Sammy Davis Jr: The Kid in the Middle

This programme contains some strong language

# There's music to play places to go, people to see

# Everything for you and me Life's a ball. #

Amazing. There's no-one like him

and there never will be one like him again.

# In the arms of the jungle, animal instinct, mass hysteria! #

People went to see him and never ever forgot what they saw.

# Oh, the candy man makes everything he makes

# Satisfying and delicious. #

Sammy Davis Jr is remembered as the greatest

and most versatile all-round entertainer of his generation.

# I am the sheriff of the town, la la la la la. #

-MAN:

-He was an impressionist, he was a dancer, he was a musician.

He could play the trumpet, he could play the drums.

What can you say about the man who was an all-round entertainer?

He could do everything well.

# I've wined and dined on mullet and stew... #

Adored by the British public, Davis performed for the Queen

at the first ever televised Royal Variety Performance.

He was also a key player in Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack.

# Whatever happens

# We've got us. #

Sammy would idolise Frank throughout his life.

Sammy was a great singer. He wanted to sing like Sinatra.

You'd talk to him, "I can sing as good as the boss."

# I need your love

# I want your love. #

To reach the top, Davis had to overcome being born black

in a white man's world.

He broke down walls. He made it possible for every

black entertainer who is entertaining today.

He captured our imagination on stage and screen, and then, of course,

his identification with our struggle made him

an even bigger than life person for us.

In an extraordinary career spanning six decades, there were many times

when Davis came close to losing his reputation and even his life.

Cohn said,

"You've got 48 hours to marry a black girl

"or a black woman, or you're dead."

# Don't go to Matt Monro... #

Told by those who knew him best, this is the remarkable story

of Sammy Davis Jr's rise to the top of the entertainment world...

# Don't go to anybody else but me. #

..and tragically, his final spectacular downfall.

# Please remember my name!

# My name is Sammy Davis, my name is Sammy Davis

# My name is Sammy Davis, my name is Sammy Davis... #

APPLAUSE

SAMMY DAVIS JR SCAT SINGING

# I'm a brass band

# I'm a harpsichord

# I'm a clarinet

# I'm the Philadelphia Orchestra... #

Star of the stage, screen and airwaves,

Sammy Davis Jr was born in the New York district of Harlem in 1925.

His world was poor and black and a far cry from the life enjoyed

by the white communities in the city's more prosperous areas.

Sammy's cousins live near to where he grew up and they've recently

inherited some old film reels that once belonged to the entertainer.

There's one here that actually was sent to Sammy.

-His address is on it, so how cool is that?

-MAN: Whoa!

It will take us quite a while to go through these.

They are part of Sammy's legacy and our history.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Good.

Now Lauralie and Keith are watching the films for the very first time.

I'd like to say thank you for coming tonight

and all of you folks at home for tuning in on this my very first show.

There we go.

Yeah!

Look at that.

You know, you don't get to see him dance very often in later times.

I like to see the old hoofer come out.

And there's the stance.

APPLAUSE

This is fabulous.

# Nothing...

# Can stop me now! #

-I think we found a treasure, Keith!

-SHE LAUGHS

The film reels contain footage from Davis's first American

network television series from the 1960s.

A black man with his own shows marked a major breakthrough

for all African American performers.

As a young boy in the 1930s, Davis never dreamt he'd enjoy such fame.

MUSIC: New York's My Home

# Listen, all you New Yorkers

# There's a rumour going round

# That some of you good people wanna leave this town... #

Vaudeville theatre was in the family blood.

Davis's parents Sammy Senior and Elvera Sanchez

were both dancers sharing the bill with some

of variety's biggest names.

But in 1928, offered the chance to dance on a long-running tour,

Sammy's mum Elvera, abandoned her three-year-old son

to the care of his father Sammy Sr.

He had some really hard early days.

He had his father, Big Sam,

but he didn't always have the benefit

of family love all together,

in a group.

Every day, Davis accompanied his dad Sammy Sr

to the New York theatre where he worked.

He would watch his father on stage

dancing with the vaudeville troupe leader Will Mastin -

the man he would forever call Uncle.

