songs "Over There" and "You're a Grand Old Flag." From 1904 to 1920, he wrote and produced more than 50 Broadway musicals and plays with his friend
Sam H. Harris, including
Give My Regards to Broadway and
Going Up. In 1914, he became one of the founding members of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He was President of the Catholic Actors Guild of America (CAGA). In 1925, he published his autobiography,
Twenty Years on Broadway and the Years It Took To Get There. His acting career included some early silent films, and, in 1930, he appeared in
The Song and Dance Man which was his tribute to vaudeville and his father. He also starred in the films
The Phantom President (1932),
Ah, Wilderness! (1933),
Gambling (1934, now a lost film) and in
Rodgers and
Hart's musical
I'd Rather Be Right (1937), in which he played the role of a song-and-dance President
Franklin D. Roosevelt. On June 29, 1936, President Roosevelt awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal for his contributions to World War I morale, becoming the first person in any artistic field to be selected for this honor. In 1937, he reunited with Sam H. Harris to produce the play
Fulton of Oak Falls, in which he also starred. In 1942, a musical biographical film of Cohan,
Yankee Doodle Dandy, was released, and
James Cagney's performance in the title role earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film was privately screened for Cohan as he battled the last stages of abdominal cancer, from which he died at his Manhattan apartment in New York City, at the age of 64. In 1959, a bronze statue of Cohan was dedicated in Times Square at Broadway and 46th Street in Manhattan, and it remains the only statue of an actor on Broadway. The 1968 Broadway musical
George M! was based on his life, the biggest Broadway star of his time. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and into the American Folklore Hall of Fame in 2003. He also received a star on the renowned Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6734 Hollywood Blvd. As an interesting note, he won a landmark decision against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1930 that allowed for the federal income tax deduction of his business travel and entertainment expenses, known today as the "Cohan Rule" and is frequently cited in tax cases.
