0:03

This episode is about a man who has been

0:06

called the greatest entertainer of the

0:08

twentieth century. Jeez,

0:10

look at that. So naturally

0:13

I wanted to talk to a car expert. Yeah,

0:16

that's a gorgeous vehicle, beautifully restore.

0:18

I'm with my friend Matt Anderson, he's

0:20

the curator of transportation at the Henry

0:23

Ford Museum, and we're in a suburb

0:25

of Detroit looking at a stunning,

0:27

shiny red nineteen fifty three

0:29

Cadillac El Dorado with the car's

0:31

owner, Neil Porter. A lot of the

0:33

parts of the car were handbuilt. The wrap around

0:36

windshield is cool. The curve in the glass,

0:38

this is the very first of the wrap around windshields

0:40

nineteen fifty three. Bottom.

0:43

Neil invited me to sit behind the wheel for

0:45

you to get in. These seats are what leather

0:49

not final. This

0:51

is one heck of a car. The height

0:53

of luxury. And get this point out that, like power

0:56

windows were a big deal in

0:58

the late seventies, but

1:00

there's a prominent design flaw. Let's

1:03

talk about the steering wheel. Yeah. One

1:05

of the things he noticed is that at the center of

1:07

the steering wheel of the hub, there looks like

1:09

the nose cone on a missile. Almost

1:12

that's right jutting out from the center

1:14

of the steering wheel is a comical

1:17

chrome protrusion and

1:19

straight at the driver's face. It

1:22

has no functional purpose. It's simply

1:24

there to kind of look cool. And cool

1:27

certainly describes the man who was driving

1:29

his own El Dorado in the wee

1:31

small hours of November nineteenth, nineteen

1:34

fifty four. Sammy Davis

1:37

Junior was a twenty eight year old, fast

1:39

rising nightclub performer, singer,

1:42

comic and boy What a dancer

1:45

heading from a show in Vegas to a

1:47

recording gig in Los Angeles when

1:49

he collided with another car in San

1:51

Bernardino, California, and

1:53

the left side of his face collided

1:55

with that steering wheel. The

1:58

car had no seatbelts. This

2:01

is what caused Sammy Davis Junior to

2:03

lose his eye and his accident, and he

2:05

did not have time to react it out of the way, so he

2:07

went flying. His head came and hit

2:09

against that protrusion and it went right into his left

2:12

eye socket, in fact, knocked the eye

2:14

out of the socket. My

2:18

father had been calling the middle of the night

2:21

to go to Saint Bernardine's Hospital,

2:23

to take care of a man who had a

2:25

very serious car accident and injured

2:28

his eye and needed some help.

2:30

Nancy Gallab was the daughter of the late

2:33

doctor Frederick Hall. He was the surgeon

2:35

who rushed to the hospital to work on Sammy.

2:38

Nancy was thirteen years old at the time,

2:40

and so what my father basically did

2:42

was to save Sammy from

2:44

losing the other eye. But the first

2:47

question that Sammy purportedly asking

2:49

my dad was were his legs?

2:51

Okay, wow, that's very

2:54

telling, right, Yes, I thought that

2:56

was pointed. Also, the traumatic

2:58

event opens Sammy's autobiography,

3:01

Yes I Can. Here's a passage

3:04

read by his co author Bert Boyar

3:06

as I ran my hand over my cheek. I felt my

3:08

eye hanging there by a string. Frantically,

3:11

I tried to stuff it back in, like if I could do that, it

3:13

would stay there and nobody would know. The

3:15

ground went out from underman. I was on my knees. Don't

3:18

let me go blind, Please, God, don't take it all

3:20

away. Now, when

3:22

Sammy says don't take it all away, he's

3:25

not praying for his life, at

3:27

least not the way you or I might be. He's

3:30

talking about his life in showbiz,

3:33

all the beautiful things, all the plans, the laughs.

3:36

They were lying out there, smashed, just like

3:39

the car. Sammy

3:41

spent almost two weeks in the San Bernardino

3:44

hospital recovering. Later on, he'd

3:46

famously be fitted for a glass eye, and

3:49

the outpouring of love was almost

3:51

like a memorial service. There was

3:53

a telegram from Marilyn Monroe

3:56

which just thrilled

3:58

Sammy. Two pieces, Eddie

4:00

Canter, Jackie Robinson, Ella

4:02

Fitzgerald. They all sent telegrams,

4:05

even the waiters at the Hollywood nightclub

4:07

Serros, where he'd become an overnight

4:10

sensation just three years before. The

4:16

admiration of his friends and peers mattered,

4:19

But in a life of dramatic ups and

4:21

downs, was the adulation

4:23

of audiences that would sustain

4:26

him, in the words of one friend, nourish

4:29

him. And he gave those audiences

4:31

everything he had. I've got a

4:33

lot of living. This

4:37

is what he was trained to do. It

4:39

was in every atom of his DNA.

4:42

It's what he did. He did it well, he did it graciously,

4:44

He did it gratefully, and he

4:47

wasn't trying to bludgeon anybody over the head,

4:49

and he wasn't distant performance. It's just what

4:51

he did, it's who he was. I gotta be

4:53

me. Who's me, the world's greatest

4:55

entertainer, Sammy Davis Junior. I'm

4:58

Morocca, and this is mobituaries,

5:08

this moment Sammy Davis Junior,

5:11

May sixteenth, nineteen ninety

5:14

death of the entertainer. I

5:22

think that it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's

5:24

probably an odd thing to say. My

5:27

friends rallied around me and convinced

5:29

me that it was still a lot to be done and that I

5:32

probably probably wouldn't matter. And as it turned

5:34

out, that's Sammy Davis Junior

5:36

talking about the crash that nearly killed

5:38

him. I'm not surprised by

5:40

the outpouring of love at that hospital. I've

5:43

been a correspondent on CBS Sunday Morning

5:45

for over ten years now. I've interviewed

5:48

probably over a hundred

5:50

celebrities, and there's one name

5:52

that's popped up more than any other,

5:55

Sammy Davis Junior.

