American Masters (1985–…): Season 33, Episode 2 - Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me - full transcript

- I got to catch a train soon,
are you going to...

- What are you complaining about?

I got to go to a Bar Mitzvah
in a minute.

♪ They heard the breeze
through the trees ♪

- There was a time
when Sinatra, Davis, and Martin

were the most popular
entertainers in the country.

- The Rat Pack
was an entertainment force.

They put Las Vegas on the map.

- I'm colored, Jewish,
and Puerto Rican.

When I move into a neighborhood,
I wipe it out.

- Sammy was a one-eyed Negro Jew.



Appearing together
on the same bill,

on the same stage, was a pretty
powerful statement of inclusion.

He's one of the boys.

♪♪

- Sammy Davis, Jr.
Could act, he could dance,

he could sing, he could move,
he could do anything.

- Hanging out with Sinatra
and those guys

increased his cool factor.

- These guys became the act
to see, the place to be.

They did movies together,
they were friends at home,

they were friends on the road,

they performed together,
they were everywhere together.

- ♪ Not a soul can bust
this seam in two ♪

♪ We stick together like glue ♪



- I'd like to thank the NAACP
for this wonderful trophy.

- The way Sammy was being used
as kind of the comic butt

of a lot of the humor,
that's what stood out.

- Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm going to try to...

- Sammy, why don't you sing
a medley of race riots?

- That's right.

- Sammy saw himself as somebody
who was breaking new ground,

trail-blazing new paths
for black people in the 1950s,

which he was, but there was
definitely the perception

that he was a sell-out.

- If all the women in Texas
were as ugly as your mama,

the Lone Ranger's going
to be alone for a long time!

- You're a black person,
you're seeking white approval,

what is it that you're willing
to do to get that approval?

One more year!

- I want you to know
that we're grateful

for the celebrities
who have stuck their necks out,

stuck their necks out,
taken the chance, as they have,

that they might lose
some support

because they realize it's
important to get into a campaign

that affects their future
and the future of their country

and the future
of their children.

You aren't going to buy
Sammy Davis, Jr.

By inviting him
to the White House,

you're guying to buy him
by doing something for America.

- Sammy hugged everyone
he ever met.

He didn't realize the impact
that I'm sure it would have.

- It went viral.

The media all over the world
had that picture.

- There were moments
when he behaved

like what we call
"the house negro."

It's an egregious moment
given the politics of the time.

- In a way, that photograph
came to haunt you

as Richard Nixon
became more and more unpopular

and particularly haunt you
with the black audience.

How do you feel about that shot?
- Let me tell you, Bill.

It will never go away
if you keep picking at it,

and the only person
I hurt was me

and it was an honest hurt.

- Yeah, but the point is...
- No, no, no, no. Let me finish.

- You didn't even
hurt yourself...

- Yes, I did hurt myself.
- You did?

- 'Cause anytime you walk
down the street

at a given period in your life

and your own people
will not speak to you

and your own people turn you
away, then all the money,

the diamonds,
the fame, the fortune,

mean absolutely nothing.

- This one night,
Jesse introduced Sammy,

and they just had the picture
out of him hugging Nixon.

And it's a black audience, man.

They tore his ass off.

- Disagree if you will
with my politics.

- Good. Good!

Good.
But don't...

I will not allow anyone
to take away the fact

that I am black.

And I can only add

that it wasn't easy to come
here, but being...

trying to be a brother...

it would have been very easy
to avoid it,

but I had to face this.

- I think Sammy Davis saw himself
as having arrived in some way,

"Here I am with the President,

I have his ear,
he's listening to me."

I think he saw himself
as an insider,

and in the end,
he was deeply hurt

that he was seen
as an Uncle Tom.

- He couldn't be accepted
in the white community,

in the black community,
but he had a vision for himself

that was bigger
than white or black, right.

He was a Universalist.

- I have gone through
some changes and that's it.

Now, that's all I can say except
that I would like to sing,

if you would like
for me to sing.

If you don't want me to sing,
then I won't.

♪ Whether I'm right
or whether I'm wrong ♪

♪ Whether I find a place
in this world ♪

♪ Or never belong ♪

♪ I gotta be me ♪

- Sammy is such a unique blend
of talent and insecurity

and anger and perseverance.

What he went through to get to
where, you know, being accepted.

- He was a complicated black man
in a society

where race and culture have
always posed certain challenges.

There were things about him
that would infuriate you.

There were other things
about him

that would make you stand up
and applaud him.

- ♪ I'll go it alone ♪

♪ If that's how it must be ♪

♪ I can't be right
for somebody else ♪

♪ if I'm not right for me ♪

♪ I gotta be free ♪

♪ And I'm gonna be free ♪

♪ Daring to try,
to do it or die ♪

♪ I gotta be ♪

♪ Me ♪

And at the end of
"I've Gotta Be Me,"

they stood and cheered.

Same people who,
8, 10 months prior, booed,

but it stayed with me.

It's still with me.

I don't ever want to be
in that position again,

to suddenly find yourself
being booed after being

in the business
for 45, 50 years.

♪ Gonna build a mountain
from a little hill ♪

- Sammy Davis worked in every
medium that there was...

Television, motion pictures,

nightclubs, concert halls,
Vegas casinos.

- His gift was his talent,

the curse was being black
in America.

- He was the man of a thousand
faces in a thousand places.

- ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

- ♪ Gonna build me a daydream ♪

- A jack-of-all-trades
and a master of all.

- ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

- Sammy was conscious
of being a non-conformist

or a kind of rebel.

- He, again and again, will say,

"I'm not going to do it
your way."

- ♪...daydream ♪

♪ I'm gonna see it through ♪

- The way he danced and the way
he moved... it was electric.

It was his total being.

- He was a diminutive man
but a giant on the stage.

- Sammy didn't sing a song,
he owned a song.

- The talent came from his soul.

- He was Mr. Entertainment,
Mr. Show business.

- He was the total professional.

- He lasted long enough
that he became timeless.

- He was one of a kind.

He did it all.

- ♪ And Heaven will be
waiting there ♪

- ♪ When the great day comes ♪

- ♪ Hallelujah! ♪

♪ Hallelujah! ♪

- I'll do something!

- Alright, honey, come on,
step down here and show us.

♪♪

- I was born in the Harlem
hospital in 1925,

and I lived most
of my young adult life

at 140th Street and 8th Avenue.

2632 8th Avenue
on the first floor.

- Harlem was a community
that was burgeoning,

had an incredible
outpouring of cultural life.

You have the clubs in Harlem.

You have great music,
Fletcher Henderson is there,

followed in by Duke Ellington
and then Cab Calloway.

All these really
talented artists

are going to be part
of your world.

- ♪ I'll be glad when
you're dead, you rascal you ♪

♪ I'll be glad when
you're dead, you rascal you ♪

♪ I'll be standing
on the corner high ♪

♪ When they bring your body by ♪

♪ I'll be glad when you're
dead, you rascal you ♪

I won my first amateur contest
at the age of 3,

and I sang " You Rascal You."

I won $10.

My mother was in show business,
David.

My father,
the man that I call my uncle

but who really in actual point
of fact was not...

Will Mastin... was my godfather,
but I called him my uncle.

Actually, I could have
called him a father

'cause he couldn't
have been closer.

They were in show business.

In those days, it was

Will Mastin's Holiday in
Dixieland,

that was the name of the act.

Big... what they used to call...
Give us a good,

colored flash act, it was 20...
And they did numbers

like "Shake Ya Feet,"
things like that, you know,

and ♪ See them shuffling along ♪

And it was tradition, you know?

If someone had a kid,
you brought them on

'cause that's the proving...
That was the proving ground.

- While the Will Mastin Trio
in its early days was touring,

they caught the attention
of a short subjects producer

at Vitaphone,
and they put Sammy in,

certainly, one of the greatest
all-black short subjects.

It was a two-reel musical
starring Ethel Waters.

As great as she is, Sammy pretty
much steals the show from her

as a young, black tap-dancer.

He's just phenomenal.

♪♪

- Yeah!

I'm going to say a line now
that's going to probably cause

a great deal of laughter
and some consternation.

I appeared in blackface.

That means burnt cork, right,
with the thing,

and I had
a little chocolate cigar,

and they would dress me
in long pants,

and I was about the same size
I am now, so...

So, actually,
I got away with it,

and they said I was
a 44-year-old midget.

