Remembering Sammy Davis, Jr. - Mr. Show Business

I remember seeing Sammy in probably 1953, I was living in San Diego, and one of the first "Talk" Shows I had ever seen was MC'd by Peter Potter, and Sammy was a guest on his show. I'm thinking it was before his wreck. Later on in the 50's I worked in Reno, and Sammy was appearing at the Mapes Hotel. They stayed at a motel on South Virginia, and I remember hearing sirens, Charlie Mapes would have Sammy and his uncles arrived in an escorted limo. In those days, Sammy had to go in a side door, go on stage and do his act, and leave the hotel, no mingling with the crowd. No blacks allowed in casinos in those days. I have seen quite a few "entertainers," I have seen three that were truly "professional," as far as I am concerned. Wayne Newton, Johnny Mathis and Sammy Davis. Those three "worked"at their trade.

Sammy Davis Jr. was a performer all his life, beginning on vaudeville when he was just three years old. As he grew up and grew famous, he wowed us with his multifaceted talent: he could sing, dance, act, and do spot-on impressions – all with ease.

A member of the much-celebrated Rat Pack, Davis was still performing with his friends Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin just a few years before his death from throat cancer on May 16, 1990. Entertaining was in his blood – it's why he was a Kennedy Center honoree, Emmy Award winner, Tony and Golden Globe nominee, and a recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

I have lived through much of the change .........

Today is Martin Luther King Day, 2012.

I was born in 1932, and I was introduced to my Mother, Father, Brother, and Sadie. I think I knew that Sadie worked for my family, but to me she was family. I knew she had different colored skin, but she was just Sadie.

We had neighbors on Brown Street, in Dayton, Ohio, who occasionally used the N word in negative ways, so I guess I learned early that "they" were somehow different. Sadie put in her days work, and then went home after the dinner dishes were done. She had a large part in raising me, through high school. She "covered" for me a few times, helped me take care of Rags, my dog, and was a part of our family, up to a point.

Friends would ask about Mom and Dad and Dean, and generally, "How is Sadie?" On one occasion, and one occasion only, my guess is I was 7 or 8. I wanted to do something, and Sadie told me I couldn't. I got made and caller her the N word. To this day, one of the worst days of my life, the feelings I had, after I blurted that out. I have regretted that probably more than anything else I have done in my life.

Riding the old Brown Street Bus, never gave it a second thought, but "they" generally sat in the back of the bus. I can't say I am sure of that, because I never thought of it, and if they did it was just accepted.

Then, 1950, I went away to college in Charleston, South Carolina at The Citadel. Freshmen, or plebes, in the mess hall, were responsible for holding up empty platters and bowls, so they, the colored ladies that worked there, would take them back to the kitchen and get them refilled. I held up a platter, no one came, I yelled, in a rather loud voice, "Maam." All those around me were shocked. "That is not a Maam, that is a N word." I got my first demerits for that.

During my time there I heard many stories of pranks, mistreatment, and realized how Southerners actually felt and reacted  toward blacks. I was a fan of some black entertainers. Little Esther was performing in town. I went, had to sit isolated up in the balcony, separated.

I was not aware of any problems in the Navy in the early 50's, even though we were predominately white.

Then, in 1956, in Reno, blacks were not allowed in the casinos. There again, never gave any thought to it until I became good friends with an entertainer, Billy Ward and his Dominos. Billy could entertain on the stage at the Golden, but was not allowed out on the floor after the show. They had rooms in the Golden, and spent most of their off time in their rooms. On occasions we would have them out to our house for a home cooked meal. I had a friend, white girl, who saw his picture and wanted to meet him. I had to sneak them up to his room. They eventually got married, moved to California where mixed marriages were more in style.

Late fifties or early sixties, an incident occurred at The Primm  where we had a "situation" arise, a white woman lost money on the 21 table, her husband entered the club, he was black. Many phone calls went out all over Nevada, I am sure, and the doors opened for all. And, I was a part of it, kinda neat.

So, in my 79 years I have lived through the entire scenario. Sammy Davis could appear at the The Mapes, a police escort with sirens blaring, limos, coming up South Virginia, a grand entrance, but they had to leave the hotel right after his show, probably in 1956.

There have been many changes during that time, and I still can't use the N word.

Fifty Years Ago ................

Fifty years ago, I remember this incident, what a change has happened since then. Around this time I introduced a friend of mine, a white gal, to Billy Ward, a black entertainer, Billy Ward and the Dominos. They eventually got married. We talked much before her marriage, "What about her white daughter?" Blacks were still not allowed in the casinos .......................... fifty years ago.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Fifty years ago this week, Sammy Davis Jr. was roundly booed during the opening ceremony of the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. The incident was one of the saddest moments in the entertainer's life and pointed up the deep racial divide that was threatening to rip apart the Democratic Party and the country.


It was July 11, 1960, and in two days the convention would nominate John F. Kennedy as the Democrats' presidential nominee. It had been hot and smoggy that day as 7,000 delegates began pouring into the Sports Arena downtown. The convention was called to order promptly at 5 p.m., and after the invocation, everyone stood as the color guard presented the flag -- the first with 50 stars presented at a national political convention as Hawaii had been admitted to the Union 11 months earlier.

Then came the introduction of the Hollywood celebrities who were packed into the crowded hall as guests of the convention. Three of the five-member Rat Pack were there: Davis, Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford. Tony Curtis and his wife, Janet Leigh, were on hand, as was Nat "King" Cole, Shirley MacLaine, Lee Marvin, Edward G. Robinson, Hope Lange, Lloyd Bridges and Vincent Price.

Everyone was greeted with cheers except Davis, who was booed by many of the white Southern delegates -- not because he was unpopular but because he was engaged to a white woman, Swedish actress May Britt. A headline over a New York Times story the next day read, "Delegates Boo Negro."

After the booing subsided, Sinatra came over and put his hand on Davis' shoulder. "Those dirty sons of bitches," he told his pal. "Don't let 'em get to you."

But it did get to Davis. With tears welling up, he asked Sinatra: "What did I do to deserve that?"

With Davis looking on, Sinatra then sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" under a lone spotlight shining from the rafters as if from heaven. Frank's daughter Nancy later recalled that this was one of her father's "proudest moments," but when he sang the last line, it must have been a moment tinged with irony as well.

After Davis left the rostrum, a reporter, noting that Cole had not been booed when he was introduced, asked Davis why he thought so many of the Southern delegates had booed him. "You know as well as I why they booed," he said.