Four Cohans on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Four Cohans was a late 19th-century American
The Four Cohans was a late 19th-century American vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
family act that introduced 20th-century Broadway legend George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer.
Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...
to show business. It consisted of father Jeremiah "Jere" Cohan (1848–1917), mother Helen "Nellie" Costigan Cohan (1854–1928), daughter Josephine "Josie" Cohan Niblo (1876–1916), and son George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer.
Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...
(1878–1942).
By the late 1890s, when the team had become a successful and well-established act in the vaudeville circuits across the country, George Cohan started giving his famous curtain-call speech: " dies and gentlemen, my father thanks you, my mother thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you".
The act disbanded in 1900 when George left vaudeville for Broadway.
Josie, who died of heart disease at a young age, was married to Fred Niblo Sr. (1874–1948), an important director of silent films
A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...
, including '' Ben Hur'' (1925), and a founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...
. Their son, Fred Niblo Jr. (1903–1973) was an Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-nominated screenwriter.
The Four Cohans were reunited after George's death in 1942 at the family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York.
References
{{reflist American vaudeville performers Cohan family