- Black entertainers would do
this whole circuit

across the country
to arrive at these major places.

So it was a hard life.

You had to be really
on your toes all the time.

- They were on
the Chitlin' Circuit,

which meant it was
an all-black circuit,

but they had
to negotiate racism.

- We stayed at the black hotels,
ate in the black restaurants,

socialized with the other blacks
within that community

because it was part of belonging
and feeling comfortable.

- Sammy crossed the country
10 times by the time he was 10.

He never spent one day in school
in his entire life.

- I resent the fact
that I never got an education.

I'm talking about the basics...
I never went to grade school,

I never went to any kind
of schooling at all,

and I resent that because
sometimes I feel so inadequate,

and I'm not talking
about verbalizing,

I'm talking about
just sitting down writing.

I write like a second or third
or fourth grader, you know,

and I can't spell properly.

When I'd see kids bicycling and
roller-skating and playing ball,

my dad would never
let me do that

'cause I was being a dancer,
and I missed that.

- He was a child,
child performer.

I was a child performer,
and we don't have a childhood.

- Ol' Sinbad Johnson sure
is gonna be sorry

when he find out
what a great man you is.

- Is I gonna be a
great man, mammy?

- You sure is.
You's gonna be...

president.

- Being a child star
is a huge weight.

The cost... emotionally
and physically... is enormous.

- He was always trying to please,

and he never thought
that he lived up to that...

ever.

And I think that that stemmed
from the time

he was a tiny, little boy.

- ♪ And no harm
will come to you ♪

- I wonder
if someone now would please

be kind enough to bring me
over my shoes, please.

I want...

One day, my uncle...
Will Mastin...

And myself were walking down
in front of the Palace Theater,

and we ran into Bill Robinson.

He was such a gracious man, he
started teaching me a few steps.

He gave me an insight.

I always wanted to, like,
kind of

pattern myself,
dance-wise, after Bill Robinson.

He was a great man.

He had a kind of a style
that was so unique.

Well, he used to sing this song.

It goes like this... 1, 2, 3, 4.

♪ I gotta do
that crazy thing again ♪

♪ I gotta do
that crazy fling again ♪

♪ High-ho! Doing the... ♪

♪♪

♪ Oh, boy, just listen
to the taps ♪

♪♪

♪♪

- Sammy's dancing...
He dances on air.

♪♪

That's the essence of tap...

It's just light
and it's feathery.

- ♪ 2, 4, 6, 8,
we don't want to integrate ♪

♪♪

- The rhythms, the math of what
goes on in a genius brain

is beyond any of
our comprehension.

When you think of rhythm
that way

and it just flows, what is that?

Where does that come from?

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

It's not taught, it just is,

and then it's practiced
and honed and improved

and becomes this incredible
statement of who you are.

♪♪

- Fall in! Forward!

Hup, hup, hup, hup, hup.

Pick it up.
Pick it up.

- When Sammy went into the army,
he had the bad luck

to be drafted into the first
integrated infantry

and it was murder.

They treated him horrendously.

- Everybody in the infantry
was bigger than I was,

and every other word
was a curse word,

and they all seemed
to start with "mother."

And, uh,
I had never been cursed at,

so the first day I got in,

Francis E. Warren, Wyoming,
I'll never forget it,

and the man said to me,

"Hey, you little mother,
mother, mada, mada, ma,

move your mother-bada-bada-ba

and get your mother-bada-bada-ba

and move it into that
mother-mada-mada-ma

over there."

- I know Sammy told me
how the guys all jumped him

and six G.I.s
all urinated on him.

- They painted you white,

they poured urine in your beer,
things of that nature.

I mean, did these
things really happen?

- Yes, they really happened.

They needed to say,

"Hey, man, get that nigger
now. Stop him."

I tried, physically, I got
my nose broke three times, man.

- Sammy took the hurt,
he took the pain,

he took the beatings,
he took all those things

that are so degrading
to any human being.

- And the guy said,
"Where I come from,

Niggers don't go in front
of white people."

And he's behind me,
and the only thing

I could think about
was just to turn,

and I turned and hit him,

and he got up,
and I got two Sundays in.

He hit me a shot...
I got up, ducked,

and got him a Sunday, man.

The cat fell to the ground,
his mouth was bleeding,

and he looked up at me
and he said,

"Well, you beat me,
but you're still a nigger."

I think that was the thing
that turned me around.

I said, "There's got to be
another way to fight this

'cause, physically, just getting
out there and beating the guy...

Even if you win, you don't win."

- And I think what he wanted
to do in his life

was feel as though,
"maybe I can become so big

that I can transcend
all those humiliations,

and if I'm able to do that
in some way,

I'm doing something good
for the race

if I'm able to achieve that.

These people
are going to love me

no matter how much they hate me.

They're going to love me
as an entertainer no matter

how much
they may hate me as a black."

- So I started doing impressions
in the Army,

and guys would laugh,

and I was fascinated
by doing other people.

- Sammy said that when he was
a kid

working in the Will Mastin Trio,
he started to do impressions,

and at that point,
it was considered okay

for him to do impressions
of famous black celebrities

and black actors
like Stepin Fetchit,

or musicians like
Louis Armstrong.

Now I think I'm ready, daddy!

Look out!

♪ Won't you stay ♪

♪ You're not seeing things
too clear ♪

♪ You look like old Satchmo ♪

♪ You just too far gone,
you hear ♪

♪ Is it all going in
one listener ♪

♪ Ohm, yeah ♪

I was 18 years old.

I step up and I say,
"Thank you very much.

It's nice to be out of the Army.

I got something that my dad
and uncle don't know

that I can do
and we talked about it,

but I never got a chance
to do it for them.

I'm going to do it
for you nice folks tonight."

Dee dee dee dee dee.

I got up to the microphone
and I said...

"Alright,
if you played it for her,

you can play it for me,
you understand?"

And Will Mastin...

The man who was my godfather

who I affectionately
call my uncle,

but he's my godfather...
He'd looked at me...

in shock, like this.

And I'm looking at him
for approval,

and he's looking
at me like this.

Now, the audience applauded,

"Yay. Yay.
Yay. Yay."

I said, "Okay, if you like
that one, how about this?"

You dirty rat.

You're the guy that gave it
to my brother in the back.

They applaud.

Alright, so I said,
"How about Jimmy Stewart?"

You know.

Well, gee whiz,

I'd really like to say
that it really is a pleasure

to be back among my own folk."

And well, they went, "Rah!"

We got off the stage,
people were standing,

we got into the dressing room,
my father said,

"If you ever do that again,
I'm going to kill you."

"But why, Dad? They stood up,
they cheered, they loved it.

You heard the applause on that."

And Will is sitting in the
corner going, "Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm,"
rubbing his legs like this.

So I said, "Well,
why would you be upset?"

"Don't you know that ain't
no colored person

got no business impersonating
white people."

- For a black guy to be able
to imitate

these popular, white movie stars

and it be so convincing
was incredible.

Which way
is the audience, pally?

♪ That's how it goes ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

- You think about the tradition
of performance...

The minstrel tradition...

You had white guys putting
burnt cork on their face

and then black guys putting
burnt cork on their faces,

Sammy's like,

"I'm going to flip this
because I'm a black guy,

but I'm going to imitate
a white guy."

This was, I think,

really ground-breaking
at the time he did it.

Now, listen here, Mugsy.

You know what this is, wise guy?

This is Robinson, that's right.

- Sammy was crossing
racial lines,

and that felt like
an incredible sleight of hand.

- He didn't want to be seen
as a black entertainer,

he wanted to be seen
as an entertainer.

Alright, the lot of yous,

up against the wall.

Nobody get smart,
you understand,

because I'm running this mob
and I really mean that.

Anybody makes a move,
they're going to get

a .45 slug
right between the eyes.

There's Humphrey Bogart.

Wow.

He said...
"I saw the show

the other night."

And he did this...

And I went, "You really do that,
don't you?"

"They didn't...
They didn't lie to me.

You really do it, don't you?
Like this..."

So he said, "Come on,"

And he took me
to his little den, and he said,

"Let me show you what I do."

He said, "Because you're not
doing it right."

I asked him some questions...
"Why do you do this?"

He said,
"Because I take salts."

You know, he had a bad stomach,

and he used to...
And white would always come

in the corners of his mouth
from the pills

and the stuff he had to take,

and he always did that
to wipe it...

always, that move.

