KWXY Presents ● A Classic Interview with Sammy Davis Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr. in 1972. Publicity Photo Jay Bernstein Public Relations
Sammy Davis Jr. was a multifaceted entertainer known as a singer, dancer, actor, vaudevillian, drummer and comedian. He was also a member of Hollywood’s famed “Rat Pack” alongside Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop.
Bon December 8, 1925 in the Harlem section of New York City to Sammy Davis, Sr. and Elvera Sanchez, both vaudeville dancers, Davis was reared by his paternal grandmother. His parents separated when he was age three and his father took him on tour for fear of losing custody. With the help of his godfather Will Mastin who taught the young Davis how to dance, the three became known as the Will Mastin Trio.
Drafted into the Army in 1944, Davis encountered a level of racial prejudice he had never experienced as a vaudevillian. His nose was broken so many times in fights, it had soon became permanently flattened. After being discharged, he rejoined his family act. A show at Ciro’s in West Hollywood, California on March 23, 1951 marked the beginning of success on his own when a show that was supposed to run for twenty minutes went on for nearly an hour due to the crowd’s reaction.
His success continued to grow, but almost ended after a near-fatal auto accident. It happened north of San Bernardino, California on what was then US Route 66 as he was driving home from Las Vegas en route to a recording session in Los Angeles in his 1954 Cadillac. A woman who had missed a fork in the road backed into Davis’s lane.
The crash forced his face into the Cadillac’s bullet-shaped horn button, resulting in the eventual loss of his left eye. While in the hospital, his friend, entertainer Eddie Cantor, described the similarities between black and Jewish culture which inspired him to study further. He converted to Judaism in 1961.
In 1959, Davis became a member of the “Rat Pack” which went on to make several movies under the leadership of Frank Sinatra. Although he continued to be a Las Vegas headliner for years afterward, the late 1960s saw a decline in his musical career. He hit number one in 1972 with “The Candy Man” from the movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Though Davis did not like the song, it served to revitalize his career.
NBC Television Photo of Sammy Davis Jr. and Steve Allen rehearsing for the premiere of The Steve Allen Show June 18, 1956.
In 1990, ABC aired the TV special Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration, produced by George Schlatter. An all-star cast, including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Eddie Murphy, Diahann Carroll, Clint Eastwood, and Ella Fitzgerald, paid tribute to Davis. The show was nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy.
Sammy’s lifetime of entertainment performances, and outstanding artistic significance in the field of recording, earned him several awards including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a Special Citation Award for The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the NAACP Image Award, and a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Photo of Sammy Davis, Jr. performing on the television program The Perry Como Show. NBC Television 1966
A heavy smoker, Davis began developing symptoms of throat cancer in 1989. Treated with chemotherapy and radiation so as not to lose part of his throat, Sammy Davis Jr. succumbed to the disease at age 64 on May 16, 1990. The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were darkened for ten minutes two days later as a tribute.
Sammy was such a fun loving and talented performer that captured the hearts of those he entertained. Like others from his era, there will never be another Mr. Entertainment, or entertainer like Sammy Davis Jr.
Listen to a Classic Interview with Sammy Davis Jr. today at 1pm on KWXY Music Radio 92.3FM ● 1340AM ● streaming at kwxy.com and ivoxradio.com