Photo by Sammy Davis, Jr.

Burt Boyar

• Publisher: It Books
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN:
  9780062273963
• Topic: Kunst
• Subtopic: Film & Video

CHAPTER 1

THE EARLY YEARS

Sammy’s parents, Sam Davis, Sr. and Elvera Sanchez

SAMMY WAS BORN IN HARLEM ON DECEMBER 8, 1925. HIS FATHER, SAM DAVIS, SR., WAS THE LEAD DANCER IN WILL MASTIN’S HOLIDAY IN DIXIELAND, A VAUDEVILLE TROUPE IN WHICH HIS MOTHER, ELVERA “BABY” SANCHEZ, WAS A TOP CHORUS GIRL.

Good jobs were scarce, so Elvera remained in the line until two weeks before Sammy was born. As soon as she was able to dance again she boarded him with some friends and went back on the road. Sam Sr.’s mother, Rosa B. Davis, who worked as a housekeeper, went to see how her grandson was doing and wrote to Sam Sr., “I never saw a dirtier child in my life. They leave Sammy alone all day so I’ve taken him with me. I’m going to make a home for that child.”

Sam Sr. and Elvera separated a few years later, and she went to work in another touring show called Connors’ Hot Chocolate. Sam Sr. went home to get Sammy. Rosa B. (“Mama”) protested but Senior was adamant: “I’m his father and I say he goes on the road. I ain’t leavin’ him here so’s Elvera can come in and take him away. I want my son with me.” When the train moved into the tunnel of Pennsylvania Station, Sammy finally stopped waving goodbye to Mama and settled back in his seat. As his father removed Sammy’s coat and hat, the child asked, “Where we goin’ Daddy?” Sam Sr. smiled and put his arm around his boy. “We’re goin’ into show business, son.”

Sam Davis, Sr. and Will Mastin

Sam Sr. and Nathan Crawford in the 1940s.
This is one of Sammy’s vintage pictures, probably taken with a Brownie camera.

WEST SIDE, VEGAS, 1940s

West Side was the section of Las Vegas in which Sammy had to live until he “made it.” The landlady gouged him on the rent. When Will Mastin heard the price he almost choked. “But that’s probably twice what it would cost at El Rancho Vegas.” “Well,” said the landlady, “Then why don’t you go live at El Rancho Vegas?” As Will counted out the first week’s rent, Sr. smiled sardonically, “Looks like if the ofays* don’t get us, then our own will.” People used to marvel, “Where does he get the energy?” In truth, he got it from escaping places like this where he once used to live.

A billboard advertising Will Mastin Trio featuring Sammy Davis, Jr., at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel.

Ciro’s, Hollywood, the place where Sammy was “discovered” and made his famous comeback following his near-fatal car accident.

Will Mastin, Eddie Cantor, and Sam Davis, Sr.

THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR

Eddie Cantor was one of America’s great vaudevillians, in the same league as Al Jolson and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. He became a television star with a hugely successful show The Colgate Comedy Hour. He hired Sammy and the Trio. According to Sammy, this became a great break for them. “My father, Will, and I took our bows. They went off and I stayed on to join Mr. Cantor. They were still applauding when he came on. He hugged me and took a handkerchief from his pocket and blotted my face, beaming at me like a proud father.” A few days later NBC forwarded Sammy’s fan mail. The bundles and bundles of “fan” mail turned out to be an avalanche of hate mail castigating Eddie Cantor and the network for putting a black man on the show. Sammy assumed his career with The Colgate Comedy Hour was over. But despite pressure from the sponsors and the network, Cantor offered the Trio a contract for the rest of the season. “How could you figure it? Here there were people going out of their way to kick me in the face with nothing to gain by doing it, then along comes a man like Eddie Cantor with everything to lose, but he deals himself into my fight and says, “They’ll have to kick me too.”

Marquee at the Flamingo in Las Vegas

Sam Sr.

Will Mastin

IT WAS OSCAR NIGHT, 1951, AND ALL HOLLYWOOD ENDED THE EVENING AT CIRO’S TO CHEER ON THEIR FRIEND JANIS PAIGE. AMONG THEM WERE DEAN MARTIN & JERRY LEWIS, THE HOTTEST COMEDY ACT IN THE BUSINESS.

JERRY LEWIS

No one could have foreseen that the opening act, the virtually unknown Will Mastin Trio featuring Sammy Davis, Jr., would be so powerful, so endearing to the audience that they literally would not let Sammy off the stage. Standing on their feet, at least fifty major movie stars were pounding on the tables, demanding more and more. Sammy did encore after encore. Finally, with nothing left in his repertoire, he ended with an impromptu, wildly adrenalized impression of Jerry Lewis. That wrecked them. Totally. Nothing could follow that. The show was over and Sammy Davis, Jr., had just become a star.

Even the critics went crazy. The Hollywood Reporter: “Once in a long time an artist hits town and sends the place on its ear. Such a one is young Sammy Davis, Jr., of the Will Mastin Trio at Ciro’s.” Paul Coates in the Mirror. “The surprise sensation of the show was the Will Mastin Trio, a father-uncle-son combination that is the greatest act Hollywood has seen…[They] left the audience begging for more.” And in the Los Angeles Times: “The Will Mastin Trio, featuring dynamic Sammy Davis, Jr., are such show stoppers at Ciro’s that star Janis Paige has relinquished the closing spot to them.”

The next night, after the show, Sammy was in his “dressing room,” a corner of Ciro’s attic. He heard someone clearing his throat. Jerry Lewis was banging his fist against the wall. “I’d knock on the door if you had one. May I come in?”

“Mr. Lewis! Of course, please,” Sammy said. Sammy pulled up a chair and almost pushed him into it.

“Don’t give me a ‘Mister.’ I’m a Jerry, not a Mister. How can we be friends if we’re ‘misters’ and you’ll call me up, saying ‘Hello, Mister, let’s have dinner tonight’?” Jerry smiled. “I came back because I love the act and if you don’t mind I’d like to give you a little advice.”

Sammy was thrilled. “Mind? My God. Are you kidding? Please do.”

Jerry shouted, “Get outta the business! I don’t need such competition. I don’t want it, I was doing fine. Who asked you to come along?” Sammy laughed hysterically. Later he told me, “The idea of him sitting in our ridiculous dressing room and doing bits with me was too much.”

But Jerry did have some serious advice for Sammy. “Now listen, you shouldn’t hit me in the mouth from what I’ll tell you ’cause it’s only good I mean you. Okay? Sammeleh, you’re a great performer, but you’re making some mistakes. I’ll tell you what I saw and...

Table of contents

• DEDICATION
• EPIGRAPH
• CONTENTS
• FOREWORD
• CHAPTER 1: THE EARLY YEARS
• CHAPTER 2: WITH THE BOYS
• CHAPTER 3: THE RED CARPET
• CHAPTER 4: THE FAMILY ROOM
• CHAPTER 5: THE STRUGGLE
• CHAPTER 6: IMAGES FROM THE ROAD
• AFTERWORD
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• OTHER BOOKS BY BURT BOYAR
• COPYRIGHT
• ABOUT THE PUBLISHER