- He was a constant student
of the business.

And then I would watch him
in a rehearsal

and I would see him doing
all my shit.

That son of a bitch is stealing
my act, for Christ's sakes.

Now, listen, Victor, look at me.

Because I'm going
to give you the...

It's not definite you see.
I haven't been too well.

Would you please?
Here we go!

Ow!

♪ I can smile
just because of you ♪

- It's not just the singing
and the dancing and the acting,

it's the ability
to absorb something...

See it and make it work
for yourself.

And you don't have to take years
to do it, it just is natural,

and Sammy, he was like a river.

It just flowed into him
and he floated back out.

- ♪ Then from a jail ♪

♪ There came a whale ♪

♪ From a down-hearted frail ♪

♪ And they played that ♪

♪ As a part of the blues ♪

- As a performer,
Sammy was lots of people.

I think he took what he needed
from everyone he met.

He was a composite character.

- ♪ It's quarter to three ♪

♪ There's no one in the place

♪ Except you... ♪

- ♪ Except you and me ♪

♪ Set 'em up, Joe ♪

♪ I got a little story
you oughta know ♪

♪ I'm drinking, my friend ♪

♪ To the end
of a brief episode ♪

♪ So make it one for my baby
and one more for the road ♪

♪ The long, long road ♪

- As a singer,

Sammy was in the right place
at the right time.

He had come along in the wake
of Billie Eckstine

and Nat King Cole,

and before them, there were
only certain kinds of songs

that black vocalists
were allowed to do...

Usually, rhythm songs or things
like that or dance numbers,

but for a black singer
to do a number from a regular,

white mainstream show
like "The Pajama Game"

was a new idea at that point,

and Sammy really broke through
with "Hey, There."

♪♪

- ♪ Hey, there, you with
the stars in your eyes ♪

♪ Love never made
a fool of you ♪

♪ You used to be too wise ♪

♪ Hey, there ♪

♪ You want that
high-flying cloud ♪

- He's a great essayist
of song, and to also do it

with great phrasing, singing,
with an emotionalism.

- ♪ Better forget her ♪

- When you listen to his covers
of Anthony Newley songs

like "Who Can I Turn To?,"

these epic kind of emotional
portrayals of insecurity

and defiance and power,

he had that ability
to illuminate the truth

in his singing in a way that
he couldn't in everyday life.

- I was booking the shows
at Ciro's on the Sunset Strip,

which was in
a very famous nightclub.

Ciro's was it because
the stars came to Ciro's,

and they were all dressed up at
that point in tuxedos and gowns,

and all the studios
would arrange for their

young leading men to date
the young leading ladies,

so it was a glamorous,
exciting, café society.

And Janis Paige was
the biggest star on Broadway,

and it was a big opening night
for Janis Paige,

and she was to do
the last half of the show,

and Sammy Davis and the
Will Mastin Trio were opening.

And he went out
and saw this audience,

which was a lot of celebrities,
and he went nuts.

He opened with
a 30-foot knee slide.

He then went into a fast
tap dance with his uncle

and his father.

From the tap dance, he sat down
and played instruments.

He played everything
but his coat,

and then he did impressions.

He did an hour and 15 minutes.

He had a boundless energy
and great focus.

- ♪ You're the lover
I have waited for ♪

♪ You're the mate,
you're the mate ♪

♪ You're the one
that I was created for ♪

♪ And every time your lips
meet mine ♪

♪ Baby, down and down I go ♪

♪ 'Round and 'round I go ♪

- He felt that
the audience was special.

He was bringing his own love
of doing

what he was doing for them.

His sense of timing electrified
to the audience

that came to see him.

- I cannot tell you what kind of
help Jerry Lewis gave me,

in terms of sitting night
after night in Ciro's with a pad

and writing like this...

Making notes for me.

'Cause he said, "I want you to
avoid all the mistakes I made.

Some of them I want you to have
'cause you've got to learn."

I can't begin to tell you
what he did.

- The Colgate Comedy Hour!

♪♪

- The other night,
I saw the Will Mastin Trio

and one of the greatest hunks
of talent

I've ever see in my life,
Sammy Davis, Jr.

- Eddie Cantor was a major star
of the 19-teens, '20s and '30s.

When Eddie Cantor invites the
Will Mastin Trio onto his show,

he knows what a hit
they will be,

but he also knows that
this is crossing a line...

That he's boundary breaking by
inviting black performers

on to white television.

- If somebody African-American
came on TV, people would, "Hey!

There's... on television!"

- Everybody would phone
everybody else

and say, "Sammy Davis, Jr."

or "Lena Horne are going to be
on the 'Colgate Hour' tonight."

These were some of the only
places where we were visible

as part of an exciting,
thrilling, you know, scene...

The entertainment scene
that every American admired,

looked up to, worshipped,
wanted to be a part of.

It made us feel, yes, special,
and by feeling special,

we could,
for a time, feel equal.

- In my 20 years of going around
these cafés,

this is the greatest act
I have ever seen,

and so, for you,

here is the Will Mastin Trio
and Sammy Davis, Jr., okay?

♪♪

- After a performance,
Cantor came over,

put his arm around Davis,
and mopped his brow.

- This was seen as being
too personal, too intimate

to have this kind of
physical connection with him

was just seen as distasteful
to many whites at the time.

- And then he brings them out
on stage after their act

to stand with him
in front of the cameras,

slings his arm
around Sammy Davis

as if he's his own son.

- Ladies and gentlemen,
am I right?

Is this the greatest hunk
of talent you've seen in years?

- I don't think it's too far
of a stretch

to suggest that Eddie Cantor
becomes a kind of father figure

to the young Sammy Davis, Jr.

Eddie Cantor representing
that tradition

of getting out of the ghetto

by being
fantastically entertaining,

by being emotional to the max.

The emotionalism of those
performers was what marked them.

And the ability to sing,
dance, tell jokes, do it all.

- ♪ Look down ♪

♪ Look down ♪

♪ That lonesome road... ♪

- He was driving down the road

and two women coming in the
other direction rammed into him,

and he fell and hit the post
and knocked his eye out.

- You know, Sammy's in this
horrible car accident

and he gets out of the car
and his hand...

He has his eye in his hand.

And he wakes up in a hospital
and his eyes are both covered.

- Well, I got a call at 3:00
in the morning,

and I hired a plane
and flew there fast.

And all I did was sit with him
for seven days.

Never left his room.

- Sammy, as he relates
in his autobiography,

had a number of conversations
with various rabbis.

One was serendipitous,

was a rabbi visiting in
the hospital after his accident.

- After I had the accident,
I came out

and I needed something
desperately to hold on to.

And I found myself being more
and more convinced

that Judaism was it for me.

I know that there is a...
Kind of a kinship

between the plight of the Negro
and the plight of the Jew.

The oppression, the segregation,

the constant trying to survive

and the trying
to achieve dignity.

My mother was a Catholic,
my father was a Baptist.

And then I became sort of
nothing for a while.

And I looked around, I was
really shopping for something

to believe in because I...

See, when you're a performer,
you deal in such intangibles

that you need a religion
to hold on to.

You really do.

- He lost an eye
in the accident,

and I think
it was very traumatic.

- It was a tough period, tough.

You have to learn to rebalance
your whole life,

no less, what's happening
here in your brain.

- How do you recalibrate the way
you see, the way you move?

- Frank, I'd had him come down
to the house in Palm Springs

and he worked with him
on how to get his balance back.

He would have him practice
pouring water in a glass.

- You know, it's like...
For instance, let me show you.

You know how long it took me
to do that?

Took me two years to learn
how to pour water like that.

- He got hundreds of telegrams

from all over the world
when people found out

that he had been
in a serious, serious accident.

- ♪ I'll begin again ♪

♪ I will build my life ♪

- To come back from that
and to get on stage

and to perform

and to be as good as he was
before is just an amazing feat.

- After Sammy got over
the eye accident,

his first engagement
was at Ciro's

and he had a patch on one eye.

The anticipation for Sammy's
return was just breathtaking

because everybody was waiting
for Sammy to come back.

I mean, it was just phenomenal.
They went crazy.

The audience just went
absolutely nuts.

- When all of those people
stood up

when I walked on the stage,
you can't buy that.

You can't buy that affection.

And the people just stood and
just applauded a performer...

