Cagney looks direct at camera and says " everybody sing" what song??
What song??
shareThe WWI song which George M. Cohan wrote, called OVER THERE!
I do hope he won't upset Henry...
Probably fourth-walling the theater audience.
The customs and behavior of theater patrons are different today than it was in those days, as there was a lot of audible reactions from the crowd watching the movie. Lots of applause while watching and ALWAYS applause when "THE END" lit up onscreen. Even in my childhood days (mid 1960-mid 70's) audiences applauded at the end of every movie.
So it's not too hard to conclude that, while Cohan was telling his onscreen audience to sing along, Cagney himself was looking squarely at the camera and inviting the OFFSCREEN audience to join in on the chorus.
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