Taken in March, 2010 at Duffy Square (between Broadway-7th Ave and 45-47th Street) in Manhattan, NY. In case anyone reading this is not familiar with New York City, Duffy Square makes up the northern part of the Times Square neighborhood. Statues: in the foreground George M. Cohan and in the background Father Francis P. Duffy.

Cohan is, of course, a famous singer, dancer, producer and all-around entertainer, considered by many to be the originator of the Broadway Musical. His life is commemorated in the movie: “Yankee Doodle Dandy” starring a singing/dancing James Cagney. If you only know Cagney from his gangster movies and impressionist takes (“You dirty rat…”) this seems odd, but he was originally a dancer. Wikipedia has this to say about Cohan:

Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudeville act known as “The Four Cohans.” Beginning with Little Johnny Jones in 1904, he wrote, composed, produced, and appeared in more than three dozen Broadway musicals. Cohan published more than 300 songs during his lifetime, including the standards “Over There”, “Give My Regards to Broadway”, “The Yankee Doodle Boy” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag”. As a composer, he was one of the early members of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He displayed remarkable theatrical longevity, appearing in films until the 1930s, and continuing to perform as a headline artist until 1940.

Known in the decade before World War I as “the man who owned Broadway”, he is considered the father of American musical comedy. His life and music were depicted in the Academy Award-winning film Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and the 1968 musical George M!.

Father Francis P. Duffy (after who the square is named) is perhaps lesser known. Wikipedia has this to say about him:

Francis Patrick Duffy (May 2, 1871 – June 27, 1932)[1] was a Canadian American soldier, Roman Catholic priest and military chaplain.

Duffy served as chaplain for the 69th Infantry Regiment (known as the “Fighting 69th”), a unit of the New York Army National Guard largely drawn from the city’s Irish-American and immigrant population.[2] He served in the Spanish–American War (1898), but it is his service on the Western Front in France during World War I (1917-1918) for which he is best known. Duffy, who typically was involved in combat and accompanied litter bearers into the thick of battle to recover wounded soldiers, became the most highly decorated cleric in the history of the United States Army.

Taken with a Panasonic Lumix ZS-3, a very small digital point and shoot camera with tiny sensor and a long zoom range. In poor light pictures taken with this camera can look a little like watercolor, but it good light it could produce great results and was very easy to carry around.