Forgetting color, race,
religion, everything else.

Hey, he was good tonight.

♪ To begin again ♪

♪ She gets too hungry ♪

♪ For dinner at 8:00 ♪

♪ She loves the theatre
but never comes late ♪

- Sammy loved women.

He loved gorgeous women.

- Well, Sammy probably had
too many women in his life.

He was always covered in women.

And the idea that he liked
white women, it was...

Of course he liked white women.

He liked every woman.

And if she was beautiful,
he liked her.

Kim Novak was probably the
first woman he really loved.

- Sammy had such a warm,
sensitive, genuine,

sort of boyish quality
that had such an innocence

about him that I remember.

He came and wanted to do
a photo shoot,

and so I said,
"Sure, that's fine."

And so he started
taking pictures

and I noticed
he had the lens cover on.

I said, "Are you going to take
the lens cover off?"

I realized that he had
a crush on me.

I felt a closeness to him.

We just had the best time.

I loved Sammy.

♪♪

And then, of course, it all
broke out in the press.

And then it became a whole
thing at the studio.

I had no idea the prejudice
was the way it was,

I was always colorblind.

Anyway, it was so ridiculous,
the whole thing.

At that time, the world
was not ready for that change.

- "Confidential" magazine
did stories on Sammy,

and Harry Cohn heard about it.

And he decided that he had
to break them up because,

at that time,
an interracial relationship

would be death
at the box office.

- I mean, Harry Cohn was like
a dictator at the studio.

And he's telling me
I must never see him again.

I didn't want it to end, really.

- Harry Cohn was so mad at Kim.

He had private detectives
following her wherever she went.

- By seeing him,
it put my career in jeopardy,

and it put me in jeopardy, too.

- We all knew it was delicate.

And he was fucking with poison.

Harry Cohn took good care
of that.

- The message was,
marry a black girl

within 48 hours or you're dead.

- He married a girl
that he used to go out with,

Loray White.

He said to her very candidly,

"I need to get married
publicly,"

and he paid her $10,000.

She was very sweet,
she was very kind,

and she understood
that it was just temporary

and just for the publicity.

And they had a big ceremony,

Harry Belafonte was there
and Joe E. Lewis was there,

and it was very well-publicized.

And Harry Cohn
withdrew the contract.

- That was probably
one of the worst day...

I will have to say,

other than maybe the loss
of his eye or something...

Was the worst day
in Sammy's life.

♪♪

- That's a picture produced
by Samuel Goldwyn.

The music you hear,
that's Gershwin...

Typical Americana.

And it stars,
ladies and gentlemen,

Sidney Poitier as Porgy,
Dorothy Dandridge as Bess,

Pearl Bailey, and Johnny Mathis.

Seriously, it's a great
opportunity for yours truly

to be a part of this great
undertaking

in motion-picture history.

I play a character called
Sportin' Life,

which is kind of the heavy
of the piece.

- Samuel Goldwyn announced

that he was making
"Porgy and Bess,"

and Davis was very excited
about the prospect.

He wanted to be Sportin' Life,
he pursued the role.

- He was determined,
"I'm going to get this role."

And so there was a party
in Hollywood

at Judy Garland's house
and Leonore Gershwin,

Lee Gershwin, was there...
The wife of Ira Gershwin.

And so was Sam Goldwyn,

so Sammy Davis, Jr.
Did an impromptu,

full-out audition
right there at this party.

- He just said, "I'm going to be
in this huge musical

with this big-time director

with these high
production values.

I'm going to be singing
the music of Gershwin!"

Who could ask for anything more?

- ♪ It ain't necessarily so ♪

- ♪ Dey tells all you chillun
de debble's a villun ♪

♪ But it ain't necessarily so ♪

♪♪

- When he was shooting
"Porgy and Bess,"

they had him booked
to play on Yom Kippur.

And he went up
to Sam Goldwyn's office,

and he said, "Mr. Goldwyn,

I can't work on Yom Kippur."

- The movie was behind
over a million dollars,

and Goldwyn said to him,
"What's this?

I understand you're not working
on a Jewish holiday."

And Sammy says, "I'm sorry,
Mister, it's in my contract.

I don't work on the holy days."

- He said,
"I can deal with directors.

I can deal with writers.

But a black, Jewish,
one-eyed guy,

I can't handle that."

- As Sammy put it,
I'm quoting him,

"This little schwasser

is making him
lose another million dollars."

- Here's this giant of a guy
speaking Yiddish.

You know, he had converted
to Judaism

and he had great knowledge.

And he would talk to me
like one of my uncles.

- ♪ What kind of lips are these ♪

♪ That lied with every kiss ♪

♪ That whispered empty words
of love ♪

♪ That left me
alone like this ♪

♪ Why can't I fall in love ♪

- Sammy was having lunch in the
commissary at 20th Century Fox,

and May Britt is making
"The Blue Angel."

And she was gorgeous,
absolutely ravishing.

And she walked in, and Sammy
just... he went all flutter.

I don't know how you describe it

when you see someone
for the first time that you...

He just fell in love with her
right then and there.

- It was an extraordinary sight,
this short, little black guy,

and this very tall
Swedish beauty.

- I found it very intriguing.

I can remember articles
in Ebony,

"Sammy and May."

- Sammy Davis, Jr.
Marries May Britt in 1960.

Part of, I believe,
him marrying May Britt

was to really
push back at the establishment

and say to them, "I've made it.

I'm accomplished,

how dare you determine
who I marry, who I sleep with."

- In many states in the country,

it was illegal
to have mixed-race marriages.

So this is really,
in many respects,

an act of defiance at the time.

- He wanted to be accepted
on his own level.

He didn't want to be
defined by color.

He wanted to just be who he was.

And I think that was his
biggest struggle, probably.

- It's no fun,
after you're married,

to be threatened
every day of your life.

To walk into a place you're
going to play and be told that,

"We've had 14 bomb threats."

It's no fun to walk on the stage
and know

that there are two
FBI guys here and two FBI guys

on either side
looking at the audience to see

if someone's going to come up
and shoot you.

And to be picketed
by the American Nazi Party

every time you go
to play a place.

- When Sammy fell in love
with May Britt,

Frank Sinatra fell in love
with Jack Kennedy.

♪♪

- Jack Kennedy's association
with the Rat Pack

was a huge asset to him
during his presidential race

against Richard Nixon.

They campaigned for him, and in
many ways they represented,

as an image, the progressivism
that Kennedy embodied.

♪♪

- John F. Kennedy
settles into office

as the 35th President
of the United States.

- After Kennedy won
the election,

Sinatra put together
one of the inaugural parties.

And, of course,
Davis was going to be invited.

- He'd already had a new tuxedo
made just for the occasion.

May had gone out
and bought a Balenciaga gown.

- Ladies and gentlemen,

we hope you all enjoy
yourselves tonight.

We have some of the finest
older talent in the country

to entertain you.

- Kennedy personally said he did
not want Sammy Davis, Jr. there,

and he was uninvited.

So it's not like
he was just not invited,

he was invited
and then uninvited.

- As a man
who campaigned for him,

and I saw the list of people
who was going to be there,

Sinatra's putting on a show...
How come I can't be there?

And of course that hurt!

It hurt, that broke my heart!

- ♪ Chicks and ducks
and geese better scurry ♪

- His rejection by Jack Kennedy
hurt him very, very deeply.

He was shunned
by the Democratic Party.

They could not afford
to alienate

their Southern constituency

because of his interracial
marriage with May Britt.

- I mean, he didn't take
Harry Belafonte off the list,

and Harry Belafonte
had a white wife as well.

But there's something
about Davis.

I think he just seemed to be
more of a lightning rod

for controversy.

- I'm confused as
why Frank Sinatra

didn't stand up for him.

I am.

Why?

Wrong on so many levels.

And he was desperately hurt.

- I have fears about myself
in terms of selectivity.

I'm afraid of friends.

Not afraid of friends,
but those that you acquire,

so I am very, very judicious
in that I just don't...

I'm pleasant, nice,

but nobody's going
to get inside to hurt anymore.

I can't afford that luxury.

- I don't think
that he let himself really,

totally trust anyone.

Except, maybe he trusted Sinatra
and look what happened.

- ♪ Me and my.. ♪

- Sammy wanted to be greatest
performer who ever lived.

The only thing he would have
rather been than him

was Frank Sinatra.

