Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

In director Michael Curtiz' classic musical biopic:

• the sentimental legend of super-patriot and cocky Irishman-songwriter George M. Cohan (Oscar-winning James Cagney), with his trademark singing, strutting and wall-climbing as a 'Yankee Doodle Boy' during "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy"
• his tap-dancing sequence in a spotlight in the large production number "Give My Regards to Broadway"
• his trademark curtain call line: "Ladies and gentlemen, my mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you"
• the scene of Cohan and his wife Mary (Joan Leslie) singing "Mary" at the piano together
• his energetic dancing style in "You're a Grand Old Flag"
• George's 'final curtain call' death scene with father Jerry (Walter Huston) at his deathbed
• his amazing, jaunty dance down the White House stairs after visiting with President Roosevelt (Jack Young) with a spontaneous, impromptu buck-wings tap dance midway
• his joining a parade to march in step with troops and civilians down Pennsylvania Avenue to "Over There" in the stirring finale