Yankee Doodle Dandy

Yankee Doodle Dandy is a 1942 biographical film about George M. Cohan, starring James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Richard Whorf, Irene Manning, George Tobias, Rosemary DeCamp and Jeanne Cagney.

Urban Legend

A popular myth about this movie, or at least a stretching of the truth, was that it was written in response to accusations that James Cagney was a communist. The story is as follows: Cagney learns that he is in danger of being blacklisted for having communist sympathies. Therefore, he decides to make the most jingoistic movie he possibly can, and thus clears his name. This myth as stated has its chronology a bit askew, as the McCarthy Era did not begin until the early 1950s. Also the Second Red Scare did not begin until the late 1940s, well after the film was made. In other versions of this legend either Robert Buckner or Edmund Joseph were the accused.

Related Topics:
James Cagney - Communist - Blacklisted - Jingoistic - McCarthy Era - Second Red Scare - Robert Buckner - Edmund Joseph

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The DVD specials discuss this story in some detail. There was a Congressman named Martin Dies who was investigating possible communist influence in Hollywood in 1940, and he in fact had a cordial meeting with Cagney in which the actor reassured him that, although he was a liberal and supported Roosevelt's New Deal, he was also a patriot who had nothing to do with communism. That was the end of it, except that James' producer-brother William did see the Cohan story as a good opportunity to dispel any possible concerns about Cagney's loyalty. It was not written in response to the Dies investigation, as Cohan himself had been shopping his own story around for awhile before Jack L. Warner bought the rights, and Cohan retained final approval on all aspects of the film.

Related Topics:
Martin Dies - 1940 - New Deal - Jack L. Warner

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