Giving his regards

At the very edge of the north side of 46^th Street, looking south stands a bronze statute of performer and songwriter George M. Cohan. Cohan is hailed for making Broadway internationally famous. He was known as a performer who bridged the gap between vaudeville and the legitimate theater. He was also a songwriter. His songs, like "Give my regards to Broadway," were a tribute to the world that he loved. The Astor on Broadway and 45^th Street was one of his feature houses.

Born in 1878, Cohan had little formal schooling, but performed with his family’s vaudeville act from a young age. In 1904, he had his first great hit with the musical "Little Johnny Jones" which spawned the still-famous song "The Yankee Doodle Boy." It was in his 1906 hit "George Washington, Jr." that Cohan first paraded around the stage singing praise to the American flag he carried. He later came to be identified with this routine.

When theatrical performers began to unionize in 1919, Cohan is said to have lost interest in the theater. Yet he continued to fortify his acting career with successes like Eugene O'Neill 's "Ah, Wilderness!" in 1933. Remembered both for patriotic standards like, "You’re a Grand Old Flag," and superb acting, Cohan was the subject of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" a popular 1942 movie starring James Cagney as Cohan.

Cohan died in New York City in 1942. As his figure looks upon the block on which he spent much of his working life, his spirit and soul continue to embrace Times Square’s visitors and theatrical community.

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