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Speaker 1: This episode is about a man who has been called

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Speaker 1: the greatest entertainer of the twentieth century. Jeez, look at that.

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Speaker 1: So naturally I wanted to talk to a car expert. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's a gorgeous vehicle, beautifully restore. I'm with my friend

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Speaker 1: Matt Anderson, he's the curator of transportation at the Henry

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Speaker 1: Ford Museum, and we're in a suburb of Detroit looking

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Speaker 1: at a stunning, shiny red nineteen fifty three Cadillac El

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Speaker 1: Dorado with the car's owner, Neil Porter. A lot of

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Speaker 1: the parts of the car were handbuilt. The wrap around

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Speaker 1: windshield is cool. The curve in the glass, this is

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Speaker 1: the very first of the wrap around windshields nineteen fifty three. Bottom.

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Speaker 1: Neil invited me to sit behind the wheel for you

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Speaker 1: to get in. These seats are what leather not final.

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Speaker 1: This is one heck of a car. The height of luxury.

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Speaker 1: And get this point out that, like power windows were

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Speaker 1: a big deal in the late seventies, but there's a

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Speaker 1: prominent design flaw. Let's talk about the steering wheel. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: One of the things he noticed is that at the

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Speaker 1: center of the steering wheel of the hub, there looks

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Speaker 1: like the nose cone on a missile. Almost that's right

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Speaker 1: jutting out from the center of the steering wheel is

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Speaker 1: a comical chrome protrusion and straight at the driver's face.

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Speaker 1: It has no functional purpose. It's simply there to kind

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Speaker 1: of look cool. And cool certainly describes the man who

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Speaker 1: was driving his own El Dorado in the wee small

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Speaker 1: hours of November nineteenth, nineteen fifty four. Sammy Davis Junior

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Speaker 1: was a twenty eight year old, fast rising nightclub performer, singer,

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Speaker 1: comic and boy What a dancer heading from a show

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Speaker 1: in Vegas to a recording gig in Los Angeles when

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Speaker 1: he collided with another car in San Bernardino, California, and

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Speaker 1: the left side of his face collided with that steering wheel.

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Speaker 1: The car had no seatbelts. This is what caused Sammy

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Speaker 1: Davis Junior to lose his eye and his accident, and

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Speaker 1: he did not have time to react it out of

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Speaker 1: the way, so he went flying. His head came and

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Speaker 1: hit against that protrusion and it went right into his

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Speaker 1: left eye socket, in fact, knocked the eye out of

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Speaker 1: the socket. My father had been calling the middle of

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Speaker 1: the night to go to Saint Bernardine's Hospital, to take

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Speaker 1: care of a man who had a very serious car

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Speaker 1: accident and injured his eye and needed some help. Nancy

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Speaker 1: Gallab was the daughter of the late doctor Frederick Hall.

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Speaker 1: He was the surgeon who rushed to the hospital to

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Speaker 1: work on Sammy. Nancy was thirteen years old at the time,

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Speaker 1: and so what my father basically did was to save

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Speaker 1: Sammy from losing the other eye. But the first question

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Speaker 1: that Sammy purportedly asking my dad was were his legs? Okay, wow,

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Speaker 1: that's very telling, right, Yes, I thought that was pointed. Also,

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Speaker 1: the traumatic event opens Sammy's autobiography, Yes I Can. Here's

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Speaker 1: a passage read by his co author Bert Boyar as

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Speaker 1: I ran my hand over my cheek. I felt my

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Speaker 1: eye hanging there by a string. Frantically, I tried to

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Speaker 1: stuff it back in, like if I could do that,

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Speaker 1: it would stay there and nobody would know. The ground

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Speaker 1: went out from underman. I was on my knees. Don't

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Speaker 1: let me go blind, Please, God, don't take it all away. Now,

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Speaker 1: when Sammy says don't take it all away, he's not

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Speaker 1: praying for his life, at least not the way you

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Speaker 1: or I might be. He's talking about his life in showbiz,

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Speaker 1: all the beautiful things, all the plans, the laughs. They

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Speaker 1: were lying out there, smashed, just like the car. Sammy

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Speaker 1: spent almost two weeks in the San Bernardino hospital recovering.

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Speaker 1: Later on, he'd famously be fitted for a glass eye,

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Speaker 1: and the outpouring of love was almost like a memorial service.

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Speaker 1: There was a telegram from Marilyn Monroe which just thrilled Sammy.

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Speaker 1: Two pieces, Eddie Canter, Jackie Robinson, Ella Fitzgerald. They all

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Speaker 1: sent telegrams, even the waiters at the Hollywood nightclub Serros,

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Speaker 1: where he'd become an overnight sensation just three years before.

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Speaker 1: The admiration of his friends and peers mattered, But in

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Speaker 1: a life of dramatic ups and downs, was the adulation

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Speaker 1: of audiences that would sustain him, in the words of

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Speaker 1: one friend, nourish him. And he gave those audiences everything

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Speaker 1: he had. I've got a lot of living. This is

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Speaker 1: what he was trained to do. It was in every

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Speaker 1: atom of his DNA. It's what he did. He did

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Speaker 1: it well, he did it graciously, He did it gratefully,

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Speaker 1: and he wasn't trying to bludgeon anybody over the head,

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Speaker 1: and he wasn't distant performance. It's just what he did,

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Speaker 1: it's who he was. I gotta be me. Who's me,

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Speaker 1: the world's greatest entertainer, Sammy Davis Junior. I'm Morocca, and

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Speaker 1: this is mobituaries, this moment Sammy Davis Junior, May sixteenth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety death of the entertainer. I think that it's

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Speaker 1: probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's

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Speaker 1: probably an odd thing to say. My friends rallied around

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Speaker 1: me and convinced me that it was still a lot

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Speaker 1: to be done and that I probably probably wouldn't matter.

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Speaker 1: And as it turned out, that's Sammy Davis Junior talking

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Speaker 1: about the crash that nearly killed him. I'm not surprised

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Speaker 1: by the outpouring of love at that hospital. I've been

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Speaker 1: a correspondent on CBS Sunday Morning for over ten years now.

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Speaker 1: I've interviewed probably over a hundred celebrities, and there's one

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Speaker 1: name that's popped up more than any other, Sammy Davis Junior.

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Speaker 1: Former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown told me about his

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Speaker 1: friend's command over an audience when he was on stage.

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Speaker 1: You would be overwhelmed. Kim Novak and Nancy Sinatra each

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Speaker 1: talked about what a joy Sammy was to be around.

