Sammy Davis, Jr.

A household name in his day, half-forgotten now.

My parents loved him - played his music in my (Italian) house when I was growin up. I grew to appreciate him on my own, and still play his music when I have the chance. What a performer !

♪♪ Who can take the sunrise, sprinkle it with dew, cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two, the Candy Man can! The Candy Man can cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good! ♪♪

He was very bi.

He melded into the white entertainment world and really seemed to be treated as an equal. That was not common at the time.

He befriended Linda Lovelace after “Deep Throat” became a sensation and he asked her to teach him how to do it.

His memoir., "Yes, I can" is outstandingly depressing. An underdog all his life who achieved through talent.

I hate tap dancing but Davis elevated an annoying type of dance to an art form.

He died in enormous debt due to lavish spending, leaving his widow basically homeless after the IRS took everything.

Wasn't he a satanist?

What was the story with Kim Novak?

Runt.

But at least he was Jewish.

He had an affair with Chita Rivera during the Broadway run of Mr. Wonderful.

To see Sammy Davis Jr. dancing as a wee lad is to behold a child prodigy.

He traded glass eyeballs with Sandy Duncan until she dropped his during a performance of Peter Pan.

R6 . . .

Amazing story, R15

When I was 11 my parents took me too see him live. I have seen the best live but none of them had half the charm or power of Davis that night. He commanded his audience- I had never seen so many adult just hypnotized by one person. I will never forget that show and his performance. The reason he isn’t as famous now is because his vocal style went out of style and he wasn’t a movie or television star. He was also short, not handsome, and a tad too Uncle Tom for a generation coming up during civil rights- although Tim Scott makes him look like Malcolm X.

Supposedly during an orgy he touched Frank Sinatra's ass. Frank was furious and never spoke to him again.

[quote] He traded glass eyeballs with Sandy Duncan until she dropped his during a performance of Peter Pan.

Sandy Duncan never had a glass eye. One of her eyes was blinded, but she never had it replaced.

In the early 70s he had a #1 hit with "The Candy Man" (which was a song he loathed), from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

I only know him from the Whitney's favorite songs concert.

R19, in my world Tony Danza starred on “Charles In Charge” and Sandy Duncan has one glass eye.

It’s not like I am anti-vax

Sammy was an amazing talent and not as appreciated as he should have been. I believe Linda Lovelace in her story about him. Would you have let Sammy Davis suck ur dick? I would have.

His 'All in the Family[ guest star appearance is a classic. Whoever thought of that storyline was brilliant.

I recall years after, Davis said 'AITF' was his favorite show, and jumped at the chance to guest star. He especially thought Carroll O'Connor was a brilliant actor, playing the exact opposite of what he was like in real life.

Sammy was treated very strangely by the other members of the Rat Pack, especially Sinatra. They would humiliate him in public but were very affectionate with him privately. He stayed friends with Peter Lawford after the other Rat Pack members shunned him for the JFK visit to Sinatra's house that never happened (short version: Sinatra had been a lifelong Democrat and desperately wanted to get JFK to stay at his house; Lawford was put in charge of arranging it since he was JFK's brother-in-law; Sinatra even had a helipad built to JFK could stay there; RFK decided Sinatra's Mafia ties would embarrass his brother and convinced him not to stay there; Sinatra was furious, switched party affiliations, and never had anything to do with Lawford again).

Sammy and Lawford gave us this cinema classic.

Sammy Davis played a boxer in Golden Boy, the 1964 Charles Strouse/Lee Adams musical. It was a big deal at the time, with an interracial kiss onstage. It's one of Strouse's best scores. Davis repeated his performance in London on the West End.

Although Sammy Davis, Jr and Sandy Duncan sadly never got the opportunity to exchange glass eyes, there is a connection.

When Sandy Duncan lost the sight in one eye, Sammy Davis, Jr contacted her right away to offer his support and to give advice on how to manage stage performances, such as catching cues with limited eyesight.

Really, Sammy Davis, Jr was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of performer, and as r17 explains, he’s just not a fit for the current era, despite holding more talent in his glass eye than most contemporary pop stars and actors.

This is late career Sammy Davis. Not even a year later he was dead.

But listen to this. It is astonishing. The meaning he gives to those lyrics. And his breath control.

R19 is a newbie. I’m keeping an eye on you.

Too bad Sammy was such a fan of Nixon. Nixon did NOTHING for African Americans. Personally, I just hid in a wheat field during those years.

This “live” performance by Sammy at the 1978 Oscars was incredible.

Note Shirley MacLaine yelling “Bravo” at the end.

OP, why do you post his biography like we’re a bunch of twelve year olds who’ve never heard of Sammy Davis?

R31 Wow.