5:58

Former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown

6:01

told me about his friend's command over

6:03

an audience when he was on stage.

6:06

You would be overwhelmed.

6:10

Kim Novak and Nancy Sinatra each

6:12

talked about what a joy Sammy was

6:14

to be around. He was such a fun

6:16

person. Sammy was part

6:18

of the family. LeVar Burton and

6:20

Ben Vereen revered Sammy as a

6:22

role model. It wasn't all the time that

6:25

I, you know, saw people on TV who looked

6:27

like me. If there was a black actor

6:29

in on TV in those days, we'd

6:32

watched Sammy would come on on The Ed Sullivan

6:34

Show and do everything. And

6:37

I was everything. He did

6:39

everything. Yes, when the subject

6:41

turns to Sammy, the superlatives

6:44

start flying easily. The

6:46

greatest. He was everything. He could

6:48

play any instrument, he could sing,

6:51

he could dance like a maniac. That's

6:53

Broadway legend, Cheetah Rivera. Is

6:56

there anyone like Sammy

6:58

Davis Junior today? I

7:00

have not ever seen anybody. I

7:03

just never saw anything like him in my life.

7:06

It says it right there on his tombstone

7:08

in Hollywood's Forest Lawn, the

7:10

entertainer. He did it all.

7:13

Daddy was a new sensation, got himself

7:15

a congregation, built up quite an operation

7:17

down band. He did singing, dancing,

7:20

acting, comedy. He was at

7:22

least a quadruple threat quintuple

7:24

if you count his gun spinning routine

7:28

a plus. It

7:30

helped that he started early. I

7:33

won an amateur contest at

7:35

the Stanley Theater in Philadelphia

7:38

when I was three and a half years old, singing

7:40

I'll be glad when You're dead, You rascal.

7:43

You that

7:49

seven year old Sammy singing the same song

7:51

in the movie musical short Rufus Jones

7:54

for President. Sammy

7:58

Davis Junior was born in harle One

8:00

in nineteen twenty five. His mother,

8:02

Elvera Sanchez, was Latin

8:04

and a dancer. His father was a

8:06

Hoffer. His parents split up early,

8:09

and just when most kids start school,

8:11

Sammy hit the road the vaudeville

8:13

circuit with his father, Sam Senior,

8:16

and Will Maston, a family friend

8:18

he called his uncle. They were billed

8:20

as the Will Maston Trio. Here's

8:23

Sammy reminiscing with his father in a nineteen

8:25

seventy three TV special What

8:28

Place Leo? Who were playing minsks

8:31

Miss Berlin's House forty second Street

8:34

doing Jilson right And I used

8:36

to have a cigar and I was passing

8:38

off as a midget. Imitet

8:44

did but you were five. The

8:48

trio was a success, but it

8:50

was the diminutive Sammy Davis Junior

8:52

even as an adult. He was just five foot

8:54

five who stood out. Shirley

8:58

McClain remembered Dean Martin and Frank

9:00

Sinatra sneaking her into ceros

9:03

to see this dynamo who was

9:05

dancing and singing and performing

9:07

in the middle of a trio. She

9:09

told this story onstage to Sammy

9:12

had a tribute show in his honor in nineteen

9:14

eighty nine, towards the end of his life.

9:17

The two people on either side of you were terrific.

9:21

But I could not believe my eyes and my ears

9:24

never had so much come

9:27

out of something so small for

9:29

so long. She's

9:32

right. There was a light that came

9:34

out of him that made it impossible

9:36

not to look at him, that made him

9:38

more than the sum of his mad individual

9:41

talents. Let's talk about

9:43

his impressions, which I loved, his

9:45

Bogey perfect. I'd like to say

9:47

that it's really been a pleasure in attaining

9:49

all of you nice folk. Shot. It's really

9:51

been one of the great thrills for my time.

9:54

His Cagney spot on yashwing,

9:57

that great h all,

10:00

A love that's in you,

10:03

you dirty rat. And

10:05

I've listened to his marvelously muttering

10:08

Marlon Brando a million baby

10:10

kisses. I

10:13

will personally delive if

10:17

you will only sing this morning roof all the

10:20

day. His

10:23

friend, the Oscar winning songwriter Leslie

10:25

Brickis told me that growing up, Sammy

10:28

spent a lot of time in movie theaters. It

10:30

became sort of his school, since he never spent

10:33

a single day in an actual school.

10:35

He used to speak along with the

10:37

actors, imitating them, you know, Carrie

10:40

Grant or Humphrey Bogat. He

10:42

learned the accents. He'd do the

10:44

voice with them, and that's how he perfected

10:47

it. He couldn't let anything go by.

10:49

There's this bit I've seen from an old Julie

10:51

Andrews Variety show. Julie Andrews

10:54

Variety Show. Don't you just love the sound of that? Anyway?

10:56

On the show, Sammy and the impressionist

10:59

Rich Little engage in a friendly competition.

11:02

Why don't we forget about impressions and just

11:05

see Sammy sings as Nat

11:07

King Cole. I just found

11:10

joy. I'm

11:12

happy all you lay the bar.