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Speaker 1: He was such a fun person. Sammy was part of

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Speaker 1: the family. LeVar Burton and Ben Vereen revered Sammy as

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Speaker 1: a role model. It wasn't all the time that I,

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Speaker 1: you know, saw people on TV who looked like me.

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Speaker 1: If there was a black actor in on TV in

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Speaker 1: those days, we'd watched Sammy would come on on The

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Speaker 1: Ed Sullivan Show and do everything. And I was everything.

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Speaker 1: He did everything. Yes, when the subject turns to Sammy,

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Speaker 1: the superlatives start flying easily. The greatest. He was everything.

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Speaker 1: He could play any instrument, he could sing, he could

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Speaker 1: dance like a maniac. That's Broadway legend, Cheetah Rivera. Is

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Speaker 1: there anyone like Sammy Davis Junior today? I have not

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Speaker 1: ever seen anybody. I just never saw anything like him

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Speaker 1: in my life. It says it right there on his

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Speaker 1: tombstone in Hollywood's Forest Lawn, the entertainer. He did it all.

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Speaker 1: Daddy was a new sensation, got himself a congregation, built

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Speaker 1: up quite an operation down band. He did singing, dancing, acting, comedy.

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Speaker 1: He was at least a quadruple threat quintuple if you

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Speaker 1: count his gun spinning routine a plus. It helped that

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Speaker 1: he started early. I won an amateur contest at the

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Speaker 1: Stanley Theater in Philadelphia when I was three and a

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Speaker 1: half years old, singing I'll be glad when You're dead,

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Speaker 1: You rascal. You that seven year old Sammy singing the

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Speaker 1: same song in the movie musical short Rufus Jones for President.

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Speaker 1: Sammy Davis Junior was born in harle One in nineteen

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Speaker 1: twenty five. His mother, Elvera Sanchez, was Latin and a dancer.

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Speaker 1: His father was a Hoffer. His parents split up early,

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Speaker 1: and just when most kids start school, Sammy hit the

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Speaker 1: road the vaudeville circuit with his father, Sam Senior, and

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Speaker 1: Will Maston, a family friend he called his uncle. They

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Speaker 1: were billed as the Will Maston Trio. Here's Sammy reminiscing

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Speaker 1: with his father in a nineteen seventy three TV special

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Speaker 1: What Place Leo? Who were playing minsks Miss Berlin's House

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Speaker 1: forty second Street doing Jilson right And I used to

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Speaker 1: have a cigar and I was passing off as a midget.

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Speaker 1: Imitet did but you were five. The trio was a success,

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Speaker 1: but it was the diminutive Sammy Davis Junior even as

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Speaker 1: an adult. He was just five foot five who stood out.

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Speaker 1: Shirley McClain remembered Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra sneaking her

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Speaker 1: into ceros to see this dynamo who was dancing and

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Speaker 1: singing and performing in the middle of a trio. She

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Speaker 1: told this story onstage to Sammy had a tribute show

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Speaker 1: in his honor in nineteen eighty nine, towards the end

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Speaker 1: of his life. The two people on either side of

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Speaker 1: you were terrific. But I could not believe my eyes

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Speaker 1: and my ears never had so much come out of

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Speaker 1: something so small for so long. She's right. There was

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Speaker 1: a light that came out of him that made it

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Speaker 1: impossible not to look at him, that made him more

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Speaker 1: than the sum of his mad individual talents. Let's talk

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Speaker 1: about his impressions, which I loved, his Bogey perfect. I'd

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Speaker 1: like to say that it's really been a pleasure in

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Speaker 1: attaining all of you nice folk. Shot. It's really been

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Speaker 1: one of the great thrills for my time. His Cagney

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Speaker 1: spot on yashwing, that great h all, A love that's

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Speaker 1: in you, you dirty rat. And I've listened to his

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Speaker 1: marvelously muttering Marlon Brando a million baby kisses. I will

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Speaker 1: personally delive if you will only sing this morning roof

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Speaker 1: all the day. His friend, the Oscar winning songwriter Leslie

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Speaker 1: Brickis told me that growing up, Sammy spent a lot

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Speaker 1: of time in movie theaters. It became sort of his school,

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Speaker 1: since he never spent a single day in an actual school.

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Speaker 1: He used to speak along with the actors, imitating them,

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Speaker 1: you know, Carrie Grant or Humphrey Bogat. He learned the accents.

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Speaker 1: He'd do the voice with them, and that's how he

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Speaker 1: perfected it. He couldn't let anything go by. There's this

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Speaker 1: bit I've seen from an old Julie Andrews Variety show.

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Speaker 1: Julie Andrews Variety Show. Don't you just love the sound

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Speaker 1: of that? Anyway? On the show, Sammy and the impressionist

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Speaker 1: Rich Little engage in a friendly competition. Why don't we

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Speaker 1: forget about impressions and just see Sammy sings as Nat

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Speaker 1: King Cole. I just found joy. I'm happy all you

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Speaker 1: lay the bar. Rich does Liberacci, I'm Parabi and Sammy

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Speaker 1: does his Jerry Lewis to Riches, Dean Martin, you and me,

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Speaker 1: you know watching it, and Rich Little is technically better,

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Speaker 1: but Sammy is just better. I'd rather watch Sammy, So

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Speaker 1: what's happening there? The genius of Sammy's when he imitated someone,

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Speaker 1: He imitated them from the inside out, and rich Little

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Speaker 1: imitates someone from the outside end, and Sammy gets to

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Speaker 1: the essence of that person. This is Larry Maslon. He's

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Speaker 1: the writer and co producer of the film American Masters,

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Speaker 1: Sammy Davis Junior. I've got to Be Me, and he's

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Speaker 1: super smart. Nobody imitated musicians and singers the way sam

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Speaker 1: is really interesting because you've got to be able to

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Speaker 1: have the talent of channeling them and have their talent

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Speaker 1: as well, right right right where you're Sammy's talent as

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Speaker 1: a singer is often well undersung. It's not so much

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Speaker 1: that he had a technically beautiful voice, but cliche alert.