- And, of course, Sinatra,

who was Sammy's
great friend and inspiration,

was a guy that always
was trumpeting,

you know, equality between
the races,

you know, every chance
he could get.

There was a quip that some
of the columnists used to say,

"Sammy Davis isn't sure
if he wants to be

the black Frank Sinatra
or the Jewish Frank Sinatra."

♪ When it's 12:00 ♪

- ♪ We climb the stairs ♪

- ♪ We never knock ♪

- ♪ 'Cause there's nobody there ♪

- ♪ Just me and my shadow ♪

♪ All alone and feeling blue ♪

♪ And when it's 12:00... ♪

- Sammy Davis, Jr.

Had always been a fan
of Frank Sinatra.

He met him in the early '40s.

Sinatra was by this time
a big star.

He saw Sinatra as somebody
that he could

really model himself after,
that he admired.

In many ways, the relationship
between Sammy Davis, Jr.

And Frank Sinatra was Sinatra
kind of mentoring him.

- ♪ All alone
and feeling blue ♪

- Sammy with the Rat Pack.

I mean, these guys
acting like big kids.

These guys, I mean,
running around

doing these antics and drinking
and, you know,

Dean Martin's jokes and carrying
Sammy and all this stuff.

Now, it was a lot of fun,
I mean,

in ways,
it was like it personified

what Vegas was about.

- Here, why don't you
have a little snack?

- What is it?

- Alright, folks,
put on your sheets

and we'll start the meeting.

- Oh, come on!

- Go bore a few holes in that
and be somebody.

- With Sammy performing
in the Rat Pack,

it gave the illusion
that integration was occurring

in the United States.

It gave the illusion
that Hollywood was integrated.

It gave the illusion
that Las Vegas was integrated.

- I remember, as you remember
when you first were at Vegas,

a black performer
could not live on the Strip.

- Yeah, couldn't live
in the hotel,

couldn't walk
through the casino.

- Couldn't live in the hotel.
No, couldn't play in the casino,

couldn't go in to have
a sandwich after the show.

- Black people couldn't stay
where they were performing.

You drove, basically,
until the road turned to dust

and then made a left.

And that's where
black people stayed.

They weren't hotels per se,
they were rooming houses.

There was nowhere to hang out
on the Strip

afterwards for people of color.

- When Southern guests
complained at the Sands

that Sammy Davis
was using the pool,

the management agreed
to drain the pool.

This is in the '50s.

In 1960, a mixed-race act
in show business,

even though everyone was a star,
was a bold statement.

Here was a show that featured
one black, one Jew,

two Italians taking to the stage

and laying claim
to American tradition

and the right to define
what it meant to be cool.

- May I say what a tremendous
thrill it is for me

to represent the ethnic groups.

I know you're colored and Jewish
and this is ridiculous, baby.

- Sammy embodied
the kind of harmony

that we wished for
and we imagined,

at least in those early days,
was just over the horizon.

- Being in this integrated
setting

and that he was given
this platform with them,

I think, broke new ground.

- Did you see two coloreds
pass by here?

- He not only changed his
religion, he changed his sex.

- I think the problem was,

was that when you started doing
any kind of comedy bits,

like with the black person
and some whites,

people are going to start
looking back and thinking,

"Oh, this is sort of like
Will Rogers and Stepin Fetchit."

And I think that
that's what made people feel...

Some people feel uncomfortable
about the whole thing.

Even if the guys on stage
all loved each other,

which I don't doubt
that they did love each other.

- Keep smiling, Smoky,

so everybody knows
where you are.

- Why don't you be yourself
and eat some ribs?

- Sinatra and Joey Bishop
and Dean Martin

began to do these outrageously
racist jokes

with Sammy Davis, Jr.

As the brunt of that
ill-advised humor.

- ♪ I'm not much to look at ♪

- You're goddamn right.

- I hate that.

That some people would probably
think that he was a mascot,

or, you know,
a Stepin Fetchit thing,

or some racially
subservient... human

to Frank and Dean and those guys

because he wasn't.

He was being in show business,
and he loved those guys.

- Whoa, hold it!

What is this?!

- If he calls me "pale face"
one more time!

- It was different times,
though.

You know,
it was different times.

That was part of the thing.

He was a good sport about it.

- They made Italian jokes,
they made alcohol jokes.

I mean, they went hard
on everybody.

They made Jewish jokes,
you know, everybody got hit.

- By 1964, the culture
had outrun The Rat Pack.

- I'd like to thank the NAACP
for this wonderful trophy.

- Put me down!

- The Rat Pack, and its members,

no longer represented

the cutting edge
of progressive cool.

- And you say, "Wow!

Man, it sure was nice to be
in the company

of all them big names
and the movie stars."

On one hand, I loved
being with my friends.

But I became so involved
with that lifestyle.

When you're hungry and you're
trying to get there,

not trying to get
my own identity,

it was submerging me
as a human being.

♪♪

- Sammy wanted to be an actor.

He felt as though
his musical credentials,

his dancing credentials
were all there.

And what he wanted
was to work in the theater.

♪♪

- ♪ Stick around,
things are going to happen ♪

♪ Fireworks,
stick around and see ♪

♪ Watch me in the arena,
eat Cracker Jack ♪

♪ While I'm smacking
some hack for a fee ♪

- The original Clifford Odets
play, "Golden Boy,"

was about a tough fighter,

a young kid who was
trying to prove himself,

but he was a white kid.

- The musical version
of "Golden Boy"

was about a very young,
wonderful, talented black man

who lived in Harlem,
and he was a good boxer.

And they wanted to make him
a star,

and he wanted more out
of life than that.

So he strove to become
a better man,

as well as a better boxer.

He fell in love with me,
but I happened to be white.

- When Sammy was in
"Golden Boy,"

Arthur Penn took over
as director.

- And Arthur Penn said,
"Sam, I want you

in your dressing room
at half-hour,

and I want you to prepare."

And Sam went, "Okay."

He said, "Mr. Penn,

I want you to know
that I am willing to prepare,

I will do whatever
you say to prepare,

I just would like to know
how you do it."

And Arthur Penn looked at him
and he went, "Oh, my God!

I've got the most expensive show
ever put on Broadway,

and my star doesn't know
how to prepare."

- Arthur, you know,
tried to approach me

as a guy who had studied
acting for 20 years, you know?

I didn't know what the hell
but what?

"Prepare!"
"Prepare what?

I put my makeup on,
I put my uniform on,

and I go out, I'm ready."

He said, "Look, take whatever
you walk into the theatre with

and play the part
the way you feel that day."

He said, "The other actors
will be supportive of you."

He said, "So if you're up
that day, play up!

And play it that way.

And if you're down,
play it tougher."

♪ I want to be with you ♪

♪ I want to be with you ♪

- The duet,
"I Want To Be With You,"

was probably
the most important song

we had written,
really, in our lives

because it was a moment

which had never happened
in the American cinema,

television, or on the stage.

- ♪ Lying there, loving you,
hating you... ♪

- A white woman
and a black man did not touch...

Never really touched.

They never touched even hands.

- When we first did
"I Want To Be With You,"

we never even touched each other

'cause everybody was so goddamn
afraid of it, and so was I.

And one of the first things
Arthur Penn was saying,

"I've never seen a love scene in
my life where people don't kiss,

or hold each other's hands
or embrace or something."

- He said, "Paula, they tell me
I have to kiss you."

And I said, "Well,
is that such a chore?

You know, come on!"

He said, "You know,
it's never been done."

And I said, "Yeah, so?

Let's do it!"

And he said, "Are you ready
for the aftermath?"

And I said, "What aftermath?"

- At the end of "I Want
To Be With You,"

we grabbed each other
and kissed,

and it was the first time a man
and a woman of different races

had done that on the stage...
Full on-the-mouth embrace,

in Detroit, Michigan,
scared shit.

You could hear them go...

And there was this
mumbling about...

I don't even know if I should
say this on-air,

but it happened.

They said, "She's the one
that kissed the nigger."

How's that grab you?

It was awful.

- We got threats,
we got letters.

Paula Wayne, she had threats
from the time the show opened.

It was constant.
Lead off was no better.

So badly begrudged, she had
a bodyguard with her.

You knew you were
in something important.

It was daring and trying to do
some things

that had never been done
in a musical...

A dramatic musical of any kind.

