As regular readers of this magazine will know, there are few aspects of American history where Irish names have not figured prominently and the history of US theatre is no different. Indeed, a case could be made that no other aspect of the American experience has so felt the influence of the Irish than that of entertainment. Whether it was the stirring stage performances of James O'Neill (Eugene O'Neill's father) as the Count of Monte Cristo, a role that made him the most widely recognized face of 19th Century theatre or the sultry and recalcitrant persona exuded by Maureen O'Hara in the last century, there has hardly been a time since American theatre's genesis that Irish names have not been amongst the most well known faces in the genre. Our subject is quite possibly the most renowned of all the Irish who dared to tread the boards as few carried the natural charisma and charm that saw Fmmy Cagney ascend to cinematic heights that utterly belied his humble beginnings.

Born on July 17, 1899 (Warner Brothers would later subtract five years from his age), James Francis Cagney came into this world in a tiny dwelling above the small bar his father owned on the corner of Avenue D and 8 Street. Within a year, his alcoholic father had lost his holding due to his chronic drinking and so the family moved to the slightly more affluent Yorkville district of Manhattan where they found a small apartment at 429, East 78 Street. Although his father was extremely loving to his children, his alcoholic tendencies meant that he often spent long hours and even days away from his family consorting with fellow drinkers, making Cagney's mother, Carolyn, the glue that kept the family together. Of his father Cagney once recounted that he "used to put it away, but he was a quiet drinker. You never knew he had it in him except by the angle of his hat. He would always tip his hat a little over one eye. Nonetheless the young Cagney idolized his father and listened intently as he recalled tales of his many fights as an amateur boxer both in the ring and on the mean streets of Manhattan.

Boxing was one of the few skills that his father passed on to him and young James, despite or perhaps because of his diminutive height, became a fighter of some repute in the neighborhood. Often he could be found watching fights involving the older kids of the area, standing silently and observing their footwork and later going out and practicing until he perfected their pugilistic methods. He ran with a tough crowd and, by virtue of his reputation, was often the first of his comrades to raise his fists when the time came to teach someone a lesson. In such bleak surrounds it was not hard for young boys to get in trouble and he would later recall days spent engaged in acts of vandalism, petty theft or even having stone-throwing competitions with his friends to see who could knock the lights of police cars. In these early days even Cagney must have felt that the only time he would ever have to perform in front of an audience would be to participate in a police line-up.

His mother Carolyn felt very differently and spent long hours with her children attempting to.drill into them the virtues that: she felt offered her children an escape from the streets and poverty. She continually encouraged them in their efforts to gain an education and in a time when most Irish families sent their children to work full-time at an early age to relieve poverty, Carolyn kept her children at school even if it meant going hungry. She (and her husband when he was present) also taught her children about their Irish heritage and many evenings were spent telling dancing, singing Irish songs and telling forgotten tales of the old country.

Cagney attended high school at Stuyvesant where teachers remembered him as a bright, if somewhat distracted, student whose mind seemed to be on the streets with his chums even as he attended class. The fact that James learned to speak fluent Yiddish from his Jewish friends by age twelve surely attests to a mind that was at least fertile if not overly taxed. Although he held a number of part time jobs whilst at school, such as bell hop at the Friar's Club, Cagney longed to become a real man in the working world and was bitterly disappointed when his mother coaxed him into entering Columbia University upon completing high school in 1917. He signed on for a course in fine arts and, although he enjoyed his studies, never really mingled with any of his more affluent classmates and viewed their participation in fraternities and pursuit of materialistic goals as pure folly. He was, as he would remain throughout his career, the consummate outsider, never letting people into his thoughts and refusing to be drawn into cliques of any kind. Additionally Ca~7ley had to bear the cumbersome burden of watching his father's health deteriorate to the point that an ambulance would often call to the family home after one of his binges. In 1918 a strain of influenza, such as the world has never seen before or since, swept the globe leaving tens of millions dead before it was subdued. One of its many victims was Cagney's father who succumbed in the fall of 1918 at the age of 42 and with his death died any indinationJames had to finish his studies.