Mastin noticed Sammy's extraordinary gift as a tap dancer early on,

and by the age of five, Davis was tied into a contract

that would financially bind him to his dad and his uncle

for the next 30 years.

In 1932, the seven-year-old dancing sensation

landed his first film role.

He starred opposite Ethel Waters in the short musical comedy

Rufus Jones For President.

Part of an all-black cast and made for a black audience,

Davis played the part of a young boy

who dreamt about becoming president of the USA.

# I'll be glad when you dead, you rascal, you

# I'll be tickled to death when you leave this Earth, you dog

# When you're laying six-feet deep

# No more fried chicken will you eat... #

The film has been criticised for reinforcing racial stereotypes,

but Davis's remarkable performance is undisputed.

As he started as a little boy, as a child actor, child star.

As a tap dancer...

there's not many

that could touch him.

His appearance in Rufus Jones For President

led to other film offers...

Yeah!

..but Uncle Will wanted to keep the brilliant young Davis in the Trio.

Soon, acts like theirs would soon be under threat.

Talking pictures were sweeping the nation

and the public appetite for vaudeville was dwindling.

Successful performers Eddie Cantor and Charlie Chaplin

had years before transferred to radio and film.

But as a black act, the Will Mastin Trio

were still struggling to make their mark in New York's nightclubs.

Sammy had a lot of racial stuff thrown at him

while they were on stage.

Not Sammy, the Trio.

Will Mastin was the one that would protect him from the racial stuff,

and that went on for quite some period.

In 1941, the USA entered the war

and on his 17th birthday, Sammy was called up.

In the artillery, he experienced the full force

of widespread racial abuse, as he would later confide

to the co-writer of his biography and lifelong friend Burt Boyar.

When Sammy went into the army,

he was put into what was

the first integrated regiment in the infantry.

It was loaded with Southerners.

They hated him and they treated him terribly.

Appearing on the BBC's Parkinson Show in 1976,

Davis talked about his army days.

I had never been cursed at.

So the first day, I got in...

Fort Francis E Warren, Wyoming.

I'll never forget it.

And the man said to me, "Hey, you little mother, mother..."

HE MUMBLES

"..move your mother..."

HE MUMBLES, LAUGHTER

"..and get your mother..."

HE MUMBLES, LAUGHTER

"..and move it into that mother..."

HE MUMBLES, LAUGHTER

"..over there."

In the artillery, Davis struggled to cope with the racist abuse.

So when an officer noticed his talent for dancing

and offered to transfer him to the entertainment corps

he jumped at the chance.

The great thing about Sammy - he did not become bitter,

he just got angry

and he got very, very determined.

"I'll get bigger than this.

"I'll get so big that they'll never be able to look at me

"by looking down, they'll have to look up."

# If I ruled the world

# Every day would be the first day of spring... #

After the war, Sammy re-joined the Trio in New York.

Anchors Aweigh and Billy Wilder's award-winning The Lost Weekend

were in the cinema.

Davis was now enjoying his own solo singing spot within the Trio's act

when they were invited to play Las Vegas

and Miami's hottest hotel nightclubs.

But the hotels' strict rules that meant black entertainers

like the Trio were not allowed to enter public areas.

He was not able to live on Miami Beach where he was starring.

He had to live in Miami at a hotel where black people were able to live.

From that point on, Davis was determined to use his talent

to overcome the racism that he and the Trio encountered.

It was the fact, for once, I'm recognised, maybe they'll...

Maybe THEY, the general public, will move past the fact of colour.

And see just the art of who is singing and be moved

by the emotion of the song rather than by the prejudice of their mind.

Davis thought his big break had come

when in 1947 the trio were asked to perform a dance routine

in a minor film, Sweet And Low.

# Oink, oink Bee-boo-le-bibbly-bibbly

# Oink, oink A bibbly-bibbly-bibbly

# Oink-oink, oink-oink A bibbly-bibbly-bibbly

# Oink, oink. #

People went to see him. And never ever forgot what they saw.

The people in the audience caught that inner energy that Sammy has.

He draws people in.

For now, there were no more film offers for Davis.

But growing up, Sammy had watched big names like Frank Sinatra

transform from a chart-topping singer to movie idol

and he dreamt of doing the same.