I was on top of the world.

As the new boy in town,

there was no door
that wasn't open to me.

I was the prince
of Broadway, man.

♪ Every time we say goodbye ♪

♪ I die a little ♪

♪ Every time we say goodbye ♪

♪ I wonder why a little ♪

♪ Why the gods above me ♪

♪ Who must be in the know ♪

♪ Think so... ♪

- The problem
with being Sammy Davis, Jr.

And being a husband,
they don't mix.

Like being a father
and Sammy Davis, Jr...

He's too busy
being Sammy Davis, Jr.,

which he has to be.

- He didn't have roots.

Even when he had the roots of
a home here, he was never here.

He was a gypsy.

That's why May Britt
couldn't stay married to him.

It was just too much
of a constant upheaval

and partying.

That's the only life he knew, so
I don't think he'd ever settle.

- That's when May said,
"That's enough,

I can't handle it anymore."

And she took the kids
and went back to California.

- And the gap
was getting wider...

Indiscretions, yes,
but no infidelity.

There was no racket,
there was nothing, you know?

There was a great deal
of sadness.

The worst offense that had
been perpetrated

had been perpetrated on the kids

because I was on
that theatrical roll,

and it was hot and heavy.

All of the clichés that surround
the beginning of a marriage,

suddenly you turn
the record over

and you hear it
at the end of the marriage...

It's the other side
of the same cliché.

- In the middle
of the "Golden Boy" run,

Martin Luther King came back,

and, um...

I've never seen Sammy so moved.

You knew you were
in the presence of greatness.

It was an honor to meet him.

- Martin Luther King came twice
to see the musical.

He told me how much
he particularly liked the song

called "No More,"

which was about... that said,
"I ain't bowing down no more."

- I really believe that Sammy
lived those words,

"I ain't bowing down no more"
every single day of his life.

So much was happening
at that time...

Martin Luther King,
the marches...

And he was involved
in every single aspect of it.

- Martin Luther King fell
in love with the song "No More,"

and it became his anthem.

As a matter of fact,
I think I heard it

the other day...
Somebody singing it.

It's a great song.

♪ I ain't bowing down no more ♪

- ♪ Keep your eyes
on the prize ♪

- My friends, the people
who have gotten me involved

with the Civil Rights struggle

and the Negro revolution
starting back some 10 years ago,

were Harry Belafonte
and Sidney Poitier,

Ossie Davis
and his wife, Ruby Dee...

'cause I went to them and said,

"I realize that I want to...
I'm a Negro

and I want to commit myself.

What can I do?"

- One thing that celebrities
can do was draw attention

to the Civil Rights Movement.

They had the ear of mainstream
publications,

they had a lot of fans...

Both black and white fans,
mainstream fans.

And they were able
to reach audiences

that movement organizations
and movement activists

couldn't necessarily do.

- Ladies and gentlemen,
I can only say

that this should prove,
once and for all,

that my leader is your leader...
Martin Luther King.

- December of 1963,
Sammy is in Washington

for the March on Washington
with Martin Luther King

and becomes more and more a
committed Civil Rights activist.

- Sammy Davis, Jr.

Did the walk from
the Washington Monument

to the Lincoln Memorial.

I consider him sort of
the benefactor of the movement.

He raised about $750,000
for movement organizations,

which is about $5.5 million
in today's terms.

- A lot of people forget
that Sammy Davis, Jr.

Won the Spingarn Medal
in 1968 from the NAACP.

They do not give out
that medal lightly.

And he was very taken
by the heroism

of those young
Civil Rights workers

going out there doing
what they were doing.

- He said, "But I'm never
going down south.

You're not going to get me
down south."

And Dr. King said, "We'll see."

- And I was scared.

I was petrified, 'cause first
of all, they didn't like me.

They didn't like me because
I was black,

they didn't like me
because I was a black Jew,

and they didn't like a black Jew
who was also,

at that time, married
to a white lady.

- Harry Belafonte, when Sammy
was in "Golden Boy",

said, "You've got to come
to Selma with us."

And Sammy said he couldn't leave
the play because it would close,

and so Harry said
"I'll buy the house,"

and did,
and Sammy went to Selma.

I think that removed his fear

and then he became
ferociously involved.

- He did a lot of things for
Dr. King and for our movement.

His commitment was never really
fully recognized historically.

He stepped to the table,
and not only gave money,

but got a lot of his friends
in Las Vegas involved.

- One of the things that I think
is so profound

that Sammy Davis, Jr. says

is that, you know, "I was
a member of the black race,

but I was not a member
of the black community."

Meaning that he never
really felt accepted

by black people
throughout his career.

- There were people who said
Sammy wanted to be white,

and I think, in a perfect world,
he would have had no color.

Color wouldn't have had existed,

and I think that's the world
he would have loved to live in.

- Direct from our newsroom
in Washington,

this is the CBS Evening News
with Walter Cronkite.

- Good evening.

Dr. Martin Luther King,

the apostle of non-violence
in the Civil Rights movement,

has been shot to death
in Memphis, Tennessee.

There was shock in Harlem
tonight

when word of Dr. King's murder

reached the nation's
largest Negro community.

Men, women, and children
poured into the streets.

They appeared dazed.

Many were crying.

- All over America, black ghettos
exploded in rage and grief.

- I would simply say
to all young people...

But particularly my
black brothers and sisters...

That the man stood
for something very special

in a world of violence.

He was struck down by violence.

Our adding to it,
no matter what our frustrations,

no matter what our anger,

what our justifications
might be,

it becomes fevering
when the carnival atmosphere

that Mr. Wilkins
talks about does prevail.

And I don't see sad faces

mourning the tragic loss
of this great American.

I see people laughing
and giggling.

I somehow want to disown
those people.

I don't want to call those
people who are laughing less

than 48 hours after our
leader died and stealing...

Those are not really brothers.

Those cannot be the people
who are striving for the dignity

that we should have
at this point.

- The President of
the United States

and Mrs. Nixon.

- Ladies and gentlemen, when
we think of Sammy Davis, Jr.,

we remember that he began
as a relatively poor boy.

We remember, too,
that he overcame the poverty

and the prejudice
and went clear to the top.

We refer to him
as "our golden boy."

We could refer to him
as "our candy man."

We could refer to him
and introduce him

as "Mr. Wonderful."

- I have not had as many hits
as a lot of people

would like for you to believe.

I've only had
a couple million sellers.

I'm going to do one of them
to open the show.

I don't feel now,
under normal circumstances,

you're supposed
to keep your hits

until the end of the show

so the people in the theater
or the nightclub can say,

"Oh, I wonder if he's ever
going to do it," you know?

But I ain't taking no chances.

I'm opening up
with the heavyweights.

That's it.

Because as they used to say
on the corner,

"This as far uptown as
I'm ever gonna get."

Look out.

1, 2, 3, 4.

♪ Who can take a sunrise ♪

♪ Sprinkle it with dew ♪

♪ Cover it with chocolate
or a miracle or two ♪

♪ The Candy Man ♪

♪ Yeah, the Candy Man can ♪

- "The Candy Man"
is a song that was

from "Willy Wonka &
the Chocolate Factory,"

the movie from the late 1960s.

- "The Candy Man"
arrived at a time

when the hippie generation
was in the ascendant,

and I think it had the other
connotation of the drug culture.

♪ The candy man ♪

I didn't know
what "candy man" meant,

and then a guy said,
"You know what candy man is?"

And I said, "No."
He said, "He's the guy

that sells all the pills
and the booze

and the stuff
in the neighborhood.

They call him the candy man.
'Give me the candy, man'."

And that was certainly
not the connotation

that I tried to imply.

♪ Satisfying and delicious ♪

- He told me he thought
it was a terrible song.

People liked it, to be sure.

I think it surprised him,
and he was amused by it.

- And they would call us every
week and say, "It's Number 17.

It's Number 14."

And it went to Number 1,

the only Number 1
he ever had in his life.

- ♪ The candy man can ♪

- When you listen to it,

it really is beneath Sammy Davis
in a lot of ways

in terms of melody,
in terms of sophistication.

- And that song,

in anybody else's hands,

it really
would not have been a hit.

I'm just saying.

- Alright, who's going to do it?

Am I going to do it
or are you going to do it?

- Well, I thought
you should do it.

After all,
you had the hit record.

- Yeah, but you wrote
the song, Tony.

