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George M. Cohan Plaza

George Michael Cohan (pronounced Coe-han; July 3, 1878 – November 5, 1942), known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer.

Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in vaudeville as one of the "The Four Cohans." Before long, he was writing songs and sketches, and he went on to write some 500 songs during his lifetime.[1] He also wrote, produced, and starred in many Broadway musicals. Cohan's many popular songs include "Over There", "Give My Regards to Broadway", "The Yankee Doodle Boy", and "You're a Grand Old Flag". Beginning with Little Johnny Jones in 1904, he wrote and appeared in more than three dozen shows that were produced on Broadway. He displayed remarkable theatrical longevity, continuing to perform as a headline artist until 1940. Cohan also appeared in films, including The Phantom President in 1932. Off stage, he was one of the founders of ASCAP.

Known in the decade before World War I as "the man who owned Broadway," he is considered the father of American musical comedy.  His life and music were depicted in the Academy Award-winning film Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and the 1968 musical George M!. A statue of Cohan is in Times Square in New York City.

On July 3, 2009, a bronze bust of Cohan was unveiled at the corner of Wickenden and Governor Streets in the Fox Point neighborhood in Providence, a few blocks from where the cold-water flat he was born in once stood. The inscription under the sculpture, by artist Robert Shure, reads (in part): "Son of Providence/Father of the Broadway Musical Comedy." The city renamed the corner the George M. Cohan Plaza. The unveiling ceremony also included the presentation of a planned annual George M. Cohan Award for Excellence in Art & Culture. The first award went to Curt Columbus, the artistic director of Trinity Repertory Company, a Tony award-winning theater group which performs in the former Majestic Theater building in Providence where Cohan once performed with his family