- George M. Cohan
Now a success on Broadway, George and his partner, Sam Harris, seek to become the kings of Broadway. They sign the biggest star of the day, Fay Templeton, to appear in their show. George is now on top but wife Ethel feels totally neglected and the two are divorced. This event has a tremendous effect of George's ego, Later he runs into Agnes Nolan from the cast of Little Johnny Jones and confides his troubles to her. Soon after this meeting, she becomes the second Mrs Cohan. Together with Agnes, George writes some of his more enduring work, "Yankee Doodle Dandee", "Nellie Kelly", "Harrigan", "Over There" and "You're A Grand Old Flag". But then things begin to happen to the people that George has held most dear. His father has died; his sister Josie has married and left the theatre, and the actors, whom he has always paid more than any other producer, have voted in Actors' Equity and are presenting their "demands". Rather than recognise the union, he declares he will write no more shows. With the success of the union George retires from the Broadway scene. True to life, however, George comes out of retirement in the 1930s to help his friend Sam Harris by starring in a new show, I'd Rather Be Right. Things have changed, and George is forced to eat humble pie by taking orders instead of giving them.
George confides to Agnes that he us a but shaken by the experience but is happy in one fact - he is on Broadway again.