- Mm, perhaps you're right.
Perhaps I should sing it.

- No way.
Are you joking?

♪ Who can take a sunrise ♪

♪ Sprinkle it with dew ♪

♪ Cover it with chocolate
or a miracle or two ♪

♪ The candy man ♪
- ♪ The candy man ♪

- ♪ The candy man can ♪

- And these Nixon people,
when they needed something,

and they needed a foothold in
the black community, I think...

And what they were selling Sammy
was, "You know what, Sam?

You're not going to be
a performer forever,

and you know where we think
you should be

after 'Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen'?

An ambassador."

And they were pitching him
that load of shit.

- I think Nixon was truly
fascinated by Sammy Davis, Jr.

And truly admired him.

- Nixon made a point
of reaching out.

Bob Brown was there

and was deeply involved
in outreach to minorities.

- I asked Sammy, I said,
"What do you want to do?

What do you want to do?"

Sammy said, "You know,
I was in service, Bob."

And he said, "I had some bad
experiences in service."

He said, "Those white boys
beat me up and all this."

And he said, "I understand
there's a lot of stuff

going on in Vietnam."

And he said, "I'd like to go
there and entertain the troops

and just see how they're doing."

- One of the concerns that Sammy
has is that he is hearing

that the soldiers
are using drugs,

but as a result of the soldiers
using drugs,

black soldiers were being
discharged dishonorably,

but white soldiers were not.

He spent a considerable amount
of time with the soldiers,

talking to them
about their conditions there.

I really think he wanted to make
a difference,

he wanted to make change.

- By going to Vietnam,
Sammy ended up, you know,

cosigning something
that people on the left,

student radicals,
black power advocates,

and others
really were rejecting.

It's not cool to be
in support of the war.

- That's about as close
as I'm going to get to it, baby.

Peace.
- Sammy's tone deaf.

He misread what was going on
in society,

and in some ways,
is just like him hugging Nixon.

He has associated himself
with the wrong side.

- You don't see it
as a political stand, then?

- No, I do not.
I see it as...

They're a bunch of Americans.
What do we do?

Because we do not like Vietnam
and our involvement in it,

do we forget the hundreds
of thousands of kids

that are over there?

That's the point of you
that the entertainer

must assume, at least I do.

And I cannot forgot
that our guys are over there.

I can't make believe
they ain't dying every day,

and if I can bring them
20 minutes

or an hour of meager
enjoyment...

"Hey, there's old Sam, you know?

I didn't like him before.
I still don't like him."

But at least get their minds
off that,

then I've accomplished something
as an entertainer.

- The Nixon Administration
did not take advantage

of Sammy Davis, Jr.

Sammy Davis, Jr.
Was a man of his own.

He had a mind of his own.

- Nixon connected with him
personally.

Nixon talked to him.

Nixon invited him
to the White House.

Nixon did these things for him

and gave him high regard
as a person.

I just think that that had a lot
to do

with his embracing Nixon
and his supporting Nixon.

- Sammy was actually
the first black man

to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom,

and it had a tremendous
meaning to him.

I mean, he'd read everything
about Lincoln, book after book.

- We realized, "Now you're living
in the White House

and you got a clean slate."

And now we finally made it
on a social level, you know,

President of the United States.

Damn!

That's awfully uptown, you know?

It's very thrilling to be
in the Lincoln Room, you know,

and all the Lincoln memorabilia

that they got in the room,
you know?

- And Sammy was absolutely off
the charts.

And he was laying up there
in the bed with his feet crossed

laying up on a pillow,
sitting up in the bed.

He said,
"How do you like me now?"

- Incidentally,
we had Sammy Davis

here last night,
and he was just great.

Absolutely great.
And he spent the night.

- Oh, did he?
- Yeah, yeah.

I didn't know it,
'cause I thought with

the Kennedys and the Rat Pack,
this is the first time

he had ever performed
at the White House

and the first time
an American black

has ever stayed overnight
in the White House.

- Isn't that great?

- I didn't announce it,
of course.

I didn't say it, and I said,
"I think you'd...

And he said, "Yes.
Yes, I know."

I said, "I don't want
to exploit it."

He says, "I know."

- Once they saw that Sammy had
kind of fallen out

with the community...
With his community...

I think they lost
a little interest in him.

They kind of faded away.

I think they got
what they wanted.

- But I think in his mind,

this was the patriotic
thing to do.

He had not evolved.

It was like he was stuck in that
World War Il moment,

even though society had changed
drastically by this point.

♪♪

- You know, through the years,
I've always believed

in change because it's healthy,

and if you don't keep up
with what's happening, man,

you can become old-fashioned,
which is the worst thing

that can possibly happen
to any performer.

But I also believe
in being your own man.

For instance, I never let
all of these crazy

new fashions influence me.

I think you should wear
whatever makes you comfortable.

Clothes have never been
that important to me.

A simple, basic wardrobe
is all a guy really needs.

It's what's inside that counts.

- Sammy tried to be cool
in the '70s,

but now the definition of "cool"
is blaxploitation or funk

or, you know, what Richard
Pryor's saying on stage,

and you're looking
at people like this,

and you compare Sammy Davis,

it's clear he's not
only not cool, he's old.

- My name is Sammy Davis, Jr.,

and I'd like to thank you
for coming this evening,

and you folks at home
for tuning in.

What do you think of my outfit?

♪♪

♪ I am a lineman
for the county ♪

♪ And I drive the main road ♪

- My parents wanted Sammy
singing great, old standards.

They didn't want to hear
Sammy Davis, Jr.

Doing Richard Toleiman.

If you're one audience,
you've got Glen Campbell.

If you're another audience,
you've got Isaac Hayes, so...

- I think by the 1970s,

already people had moved
to a different model.

R&B was extremely popular.

Rock 'n' roll was popular.

There was a different energy.

There was a different drive
for assimilation,

not just in music
and entertainment,

but also in politics,
and I think for some,

Sammy Davis, Jr.
Was an anachronism.

He represented a different time,
and a time that a lot of people

didn't want to remember.

- ♪ Here come the judge,
here come the judge ♪

♪ Here come the judge,
here come the judge ♪

I plan to run in Mississippi.
- For what?

- The state line.
- Oh.

- I suppose you're all wondering
why I asked you here.

Sock it to me!

- Television at the time

was still
a very conservative medium,

and there weren't that
many shows at the time

addressing racial issues.

- Guess what famous
and important personality

I carried as a passenger
in my cab today.

- Oh, tell us!
- Oh, no, no.

You ain't gonna get it
out of me that easy.

Come on, you gotta
guess for this one.

- Oh, alright.
Let's try.

I'll go first.

Living or dead?

- Sammy was a great fan
of the show, and he hounded me.

He just had to do the show.

He loved the show.

And I said to him,
"We don't do guest stars.

There are no guest stars."

- Mr. Bunker?

- Once we had a good reason
why he would be in the show,

I was comfortable with it.

- Come on in, Mr. Davis.
Come on.

- Oh, Mr. Davis, it's an honor!

- I should tell you that a lot

of what occurred
was the result of Sammy.

- Hey, you being colored,

well, I know
you had no choice in that...

but whatever made you turn Jew?

- He was as much a writer
as he was a performer,

and the kiss was his idea.

- 1, 2, 3.

Goodbye, Mrs. Bunker.
Peace and love to you.

- Well, to the extent
that that kiss is an iconic

television moment...

A black man putting his lips
on a white cheek.

Now, as silly as that sounds
that that should be

a national incident,

it was then and because nobody
had ever seen that before.

- ♪ He could jump so high ♪

♪ Jump so high ♪

- He always said that for him,
the two keys were walking

in a room and walking out.

The rest is gravy.

So, how do you come in
and how do you go out?

The rest, you know what to do.

- I guess when you're a major,
major star...

A superstar... you can't imagine
how long it'll last.

It was an irrational fear
to him, but it was there.

You always fear when
you're up at the top

that there is a bottom.

- ♪ I knew a man Bojangles ♪

- "Mr. Bojangles"

was the story
of an old entertainer

who drank a lot
and wound up in jail.

- ♪ Worn out shoes ♪

- He's so connected
in that performance.

Sammy is singing about
that washed-up dancer,

but you know through the way
that he performs that he's also

singing about himself
and the way that

he was perceived at the time.