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Speaker 1: He knew how to make a song his own. And

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Speaker 1: in this episode, we're going to use three of the

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Speaker 1: songs he famously sang to tell his story. Whether I'm right, Oh,

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Speaker 1: whether I'm Larry Maslon calls I've got to Be Me

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Speaker 1: the ultimate Sammy song. I mean, it's it's everything, and

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Speaker 1: that's who he was. I gotta be And yet the

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Speaker 1: song wasn't written for Sammy or settle for us as

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Speaker 1: long as there's a much. Steve Lawrence sang it first

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Speaker 1: in a musical called Golden Rainbow, about a single dad

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Speaker 1: living in Vegas. The musical also starred Steve's wife, Evie

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Speaker 1: Gourmet incredible voice. Anyway, Steve thought this song, written by

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Speaker 1: Walter Marx, might be more powerful coming from his friend.

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Speaker 1: The lyric content was like whether I'm right, whether I'm wrong,

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Speaker 1: whether I find a place in this world will never belonged.

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Speaker 1: It interpreted this black man in the society at that time,

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Speaker 1: this man who is different than everybody else. I called him.

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Speaker 1: I said, sam You're going to do this your own

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Speaker 1: way and better. It meant more coming from him than

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Speaker 1: it did from me. He recorded it, bang, he went

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Speaker 1: to the top of the chase. I'll go it alone now.

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Speaker 1: Being me for Sammy Davis Junior was a complicated matter.

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Speaker 1: For one thing, he was an African American man who

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Speaker 1: would later convert to Judaism. My mother is a Puerto Rican,

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Speaker 1: so that means I'm colored, Jewish and Puerto Rican. When

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Speaker 1: I move into a neighborhood, I wipe it out. That's

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Speaker 1: a joke. He told a lot when he was performing

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Speaker 1: with the rat Pack in the nineteen sixties. FYI, we're

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Speaker 1: not spending a lot of time with the rat Pack

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Speaker 1: in this episode. It's been done to death. Throughout his life,

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Speaker 1: Sammy mind his unique identity for humor and to diffuse tension.

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Speaker 1: Remember Warren Baby announcing the wrong Best Picture Oscar winner

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Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. Well, Sammy was ahead of his time.

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Speaker 1: Here he is in nineteen sixty four announcing the Oscar

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Speaker 1: for movie scoring and the winner is John Addison for

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Speaker 1: Tom Jones. Except that it wasn't. Sammy handled his snare

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Speaker 1: for him without skipping a beat. They gave me the

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Speaker 1: wrong envelope. Wait till the NAACP hears about this. But

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Speaker 1: earlier in his life his talent played a much more

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Speaker 1: vital role. It helped him survive. They painted you right,

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Speaker 1: they poured urine in your beer. Things of that name.

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Speaker 1: I mean, did these things really happen? Yes, they really happen.

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Speaker 1: That's Sammy talked into our senio hall. In nineteen forty three,

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Speaker 1: eighteen year old Sammy came off the road when he

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Speaker 1: was drafted into the army and into one of the

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Speaker 1: first integrated units. Until then, his father and uncle had

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Speaker 1: tried as best they could to shell to him from racism.

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Speaker 1: Now there was no one to protect him. I was

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Speaker 1: in a kind of an odd situation because I'm going, hey,

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Speaker 1: I don't know anything about this outside world. I belonged

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Speaker 1: to show business, show businesses. Hey, I got a barn.

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Speaker 1: Let's put the show on here. You know all of

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Speaker 1: those cliches I lived, you know, and the other guys

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Speaker 1: are going will be doing that. You won't get us

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Speaker 1: in trouble. You know. I got my nose broke three

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Speaker 1: times and it hurt, and you couldn't do anything about it.

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Speaker 1: You had nobody to back you up. Trips to the

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Speaker 1: infirmary were regular. That's how many fights he was getting into.

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Speaker 1: But when he got transferred to an entertainment unit, things

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Speaker 1: got better for him. He once told his daughter, talent

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Speaker 1: was my only weapon. With a white situation or a

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Speaker 1: black situation, you do it with human I tried to

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Speaker 1: do it with entertaining to try to get some doors open,

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Speaker 1: because all of them were closed in those days. All

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Speaker 1: of them were closed. Well, sammy them open. Remember those

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Speaker 1: impressions he did, they weren't just funny, they were bold

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Speaker 1: back in the late forties, black performers didn't do impressions

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Speaker 1: of white performers in front of white audiences. That is

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Speaker 1: until Sammy did My Dad and Will said they got

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Speaker 1: in inches. One of these days you keep doing white people,

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Speaker 1: you know. And I went on and did it now

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Speaker 1: in the Strand Theater. The first time I went you

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Speaker 1: Dirty Rat, a guy in the audience said, my god,

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Speaker 1: he sounds just like him. What he was really saying,

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Speaker 1: I'm looking at a black man for the first time

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Speaker 1: to a white man. Well, it was so good that

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Speaker 1: we went from opening act to closing. Now, Imitating white

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Speaker 1: performers was one thing. Dating a white woman was another.

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Speaker 1: His relationship with screen siren Kim Novak was considered scandalous.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty seven. I talked to him recently on

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Speaker 1: her horse farm in Oregon. That was blosiph back then.

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Speaker 1: At that time it was it certainly was so ridiculous,

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Speaker 1: and how did what was that like for you? At

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Speaker 1: that time, Harry Cone threatened to take his other eye out.

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Speaker 1: Harry Cone was the much feared head of Columbia Pictures,

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Speaker 1: and he really did. Oh. Of course, however, we saw

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Speaker 1: each other, but I was never in love certainly it

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Speaker 1: was Sammy. Do you think that he was infatuated with you? Oh,

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Speaker 1: he was. He had a good crush on man, nice crush.

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Speaker 1: I man, we had such fun times together, we really did.

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Speaker 1: But who certainly not worth losing eye over. I'm just

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Speaker 1: trying to square this sort of drive to make an

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Speaker 1: audience happy and the public happy and then doing these

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Speaker 1: things that are really ballsy. Well, I'm not sure he

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Speaker 1: viewed them as ballsy. That's Sammy's friend, former San Francisco

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Speaker 1: mayor Willie Brown. I'm sure he viewed them as being

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Speaker 1: just a Davis Julia, And in nineteen seventy two, being

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Speaker 1: Sammy Davis Junior meant embracing President Richard Nixon during his

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Speaker 1: reelection campaign. Quite literally, Sammy hugged Nixon, and let's just

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Speaker 1: say much of the public did not hug back. You've

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Speaker 1: had a lot of criticism from some black groups because

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Speaker 1: I bothered you. Yes, of course. Do you think that

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Speaker 1: he was shocked at the reaction he got when he

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Speaker 1: embraced Nixon? Yes, I think that shocked him. But Willie

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Speaker 1: Brown says, Sammy knew exactly what he was doing. Many

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Speaker 1: African Americans in this country were Republicans. Sammy was conscious

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Speaker 1: of that because some of them were his friends, And

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Speaker 1: contrary to most tellings of this story, Brown says, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't primarily African American fans who were outraged. They were

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Speaker 1: basically white liberals who could not understand how such a

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Speaker 1: symbolic black would be embracing somebody like Richard Nixon. So

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Speaker 1: most of the disapproval you think came from white liberals,

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Speaker 1: I know it came from white liberals. Black people didn't

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00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:14,520
Speaker 1: give a shit about mother than not he embraced Nixon. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Sammy still felt the need later that year to address

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Speaker 1: a less than warm audience at Jesse Jackson's Push Conference,

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Speaker 1: a gathering of social justice activists. Disagree if you will

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Speaker 1: with my politics. It was a dramatic appearance, but I

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Speaker 1: will not allow anyone to take away the fact that

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Speaker 1: I am black. It's moving because he's honest with his audience.

