A terrible disappointment, if true

You may be planning a screening of Yankee Doodle Dandy, the George M. Cohan biopic starring James Cagney, over the coming Fourth of July holiday. After all, who could be more all-American than the Yankee Doodle Dandy, born on the 4th of July?

Except....

Well, we here at The Blog of Days hate controversy, but sometimes we must face it squarely.

Wikipedia advises that Cohan may have actually been born on July 3, 1878: "A baptismal certificate (which gave the wrong first name for his mother) indicated that he was born on July 3."

We're not certain that we feel like celebrating Cohan's birthday today, even if it that's what it is.

But the alternative pickings are pretty slim: How about celebrating National Compliment Your Mirror Day instead?

Put on Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" when you do -- or perhaps this classic... from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (for maximum relevance to the observance in question, fast forward to the 2:00 mark):