11:16

Rich does Liberacci, I'm Parabi

11:23

and Sammy does his Jerry Lewis to

11:27

Riches, Dean Martin, you and me,

11:35

you know watching it, and Rich

11:38

Little is technically better, but

11:41

Sammy is just better. I'd rather

11:43

watch Sammy, So what's happening

11:46

there? The genius of Sammy's when he imitated

11:48

someone, He imitated them from the inside out,

11:51

and rich Little imitates someone from the outside

11:53

end, and Sammy gets to the

11:55

essence of that person. This is Larry Maslon.

11:58

He's the writer and co producer of the film

12:00

American Masters, Sammy Davis Junior.

12:03

I've got to Be Me, and he's super smart.

12:05

Nobody imitated musicians and singers

12:08

the way sam is really interesting because

12:11

you've got to be able to have the talent of channeling

12:13

them and have their talent as well, right

12:15

right right where you're

12:21

Sammy's talent as a singer is

12:23

often well undersung. It's

12:26

not so much that he had a technically beautiful

12:28

voice, but cliche alert.

12:31

He knew how to make a song his own.

12:34

And in this episode, we're going to use three

12:36

of the songs he famously sang to

12:38

tell his story.

12:46

Whether I'm right, Oh,

12:50

whether I'm Larry Maslon

12:52

calls I've got to Be Me the ultimate

12:55

Sammy song. I mean, it's

12:57

it's everything, and that's who he was. I

13:01

gotta be And

13:06

yet the song wasn't written for Sammy

13:10

or settle for us as

13:13

long as there's a much. Steve

13:22

Lawrence sang it first in a musical

13:24

called Golden Rainbow, about

13:27

a single dad living in Vegas. The

13:29

musical also starred Steve's wife,

13:31

Evie Gourmet incredible

13:34

voice. Anyway, Steve thought this song,

13:36

written by Walter Marx, might be

13:38

more powerful coming from his friend.

13:41

The lyric content was like whether I'm right,

13:43

whether I'm wrong, whether I find a place

13:45

in this world will never belonged. It interpreted

13:47

this black man in the society at that time, this

13:51

man who is different than everybody else. I

13:54

called him. I said, sam You're going

13:56

to do this your own way and

13:58

better. It meant more

14:01

coming from him than it did from me. He

14:05

recorded it, bang, he went to the top

14:07

of the chase. I'll go it

14:09

alone

14:14

now. Being me for Sammy Davis Junior

14:16

was a complicated

14:19

matter. For one thing, he was an African

14:21

American man who would later convert

14:23

to Judaism. My mother is a Puerto

14:25

Rican, so that means

14:27

I'm colored, Jewish and Puerto Rican.

14:30

When I move into a neighborhood, I wipe

14:32

it out. That's

14:35

a joke. He told a lot when he was performing

14:37

with the rat Pack in the nineteen sixties.

14:40

FYI, we're not spending a lot of time with the rat

14:42

Pack in this episode. It's been done

14:45

to death. Throughout

14:47

his life, Sammy mind his unique

14:50

identity for humor and

14:52

to diffuse tension. Remember

14:54

Warren Baby announcing the wrong Best Picture

14:57

Oscar winner in twenty seventeen. Well,

15:00

Sammy was ahead of his time.

15:03

Here he is in nineteen sixty four announcing

15:05

the Oscar for movie scoring and the

15:08

winner is John

15:11

Addison for Tom Jones. Except

15:14

that it wasn't. Sammy

15:16

handled his snare for him without

15:18

skipping a beat. They gave me the

15:20

wrong envelope. Wait till the NAACP

15:23

hears about this. But

15:28

earlier in his life his talent

15:30

played a much more vital role. It

15:32

helped him survive. They

15:35

painted you right, they poured urine

15:37

in your beer. Things of that name.

15:39

I mean, did these things really happen? Yes,

15:42

they really happen. That's

15:45

Sammy talked into our senio hall. In

15:47

nineteen forty three, eighteen year old Sammy

15:50

came off the road when he was drafted into

15:52

the army and into one of the first integrated

15:55

units. Until then, his father

15:57

and uncle had tried as best they could to

15:59

shell to him from racism.

16:02

Now there was no one to protect him. I

16:05

was in a kind of an odd situation because

16:07

I'm going, hey, I don't know anything

16:09

about this outside world. I belonged to show business,

16:11

show businesses. Hey, I got a barn. Let's

16:13

put the show on here. You know all of those

16:15

cliches I lived, you

16:18

know, and the other guys are going will

16:20

be doing that. You won't get us

16:22

in trouble. You know. I got my nose

16:24

broke three times and

16:27

it hurt, and you couldn't do

16:29

anything about it. You had nobody to

16:31

back you up. Trips

16:34

to the infirmary were regular. That's

16:36

how many fights he was getting into. But

16:38

when he got transferred to an entertainment unit,

16:41

things got better for him. He once

16:43

told his daughter, talent was

16:45

my only weapon. With a white

16:47

situation or a black situation, you do it

16:49

with human I tried to do it with entertaining

16:52

to try to get some doors open, because all

16:54

of them were closed in those days. All

16:57

of them were closed. Well,

16:59

sammy them open. Remember

17:02

those impressions he did, they weren't just funny,

17:05

they were bold back in the late

17:07

forties, black performers didn't do

17:09

impressions of white performers in front

17:11

of white audiences. That is until

17:14

Sammy did My Dad and Will said

17:17

they got in inches. One of these days you keep doing

17:19

white people, you know. And I

17:21

went on and did it now in the Strand Theater.

17:24

The first time I went you Dirty

17:26

Rat, a guy in the audience

17:28

said, my god, he sounds

17:31

just like him. What he

17:33

was really saying, I'm looking at a black man for

17:35

the first time to a white man. Well,

17:37

it was so good that we went

17:39

from opening act to closing.