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Speaker 1: That's Larry Maslon again. Basically, he's saying, whatever you think

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Speaker 1: of me and Richard Nixon, you know him, a black man,

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Speaker 1: you know what I've been through in the last forty years.

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Speaker 1: I'm right. Oh, if you don't want to take me, fine,

308
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Speaker 1: but I'm gonna put me out there. I gotta be me.

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Speaker 1: What more of a statement can you have than that?

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Speaker 1: I gotta be me, gotta be me? What else can

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Speaker 1: I be? It seems like showbiz for him was kind

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Speaker 1: of like a rocket ship that took him on a

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Speaker 1: voyage and helped him sort of overcome so many obstacles.

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Speaker 1: His talent is a rocket ship, but gravity was being

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Speaker 1: black in America, and that's what brought him back to

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Speaker 1: earth time and time again. I mean, this is his

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Speaker 1: own words. I want to be so good that no

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Speaker 1: one will notice I'm black. That's not really possible, is it?

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Speaker 1: What kind of lives are these? Do you have a

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Speaker 1: favorite Sammy song? What kind of fooling ice that whispered

321
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Speaker 1: empty words? What kind of fool am I? That's Dion

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Speaker 1: Warwick's favorite Sammy song. It's about someone unable to find

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Speaker 1: blasting love. That's the story he tells from the very

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Speaker 1: first note. I mean, he cannot but believe every single

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Speaker 1: word he's giving you. He floored me with that. What time?

326
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Speaker 1: Because he was forever on tour and on the road,

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Speaker 1: he never could sustain the relationship because he was never

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Speaker 1: there for more than two weeks. Leslie Brickis wrote what

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Speaker 1: kind of fool Am I? With Anthony Newley for the

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Speaker 1: musical Stop the World I Want to Get Off? But

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Speaker 1: Sammy made it famous when he sings it. There's a

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Speaker 1: great performance in nineteen sixty two on Andy Williams Show,

333
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Speaker 1: and it's just so plaintive, almost anguished. What God well,

334
00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:07,280
Speaker 1: he wasn't good at Toto. But it also may have

335
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Speaker 1: been a little bit of autobiography in there. You know,

336
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Speaker 1: why can I cast away this mask of play? I

337
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Speaker 1: live my life? How do you make it fresh? Whenever

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Speaker 1: I walk on that stage with that night I tried

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Speaker 1: to translate into that rendition of the song, and it's

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Speaker 1: a true, honest feeling. Sammy's romantic history was tumultuous. After

341
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Speaker 1: Kim Novak. There was a short marriage to the African

342
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Speaker 1: American actress Lay White, and then he married the white

343
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Speaker 1: Swedish model and actress My brit That wedding was such

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00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,120
Speaker 1: a scandal he got disinvited from the JFK inaugural. Yes,

345
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,359
Speaker 1: that might have had something to do with his hugging Nixon.

346
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Speaker 1: Later on, he and my had two kids before splitting up.

347
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Speaker 1: My wife left me. You know, I took the kids.

348
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Speaker 1: Nothing was more important than being a star. So I lost.

349
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 1: I lost every ounce of what was valuable. I'd made

350
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Speaker 1: the wrong choices. Sammy was married three times in all,

351
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:33,000
Speaker 1: and dated plenty in between. Cheeta Rivera met Sammy when

352
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Speaker 1: they worked together on the musical Mister Wonderful, and I

353
00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:38,960
Speaker 1: was a snob when they asked me to do it.

354
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Speaker 1: I went on, he's from nightclubs. I mean, what's he

355
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Speaker 1: going to do on a stage? You know? And boy

356
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Speaker 1: did I did? I eat my words? And you were lovers,

357
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,520
Speaker 1: you were boyfriend's friend? What was that like? It was fabulous.

358
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Speaker 1: He's as talented in that area as he was he

359
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Speaker 1: was otherwise. But things got he did on one occasion.

360
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Speaker 1: I know this doesn't sound too crude, but we must

361
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:10,680
Speaker 1: have had some words which I don't remember ever having

362
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Speaker 1: with him, but I remember he took his eye out,

363
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Speaker 1: that would be his glass eye. The words that are

364
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:22,720
Speaker 1: in my head are is this what you want now?

365
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:26,200
Speaker 1: That sounds like an hour interview in itself. I know

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Speaker 1: how dramatic that sounds, but I do remember that. And

367
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Speaker 1: I'm not even sure that we were alone. Okay, sidebar

368
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:39,640
Speaker 1: I was obsessed with glass eyes growing up. A relative

369
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 1: of mine actually had one, or maybe his was rubber,

370
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 1: I can't remember. It was a fake guy anyway. Recently

371
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,719
Speaker 1: I spoke with the fabulous Sandy Duncan. She performed with

372
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Speaker 1: Sammy but never dated him, and she talked about the

373
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Speaker 1: rumors that she had a glass eye. Contrary to urban myth,

374
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Speaker 1: I do not have a glass eye, so that'll put

375
00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 1: this to rest. But she did lose sight in one eye,

376
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:06,200
Speaker 1: and Sammy reached out to her. She was very concerned

377
00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:10,480
Speaker 1: about my having lost my vision through a brain tumor

378
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,560
Speaker 1: when I was twenty four, and he made contact immediately.

379
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Speaker 1: Do you think that there is something in the recovery

380
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,800
Speaker 1: for him and for you that, actually, I don't know,

381
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:25,160
Speaker 1: made you even better as an entertainer. I don't know

382
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: if any better as an entertainer, but I certainly developed

383
00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:33,480
Speaker 1: a discipline that nothing stops you. I've never missed a

384
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Speaker 1: show in my life. I just didn't let it bother me.