The next couple of years were spent drifting in and out of such varied jobs as waiter, bouncer, draftsman and librarian custodian as he tried to keep food on the table for his family, replete with newborn baby sister and also provide money for his older brother Harry who was attending med school. For a while it appeared that James Francis Cagney would simply be another anonymous face attempting to eke out a subsistent living on these unforgiving streets, but Carolyn, who had watched the joy on her son's face as he appeared in some plays whilst taking a public speaking course as Lennox Hill Settlement house, steadfastly refused to allow him to accept such a fate. She reminded him of how happy he had been in these amateur productions and encouraged him to pursue a course in acting if it was truly the direction he wanted to move with his life.

Having dropped out of Columbia University upon the death of his father in 1918, James Cagney suffered through a series of menial jobs before a fellow employee at Wanamaker's informed him of an opening that had presented itself in vaudeville company "Keith's 86th Street Theatre" as the result of an actor quiffing at the last moment. Desperate for a replacement, the company readily hired the ambitious, if not overly refined Cagney who commenced his theatrical odyssey for the handsome wage of $35 per week. His elation at joining vaudeville would not last long as he found out that he was to play the part of a female impersonator in the farcical "Every Sailor". The consummate "man's man", Cagney cursed heartily each night at the thought of donning garish women's clothes, but nonetheless stuck with the play for it's eight week run. The experience did, however, sour him somewhat on his theatrical ambitions leading him to leave the company in favor of a more secure and manly position with a brokerage house on Broad Street, Manhattan. His reticence would not last long and by 1920 Cagney was back scouring Manhattan's burgeoning theatre district in search of another part. After several auditions, he was hired to play a small role in "Fitter Patter" marking his Broadway debut. The play was also notable for the fact that it was while working on this production that a lascivious young dancer named Frances Willard Vernon caught Cagney's eye.

Cagney pursued Frances or "Bill" as he affectionately called her, until the young woman requited his emotions and the two married in 1922. She would remain with him for the rest of his life.

What followed tested the mettle of the young couple's aspirations as they sought the elusive "big break" that would mark their transition from struggling actors to celebritydom. The pair made a naively ambitious move to Hollywood shortly after they were married but soon returned to New York when they failed miserably to find work. Undaunted, they settled upon a return to vaudeville and took parts in the play "Out Of Town Papers", which travelled the country. Again adversity made the experience an unpleasant one for Cagney as he and his wife endured rather spartan living conditions, a demanding schedule and, for Cagney personally, the frustration of Southern audiences being thoroughly unable to understand his heavy New York accent.

After a series of forgettable productions, in 1925 Cagney secured a breakthrough role as Little Red in the play "Outside Looking In" though he would later recall in his typically modest manner that he only got the part because there were only two redhaired actors in New York at the time and the competition simply could not match Cagney's scarlet locks and freckles. Critics heaped praise upon his performance and Cagney believed that he had finally established himself as an up-andcoming talent. This view only seemed to be reinforced when he was hired to play the lead role in the London run of the play "Broadway" in 1926, but again their optimism was torpedoed by a last minute decision to replace him in favor of a more established name. Cagney's anger however was tempered by the knowledge that he was under contract and would thus earn a steady wage for six months regardless of the fact that he wasn't actually in the play.

1929 became the watershed year in Cagney's career when he landed a lead role opposite Joan Blondell in Marie Baumer's play, "Penny Arcade." The critics were near unanimous in their praise of both actors' portrayals and Hollywood, for the first time, began to hear whispers about some red headed kid whose intensity and talent as an actor demanded audience's attention. Curiously, Cagney owes his big break in movies to musical legend Al Jolson, who owned the film rights to the "Penny Arcade" and sold them to Warner Brothers along with his opinion that they hire Cagney and Blondell to replicate their roles on the big screen. Jack Warner agreed and sent Cagney a contract guaranteeing him $500 per week for the three-week duration of filming along with a round trip train ticket to Hollywood. A single fare would have sufficed for it would be years before Cagney return home. Upon realizing their new employee's considerable talent Warner Brothers signed Cagney to a longer contract and began showcasing his ability in small roles in such films as 'Doorway To Hell" and "The Millionaire." Cagney made the most of these small parts and often times would be the major topic amongst audiences as they left the cinema. In 1930 he was signed to participate in the William A Wellman directed "The Public Enemy". Though initially the lead role was given to Eddie Woods, Wellman soon realized that he had cast the wrong lead and urged his studio bosses to remove Woods in favor of Cagney There ensued a standoff between Wellman and Warner brothers as Woods' was engaged to the daughter of America's leading gossip columnist and the studio feared the acrimony such a move might bring. Wellman was insistent however and, after much debate coupled with behind the scenes wrangling; Cagney was duly given the lead role.

