MovieChat Forums > Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) Discussion > Worst FDR impression ever!

Worst FDR impression ever!

posted 11 years ago by theoctobercountry
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I'm really surprised by the fact that no one has commented on the rather bizarre Franklin Delano Roosevelt impersonation in this film. Quite apart from the fact that the president was only shot from behind, so as not to show his face (like he's God in one of those old 1950s Biblical epics, or something), there's the matter of the voice acting.

According to IMDB Jack Young did FDR's voice, but I'm not sure what the heck the actor was trying to do. The dialogue was so very stilted and mannered and oddly paced; I don't believe that ANYONE ever spoke like that. It was quite distracting, actually, the overall effect was so artificial and bizarre that it took me right out of the film.

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Captain Jack Young did not do FDR's voice; he only played him, from behind. Professional narrator and voice artist Art Gilmore looped in the dialogue, which is plainly not being spoken in the scene itself.

It was quite common back then to depict someone like a president from behind, or only suggest his countenance. This was done out of a mixture of respect and to confer a sense of importance to the occasion.

As for Gilmore's imitation, I actually think it was a reasonable impression of FDR. True, it was a bit over-the-top and grandiose for what was supposed to be, two men talking in FDR's office -- it sounded more like the public FDR making a speech than a private conversation -- but that aside Gilmore wasn't bad. You wouldn't mistake him for the real thing, but then no impressionist ever sounds identical to the person he's imitating. Personally I had no trouble with it.

In reality, Cohan met Roosevelt and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1936, not, as the movie claims, during World War II. Given that and all the other falsifications in this movie, Gilmore's Roosevelt impersonation is the least of its problems!