385
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:39,480
Speaker 1: I had to get up and get out and do it.

386
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 1: So he was very helpful. What kind of fool am I?

387
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,560
Speaker 1: Of course, Sammy did fall in love and stay in

388
00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 1: love with his audience. I know it's a cliche, Well

389
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:06,160
Speaker 1: here comes another one. He's just so at home on stage.

390
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,720
Speaker 1: If you look at videos of him performing on variety shows,

391
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,679
Speaker 1: he does his thing where he'll end a big number

392
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,639
Speaker 1: and then he just sort of doubles over with laughter.

393
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:19,000
Speaker 1: He's had that much fun, almost like a kid shown

394
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:28,920
Speaker 1: off to his friends. But mcno mistake. It might all

395
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 1: look and sound off the cuff. He knows exactly what

396
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 1: he's doing. With your kind permission, May I simply stayed,

397
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 1: how very wonderful and thrilled and scared I am you

398
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 1: had zee this man own a stage and an audience.

399
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:51,400
Speaker 1: I mean he actually owned you, prought you into him.

400
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:56,720
Speaker 1: Dion Warwick wasn't just his friend. She studied him. Well,

401
00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 1: that is a really interesting word when you say he

402
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 1: owned the audience. What does that mean When he woke

403
00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:06,959
Speaker 1: on that stage, he knew that we were in the

404
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:12,719
Speaker 1: palm of his hand. People have to trust you, for Sammy,

405
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:17,359
Speaker 1: This relationship with the audience was deeply personal. People don't

406
00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 1: trust you. He ain't got a shot at it, and

407
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,240
Speaker 1: they've invested years in me. S I'm part of the

408
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:27,760
Speaker 1: family as long as I don't let them down. Do

409
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:32,399
Speaker 1: you think that he was pretty much always happy on stage? Yeah?

410
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 1: That was just domain we heard the Berees trees. Here's

411
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 1: Leslie Bricus again, nineteen seventy seven New Year's Eve and

412
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:51,120
Speaker 1: he and Lizam and Ellie did at midnight New Year's Eve,

413
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:55,200
Speaker 1: at which went on for three hours. We went up

414
00:28:55,240 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 1: to Sammy's Sweet afterwards and he said, let's do it

415
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 1: all again, and they did the whole show again for

416
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 1: just four people and it was another three hours. What

417
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: is that? Was that a need to perform or was

418
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 1: that just pure joy? Or was it joy more than anything? Joy? Joy?

419
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,560
Speaker 1: He was so high on the audience reaction that the

420
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 1: only way he could come down was to perform more.

421
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:31,920
Speaker 1: Dionne Warwick told me that he described applause as nourishment. Yes,

422
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:46,200
Speaker 1: that was that was breakfast, lunch and dinner. You know,

423
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:51,680
Speaker 1: people romanticize the entertainer who just gives one hundred and

424
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 1: ten percent. But then the cliche is, you know, they give,

425
00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 1: they give, they give, but there was nothing left for themselves.

426
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:00,480
Speaker 1: And you know, but no, no, no no, no no, no no, no,

427
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 1: he gave, but he used. He enjoyed every penny that

428
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:11,480
Speaker 1: he ever earned. Sammy Davis Junior enjoyed it period. That's

429
00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: Willie Brown again. Now it turns out that what kind

430
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 1: of fool am? I might also describe Sammy Davis Junior's

431
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:24,880
Speaker 1: relationship with money. My most expensive pocket watch with the

432
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:29,720
Speaker 1: chain came from Sammy Davis, Jennie, and that's you think

433
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 1: it just made him feel good to be that generous.

434
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 1: I think it was that way. I think he wanted

435
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 1: to share his wealth. Sammy Davis was one of the

436
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,840
Speaker 1: worst people I ever saw him any kind of money.

437
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:44,840
Speaker 1: He had no idea what money was and what it

438
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:49,520
Speaker 1: was worth. That's Sammy's former agent, Larry Auerbach. He told

439
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,720
Speaker 1: me a lot of things, including an amazing story about

440
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:54,680
Speaker 1: Elvis that I'm not allowed to repeat. Tell him my

441
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 1: whole life story for this cuckamything you're doing. It's a

442
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:03,320
Speaker 1: podcast that's even worth Okay. One thing he made incredibly

443
00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:07,000
Speaker 1: clear Sammy was bad with money. I was going to

444
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 1: London on vacation. Next thing I know, we put a

445
00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 1: lovely leather case, and then it was a night on camera,

446
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 1: which was the high item of the day, and I said, well,

447
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:23,680
Speaker 1: am I gonna do it this. I literally felt that

448
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 1: he had no idea what he was spending or what

449
00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 1: it was what it meant. Almost everyone I talked to

450
00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 1: had a story about Sammy giving them a ridiculously expensive present,

451
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 1: and I already had a god watch. I didn't need

452
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,680
Speaker 1: to go watch. He had this impulse to spend money.

453
00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:42,800
Speaker 1: Are you bad with money? No? I think I'm pretty

454
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:47,080
Speaker 1: good with it. Sammy himself talked about his spending habits

455
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,440
Speaker 1: with Dick Cabot and I'm entitled to blow maybe five

456
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:54,440
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars out of the year. Just blow it. Yeah,

457
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:56,800
Speaker 1: you know where are you going to do that? Next day?

458
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:02,320
Speaker 1: When he died, he owed more money to the irs

459
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 1: than any single individual in history up to that point,

460
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 1: saying he had to impress people on stage and off.

