The Essence of Cagney

An Apology
The first Cagney movie I saw, “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, left me confused. His magical performance showed deep emotion, incredible comedic timing and the musicality of Fred Astaire. I thought James Cagney played gangsters. Were there two actors named James Cagney?
I purchased “Cagney”, by John McCabe and began reading. Several times, I put the book down in shock. Cagney’s painful childhood and his unusual adult life was more like a work of fiction than the life of a real person. It took a while for my mind to reconcile the confusion I was feeling. More Cagney books and movies deepened my turmoil until I came to my realization. James Cagney was not just an actor, he was a human being.
I had always enjoyed biographies and finding out the path a person took to become who they were, but with James Cagney, each book left me with more questions than answers. My attempts for satisfaction continued. I wanted more Cagney. Then I began to feel guilty. I realized I owed James Cagney an apology. I want him to know I finally realize what he went through as a child and how he fought to make movies. I want him to know I understand.
The man who was labeled a gangster actor played boxers, cowboys, men in the military, a wrongly jailed dentist, Lon Chaney and a long list of others. He played the wounded, the hopeful and the betrayed equally convincingly. At a time when actors were type cast and imprisoned by the studio, James Cagney managed to avoid incarceration.
Now that I know about his life, I cannot watch many of his movies. I cannot bear to hear his screams of pain, I do not want to see him die on screen. It is too much of a reminder of the struggles he went through in life. I think of him as a little boy and keep picturing his childhood troubles.
When I started telling others what I had learned, I was met with surprise. I found many knew some of his work, but they weren’t aware of others and no one seemed to know much about him as a person. There was only one thing for me to do, start typing.
Many books have been written about Cagney, usually from an acting or movie-making perspective, I have learned so much from them. They show a huge respect for the man and his talent. They are definite on how understated Cagney was and how reluctant he was to give himself credit. While they were complete on their dialogue about his career, they did not paint a clear picture of the man.
I listened to interviews available and was even fortunate to talk to some who had not spoken before. Their words combined with all I read and heard helped me come to the realization of who Cagney was as a person. It started becoming painful to me when I came to my conclusions. I reread books I thought I had already digested and found so much I had missed. I searched for other writings that would confirm my findings. When I saw Cagney speak as himself and not as a character in a movie, I realized how introverted he was. His relentless confrontations on screen gave no indication of the low self-esteem or embarrassment he experienced in life. I could never have guessed he suffered nausea induced by stage fright when he performed in the theatre.
From a young age Cagney carried a burden and felt a responsibility to support his family. Since James was a child, when he visited his Aunt Jane’s Flatbush farm, all he wanted to do was leave the city and live on a farm with horses away from the crowds. That was the only reason he was able to force himself to act for a paycheck: Cagney was waiting for the day he could be a farmer. He was able to remove himself emotionally from what he was doing on screen and do things he would never do in his personal life because he kept reminding himself he was playing a character.
It is hard to believe that for sixty-four movies Cagney played parts, many of which were distasteful to him, just to get paid. He balanced his career with a reclusive life on one of his farms. He lived those days humbly among the glamour all the people he worked with displayed. He never officially retired, he just kept turning down roles. Cagney preferred the peaceful private life on the farm to the glitter of Hollywood. Quietly, for twenty years, he turned down offers to return to film. His contemporaries were no longer working. Hollywood had changed.
The movie “Ragtime ” came at the time Cagney’s doctor’s concerns about the actor’s health had grown. The movie was the perfect medicine for a man who had outlived his friends and rarely saw his children. Interestingly Paramount, not his original studio Warner Brothers, released Cagney’s return to the screen.
Cagney, after two decades of retirement, much to his surprise, was in demand. The directors’ requests were soon met with an even more obvious cry for Cagney. A new television show named “Cagney and Lacey” appeared. This Cagney, played by Sharon Gless, was a woman with that unmistakable Cagney fire. James Cagney was wanted at award shows, sporting events and even received the key to New York City. The world now hoped there could be more Cagney on film. Everyone craved James Cagney. Without question it was Cagneymania.
When Cagney was younger, he enjoyed dancing for people and showing them how to do the steps but he hated the factory environment in the studio system days that discouraged artistry. The long hours of shooting and back-to-back movies left no room for unique films, just repetition of the same characters with the same lines but different names. Most of all Cagney did not want to play gangsters, he wanted to dance.
Cagney did not like the glamour and parties of Hollywood, he hated crowds. He did not know how to deal with adulation. The actor could be spotted at gatherings by himself just staring off into the distance. His friend Pat O’Brien called him “The Far Away Fella”.