- ♪ Soft shoe ♪

♪ He could jump so high ♪

♪ Jump so high ♪

That's my fear, that I'll wind
up like Bojangles,

the Bojangles in the song.

That culmination of different
black performers...

Minstrels that I've known...

Performers who got
hooked on junk,

who got wiped out by alcohol,

got wiped out
by the changing of times.

I've seen them disappear...
Great dancers, great stylers.

And when I do that number,
some nights I said, "Oh, my God.

That's me.

That's how I'll be when
I'm 70 years old, man.

I'll still be working, and I'll
be working little joints

and I'll talk about
what I used to be

and that'll be the end of it."

♪ That man talked of life ♪

♪ Laughed, slapped his leg,
and stepped ♪

- I think it was Frank who said,

"You're like two characters
in the same play.

Your talent is the hero
and your excess is the villain."

- Sammy was the epitome
of extravagance.

"We're going to go
from 56th to 49th

and we're going to walk down."

So, in between 56th Street
and 49th Street,

walking with Sammy Davis
down the street,

he managed to spend $50,000.

Now, that's $50,000 in 1966.

We stopped at every store
along the way and bought...

"You don't have a...?

Get one for him, too!"

- He was ostentatious
in that way.

He was larger
than life in that way.

- I started with a pinky ring,

and as I got other rings
that were given to me,

I started putting them
on my hands.

I must tell you that now
I love the rings,

because they're theatrical.

It's bigger than life.

I have no desire to be
the boy next door.

I want to be, you know...

If I could have lived
in the '20s with Valentino,

I would've had the leopards
on a leash, you know,

walking down the street,
because that's show business.

That's what we're about.

- The first time I saw
Sammy Davis, Jr.,

and he walked into this café

where we had
tuna fish sandwiches

and roast beef sandwiches,
and he said, "Wine!"

Wine for all my friends!"

And we all knew we were in the
company of a wonderful madman.

- He had a joke.

He said, "If I'm not going
first class,

the boat ain't
leaving the dock."

- I went bananas, and I really
went bananas

in terms of clothing,

I went bananas
in terms of my lifestyle,

and I did it all,
'cause I had to experience it.

- He was always
in financial trouble

because he spent money
like it was water.

- Because one wasn't enough.

"See this?
I can buy 20.

I don't want a Ford car.

I drive a Rolls-Royce
'cause I can."

That was him proving to himself
that he had made it.

Would you believe this?

The biggest entertainer in the
world, and he didn't believe it.

- Sammy had a party every night.
Sammy was Sammy.

He was bigger than life
and he was funny, he was smart,

he was curious, he was loving,
he was self-destructive.

- And he looked like a man who
was having a middle-aged crisis

and wasn't handling it
very well.

He became addicted to cocaine.

Sinatra didn't want
to be around him.

- Drugs was just something,
because it seemed

to be everybody was doing it

and I wanted to be in
with everybody.

But, man, to really get
a nice buzz, you know,

give me a little bourbon,
give me a little vodka.

I miss booze, see?
I don't miss the other stuff.

But I miss not drinking.

- And why did you stop drinking?

- Because the doctor said,
"You gonna die."

- Where he came from,
the leap was light-years,

'cause he grew up
on the streets.

He grew up a little black kid
dancing for nickels and stuff

and doing his step dance
in saloons.

And to go from there to royalty,

to Presidents
and First Ladies and starlets

and everything was just
such a phenomenal leap.

- Money never worried him.

He didn't have any,

and he knew there was
a never-ending supply coming in.

He was on, like, a perpetual
allowance to enjoy his life.

- Will Mastin managed them.

He took 20% off the top,

and Sammy told me one day,
until he was 45,

they split his income
three ways.

- And he continued to pay them
for years after they were

no longer even an act
and he was out there by himself.

- He didn't control
any of his music.

He didn't really control
any of his, uh...

any of his assets.

- Uncle Sam wants his money,
and he could care less

that you can tap dance
and imitate Cary Grant.

He wants his money,
and if you don't have it,

you know, that's a problem.

You have some fun,
you make some money,

but at the end,
you're broke and you're sick.

It's kind of unfortunate.

- You had throat cancer, right?
- Yes.

- And how are you?
- I am fine.

I thank God every day.

May I take one moment
just to say

this has been the straightest
period of my life,

taking care of myself.

- No drugs.
No booze.

- No booze.
No nothing.

I'll never smoke cigarettes
again, of course.

Never.

- And I was there in the studio
and I was so proud of Sammy,

and after that I went back
to see him to tell him how proud

I was that he had really turned
a corner and was over it.

And he was smoking a Pall Mall
and sipping brandy.

I said, "Sam, what did you
just tell Larry King?"

He said, "Well, it's temporary."

I said, "No, you said
you'd given it up."

He said, "Well, I'm going to."

- I think he was one of those
performers

that was worried that,

"If I didn't have
all of these gifts,

who the hell would I be?"

And I think that actually
factored into his choosing

not to have surgery
when he got sick.

- He was going to have to decide
between having

his cancer removed,

which would destroy his voice,
or having radiation,

and Sammy chose radiation.

- And I think he decided,
"What can I do?

I can't sing,
and then I can't be me.

It's the opposite of the song.
I can't be me."

- Tonight, the United
Negro College Fund

is honoring a very special man

on his 60th anniversary
in show business.

Ladies and gentlemen,
our guest of honor...

Mr. Sammy Davis, Jr.

♪♪

- The 60th anniversary show
came about

as a result of George Schlatter

convincing the network

that if anyone
deserves a tribute

for a lifetime of entertainment,

it was Sammy Davis.

- I had sold ABC a one-hour
special with Sammy,

Michael Jackson,

Whitney Houston, Bill Cosby,
and Eddie Murphy hosting.

- And we went
to convince Michael...

Who, by the way,
hated to do television...

And I said,
"Michael, you must do this show.

This is the only opportunity
you have to say

thank you to this man."

He says,
"I'll be there tomorrow.

What time you need me?"

- ♪ You were there
before we came ♪

♪ You took the hurt,
you took the shame ♪

♪ They built the walls
to block your way ♪

♪ You beat them down ♪

♪ You won the day ♪

♪ It wasn't right,
it wasn't fair ♪

♪ You taught them all ♪

♪ You made them care ♪

♪ Yes, you were there,
and thanks to you ♪

♪ There's now a door ♪

♪ We all walk through ♪

- We all knew that he didn't
have much longer

to live at that time.

He'd been diagnosed, and he knew
that the time was short.

- Got a shoe horn?

- When the audience
saw those shoes,

I mean, they just went nuts.

So, Greg gives Sammy the shoes,

Sammy starts
putting the shoes on,

and Greg says, "Do you want
to do a little shine?

Shine on your shoes?"

And Sammy, in a voice that Greg
could hardly hear, said,

"Make it easy on yourself."

- Nice and light.

♪♪

A little faster.

♪♪

Gah!

♪♪

Now stop-time.
Stop-time.

♪♪

♪♪

- I was always convinced
he was going to die on stage,

'cause that was the only place
he was safe.

No bullshit.

- Shh.

♪ He said "I dance now ♪

♪ At every chance
in honky tonks ♪

♪ For my drinks and tips ♪

- Sammy was show business
from the tip of his toes

to the top of his head.

- ♪ "You see, son,
I drinks a bit" ♪

- When he went on the stage,
he owned it,

I mean, there's no question.

- ♪ Lord, as he shook his head ♪

- He was a man who fought
the odds all his life,

and mostly won.

- ♪ Mr. Bojangles ♪

♪ Mr. Bojangles ♪

- I think Sammy Davis, Jr.'s
whole life

was about confronting obstacles.

- ♪ Mr. Bojangles,
come back and dance ♪

- He is somebody
who paved his own way.

He carved his own path.

- ♪ Please dance ♪

♪ Mr. Bojangles ♪

- He broke the door down
everywhere he went...

Everywhere he went.

- ♪ Mr. Bojangles ♪

- Sammy was controversial,
he was prolific,

he was profound,
he was complicated.

- The breadth of Sammy's career
should make people realize

who he was.

I don't know if we'll ever
see that again.

- ♪ Come back and dance ♪

♪ Mr. Bojangles ♪

- He was a wonderful, wonderful,
one-of-a-kind comet

that flew past the Earth
way too quickly.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

The National Endowment
for the Humanities,

bringing you the stories
that define us.

♪♪