461
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,479
Speaker 1: You know, he'd wear the most outrageous clothing. He had

462
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:16,440
Speaker 1: six rings on his hand. You saw the pictures. Sure,

463
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:18,560
Speaker 1: some people are going to hear that and think was

464
00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:24,240
Speaker 1: he compensating for something? Yes? I think he was compensating

465
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 1: for what he wasn't given at the beginning, that he

466
00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:31,200
Speaker 1: had no start in life, and it was largely show

467
00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:35,720
Speaker 1: he was showing off. I think he was sheltered by

468
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:40,960
Speaker 1: his uncle and his father. He was now had some freedom,

469
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:47,120
Speaker 1: and he saw an opportunity to give a gifts. Why not? Okay,

470
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,560
Speaker 1: that's interesting though, giving extravagant gifts. I mean, what do

471
00:32:50,560 --> 00:33:02,520
Speaker 1: you think he wanted from that? Nothing? I grew up

472
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 1: with the Sammy of the nineteen seventies. Artistically, this wasn't

473
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:08,680
Speaker 1: a high point for him, But what did I know

474
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:15,320
Speaker 1: about fish Whenever he made his fast, fast fast. I

475
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 1: loved hearing him sing commercial jingles. Ugh, but it put

476
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:22,640
Speaker 1: an extra wing on the house. This was the Sammy

477
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,480
Speaker 1: of Talk to the Animals, my favorite single on my

478
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,479
Speaker 1: Sammy Greatest Hits album. I still dance around my apartment

479
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,760
Speaker 1: to it with and Cheetah. What a data chieve it

480
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 1: would be. And of course candy Man. Now, at first

481
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,560
Speaker 1: Sammy didn't like Candy Man. It was originally from the

482
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:45,120
Speaker 1: movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But he liked

483
00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:47,680
Speaker 1: that it went to number one. He's only number one.

484
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 1: Let's just say Sammy knew how to turn lemons into

485
00:33:53,200 --> 00:34:04,320
Speaker 1: groovy lemon pie. He does something I think is very brave,

486
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:08,840
Speaker 1: which he never makes fun of the material. It's total commitment.

487
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 1: I see that he did a cover of Chico and

488
00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:13,600
Speaker 1: the Man of the Cheeko on the Man theme song,

489
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:15,759
Speaker 1: and that's one of the things where you go, oh God,

490
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,680
Speaker 1: and then you start listening. It's really good. Yeah, it's

491
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:26,120
Speaker 1: really good. Chico d it's good. Yeah, he did Maud too.

492
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:28,000
Speaker 1: He covered the themes on to mad I have to

493
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:32,200
Speaker 1: listen to that. Lady Couldivo was a freedom rider. Lady

494
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:37,720
Speaker 1: Godiva was a freedom ride. She didn't care the whole world.

495
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 1: I check any cynicism at the door. When he starts performing, well,

496
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:46,160
Speaker 1: you check your cynicism because you know immediately he's bearing

497
00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:49,400
Speaker 1: his soul to you. It's not an act. He's not

498
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,360
Speaker 1: too cool for school, right. Sinatra had that right, a

499
00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:55,840
Speaker 1: little bit of a distance. There's no distance there. I

500
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,440
Speaker 1: don't think Sammy had an ounce of irony in him,

501
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:01,880
Speaker 1: that kind of detached look at me irony. He was

502
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,560
Speaker 1: like all in as a performer. And maybe the problem

503
00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:12,799
Speaker 1: is not Sammy's enthusiasm, but certain generations skittishness about enthusiasm, right,

504
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:17,680
Speaker 1: fear that will make them look uncool. Right, and Dion

505
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:22,040
Speaker 1: Warwick says he was as enthusiastic and playful offstage as on.

506
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 1: And I started having in my rider a Miss pac

507
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:29,360
Speaker 1: Man machine Miss pac Man, which is much better than

508
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,640
Speaker 1: pac Man by the way. Yeah, and luc the cocktail

509
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 1: table type, the one, the flat one, so that right,

510
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:42,600
Speaker 1: you can sit across from each other. Yep. Turns out

511
00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:46,799
Speaker 1: Dion Warwick and Sammy Davis Junior both loved playing Miss

512
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:52,120
Speaker 1: pac Man and I beat him up. That is fantastic.

513
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:54,759
Speaker 1: He would get up and stop. How to do this

514
00:35:55,040 --> 00:36:01,440
Speaker 1: to me very easily. But the Sammy of the seventies

515
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:04,759
Speaker 1: also had edge. When he kissed Archie Bunker on the

516
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:08,320
Speaker 1: cheek on all in the family, it made headlines. What

517
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 1: I hadn't seen until recently was his appearance from nineteen

518
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:15,440
Speaker 1: seventy five on The Carol Burnett Show. And this is

519
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,839
Speaker 1: a sketch where you play a woman eleanor Simpson. Yo,

520
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:22,359
Speaker 1: he happens. Let's not talk about poor Lilo me. That's right,

521
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,360
Speaker 1: that's the one Carol told me all about it on

522
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:31,040
Speaker 1: the phone. Well, she was a passive, aggressive racist, Johnny

523
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:36,920
Speaker 1: ur diction. It was just perfect. Sammy plays this entertainer.

524
00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:39,960
Speaker 1: So she was in the audience. Now he's this big

525
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:45,840
Speaker 1: star because she's all excited but still has that underlying prejudice.

526
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:50,320
Speaker 1: I tell you, you just tossed off those poles syllables

527
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:54,520
Speaker 1: like you were born to them. They grew up together

528
00:36:54,880 --> 00:37:00,360
Speaker 1: because his mother was their maid. I know she just

529
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:02,799
Speaker 1: couldn't wait to come back in and work for you again.

530
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:06,120
Speaker 1: She was talking about when they were kids, and she said, oh,

531
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 1: and we used to play high and go seek. Oh

532
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:10,640
Speaker 1: that was such fun, but it wasn't good in the

533
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,919
Speaker 1: dark hobby. You could just be standing right in front

534
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:18,200
Speaker 1: of me and I never wouldn't known it less she smile.

535
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:22,319
Speaker 1: Sammy doesn't actually talk much during the scene. He doesn't

536
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:26,680
Speaker 1: really need to. His look says it all. Mostly he's

537
00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:31,000
Speaker 1: just biting his tongue, struggling to be gracious until he's

538
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:36,360
Speaker 1: finally had enough. Okee. But Sammy loved that sketch. And

539
00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:38,440
Speaker 1: do you think he loved it because he could relate

540
00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:42,560
Speaker 1: to it somehow? Perhaps you remember all the fun we

541
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:45,400
Speaker 1: used to have when we use kids. What do you

542
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:50,120
Speaker 1: remember that? I am beginning to remember a lot of things.

543
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:53,759
Speaker 1: He let me ask you. There's got to be a

544
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 1: reason you remember that sketch in such detail. It was

545
00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:00,720
Speaker 1: because there were no jokes in. There was all character.

546
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:06,520
Speaker 1: You know something, Melanie, I think you're right. I am

547
00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:10,400
Speaker 1: a little tight. Oh that there was an underlying truth.