17:43

Now, Imitating white performers was one

17:46

thing. Dating a white woman

17:48

was another. His relationship

17:50

with screen siren Kim Novak

17:52

was considered scandalous. In nineteen

17:55

fifty seven. I talked to him recently

17:57

on her horse farm in Oregon. That was

18:00

blosiph back then. At that time

18:02

it was it certainly was so ridiculous,

18:05

and how did what was that like for you? At

18:07

that time, Harry Cone threatened

18:09

to take his other eye out. Harry

18:12

Cone was the much feared head of Columbia

18:14

Pictures, and he really

18:16

did. Oh. Of course, however,

18:19

we saw each other, but

18:22

I was never in love certainly it was Sammy.

18:24

Do you think that he was infatuated with you?

18:26

Oh, he was. He had a good crush on

18:29

man, nice crush. I man, we had such fun

18:31

times together, we really did. But

18:35

who certainly not worth losing

18:37

eye over. I'm

18:39

just trying to square this sort

18:42

of drive to make an audience happy

18:44

and the public happy and then doing these

18:46

things that are really ballsy.

18:48

Well, I'm not sure he viewed them as

18:51

ballsy. That's Sammy's friend, former

18:53

San Francisco mayor Willie Brown. I'm

18:56

sure he viewed them as being

18:59

just a Davis

19:01

Julia, And in nineteen seventy two,

19:03

being Sammy Davis Junior meant embracing

19:06

President Richard Nixon during his reelection

19:08

campaign. Quite literally, Sammy

19:11

hugged Nixon, and let's just say much

19:13

of the public did not hug back. You've

19:16

had a lot of criticism from some black

19:19

groups because I bothered you. Yes,

19:21

of course. Do you think that he

19:24

was shocked at the reaction he got

19:26

when he embraced Nixon? Yes,

19:29

I think that shocked him. But Willie

19:31

Brown says, Sammy knew exactly what

19:33

he was doing. Many African

19:35

Americans in this country were Republicans.

19:38

Sammy was conscious of that because

19:41

some of them were his friends, And

19:43

contrary to most tellings of this story,

19:46

Brown says, it wasn't primarily African

19:48

American fans who were outraged. They

19:50

were basically white

19:53

liberals who could not understand

19:56

how such a symbolic

19:58

black would be embracing

20:00

somebody like Richard Nixon.

20:04

So most of the disapproval you think

20:06

came from white liberals, I know

20:08

it came from white liberals. Black people

20:10

didn't give a shit about mother than not he embraced

20:13

Nixon. Yeah, Sammy still

20:15

felt the need later that year to address

20:17

a less than warm audience at Jesse

20:20

Jackson's Push Conference, a gathering

20:22

of social justice activists. Disagree

20:26

if you will with my politics.

20:29

It was a dramatic appearance, but

20:32

I will not allow anyone to

20:34

take away the

20:36

fact that I am black.

20:39

It's moving because he's honest with his audience.

20:42

That's Larry Maslon again. Basically,

20:44

he's saying, whatever you think of me and Richard

20:47

Nixon, you know him, a black man, you know what I've been

20:49

through in the last forty years. I'm right.

20:53

Oh,

20:57

if you don't want to take me, fine, but I'm gonna put

20:59

me out there. I gotta be me. What

21:02

more of a statement can you have than that? I

21:06

gotta be me, gotta

21:10

be me? What

21:14

else can I be? It seems

21:16

like showbiz for him

21:19

was kind of like a rocket ship that

21:21

took him on a voyage

21:24

and helped him sort of overcome

21:26

so many obstacles. His talent

21:29

is a rocket ship, but gravity was being black

21:31

in America, and that's what brought

21:33

him back to earth time and time again. I

21:35

mean, this is his own words. I want to be so good that

21:37

no one will notice I'm black. That's

21:40

not really possible, is it? What

21:43

kind of lives

21:46

are these? Do

21:49

you have a favorite Sammy song? What

21:53

kind of fooling ice that

21:57

whispered empty words?

22:01

What kind of fool am I? That's

22:04

Dion Warwick's favorite Sammy song. It's

22:06

about someone unable to find blasting

22:09

love. That's

22:12

the story he tells from

22:14

the very first note. I mean, he cannot

22:17

but believe every single word he's

22:19

giving you. He floored

22:21

me with that.

22:27

What time? Because

22:30

he was forever on tour and on the

22:32

road, he never could sustain

22:34

the relationship because he was never there for

22:36

more than two weeks. Leslie

22:38

Brickis wrote what kind of fool Am I? With

22:41

Anthony Newley for the musical Stop

22:43

the World I Want to Get Off? But

22:46

Sammy made it famous when

22:48

he sings it. There's a great performance in nineteen

22:50

sixty two on Andy Williams Show, and

22:53

it's just so plaintive, almost anguished.

22:56

What God well,

23:03

he wasn't good at Toto. But

23:06

it also may have been a little bit of autobiography

23:09

in there. You know, why can I

23:12

cast away this

23:15

mask of play? I

23:18

live my life? How

23:22

do you make it fresh? Whenever

23:25

I walk on that stage with that

23:28

night I tried to translate

23:30

into that rendition of the song,

23:34

and it's a true, honest feeling.

23:47

Sammy's romantic history was tumultuous.

23:51

After Kim Novak. There was a short

23:53

marriage to the African American actress

23:55

Lay White, and then he married

23:57

the white Swedish model and actress

24:00

My brit That wedding

24:02

was such a scandal he got disinvited

24:04

from the JFK inaugural. Yes,

24:07

that might have had something to do with his hugging Nixon.