I saw Sammy in GOLDEN BOY on Broadway when I was a teen. I wasn't particularly a fan before that but he was absolutely sensational and unforgettable in that show. Singing and dancing and then going into the boxing ring for a rigorous and spectacular Act II fight scene. After the curtain call he came out and sat down and sang to us for at least 20 minutes, finishing with his big hit, "What Kind of Fool Am I?" The Golden Age of Broadway at its best, nothing like it now.

And he was smoking cigarettes throughout the entire show and encore concert (except for the boxing, lol). The stage floor was literally covered in cigarette butts by the end of the show (as I was sitting way up in the balcony I had quite a view of the floor).

It's very sad, r10.

In 1957, Davis was involved with actress Kim Novak, who was under contract with Columbia Pictures. Because Novak was white, Harry Cohn, the president of Columbia, gave in to his worries that backlash against the relationship could hurt the studio. There are several accounts of what happened, but they agree that Davis was threatened by organized crime figures close to Cohn.[55] According to one account, Cohn called racketeer John Roselli, who was told to inform Davis that he must stop seeing Novak. To try to scare Davis, Roselli had him kidnapped for a few hours.[56] Another account relates that the threat was conveyed to Davis's father by mobster Mickey Cohen.[55] Davis was threatened with the loss of his other eye or a broken leg if he did not marry a black woman within two days. Davis sought the protection of Chicago mobster Sam Giancana, who said that he could protect him in Chicago and Las Vegas but not California.[5][55][57]

Davis briefly married black dancer Loray White in 1958 to protect himself from mob violence;[55] Davis had previously dated White, who was 23 and twice divorced and had a six-year-old child.[5] He paid her a lump sum – $10,000 or $25,000 – to engage in a marriage on the condition that it would be dissolved before the end of the year.[5][55] Davis became inebriated at the wedding and attempted to strangle White en route to their wedding suite. Checking on him later, Davis's personal assistant Arthur Silber Jr. found Davis with a gun to his head. Davis despairingly said to Silber, "Why won't they let me live my life?".[55] The couple never lived together[5] and commenced divorce proceedings in September 1958.[55] The divorce was granted in April 1959.[58]

What the hell happened to America's pop culture? Ok, I'm old...but everything is so shitty now.

But were Kim and Sammy having sex or was it just more of a cozy friendship as Kim always insisted, even in recent interviews?

Did Chita have sex with Sammy before or after he got his glass eye?

R38, After. In her recent autobiography, she wrote that he would sometimes take it out when relaxing in his hotel room.

R39 the penis? And just showing her how it looks without using it????????

He used to insert his glass eye into her vagina and she'd let it roll around in there.

R36, Sammy was considered a jerk in the 1970s.

R39, ewww!

[quote] [R19], in my world Tony Danza starred on “Charles In Charge” and Sandy Duncan has one glass eye. It’s not like I am anti-vax

Apparently your mother was.

R8: His wife, Altovise, was the one who was profligate with spending.

R44, You know nothing about how Sammy lived way beyond his means for years to make a stupid remark like that, you ignorant cunt.

His self-transformation from Rat Pack Guy to Too Hip for Words 60’s Guy was a bit embarrassing. He overdid everything. The huge medallions, the Nehru suits, the hipster lingo all made him look desperate to remain relevant. He never changed his singing style, though, which was aimed at white audiences all day long.

He had a beautiful singing voice which can't be said about many performers today. The 'Candy Man' is a snappy tune that gets you moving although he hated that song as noted above.

R13, many thanks for posting that clip. Jaw dropping. Really astonishing talent.

I hate the candy man too. But I remain awed of his dancing talents, he was an athlete

Sammy so white

I hate the song too, R47. Silly pop tune not worthy of a good vocalist. Major problem for ALL of the great vocalists in the 1970s - the songs sucked.

R46,

HIT THE FLOOR AND CRAWL TO DADDY!!!

This is a nice bossa nova soundtrack for your Sunday afternoon.

Sammy Davis, Jr. and Carmen McRae sing Gershwin.

I grew up hearing him sing frequently on the radio. But, visually, he always seemed dressed in extreme 60’s outfits with lots of gold chains and medallions. And his constant attempts at emotional depth earned him the scornful label of “Mr. Sincerity.”

He just seemed so needy.

A television classic.

[quote]His self-transformation from Rat Pack Guy to Too Hip for Words 60’s Guy was a bit embarrassing. He overdid everything. The huge medallions, the Nehru suits, the hipster lingo all made him look desperate to remain relevant.

Sammy Davis Jr. wasn't the only one. Quite a few entertainers of the WWII generation totally embarrassed themselves in the late 60s by adopting the trends of the young hippie (Boomer) generation and they just totally embarrassed themselves. Even Sinatra put on a Nehru jacket and tried to be hip and happening.

When I had a puppy, I used to speak to him in my bad Sammy Davis voice. The dog would always look confused.

Never cared for this song, despite its popularity.

R54, LOVE LOVE LOVE Carmen McRae singing anything. Not so much Sammy.

This thread is incomplete without Jim Carrey's moving tribute to Sammy.