James Cagney -The Toughest Artist of Hollywood

https://www.amazon.com/Cagney-John-McCabe/dp/0679446079/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493500652&sr=1-3&keywords=James+cagney

Mix Tapes and Stuff and Mix Tapes and Stolen Tests take place in 1986. One of the sadder events of that year was the passing of American Film Legend James Cagney.

James Cagney was an actor who got his start in the 1930s working for Warner Brothers films. He had bit parts until his break came in a movie called Public Enemy. I first saw the movie when I was twelve years old and I didn't think old movies could show that violence. The end is a brutal shot. Years later I realized there was a lot of sex going on, but they did things more subtle.
In addition to starring in a list of great movies, Angels with Dirty Faces, White Heat, The Fighting 69th, Never Steal Anything Small, The Roaring Twenties, Strawberry Blonde, he also won an Academy Award for Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Cagney was an Irish Catholic from Manhattan. He grew up in a tough neighborhood and he trained to be a boxer at one point. When I read this book, I was surprised just how tough that neighborhood was. He knew gamblers, pimps, hookers, and hustlers. It doesn't sound like a surprise that he should play tough guys and gangsters in his movies.
Here's the odd thing, he didn't want to be like that. He trained to be a dancer. His wife and him were set to open a dancer studio. He loved being in musicals like Footlight Parade. When he made some money, he moved to upstate New York to buy a farm. He painted, he raised animals, and he enjoyed being peaceful.

I'm not saying the toughness was an act, I'm saying he was very versatile. Growing up as he did, he fought the Warner Brothers over contracts, acting parts, studio interference. He was also an artist.

A few years ago Garth Brooks put a concert on television where he said that the Country Music cross was George Jones on the vertical post and Merle Haggard on the horizontal cross. (I might have the names wrong, but the concept is correct.) For an Irish Catholic in the greater tri-state Metropolitan area of Manhattan, it was the Cagney and the Kennedys. When Cagney was in his last days, I actually sent a get well card to him. Millions did.

I hadn't watched a Cagney movie in years, until I read the book above. It reminded me how great those Cagney movies were. How great he was. He owned every scene he did. It was sad how age and health took a toll on him. No one wanted to believe he could age that's why Hollywood begged him to come back in the early 80s when he physically couldn't at times.

If you love old movies, check this book out. check out some of those Cagney movies.