A Follow-up on the PowerPoint Segment on the life and career of Sammy Davis Jr. (1925-1990) with more details with style and sass

1. SAMMY DAVIS JR. – A FORCE TO BE
RECKON WITH
By Susan Graham

2. THE EARLYYEARS
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was born on December 8, 1925.
an African American Jewish entertainer. Primarily a dancer and singer, he was
also an actor of stage and screen, musician, and impressionist, noted for his
impersonations of actors, musicians and other celebrities.At the age of three
Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father and Will Mastin as the Will
MastinTrio, which toured nationally.
as an only son and the eldest of three children, to Sammy Davis Sr., an African-
American entertainer, and Elvera Sanchez, a tap dancer of Afro-Cuban descent.
Sammy had two younger sisters Ramona (who died 2001) and Suzette.

3. STRUGGLES ANDTRIUMPH
His official status is Afro-Latino but in addition As an African-American, Davis was the
victim of racism throughout his life and was a large financial supporter of the Civil Rights
movement. Davis had a complex relationship with the African-American community,
and drew criticism after physically embracing President Richard M. Nixon in 1972. One
day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. "Handicap?"
he asked. "Talk about handicap — I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew."This was to become a
signature comment, recounted in his autobiography, and in countless articles
Davis admitted that he was uneducated and never went to school and he didn’t learn to
read or write once he enrolled in the US Army.

4. STRUGGLES ANDTRIUMPH
During service inWWII, the Army assigned Davis to an integrated entertainment
Special Services unit and he found that the spotlight lessened the prejudice. Even
prejudiced white men admired and respected his performances. "My talent was the
weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect
a man's thinking," he said in an interview.
When Davis served in the United States Army duringWorldWar II, however, he was
confronted by strong racial prejudice. He later said, "Overnight the world looked
different.

5. MAKIN’ ITTOTHETOP
After his discharge, Davis rejoined the family dance act, which played at clubs
around Portland, Oregon. He began to achieve success on his own and was
singled out for praise by critics, releasing several albums.This led to Davis
being hired to sing the title track for the Universal Pictures film Six Bridges to
Cross in 1954, and later to his starring role in the Broadway play Mr.Wonderful
in 1956.

6. MAKIN ITTOTHETOP - DEFIANCE
Davis nearly died in an automobile accident on November 19, 1954, in San
Bernardino, California, as he was making a return trip from LasVegas to Los
Angeles. In 1953, he had struck up a friendship with comedian and host Eddie
Cantor, who gave him a mezuzah. Instead of putting it by his door, as a traditional
blessing, Davis would wear it around his neck as a good luck charm.The only time
he forgot it, one night in 1954, he crashed his car on the way to a gig in California
Davis lost his left eye to the bullet-shaped horn button (a standard 1954-55 Cadillac
feature) as a result. His friend, actor Jeff Chandler, said he would give one of his own
eyes if it would keep Davis from total blindness. Davis wore an eye patch for at least
six months following the accident. He was featured with the patch on the cover of
his debut album and appeared on What's My Line?Wearing the patch. Later, he was
fitted for a glass eye, which he wore for the rest of his life.

7. CONTROVERSIAL ROMANCES
In 1960, Davis stirred crazy controversy again when he
married white Swedish-born actress May Britt. Davis
received hate mail while starring in the Broadway
musical adaptation of Golden Boy during 1964–66 (for
which he received aTony Award nomination for Best
Lead Actor). At the time Davis appeared in the play,
interracial marriages were forbidden by law in 31 US
states (but were entirely legal in NewYork), and only in
1967 were those laws ruled unconstitutional by the US
Supreme Court. Davis and Britt had one daughterTracey
and adopted two sons.

8. RAT PACK REVOLUTION
In 1959, Davis became a member of the famous Rat Pack, led by his friend
Frank Sinatra, which included fellow performers Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, and
Peter Lawford, a brother-in-law of John F. Kennedy. Initially, Sinatra, known
formally as capo di tutti, called the gathering "the Clan", but Davis voiced his
opposition, saying that it reminded people of the Ku Klux Klan. Sinatra
renamed the group "the Summit", but the media referred to them as the Rat
Pack, the name of its earlier incarnation led by Humphrey Bogart and Lauren
Bacall.

