march up and down the stage carrying the American flag while singing a very patriotic tune. In this play, the patriotic song was: "You're A Grand Old Flag." The original title was "You're a Grand Old Rag", but some folks objected so Cohan renamed the tune. In 1907, Cohan divorced Ethel, and later in the same year, George married Agnes Nolan. Agnes was a sister of Sam Harris's wife. In 1911, the Cohan-Harris partnership had no fewer than 6 hit shows on Broadway, and controlled 7 theaters. In 1917, Cohan composed his greatest hit song just as America entered into World War I. Cohan was living in New Rochelle ("Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway"). On the train down to New York, he thought of a song. Cohan has said, "I read those war headlines, and I got to thinking and humming to myself, and for a minute, I thought I was going to dance. I was all finished with both the chorus and the verse by the time I got to town, and I also had a title." The title was "Over There". Charles King introduced the song in the New Amsterdam Theater in 1917; the Nora Bayes recording made it a national hit. Twenty-five years later, Congress authorized President Franklin Roosevelt to present the Congressional Medal of Honor for this war song. In 1919, Actor's Equity called a strike in an effort to gain recognition as bargaining agent for its membership. This strike closed the Broadway theaters. As a producer, Cohan was affected. Many of the people who aligned themselves with Equity, were folks whom Cohan had helped with their careers. He became quite bitter, lost his enthusiasm, and even broke up the successful Cohan-Harris partnership. He retired from show business and even cancelled his memberships in the Friar's Club and The Lambs. (Two Broadway organizations.) Nevertheless, show people can no longer stay away from the stage, than composers can stay away from music. After some rest and travel, Cohan returned to Broadway...
