May 29 1942 

Written by Robert Bruckner and Edmund Joseph, with uncredited input from Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein, Michael Curtiz's Yankee Doodle Dandy premieres in New York. In a dazzling Academy Award winning performance, James Cagney is George M. Cohan, the multi-talented singer, songwriter, dancer, actor and producer who "owned Broadway" in the first half of the 20th century, and came to be personified as the father of American musical comedy. Told in flashback, the showman's glittering career comes to vivid life through Cagney's extraordinary tap-dancing, strutting performance. Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Rosemary DeCamp and Eddie Foy Jr. co-star.

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