# How I wish you'd lift the phone

# Fun is fun but not alone. #

One night, after seeing Sinatra perform live in New York,

Davis encountered his hero in a chance meeting

outside the theatre

as he would later share with the BBC's Terry Wogan.

He comes out one day and I'm standing by the stage door.

And he looks at me and he says, "Didn't we work together once?"

And I said, "Yes, but it was only three days."

We replaced an act when he was with Tommy Dorsey.

He remembered. He said, "Yeah, you work with your family."

I said, "Yeah." He said, "You want to come next week?

"Come and watch rehearsal."

It was heaven.

I walked back to the hotel

we were living in from Hollywood down to Fifth Street, man.

It must be 20 miles. I just walked in heaven.

Floating lightly, you know.

Cos I had met this man, and he remembered me.

Invited backstage by his new friend Sinatra,

the rising star seized the chance to show off his genius for impressions,

including his favourite of Old Blue Eyes himself

which years later he was to perform on British TV.

Good evening.

# It's quarter to three

# There's no-one in the place

# 'Cept you and me...

# Set 'em up, Joe

# Got a little story you ought to know... #

Sinatra just loved it and he said, "Do that, do that.

"Put it in the act."

Frank really admired him. He was a huge fan of Sammy's.

He realised his talent.

If Frank liked you, he'd open doors.

It would take someone like Frank Sinatra to introduce

African Americans on television and on stage

and say, "This cat's all right."

# I only go to see a show

# So I can watch a song and dance man... #

Frank Sinatra was to keep a watchful eye on Davis

as his role continued to develop within the Will Mastin Trio.

Their big break finally came in 1951,

opening for one of America's leading ladies,

the singer Janis Paige in Los Angeles' top night spot, Ciros.

Eddie Cantor, the presenter

of America's highest-rating television show

was in the audience.

This is the greatest act I have ever seen.

And so, for you, here is the Will Mastin Trio and Sammy Davis Jr, OK?

Davis's phenomenal television performance

gave him national exposure and singled him out

as the threesome's brilliant leading man.

From now on they would be forever referred to

as the Will Mastin Trio starring Sammy Davis Jr.

Within three years, the multi-talented Davis

was signed to a 50-record deal by the leading label, Decca.

My mom had some records of his

and she used to actually sing his songs.

We used to listen to it on the record player.

# Hey, there, you with the stars in your eyes

# Love never made a fool of you... #

# You used to be too wise

# Hey there... #

His very first record, Hey There, went straight to No.1

in the US billboard charts where it stayed for eight weeks.

But just as Sammy's recording career was getting under way

a new sound was hitting the streets.

Elvis and rock'n'roll had arrived.

# Well, that's all right, Mama

# That's all right for you

# That's all right, Mama

# Just anyway you do, that's all right. #

Elvis and Davis's paths would later cross on the Las Vegas strip

and they became lifelong friends.

But musically, Davis would continue to follow in Sinatra's footsteps.

Sammy was a great singer. He wanted to sing like Sinatra.

And he felt he was Sinatra.

When you talked to him, "I can sing as good as the boss."

I used to tell him, stop singing like Frank.

It's not good for you.

But it didn't do any good, he had to sing like Frank, he had to.

He just had to do it, so I just let it go at that. I said, you know,

"You don't like it when I sound like Judy Garland."

# When an irresistible force

# Such as you... #

By the mid-1950s, Davis and the Trio were being paid top fees

playing East Coast night-spots, clubs like New York's Copacabana.

While they welcomed white and black audiences,

the nightclub bosses in Las Vegas

were still clinging to their whites-only policy.

# Something's gotta give, something's gotta give

# Something's gotta give. #

And when the number one nightclub, the Frontier Hotel,

offered the Trio a two-week gig, Davis decided to take a stand.

He'd got mad, really mad, inside mad.

He'll say, "Fuck 'em. I don't need this shit in my life."

Davis explained his position years later in a BBC interview.

There is still opportunity in America for the black man.

If he's got to fight for it, maybe harder than the white man.

He's got to fight for his stretch of dignity. And once he gets it,

and if he utilises it properly,

then he makes it a little easier for the other guy.