Filmed over the course of 26 days at a cost of only $150,000, "The Public Enemy"(or "Public Enemy" as it is more popularly known) became a national sensation grossing over $1 million at the box office and Cagney's tour-de-force portrayal of a reprehensible rumrunner made him a nationally recognized figure virtually overnight. He became amongst the most popular of all Warner Brothers stable of stars as he showcased his remarkable skill in such films as "Taxi" (where he danced on screen for the first time) and "The Crowd Roars", where he met his life-long friend and confidant, Frank McHugh.

Working almost continually Cagney began to get the feeling that Warner Brothers, as personified by its arrogant president Jack Warner, was taking advantage of his inexperience and became enraged when he discovered that other lesser Warner stars were earning $125,000 per movie, while he was on a meagre $400 per week irrespective of how many movies he made. It should be pointed out at this stage that Cagney, because of his humble beginnings, was an ardent socialist and believed that his job was no more important than the lowliest laborer on set. He simply wondered as to why movie moguls garnered the lion's share of profits when the real talent lay with the actors. His convictions meant that he also believed money should trickle down to all employees of the industry but New York had taught him: if you want something, you just have to get it yourself. Upon completing the film "Winner Takes All", Jimmy Cagney moved back to New York and announced at a press conference that if Hollywood refused to give him the respect he felt he was due, then he would quit right now.

Having walked out on Warner Brothers in 1931 James Cagney swore he would not make another film if the conditions of his employment were not improved. Jack Warner felt certain that Cagney would return hat-in-hand, begging for re-admittance to the world of the silver screen, so when six months elapsed it was a suitably disgruntled Warner that opened negotiations on the matter of a new contract. In September of 1932, the contract was completed with a stipulation that Cagney make only four films per year for which he would receive a wage of $3,000 per week that would rise each year and be no less than $4,500 per week by 1935.

In 1936 Cagney was back, first in the appropriately named, "Hard To Handle", followed by "The Footlight Parade", providing Cagney with an opportunity to exhibit his tap dancing and singing skills, which he did with considerable flair. During this time he also was reunited with another high profile co-star in the form of Mae Clarke. They reprised their roles as antagonistic lovers but this time instead of rubbing Clarke's face in a grapefruit, as he had famously improvised in "The Public Enemy", Cagney violently dragged his leading lady from her bed by the hair. In 1933, he starred with his original co-star Joan Blondel for a seventh time in the poorly received, "He Was Her Man", which was marred by an over-reliance on sentimemality and marked the final collaboration between the two.

This bump in the road of Cagney's, up until growth saw him move in a new direction in "Here Comes The Navy"; the first of eight films costarring with Pat O'Brien. The two men became close friends and along with fellow actors Frank McHugh, Robert Montgomery and, later, Mickey Rooney became known as "The Irish Mafia." When not making films, the men could usually be found socializing with each other away from the bright lights and obsequious nature of Tineseltown. Their love of culture, Ireland and the ordinary things in life made them amongst the most grounded stars that Hollywood has ever known. It was also around this time that O'Brien and Cagney's love of Ireland found a celluloid manifestation in the form of the rather formulaic "The Irish In Us."

