July 13, 1917: Nora Bayes records "Over There," a patriotic song written for the American effort in World War I, by the biggest songwriter in America at the time, George M. Cohan.
Cohan had already written "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (with its not-quite-true line, "A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam, born on the 4th of July" -- he was born on July 3, 1878) in 1904, and "You're a Grand Old Flag" in 1906, both for Broadway shows. So he was already proven true to the Red, White & Blue.
Bayes -- born in 1880 in Chicago as Rachel Eleonora Goldberg -- had been discovered in 1900 by Helen Cohan, George M.'s mother. "The Four Cohans" had been a vaudeville act: At the end of their show, George would point to his mother, his father Jeremiah (or "Jere"), his sister Josephine (or "Josie"), and himself, saying -- pausing after each, for the inevitable applause -- "Ladies and gentlemen, my mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you."
In 1908, Bayes married songwriter Jack Norworth. That year, they co-wrote "Shine On, Harvest Moon," and she sang it in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1908. That same year, with Albert von Tilzer, Norworth wrote one of the few American songs more famous than "Over There": "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." But Bayes and Norworth divorced in 1913. She married 5 times, and adopted 4 children with her 4th husband, but never had children of her own.
When America got into World War I on April 6, 1917, Cohan volunteered for service. He was 19 when the Spanish-American War broke out, but did not volunteer then, as his career as an entertainer was already in full swing. This time, it may have been due to the fact that he was now making enough on royalties to support his family without his continued presence. Or it may have been due to grief: His father and his sister had both died within the past year.
But he was 38, and, though his physical versatility as a dancer allowed him to pass the fitness test, he was turned down. So he contributed to the war effort in another way, writing "Over There," which turned out to be biggest American song of the period, alongside such British efforts as "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" by Jack Judge and Harry Williams (written in 1912 but became connected with the war due to John McCormack's 1914 recording) and the 1915 "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag, and Smile, Smile, Smile" by the brothers Felix and George Powell.
With its refrain of "The Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming!" "Over There" became known as the theme song of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. When World War II broke out, it returned to popularity.
It was not used during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, which were less appealing to the American home front. On an episode of the TV show M*A*S*H, set during the Korean War, the camp chaplain, Father Francis Mulcahy (played by William Christopher), the best piano player in camp (which wasn't saying much), remarked that, unlike most wars, theirs didn't have a song. (Fats Domino's "Korea Blues" wasn't even all that popular at the time.) In the song that Mulcahy wrote, he even sang that there was "No 'Over There,'" and asked, "What are we fighting for?"
Nor was "Over There" brought back during the orgy of jingoism during the brief Persian Gulf War of 1990-91. There are sources that will tell you that it returned to popularity after the 9/11 attacks, but that's not true: It's a relic of another time.
Cohan did not live to see victory in World War II: He died in 1942, not long after the premiere of Yankee Doodle Dandy, the film biography of him starring James Cagney. Bayes, whose postwar recording of "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down On the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)" became the top American song of 1919, had already died in 1928, of stomach cancer.
Of all the stars that Broadway has ever had, Cohan is the only one with a statue on the street, at the northern end of Times Square.
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July 13, 1917 was a Friday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-5 in 11 innings at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Shoeless Joe Jackson only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.
* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at the Polo Grounds.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers -- or the Robins, as they were known while Wilbert Robinson managed them from 1914 to 1931 -- swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0 and 2-1 in 10 innings. Larry Cheney pitched a 6-hit shutout in the 1st game. Honus Wagner, in his final season, went 1-for-8 for the Pirates. Zack Wheat went 0-for-8, but did have an RBI on a groundout in the 1st game.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Braves, 7-6 at Braves Field in Boston.
* A doubleheader was split at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Phillies won the 1st game, 7-0. Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched a 7-hit shutout. The Chicago Cubs won the 2nd game, 1-0 in 10 innings. Al Demaree went the distance, pitching a 4-hit shutout.
Early in the 1918 season, Alexander would be drafted into the U.S. Army. His experiences over there left him with what was then called "shell shock," but would now be called "post-traumatic stress disorder" or "PTSD": He lost the hearing in one ear from all of the shooting and explosions, he developed epilepsy, and his already-present drinking problem got worse. One of the greatest pitchers who ever lived became a tragic figure.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Bill James of the Tigers allowed only 1 hit, a single by Duffy Lewis. Ty Cobb went 1-for-4 for the Tigers. Babe Ruth, still mostly a pitcher at this point, did not play for the Red Sox.
* The St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 2-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. George Sisler went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.
* And the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators were rained out at League Park in Cleveland. The game was made up the next day, as part of a doubleheader. The Indians won the opener, 7-5. Tris Speaker, the Indians star center fielder and manager, went 3-for-4. The Senators won the nightcap, 3-0. This time, Speaker went just 0-for-3, as Harry Harper pitched a 3-hit shutout.
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