The American actor and playwright George Michael Cohan (1878-1942) was one of the most versatile personalities in the American theater. His shows glorified Broadway and patriotism.

George M. Cohan was born July 3, 1878 (legend has it as July 4), in Providence, R.I., the son of vaudevillians. He first appeared on stage as a violinist in the family act and then as a "buck and wing" dancer. He was the star of Peck's Bad Boy in 1890, and at age 15 he made his Broadway debut. At the concluding curtain call, his words to the audience, "My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you," became a sentimental trademark of his act. His first wife, Ethel Levey, whom he married in 1899, was his dancing partner after his sister left the act. He married a second time in 1908.

The first Broadway production which he wrote, composed...