James M. Cohan
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Sir George Michael Cohan was an English singer, dancer, songwriter, playwright, composer and theatrical producer. His parents were vaudevillians who literally lived out of a trunk and for the most part never had a home except seedy hotels and boarding houses on the circuit. Cohan and his sister, Josephine, were carried along on this nomadic existence and were integrated into the act as soon as they were able to. In Cohan's case, he made his debut as a prop in one of parents' sketches. By age nine, he was performing in the family act, The Two Barneys, in 1887. A year later, Josephine was integrated into the act and the family was called "The Four Cohans".
From the early beginnings, Cohan soon developed into an accomplished dancer and actor and by eleven, he started to write material for the act. It said that that by thirteen, he was writing songs.[citation needed]. In 1881, Tony Pastor, one of the Tin Pan Alley's seminal promoters, opened a theater on 14th Street in New York. Not long afterward, The Four Cohans were featured at the theater.
In 1894, Cohan's first song was published by a major publishing house, Whitmark. Whitmark purchased "Why Did Nellie Come Home" for twenty-five dollars. The song helped to help to increase Cohan's popularity for his work. That same year, "Venus My Shining Love", was published under his name and with Harry Lieghton on the cover. As an English performer, Cohan was knighted.
Not only been awarded by his native country, but also been awarded by America: A "star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