24:09

Later on, he and my had

24:11

two kids before splitting up. My

24:14

wife left me. You know, I took the

24:16

kids. Nothing was more important

24:18

than being a star. So I lost. I

24:21

lost every ounce of what was valuable.

24:25

I'd made the wrong choices. Sammy

24:27

was married three times in all, and dated

24:29

plenty in between. Cheeta Rivera

24:32

met Sammy when they worked together on the musical

24:34

Mister Wonderful, and I was

24:36

a snob when they asked me to do it.

24:39

I went on, he's from nightclubs.

24:42

I mean, what's he going to do on a stage?

24:44

You know? And boy did I

24:47

did? I eat my words? And

24:49

you were lovers, you were boyfriend's friend?

24:51

What was that like? It was fabulous. He's

24:54

as talented in that area as he was he

24:56

was otherwise. But

24:59

things got he did on one occasion.

25:01

I know this doesn't sound too

25:04

crude, but we must have had some

25:08

words which I don't remember ever

25:10

having with him, but I remember

25:12

he took his eye out, that would be

25:14

his glass eye. The words

25:16

that are in my head are is

25:19

this what you want now?

25:22

That sounds like an hour interview

25:25

in itself. I know how dramatic

25:27

that sounds, but I do remember that.

25:30

And I'm not even sure that we

25:33

were alone. Okay,

25:35

sidebar I was obsessed

25:37

with glass eyes growing up. A relative

25:39

of mine actually had one, or maybe his was

25:41

rubber, I can't remember. It was a fake guy anyway.

25:44

Recently I spoke with the fabulous

25:46

Sandy Duncan. She performed with

25:48

Sammy but never dated him, and she

25:50

talked about the rumors that she had a

25:53

glass eye. Contrary to urban

25:55

myth, I do not have a glass eye,

25:57

so that'll put this to rest. But she

26:00

did lose sight in one eye, and

26:02

Sammy reached out to her. She

26:04

was very concerned about my having

26:07

lost my vision through a brain

26:10

tumor when I was twenty four, and he made

26:12

contact immediately. Do you think

26:14

that there is something in the recovery

26:17

for him and for you that,

26:20

actually, I don't know, made you

26:22

even better as an entertainer. I

26:24

don't know if any better as an entertainer,

26:27

but I certainly developed

26:29

a discipline that nothing

26:31

stops you. I've never missed a show in my

26:34

life. I just didn't let it

26:36

bother me. I had to get

26:38

up and get out and do it. So he was very helpful.

26:43

What kind of fool

26:47

am I?

26:54

Of course, Sammy did fall in love and

26:57

stay in love with his audience.

27:00

I know it's a cliche, Well here comes another

27:02

one. He's just so at

27:05

home on stage. If you

27:07

look at videos of him performing on variety

27:09

shows, he does his thing where he'll

27:11

end a big number and then he just

27:13

sort of doubles over with laughter. He's

27:16

had that much fun, almost like a

27:18

kid shown off to his friends. But

27:27

mcno mistake. It might all look and sound

27:29

off the cuff. He knows

27:31

exactly what he's doing. With

27:34

your kind permission, May I simply stayed, how

27:36

very wonderful and thrilled and

27:39

scared I am you had zee

27:42

this man

27:44

own a stage and an audience.

27:47

I mean he actually owned you, prought

27:50

you into him. Dion

27:53

Warwick wasn't just his friend. She

27:55

studied him. Well, that is a really interesting

27:57

word when you say he owned the audience.

28:00

What does that mean When

28:02

he woke on that stage, he knew

28:05

that we were in the palm of his hand.

28:10

People have to trust you, for Sammy,

28:12

This relationship with the audience was

28:15

deeply personal. People don't

28:17

trust you. He ain't got a shot at it, and

28:20

they've invested years in me. S

28:22

I'm part of the family as

28:25

long as I don't let them down. Do

28:27

you think that he was pretty much always

28:29

happy on stage? Yeah?

28:32

That was just domain we heard

28:36

the Berees trees.

28:42

Here's Leslie Bricus again, nineteen

28:44

seventy seven New Year's Eve and

28:47

he and Lizam and Ellie did

28:49

at midnight New Year's Eve, at

28:51

which went on for three hours. We

28:54

went up to Sammy's Sweet afterwards

28:57

and he said, let's do it

29:00

all again, and they did the whole show

29:02

again for just four people

29:05

and it was another three hours. What is

29:07

that? Was that a need to perform or

29:09

was that just pure joy? Or was it joy

29:12

more than anything? Joy? Joy? He

29:15

was so high on the audience reaction

29:18

that the only way he could

29:21

come down was to perform more.

29:26

Dionne Warwick told me that he described

29:29

applause as nourishment. Yes,

29:32

that was that was breakfast,

29:34

lunch and dinner. You

29:46

know, people romanticize the

29:49

entertainer who just gives one

29:51

hundred and ten percent. But then the cliche

29:54

is, you know, they give, they give, they give,

29:56

but there was nothing left for themselves. And

29:58

you know, but no, no, no no, no no, no no, no, he

30:01

gave, but he used. He

30:03

enjoyed every penny

30:06

that he ever earned. Sammy

30:08

Davis Junior enjoyed it period.

