GEORGE M. COHAN

George M. Cohan, actor, manager, and playwright, was born in Providence. R. I., July 4, 1878, where, ten years later, he made his professional debut in a play written by his father, Jerry Cohan, and of which his mother, Helen Cohan, was the business manager and treasurer. A little later in the same season he began his musical career as a boy violin soloist in Haverstraw, N. Y. For two seasons following he toured the country with his father, mother, and sister in a play written by his father, called "The Two Barneys." The season of 1890 found George playing the Boy in "Peck's Bad Boy:' after which the family entered the vaudeville field and became famous as "The Four Cohans." From this time on, Mr. Cohan's fame was assured. He turned out vaudeville sketches and songs with such rapidity that his versatility and untiring efforts caused amazement.

His first real big effort as a play writer was "The Governor's Son" which for two seasons proved one of the most popular musical attractions in America. Mr. Cohan followed this success with another , "Running for Office." It was during the last season of this play that Mr. Cohan decided to become an independent star. For this tour he wrote "Little Johnny Jones" and became known as "The Yankee Doodle Comedian."' He then wrote and produced "Forty-five Minutes from Broadway,"' which attained such immense popularity that two companies were sent on tour. This success was followed that same season by "George Washington, Jr.," in which Mr. Cohan starred for a season and a half. During this time, while playing every night and two matinees a week, Mr. Cohan rewrote "The Governor's Son,"' which he presented on the Amsterdam roof in New York during the summer of 1906. For this production he composed, new songs. Last year he busied himself on another manuscript, with the result that "Fifty Miles from Boston" was cradled at Springfield, Mass, March 28. As soon as "Fifty Miles from Boston" was fairly launched, Mr. Cohan immediately started work on a summer entertainment for the Amsterdam Theatre roof, which resulted in "The Honeymooners," a three-act musical farce, which was first presented at Atlantic City May 29, and enjoyed an all-summer run in New York. During this engagement, in his spare moments Mr. Cohan finished "The Talk of New York"" a new play for Victor Moore. Having been divorced from Ethel Levey, his former wife, Mr. Cohan married Agnes Nolan, of Brookline, Mass" formerly a member of his company, June 29, 1907.