By 1935 Cagney was again discontented with his studio overlords. Having just finished his only attempt at Shakespeare in the form of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", an exhausted Cagney was sent to begin shooting "Ceiling Zero." It proved all he could take and upon wrapping up filming, the star once again walked out. He claimed that he was making five films per year, even though his contract specified that he should make no more than four. Again Jack Warner sat on his laurels, confidant that Cagney would capitulate, and again Cagney proved the belligerent old mogul wrong. At this point in his career the actor was amongst the brightest of all Warner's properties and, with each of his last four movies grossing over $1,000,000, also amongst the most lucrative. Lacking a Cagney movie, the studio saw a precipitous drop-off in revenue over the final quarter of 1935 and launched legal proceedings in an effort to retain their star. The court found the contract to be invalid leaving Cagney free to join a new company, which he duly did by signing with the newly formed independent company, Grand National. When "Great Guy", his first movie with Grand National, found favor with both critics and moviegoers alike despite its tiny budget, Warner Brothers panicked and immediately re-signed Cagney to an unprecedented deal. For each film he now made, Cagney would receive $150,000 and an additional eye-popping 10% of profits.

In 1938, Cagney made the seminal "Angels With Dirty Faces" for Warner, even though, ironically, the movie's rights were initially sold to Grand National. He modelled his gangster character on that of a pimp he had known in his New York youth and garnered an Oscar nomination as well as the 1938 New York Film Critics award for best actor. Other notable works of this time were "The Fighting 69th "chronicling the story of New York's famed Irish regiment and "The Roaring Twenties", his first of many collaborations with director Raoul Walsh. It was in fact Walsh who made the astute observation that: "I learned quickly that one must never kill a Gable or a Flynn or a Peck or a Cooper, but when you killed a Cagney or a Bogart the audience and the box office loved it!"

In 1942 Cagney had his most famous hour when he re-enacted the life of composer George M, Cohan in the much loved "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Cohan himself had recommended Cagney for the part and, filled with the pervading wartime patriotism, Cagney did not disappoint in a performance that won him his first and only Oscar. Over the next decade, Cagney proved to be one of the most versatile and enduring of Hollywood's figures as he starred in a whole host of movies that would, in time, become part of the American consciousness. He was stunning in 'White Heat", under director Rauol Walsh and played a wily southern politician in 'A Lion Is On The Streets"; which also featured his brother Bill as producer, sister Jeanne as co-star and other brother Edward as story editor. "Love Me Or Leave Me" saw him return his tough-guy origins and his stellar performance secured him his third and final Oscar nomination. In the late Fifties, Cagney again looked to his Irish origins in "Shake Hands With The Devil", a film based on the Irish War of Independence and shot entirely on location in Ireland. In 1961 Cagney made the critically acclaimed comedy, "One, Two, Three" and consequently walked away from Hollywood at the peak of his career.

Over the next 20 years he steadfastly refused to return to acting claiming: "I don't have the enthusiasm for acting anymore. Acting is not the beginning and end of everything." Retiring to his farm in Millbrook, Duchess County, New York, Cagney spent his time rearing his two adopted children and spending time with his beloved wife. Despite several lucrative offers to return to the screen, including an offer of $150,000 for a ten second advertising slot, Cagney refused to be baited and pursued other hobbies such as reading poetry and painting. In 1981 he finally relented and made the benign "Rag Time" with Pat O'Brien before one final appearance as an aging Irish-American boxer in the 1984 TV movie, "Terrible Joe Moran."

James (he hated being called Jimmy) Cagney died on March 30, 1986 leaving behind a legacy as rich in its humanitarianism as anything he ever produced for the camera. An outspoken proponent for education, equality and the environment, loved by anyone who ever met him and married 61 years, his grave modestly and poignantly states: "James Cagney 1899-1986, God Bless America.

Cagney's Films

Sinner's Holiday, (1930)...Harry Delano

The Doorway to Hell, (1930)...Steve Mileaway

Other Men's Women, (1931)...Ed

The Public Enemy, (1931)...Tom Powers

The Millionaire, (1931)...Schofield

Smart Money, (1931)...Jack

Blonde Crazy, (1931)...Bert Harris

Practice Shots, (1931)...Himself

Taxi! (1932)...Matt Nolan

The Crowd Roars, (1932)..,Joe Greer

Winner Take All, (1932)...Jim 'Jimmy' Kane

Hard to Handle, (1933)...Myron C.'Lefty' Merrill

Picture Snatcher, (1933)...Danny Kean

Mayor of Hell, (1933)... Patsy Gargan

Footlight Parade, (1933)...Chester Kent

Wild Boys of the Road, (1933) (archive footage) (uncredited)