30:11

That's Willie Brown again. Now it

30:13

turns out that what kind of fool am? I

30:16

might also describe Sammy Davis Junior's

30:18

relationship with money. My

30:21

most expensive pocket

30:24

watch with the chain came from

30:26

Sammy Davis, Jennie, and

30:29

that's you think it just made him feel good to be that

30:31

generous. I think it was

30:33

that way. I think he wanted to share

30:36

his wealth. Sammy Davis was

30:38

one of the worst people I ever saw him

30:40

any kind of money. He had no

30:42

idea what money was and what it was

30:45

worth. That's Sammy's former agent,

30:47

Larry Auerbach. He told

30:49

me a lot of things, including an

30:51

amazing story about Elvis that I'm not allowed

30:53

to repeat. Tell him my whole life story

30:56

for this cuckamything you're doing. It's a podcast

30:59

that's even worth Okay.

31:02

One thing he made incredibly clear Sammy

31:04

was bad with money. I was going

31:06

to London on vacation. Next

31:09

thing I know, we put a lovely

31:12

leather case, and then it was

31:14

a night on camera, which was the high item

31:16

of the day, and

31:18

I said, well, am I gonna do it this. I

31:22

literally felt that he had no idea

31:24

what he was spending or what it was what

31:27

it meant. Almost everyone I talked

31:29

to had a story about Sammy giving them

31:31

a ridiculously expensive present,

31:33

and I already had a god watch.

31:35

I didn't need to go watch. He had this impulse

31:38

to spend money. Are you bad

31:40

with money? No? I think

31:42

I'm pretty good with it. Sammy

31:45

himself talked about his spending habits

31:47

with Dick Cabot and I'm entitled to blow

31:49

maybe five ten thousand

31:51

dollars out of the year. Just blow

31:54

it. Yeah, you know where are you going to do

31:56

that? Next day? When

31:58

he died, he owed

32:00

more money to the irs than any single

32:03

individual in history up to that point, saying

32:06

he had to impress people on

32:08

stage and off. You know, he'd wear the most

32:10

outrageous clothing. He had six

32:13

rings on his hand. You saw the pictures.

32:16

Sure, some people are going to hear that and

32:18

think was he compensating for something?

32:22

Yes? I think he was compensating

32:24

for what he wasn't given at the beginning, that

32:27

he had no start in life, and

32:30

it was largely show he was showing

32:32

off. I think he was sheltered

32:35

by his uncle and his father. He

32:38

was now had some freedom,

32:42

and he saw an opportunity to

32:44

give a gifts. Why not? Okay,

32:47

that's interesting though, giving extravagant

32:49

gifts. I mean, what do you think he wanted

32:51

from that? Nothing? I

33:02

grew up with the Sammy of the nineteen seventies.

33:05

Artistically, this wasn't a high point

33:07

for him, But what did I know about

33:10

fish Whenever he made

33:12

his fast, fast fast. I

33:15

loved hearing him sing commercial jingles. Ugh,

33:18

but it put an extra wing on the house. This

33:22

was the Sammy of Talk to the Animals, my

33:24

favorite single on my Sammy Greatest Hits album.

33:27

I still dance around my apartment to it with

33:29

and Cheetah. What a data chieve it

33:31

would be. And of course candy

33:34

Man. Now,

33:38

at first Sammy didn't like Candy Man. It

33:40

was originally from the movie Willy Wonka and

33:42

the Chocolate Factory. But he

33:44

liked that it went to number one. He's only

33:47

number one. Let's just say

33:49

Sammy knew how to turn lemons into

33:53

groovy lemon pie. He

34:02

does something I think is very brave,

34:04

which he never makes fun of the material.

34:07

It's total commitment. I see

34:09

that he did a cover of Chico and the

34:11

Man of the Cheeko on the Man theme song, and

34:14

that's one of the things where you go, oh God, and then

34:16

you start listening. It's really good. Yeah,

34:18

it's really good. Chico d

34:23

it's good. Yeah, he

34:25

did Maud too. He covered the themes on to mad

34:27

I have to listen to that. Lady Couldivo was

34:29

a freedom rider. Lady

34:32

Godiva was a freedom ride.

34:35

She didn't care the whole world.

34:38

I check any cynicism at

34:40

the door. When he starts performing, well,

34:43

you check your cynicism because you know immediately

34:45

he's bearing his soul to you. It's not an

34:48

act. He's not too cool for

34:50

school, right. Sinatra had that right, a

34:52

little bit of a distance. There's no distance

34:55

there. I don't think Sammy had an ounce

34:57

of irony in him, that kind of detached

35:00

look at me irony. He was like

35:02

all in as a performer. And maybe

35:05

the problem is not Sammy's enthusiasm,

35:08

but certain generations skittishness

35:10

about enthusiasm, right,

35:13

fear that will make them look

35:15

uncool. Right, and Dion

35:17

Warwick says he was as enthusiastic

35:20

and playful offstage as on. And

35:22

I started having in my rider

35:26

a Miss pac Man machine Miss pac

35:28

Man, which is much better than pac Man by the way. Yeah,

35:31

and luc the cocktail table type,

35:33

the one, the flat one, so that right, you

35:35

can sit across from each other. Yep. Turns

35:42

out Dion Warwick and Sammy Davis

35:44

Junior both loved playing Miss

35:46

pac Man and I beat him up. That

35:51

is fantastic. He would get up and stop.

35:54

How to do this to me very

35:57

easily. But

36:00

the Sammy of the seventies also had edge.

36:03

When he kissed Archie Bunker on the cheek

36:05

on all in the family, it made headlines.

36:08

What I hadn't seen until recently was

36:10

his appearance from nineteen seventy five on

36:13

The Carol Burnett Show. And this

36:15

is a sketch where you play a woman eleanor

36:17

Simpson. Yo, he happens. Let's not

36:19

talk about poor Lilo me. That's

36:22

right, that's the one Carol

36:24

told me all about it on the phone. Well,

36:26

she was a passive, aggressive

36:29

racist, Johnny ur diction.