9. GOING DRAMATIC
Anna Lucasta (1959 film) a remake of the 1949 version (directed by Irving Rapper and
starring Paulette Goddard), which itself was also an adaptation ofYordan's 1936 stage
play as is the 1959 version. Sammy portrayed Danny Johnson originated by fellow
actor John Ireland from the 1949 original.
The film was unsuccessful at the box office after United Artists gave it little promotion
and only a limited release. Despite the failure of the 1959 remake many movie fanatics
praised Sammy’s performance by adding his own personality to the character.

10. 1960’S –THE DECADETHATTOOK CLASSY
OUT
“What Kind of Fool Am I?A popular song written by Leslie Bricusse
and Anthony Newley and published in 1962. It was introduced by
Anthony Newley in the musical StopThe World - IWantTo Get Off.
The song was aTop 20 Pop hit for Sammy Davis, Jr. in 1962
the year of its publication, peaking at #17 on the Billboard
Hot 100 chart and at #6 on the Billboard Easy Listening
chart.

11. 1960’S -THE DECADETHATTOOK CLASSY
OUT ANDTROUBLES BEGIN
In 1964, Davis was starring in Golden Boy at night and shooting his own NewYork-
based afternoon talk show during the day.When he could get a day off from the
theater, he would be recording new songs in the studio, or performing live, often at
charity benefits as far away as Miami, Chicago, and LasVegas, or doing television
variety specials in Los Angeles. Davis knew he was cheating his family of his company,
but he could not help himself; as he later stated, he was incapable of standing still.

12. THE LATE 1960’S –THE 1970’S
Although he was still a draw in LasVegas, Davis's musical career had
sputtered by the late 1960s, although he had a No. 11 hit (#1 on the Easy
Listening singles chart) with "I've Gotta Be Me" in 1969. His effort to update
his sound and reconnect with younger people resulted in his signing with the
Motown record label.Though his deal with them to have his own label with
the company fell through, Sammy had an unexpected #1 hit with "The Candy
Man" after he signed with MGM Records in 1972. Although he did not
particularly care for the song and was chagrined that he was now best known
for it, Davis made the most of his opportunity and revitalized his career.

13. THE 1980’S –THE NEXT PHASE OF REVIVAL
Davis was a fan of daytime soap operas, particularly the shows produced by the
American Broadcasting Company.This led to a cameo appearance on General
Hospital and a recurring role as character ChipWarren on One Life to Live, for which
he received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1980.

14. SMOOTH GUNSLINGER
Davis was an enthusiastic shooter and gun owner. He participated in fast-draw
competitions—Johnny Cash recalled that Sammy was said to be capable of
drawing and firing a Colt SingleAction Army revolver in less than a quarter of a
second. Davis was skilled at fast and fancy gun spinning, and appeared onTV
variety shows showing off this skill. He appeared inWestern films and as a guest
star on several "Golden Age"T.V.Westerns.

15. VOICETYPE ANDVOCAL RANGE
Sammy Davis, Jr. was considered a baritone. His voice does have a light warm timbre to it, but not all singers
belonging to the same vocal category necessarily sound exactly alike or have the exact same ranges.What
notes Davis could sing, I'm not sure.There are several conflicting sources on the internet, and I suspect most of
them are completely wrong. I do know he had a good range, based on both his pop hits and his work on
Broadway (yes, he did Broadway). Many male Broadway roles when he performed could be played either by
baritones with a good top register, or tenors that had good low register. Lot of the songs in "Stop theWorld I
Want to Get Off, a musical in which he performed to acclaim, span an octave and a half or more. He would
have had to sing these songs night after night LIVE. He also sang a lot of the songs throughout his career as
"signature songs".These songs don't necessarily start and stop on the same notes, so he would have had to
have around 2 1/2 octaves to be able to sing what he did the way he did with no strain whatsoever in any part
of the songs. Now I suspect his range was larger, but again, singers back then were more concerned about
sounding good and not just showing off how low or high they could go.

16. THE FINAL ROLE AND CURTAIN CALL
Tap is a Drama movie from 1989 starring Gregory Hines (who passed
away in 2003) as Max Washington an ex-con.
This was Sammy Davis, Jr’s.
final film appearance in the movie during this
time he was battlingThroat Cancer.