Lady Killer, (1933)...Dan Quigley

Jimmy the Gent, (1934)...James 'Jimmy' Corrigan

He Was Her Man, (1934) ...Flicker Hayes

Here Comer the Navy, (1934)...Chester 'Chesty' J. O'Conner

The Hollywood Gad-About, (1934)...Himself

The St. Louis Kid, (1934)...Eddie Kennedy

A Trip Thru a Hollywood Studio, (1934)...Himself

Devil Dogs of the Air, (1935)...Thomas Jefferson (Tommy) O'Toole

'G' Men, (1935)...James 'Brick' Davis

The Irish in Us, (1935)...Danny O'Hara

A Midrummer Night's Dream, (1935)...Bottom, the Weaver

Mutiny on the Bounty, (1935)... Extra

Frisco Kid, (1935)...Bat Morgan

For Auld Lang Syne, (1935)...Film Host (Himself)

A Dream Comer True, (1935)... Himself

Ceiling Zero, (1935)...Dizzy Davis

Great Guy, (1936)...Johnny 'Red' Cave McGillicuddy

Something to Sing About, (1937)...Terrence 'Terry' Rooney

Boy Meets Girl, (1938)...Robert Law

Angels with Dirty Faces, (1938)...William 'Rocky' Sullivan

The Oklahoma Kid, (1939)...The Oklohoma Kid (Jim Kincaid)

Hollywood Hobbies, (1939)...Himself

Each Dawn I Die, (1939) ...Frank Ross

The Roaring Twenties, (1939)...Eddie Bartlet

The Fighting 69th, (1940) ...Jerry Plunkett

City for Conquest (1940) ...Donny Kenny

Torrid Zone, (1940)...Nick Butler

The Bride Came C.O.D., (1941)...Steve Collins

the Strawberry Blonde, (1941)...T. L. 'Biff' Grimes

Captains of the Clouds, (1942)...Brian Maclean

Yankee Doodle Dandy, tl942)...George M. Cohan

You, John Janes, (1943) (uncredited)...John Jones

Show Business at War, (1943)...Himself

Johnny Come Lately (1943)...Tom Richards

Battle Stations, (1944) (voice)...Narrator

Blood on the Sun, (1945) ...Nick Condon

13 Rue Madeleine, (1946) ...Bob Shorkey

The Time of Tour Life, (1948) ... Joe

White Heat (1949)... Arthur 'Cody' Jorrett

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, (1950)...Rolph Cotter

The West Point Story, (1950)...Elwin 'Bix' Bixby

Starlift (1951)...Comeo appearance

Come fill the Cup, (1951)...Lew Marsh

What Price Glory, (1952) ...Captain Flagg

A Lion is in the Streets, (1953)...Hank Martin

Run for Cover, (1955)...Matt Dow

The Seven Lithe Foys, (1955)...George M. Cohan

Love Me or Leave Me, (1955)...Martin 'Morty the Gimp' Snyder

Mister Roberts, (1955)...Captain Morton

Tribute to a Bad Man, (1956)...Jeremy Rodock

These Wilder Years, (1956)...Steve Bradford

Man of a Thousand Faces, (1957)...Lon Chaney

Short Cut to Hell (1957)...Himself

Shake Hands with the Devil, (1959)...Sean Lenihan

Never Steal Anything Small, (1959)...Jake Macillaney

The Gallant Hours, (1960)...Fleet Admiral William F. 'Bull' Halsey Jr.

One, Two, Three, (1961) ...C.R. MacNamara

Arizona Bushwhackers, (1968) (voice)...Narrator

"The World at War," (1974) (uncredited)... Himself

Brother Can You Spare a Dime, (1975)...Himself

Ragtime, (1981)... Rheinlander Waldo

James Caaney: That Yankee Doodle Dandy ' (1981) (TV)...Himself

Terrible Joe Moran, (1984) (TV)...Joe