548
00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:22,120
Speaker 1: Some people would say that the one great hit he

549
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:29,320
Speaker 1: had was Kennyby, But mister Boujingles is this definition of

550
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:33,640
Speaker 1: Sammy Davis. That's Willie Brown. I have to confess I

551
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 1: always thought mister Bojangles, our third Sammy song was about

552
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:42,440
Speaker 1: Bill Bojangles Robinson, the great African American tap dancer who

553
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:46,879
Speaker 1: died penniless in nineteen forty nine. In fact, mister Bojangles,

554
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,640
Speaker 1: and you may have known, this was originally a country

555
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 1: music song. The writer Jerry Jeff Walker says it's about

556
00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:59,200
Speaker 1: a guy he met in a New Orleans prison, and

557
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:03,600
Speaker 1: Walker never really thought the song would go anywhere. When

558
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:06,600
Speaker 1: I got to Atlantic Records, they said, who'd held would

559
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:08,120
Speaker 1: want a four and a half minute song about a

560
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:11,319
Speaker 1: old drunk and a dead dog? And six to eight

561
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:19,760
Speaker 1: times right right? Apparently everyone dagle the song spoke to Sammy.

562
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,479
Speaker 1: He'd been struggling for years with drugs and alcohol, back

563
00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:32,040
Speaker 1: and dance, dance, dance, please dance. I got the fear

564
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,960
Speaker 1: that that's how I was going to die. I was

565
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,520
Speaker 1: going to wind up like mister Beaujang, a drunk but

566
00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:44,240
Speaker 1: recognition about anything, and the song helped motivate three hundred

567
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:52,320
Speaker 1: and sixty mister bag Goose when he was on stage,

568
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:57,279
Speaker 1: totally dalk on stage. Why can't you wear a boat

569
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:02,920
Speaker 1: and all you'd get is the spotlight, and then the

570
00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:05,520
Speaker 1: light go out and you'd see him take two or

571
00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:09,279
Speaker 1: three steps and he'd be him another circle of light,

572
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:17,720
Speaker 1: still continuing and tell them the story until he dance, dance, dance.

573
00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:25,640
Speaker 1: Nothing could be to that, you would be, I mean,

574
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:39,800
Speaker 1: just overwhelmed. After Sammy was diagnosed with cancer, the doctors

575
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:43,960
Speaker 1: told him he needed surgery, but surgery would involve removing

576
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:47,840
Speaker 1: his voice box. As far as Sammy was concerned, that

577
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:51,440
Speaker 1: wasn't an option. So I'm just okay watching cartoons. I

578
00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:53,839
Speaker 1: come down to get a soda from the living room.

579
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:58,520
Speaker 1: That's Manny Davis, Sammy's son, with his third wife, Alchabz.

580
00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:02,879
Speaker 1: He remembers the procession of dignitaries coming through their home

581
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:06,640
Speaker 1: during Sammy's final months. They got Jesse Jackson the living room,

582
00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 1: they got Franks and I just come over to say hello.

583
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,680
Speaker 1: You just have all these celebrities coming around all the

584
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:14,719
Speaker 1: time because they knew what was happening to Sammy and

585
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:19,040
Speaker 1: I didn't. Here's Kim Novak again. When is the last

586
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:22,719
Speaker 1: time that you saw him? Well, when it was sick,

587
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:25,560
Speaker 1: you know, and I went to the hospital to see

588
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:32,120
Speaker 1: him and what was that like? Oh, it was hot.

589
00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 1: I didn't know what. I don't know what to say. Really,

590
00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:41,759
Speaker 1: always sat there and looked at each other and what

591
00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:49,520
Speaker 1: do you say. In November nineteen eighty nine, his best friends,

592
00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:53,200
Speaker 1: no surprise, they included some of the greatest living performers,

593
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:57,760
Speaker 1: rushed to organize a tribute show. A very gaunt Sammy

594
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:01,200
Speaker 1: sat in the front row. He was sixty three years old,

595
00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:07,480
Speaker 1: making this his sixtieth anniversary in showbiz, sixty years. And

596
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:09,640
Speaker 1: I knew that you would amount to something, but I

597
00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:11,920
Speaker 1: didn't feel that you were going to amount to everything.

598
00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:17,640
Speaker 1: That's Frank Sinatra and I say, here's to you. Sam.

599
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:21,239
Speaker 1: You know I love you. I can't say it any

600
00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:27,120
Speaker 1: more than that. You're my brother. Michael Jackson is there too.

601
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,480
Speaker 1: As a young boy, Michael had stood in the wings

602
00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:34,640
Speaker 1: studying Sammy. On this night, he sang a song specially

603
00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:43,200
Speaker 1: written for the occasion before we came. You took the hurt,

604
00:42:45,160 --> 00:42:49,759
Speaker 1: you took the shame. I am here because you were there.

605
00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:54,360
Speaker 1: It was too lucky. I'm free as a performer to

606
00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,360
Speaker 1: do what I want because you made it happen before me.

607
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:07,320
Speaker 1: There's now a duel we all walk through and halfway

608
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:11,000
Speaker 1: through the show, the great tap dancer Gregory Hines comes on.

609
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:15,480
Speaker 1: It's hard to put into words. I feel so much

610
00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:20,239
Speaker 1: love for you that I'm gonna try to dance to

611
00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:26,200
Speaker 1: that for you. Hines dances and the crowd goes wild.

612
00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:36,239
Speaker 1: Then he approaches Sammy, who isn't scheduled to perform. He

613
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:40,400
Speaker 1: looks so weak, but out of these pulls out Sammy's

614
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:45,960
Speaker 1: tap shoes. Sammy can't resist. He puts them on and

615
00:43:46,120 --> 00:43:52,680
Speaker 1: gets up on stage. Greg Hines whispers to Sammy, says,

616
00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:55,920
Speaker 1: what do you want to do? And Sammy says, greg

617
00:43:56,480 --> 00:44:10,080
Speaker 1: just make it easy on yourself, and they bring him

618
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:13,759
Speaker 1: the tap shoes there. It's clearly planned. It's you don't

619
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:22,080
Speaker 1: think it's fine? And they did this beautiful little duet

620
00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:32,440
Speaker 1: together and it tore a place apart. Look, it's impossible

621
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:35,680
Speaker 1: to tell if this was all pre arranged, but frankly,

622
00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:41,279
Speaker 1: who cares. Samy comes alive in that sequence. I swear

623
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:46,279
Speaker 1: when you watch this you forget that he's dying. That's

624
00:44:46,320 --> 00:45:01,279
Speaker 1: the last step seven of the dunce. He made a

625
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:06,480
Speaker 1: statement to that we were open, and one night he

626
00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:09,160
Speaker 1: felt that he wants to die on stage. He wanted

627
00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:12,239
Speaker 1: to end his life right there on stage. So how

628
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:16,560
Speaker 1: could you think that Jesus, that's my life and you

629
00:45:16,640 --> 00:45:30,399
Speaker 1: think he really meant it. I know he did. If

630
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:32,640
Speaker 1: there's a little less spring in the American step today,

631
00:45:32,760 --> 00:45:35,520
Speaker 1: it is because Sammy Davis Junior is gone. As you know,

632
00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:38,000
Speaker 1: Dad has heard Sammy Davis Junior pass away yesterday after

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00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:40,239
Speaker 1: it was born in a Hurlem into a family of

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00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:43,879
Speaker 1: vaudeville performers, working from age three in a world where

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00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:47,880
Speaker 1: white's expected blacks to dance. Funeral services will be held tomorrow, smile.