17. CANCER BATTLE
Earlier between 1988 to 1989, when he was told that surgery
(laryngectomy) offered him the best chance of survival, Davis
replied he would rather keep his voice than have a part of his throat
removed; he subsequently was treated with a combination of
chemotherapy and radiation

18. THE END OFTHE ONEWHO BROKE ALL
RACIAL BARRIERS
Davis succumbs toThroat Cancer and passed away in Beverly
Hills,California, on May 16, 1990 at age 64,
a few weeks prior to his death, his entire larynx was
removed during surgery. He was interred in the
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California,
next to his father and Will Mastin.

19. THE LEGACY 25YEARS AFTER HE PASSED
After Davis's death, the debts were transferred to his estate. Altovise, a
former show girl whom Davis met and married in 1970, also became liable
for the IRS debt because she had cosigned Sammy's tax returns. Altovise (
Who Died in 2005) had apparently been overwhelmed by the complexities of
settling Davis's affairs, a task that requires her cooperation with Sammy's
executors (his lawyer John Climaco and manager Shirley Rhodes) and the
IRS, as well as with dozens of individual claimants—from Nate and Al's
Delicatessen in Beverly Hills (asking $561.68) to the Riviera Hotel jewelry
shop (claiming $5,804).

20. WELL DESERVED RECOGNITION AFTER 25
YEARS
Sammy Davis Jr. was portrayed by Don Cheadle in the HBO filmThe Rat Pack, a television film
about the group of entertainers. Cheadle won a Golden Globe award for his performance.
On later episodes ofThe Cosby Show, Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) wore an "SDjr" pin
as a tribute to Davis, who, in its 5th season, made a guest appearance in the
episode "No Way, Baby".
Over the last 2 decades since his passing Sammy Davis Jr. At the 2001 Grammy
Awards he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Also Davis was a subject on Unsung Hollywood onTVOne this season.

21. STYLE AND SASS
Sammy’s style had evolved over the years from big shoulder
suits then to sweaters with either black or white shirts under to
stage style suits with the jacket taken off sometimes sleeves
rolled up and cool killer suede boots (made for walkin’) whenever
he pulls up and killer performance including a dance move he did
it with style including the twist.
Sammy is highly considered the best twisters among many
others twisting dancing techniques.

22. SUPER STYLE AND SUPER SASS
In addition to his advantage adding glasses (due to the car
accident that almost ended everything in 1954) Sammy
added super sass to his style along with the 3-piece suits
sometimes with bow ties and neck ties then loosen (his
on-stage signature) it to relax with crowd filled with fans
brought him the masses not only as a Rat Pack elite but
also the status ofTeen Idol in the mid-late 1950’s due to
his early transition fromVaudeville performer to recording
artist
Sammy is also among the oldestTeen Idols inTeen Idol
History.

23. HAIRSTYLE RETROSPECTIVE
From straight, small curl flip on the right side to hair cut trim to small afro. Sammy did it all joining the ranks of best hairstyle
for the boys. In addition the straight hair from the 1950s to the 1960s Sammy was among the pioneers in the African
American Community to help popularize the style along with fellow singers and groups after him.

24. WE STILL LOVE SAMMY AND WE ARE
THINKING OF HIM
Sammy Davis, Jr. cultivated an entertainment career that incorporated performance through acting both in the theater and
movies, music, and dance. His theatrical, screen, and music credits include:
Theater --
1954, Mr. Wonderful
1964, the Broadway Musical "Golden Boy"
1978, Stop the World—I Want To Get Off.
Movies --
Porgy and Bess.
Music --
1954, "Hey There"
1955, "Somethings Gotta Give", "Love Me Or Leave Me", " That Old Black Magic",
1962, "What Kind of Fool Am I"
1963, "The Shelter of Your Arms"
1968, "I've Gotta Be Me"
1972, "The Candy Man“
Til this day many artists such as Michael Jackson ( Who died in 2009), James Brown (Who Died in 2006) had look up to
Sammy as a major influence. All we know is that Sammy Davis Jr. Is a Pioneer among many African American singers, actors
of today and 25 years later after his death Sammy Davis Jr is now well praised and we love him and still we are thinking of him
today so from us to you Mr. Sammy Davis Jr. Thank You and R.I.P.