36:32

It was just perfect. Sammy

36:35

plays this entertainer. So

36:37

she was in the audience. Now he's this big

36:40

star because she's all excited

36:42

but still has that underlying

36:45

prejudice. I tell

36:47

you, you just tossed off those poles syllables

36:50

like you were born to them. They

36:53

grew up together because his mother

36:56

was their maid. I know

36:59

she just couldn't wait to come

37:01

back in and work for you again. She was talking

37:03

about when they were kids, and she said,

37:05

oh, and we used to play high and go seek.

37:08

Oh that was such fun, but it wasn't good in

37:10

the dark hobby. You could just be

37:12

standing right in front of me and I never wouldn't

37:15

known it less

37:17

she smile. Sammy

37:19

doesn't actually talk much during the scene. He

37:22

doesn't really need to. His look

37:24

says it all. Mostly he's

37:26

just biting his tongue, struggling

37:28

to be gracious until he's

37:31

finally had enough. Okee.

37:33

But Sammy loved that sketch.

37:36

And do you think he loved it because he could relate

37:38

to it somehow? Perhaps you

37:41

remember all the fun we used to have when

37:43

we use kids. What do you remember

37:45

that? I am beginning

37:48

to remember a lot of things. He

37:52

let me ask you. There's got to be a reason you

37:54

remember that sketch in such detail. It

37:57

was because there were no jokes in. There

38:00

was all character. You know something, Melanie,

38:04

I think you're right. I am

38:06

a little tight. Oh that there was an

38:08

underlying truth. Some

38:19

people would say that the one great

38:21

hit he had was Kennyby, But

38:24

mister Boujingles is

38:27

this definition of Sammy Davis.

38:30

That's Willie Brown. I have to

38:32

confess I always thought mister Bojangles,

38:35

our third Sammy song was about

38:38

Bill Bojangles Robinson, the

38:40

great African American tap dancer who

38:42

died penniless in nineteen forty nine. In

38:45

fact, mister Bojangles, and you may

38:47

have known, this was originally a country

38:49

music song. The writer

38:54

Jerry Jeff Walker says it's about

38:56

a guy he met in a New Orleans prison,

38:59

and Walker never really thought the song would go anywhere.

39:03

When I got to Atlantic Records, they said, who'd

39:06

held would want a four and a half minute song about a old

39:08

drunk and a dead dog? And six

39:11

to eight times right right? Apparently

39:13

everyone dagle

39:18

the song spoke to Sammy. He'd

39:20

been struggling for years with drugs and alcohol,

39:23

back and dance, dance,

39:27

dance, please dance.

39:31

I got the fear that that's how I was going to die.

39:34

I was going to wind up like mister Beaujang, a

39:37

drunk but recognition

39:39

about anything, and the song helped

39:42

motivate three hundred and sixty

39:45

mister bag

39:47

Goose when

39:51

he was on stage, totally

39:54

dalk on stage. Why can't

39:56

you wear a boat and

39:59

all you'd get is the spotlight,

40:02

and then the light go out and you'd see

40:04

him take two or three steps and he'd

40:06

be him another circle

40:08

of light, still continuing

40:11

and tell them the story until

40:16

he dance, dance, dance. Nothing

40:19

could be to that,

40:23

you would be, I mean,

40:25

just overwhelmed. After

40:36

Sammy was diagnosed with cancer, the

40:39

doctors told him he needed surgery, but

40:42

surgery would involve removing his voice

40:44

box. As far as Sammy

40:46

was concerned, that wasn't an option.

40:49

So I'm just okay watching cartoons. I come down

40:51

to get a soda from the living room. That's

40:54

Manny Davis, Sammy's son, with

40:57

his third wife, Alchabz. He

40:59

remembers the procession of dignitaries

41:01

coming through their home during Sammy's final

41:04

months. They got Jesse Jackson the living

41:06

room, they got Franks and I just come over to say hello.

41:09

You just have all these celebrities coming around

41:11

all the time because they knew what

41:13

was happening to Sammy and I didn't. Here's

41:16

Kim Novak again. When is

41:18

the last time that you saw him? Well,

41:21

when it was sick, you know, and

41:23

I went to the hospital to see

41:25

him and

41:27

what was that like? Oh,

41:31

it was hot. I didn't know what. I don't

41:34

know what to say. Really, always sat

41:36

there and looked at each other and what

41:41

do you say. In

41:46

November nineteen eighty nine, his best

41:49

friends, no surprise, they included

41:51

some of the greatest living performers, rushed

41:54

to organize a tribute show. A

41:56

very gaunt Sammy sat in the front row.

41:59

He was sixty three years old, making

42:02

this his sixtieth anniversary in showbiz,

42:05

sixty years. And

42:07

I knew that you would amount to something, but I

42:09

didn't feel that you were going to amount to everything.

42:13

That's Frank Sinatra and

42:15

I say, here's to you. Sam.

42:18

You know I love you. I

42:20

can't say it any more than that. You're

42:23

my brother. Michael

42:26

Jackson is there too. As a young

42:28

boy, Michael had stood in the wings

42:30

studying Sammy. On this night,

42:33

he sang a song specially written

42:35

for the occasion before

42:39

we came. You

42:42

took the hurt, you

42:45

took the shame. I

42:48

am here because you were there. It

42:51

was too lucky. I'm free

42:53

as a performer to do what I want because

42:56

you made it happen before me. There's

42:58

now a duel we

43:02

all walk through and

43:06

halfway through the show, the great tap

43:09

dancer Gregory Hines comes on. It's

43:12

hard to put into words. I

43:14

feel so much love for you that

43:19

I'm gonna try to dance to that for you.