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Speaker 1: Sammy Davis Junior was sixty four to know their place

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00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:54,160
Speaker 1: and Hollywood flowers stand guard over Davis's star on the

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00:45:54,239 --> 00:45:58,360
Speaker 1: Walk of Fame, New York. His name, Sammy Davis Junior

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00:45:58,680 --> 00:46:02,600
Speaker 1: died at home in Beverly Hills on May sixteenth, nineteen

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00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:08,480
Speaker 1: ninety I would like to think of myself as the

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00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:14,799
Speaker 1: entertainer whatever it takes to make the people happy. If

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00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:18,360
Speaker 1: Hollywood ever does produce a biopick about Sammy Davis Jr.

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Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine who could play him. I mean,

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00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:26,480
Speaker 1: who's around today who can do it all? Maybe it's

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00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:30,600
Speaker 1: because of the world that created Sammy is gone. Fronteville.

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00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:36,360
Speaker 1: It was a fraternity of performance, and you saw the

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00:46:36,560 --> 00:46:39,440
Speaker 1: greatest performances in the world out there playing that trade.

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00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:43,080
Speaker 1: And you could learn just by standing in the wings

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00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:47,880
Speaker 1: and watching very special and I was lucky enough to

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00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:51,680
Speaker 1: catch it. Sammy's was a time when the most exciting

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00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:54,880
Speaker 1: performers were proud to be known as more than just

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00:46:55,280 --> 00:47:01,120
Speaker 1: singers or comics or television personalities. They aspired to be

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00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:07,520
Speaker 1: remembered as entertainers. Every once in a while, and running

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00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:14,160
Speaker 1: the Donal O'Connor, Mickey Rooney, we all have the same upbringing,

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00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:17,879
Speaker 1: and we talk about it. You remember the old days,

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00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:19,759
Speaker 1: you remember the second such a Ack, you remember the

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00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:24,120
Speaker 1: Zach And sometimes I look at the young people today

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00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:29,200
Speaker 1: and I go, I wonder what they'll talk about. Who

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00:47:29,239 --> 00:47:42,200
Speaker 1: will they remember? Gonna build a mountain from the little

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00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:45,959
Speaker 1: the hill. We hope you'll join us as we raise

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00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:50,040
Speaker 1: the curtain on the next episode of Mobituaries. Our topic

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00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:56,160
Speaker 1: Meanderthals with special guest my friend Michael ian Black. If

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00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:58,879
Speaker 1: they had told me only how much Neanderthal I am,

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00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:02,239
Speaker 1: I would have paid the amount for the test. I

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00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:05,720
Speaker 1: certainly hope you enjoyed this episode. For more great content,

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00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:10,360
Speaker 1: please visit mobituaries dot com or follow us on Facebook, Instagram,

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00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:14,880
Speaker 1: or follow me on Twitter at Morocca. If you like Mobituaries,

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00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:18,799
Speaker 1: please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. I promise it's free.

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00:48:19,520 --> 00:48:23,400
Speaker 1: This episode of Mobituaries was produced by Alison Byrne and

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00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:27,840
Speaker 1: Gideon Evans. Our team of producers also includes Megan Marcus,

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00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:32,560
Speaker 1: Kate mccauliffe, Megandetree, Justin Hayter, and Me Morocca. It was

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00:48:32,800 --> 00:48:38,040
Speaker 1: edited by Alison Byrne and engineered by Bart Warshaw. Indispensable

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00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:43,200
Speaker 1: support from Hilary Dan Genius, Tnski, kiro wardlow Zach Gilcrest,

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00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:47,240
Speaker 1: the team at CBS News Radio, and Richard Rohrer. Special

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00:48:47,320 --> 00:48:51,359
Speaker 1: thanks to Matt Anderson, Manny Davis, Michael Cantor, Neil Porter,

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00:48:51,520 --> 00:48:55,520
Speaker 1: and Alberto Robina. Our theme music is written by Daniel Hart.

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00:48:56,120 --> 00:49:00,840
Speaker 1: Exclusive interview outtakes of Steve Lawrence plus Cheeter There's amazing

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00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:04,680
Speaker 1: glass Eye story. We're from American Masters, Sammy Davis Jr.

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00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:08,640
Speaker 1: I've Gotta Be Me, Premiering Tuesday, February nineteenth at nine

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00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:13,319
Speaker 1: pm on PBS. Check local listings and as always, undying

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00:49:13,520 --> 00:49:18,080
Speaker 1: thanks to Rand Morrison and John Carbon Without whom Mobituaries

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00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:23,120
Speaker 1: couldn't live CBS views. I don't care where you are you,

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00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:28,799
Speaker 1: I am not given the rights today. It was Presley's story. Hi,

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00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:33,080
Speaker 1: it's MO. If you're enjoying Mobituaries the podcast, may I

685
00:49:33,239 --> 00:49:37,240
Speaker 1: invite you to check out Mobituaries the book. It's chock

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00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:41,440
Speaker 1: full of stories not in the podcast. Celebrities who put

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00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:44,320
Speaker 1: their butts on the line, sports teams that threw in

688
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:50,120
Speaker 1: the towel for good, forgotten fashions, defunct diagnoses, presidential candidacies

689
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:55,200
Speaker 1: that cratered whole countries that went caput. And dragons, Yes, dragons,

690
00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:57,480
Speaker 1: you see. People used to believe the dragons were real

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00:49:57,600 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 1: until just get the book. You can order Mobituaries the

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00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:04,880
Speaker 1: Book from any online bookseller, or stop by your local

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00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:07,640
Speaker 1: bookstore and look for me when I come to your city.

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Speaker 1: Tour information and lots more at moobituaries dot com