Don and Frank

Not sure what made me think of it, good story.

Frank Sinatra made an appearance on Carson one night, really a big deal. During the show, Don Rickles came out and they kidded back and forth with Sinatra, who was a good friend of his. There were many stories and laughs.

Sinatra told this story about Don. Early in their careers, Sinatra was eating at a restaurant in New York. Rickles was there with a date.

He walked over to Frank's table and said, "Frank, I'm here with a girl I really want to impress. I told her I knew you, she didn't believe me, could you stop by the table on your way out and say hello."

"Sure," Sinatra said.

Sinatra finished, and on his way out stopped by Rickles table, said, "Hi Don, how's everything going," or something to that effect.

Rickles reply, "Hey, Frank, can't you see we're eating here!"

Sinatra said he was speechless.

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.

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.