43:23

Hines dances and the crowd

43:25

goes wild. Then

43:32

he approaches Sammy, who isn't

43:34

scheduled to perform. He looks so weak,

43:38

but out of these pulls out Sammy's

43:40

tap shoes. Sammy

43:42

can't resist. He puts them

43:45

on and gets up on stage.

43:50

Greg Hines whispers to Sammy, says, what

43:53

do you want to do? And Sammy says, greg

43:56

just make it easy on yourself, and

44:09

they bring him the tap shoes there. It's clearly

44:11

planned. It's you don't

44:13

think it's fine? And

44:20

they did this beautiful little duet together

44:22

and it tore a place apart. Look,

44:31

it's impossible to tell if this was all pre

44:33

arranged, but frankly, who

44:36

cares. Samy comes

44:38

alive in that sequence. I

44:41

swear when you watch this you forget that he's

44:43

dying. That's

44:46

the last step seven of the dunce. He

45:01

made a statement to that we

45:03

were open, and one night he

45:06

felt that he wants to die on stage. He

45:08

wanted to end his life right there on

45:11

stage. So how could you think that Jesus,

45:14

that's my life and you think he

45:16

really meant it. I know he

45:19

did. If

45:30

there's a little less spring in the American step today,

45:32

it is because Sammy Davis Junior is gone.

45:35

As you know, Dad has heard Sammy Davis Junior pass

45:37

away yesterday after it was born in a Hurlem

45:39

into a family of vaudeville performers,

45:41

working from age three in a world where

45:43

white's expected blacks to dance. Funeral

45:46

services will be held tomorrow, smile. Sammy

45:48

Davis Junior was sixty four to know their place and

45:51

Hollywood flowers stand guard over Davis's

45:53

star on the Walk of Fame, New

45:56

York. His name, Sammy Davis Junior

45:58

died at home in Beverly Hills on

46:01

May sixteenth, nineteen ninety I

46:06

would like to think of myself as the entertainer

46:10

whatever it takes to make the people happy.

46:14

If Hollywood ever does produce a biopick

46:16

about Sammy Davis Jr. It's

46:19

hard to imagine who could play him.

46:22

I mean, who's around today who can do

46:24

it all? Maybe it's

46:26

because of the world that created Sammy

46:29

is gone. Fronteville. It

46:32

was a fraternity of performance, and

46:35

you saw the greatest performances in the world

46:38

out there playing that trade. And

46:40

you could learn just by standing in the wings

46:43

and watching very special

46:46

and I was lucky enough to catch it. Sammy's

46:49

was a time when the most exciting performers

46:53

were proud to be known as more than just singers

46:56

or comics or television personalities.

47:00

They aspired to be remembered as

47:02

entertainers. Every

47:05

once in a while, and running the Donal

47:08

O'Connor, Mickey Rooney,

47:11

we all have the same upbringing,

47:14

and we talk about it. You

47:17

remember the old days, you remember the second such

47:19

a Ack, you remember the Zach And

47:22

sometimes I look at the young people today and I go,

47:25

I wonder what they'll talk about. Who

47:29

will they remember? Gonna

47:38

build a mountain from

47:41

the little the hill. We

47:44

hope you'll join us as we raise the curtain

47:46

on the next episode of Mobituaries.

47:49

Our topic Meanderthals

47:52

with special guest my friend Michael

47:54

ian Black. If they had told

47:56

me only how much Neanderthal I am,

47:59

I would have paid the amount for the test. I

48:02

certainly hope you enjoyed this episode. For

48:04

more great content, please visit mobituaries

48:07

dot com or follow us on Facebook,

48:09

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48:12

at Morocca. If you like Mobituaries,

48:15

please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

48:17

I promise it's free. This

48:19

episode of Mobituaries was produced by

48:22

Alison Byrne and Gideon Evans.

48:25

Our team of producers also includes Megan

48:27

Marcus, Kate mccauliffe, Megandetree,

48:29

Justin Hayter, and Me Morocca. It

48:32

was edited by Alison Byrne and

48:34

engineered by Bart Warshaw. Indispensable

48:38

support from Hilary Dan Genius,

48:40

Tnski, kiro wardlow Zach

48:42

Gilcrest, the team at CBS News

48:44

Radio, and Richard Rohrer. Special

48:47

thanks to Matt Anderson, Manny Davis,

48:49

Michael Cantor, Neil Porter, and Alberto

48:52

Robina. Our theme music is written

48:54

by Daniel Hart. Exclusive

48:56

interview outtakes of Steve Lawrence plus

48:59

Cheeter There's amazing glass Eye

49:01

story. We're from American Masters, Sammy

49:03

Davis Jr. I've Gotta Be Me, Premiering

49:06

Tuesday, February nineteenth at nine

49:08

pm on PBS. Check local

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listings and as always, undying

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thanks to Rand Morrison and John

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Carbon Without whom Mobituaries

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views. I don't care where you are you, I

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am not given the rights today. It was Presley's

49:26

story. Hi,

49:29

it's MO. If you're enjoying Mobituaries

49:31

the podcast, may I invite you to

49:34

check out Mobituaries the book.

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It's chock full of stories not

49:38

in the podcast. Celebrities

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who put their butts on the line, sports

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teams that threw in the towel for good, forgotten

49:46

fashions, defunct diagnoses,

49:48

presidential candidacies that cratered

49:51

whole countries that went caput. And dragons,

49:54

Yes, dragons, you see. People used to

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believe the dragons were real until just

49:59

get the book. You can order Mobituaries

50:01

the Book from any online bookseller,

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or stop by your local bookstore and

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