# That old black magic has me

# In its spell... #

The hotels started to try and lure him,

more money and everything. They wanted him so badly,

they said, "OK, anything you want."

And they gave him what would be the equivalent of a presidential suite.

And he had everything he wanted there.

The Frontier Hotel's decision to overturn their segregationist policy

saw Davis and the Trio become the first black entertainers

to stay in their hotel as well as perform for a mixed audience.

Their fee was equivalent today to 66,000 a week.

# Thanks a lot

# It sure is nice to be

# To be where I can see

# So many friends of mine. #

Davis and the Will Mastin Trio

became regulars on the Las Vegas strip

alongside the likes of Louis Prima and Buddy Greco.

To be one step ahead of the game, Davis was always looking

for new ways to keep the act fresh and drew on his childhood heroes -

cowboy stars Roy Rogers and John Wayne.

Sammy insisted that we learn how to do quick-draw. So we did it.

It was very hard.

He gave me these after I had worked like a dog to get good at it.

And then finally, he sent away to the Colt company

and had them made for me and had them engraved, "To Burt."

It wasn't long

before Davis was shootin' 'em up in front of his audience.

# I spied a young cowboy

# Wrapped up... #

He was the fastest gun in Hollywood. He really was.

# Wrapped up in white linen

# And cold as...

# ..the clay. #

-Ladies and gentlemen... No, please.

-APPLAUSE

Shucks, I knew I was good when I put them on.

LAUGHTER

After his early flirtation with the movies,

Davis craved to be a movie star himself

but in Hollywood, few black actors were cast as leading men.

He could not get into the movies.

He knew he didn't want to just be a song and dance man

all his life because it was too limited.

Sammy had been experimenting with film cameras for a few years

and started financing and appearing in his own silent films,

including this western opposite his friend Arthur Silber.

But the movie was never commercially released.

He used one of my purses

in the movie to be the bag to hold the gold.

It was just my brown bag. "Oh, we'll use that!" OK.

Well, I couldn't use that bag after that.

They had rocks in it, they kept hitting each other with it.

Well, he bought me a bag. I went, "My God, my bag only cost 5.95."

You know, 55 years ago.

Now, he gave me a gold bracelet, charms,

I went, "But, Sammy, I only gave you my old broken-down bag.

"You know, I don't need anything else!"

I kept that bag for I cannot tell you how long.

In 1955, it looked as though Sammy would finally realise his dream

to make it to Hollywood when his close friend,

the film-star Tony Curtis,

asked him to sing the title track for his latest movie.

# Gonna build a mountain

# From a little hill

# Gonna build me a mountain

# Least I hope I will... #

After performing two shows in Las Vegas,

Davis began a four-hour journey

across the Nevada desert to Los Angeles.

He hoped singing the soundtrack would bring him one step closer

to landing a major film role.

-# Yeah, yeah!

-Gonna build me a daydream

-# Yeah, yeah!

-From a little hope... #

He got into his car, a brand-new Cadillac convertible

that his father and Will had just bought him.

And he was terribly excited.

And that's when he had an automobile accident.

The car in front of him swerved and stopped in the middle of the highway.

He couldn't avoid it.

He hit the back of a big Chrysler -

this was when they really made cars, big cars -

so hard there was no place for him to go.

He would have been dead, because the engine was sitting

in the front seat of his car.

But Sammy's like that, thin.

160 pounds of thin, thin muscle.

The car had a cone coming out of the centre of the steering wheel

and his eye hit it.

And it was terrible.

When Sammy got out, he was trying to put his eye,

which was hanging out of his head, push it back into his face.

I was there when they were operating on Sammy's eyes.

Sammy's biggest worry was, he'll never be able to dance again.

It was really headline material, throughout the country.

This terribly sympathetic thing about this kid who'd finally made it,

this great success, and now it was all gone.

A pioneering operation saw 30-year-old Sammy

fitted with a glass eye

and two weeks later, he made the journey to Hollywood

where he finally recorded the title track, Six Bridges To Cross.

# Six bridges to cross

# One bridge is the right one

# One dream alone can come true. #

It would be some weeks before Davis would know

whether he'd ever be able to dance again.

Frank told him, "You'll be as big as you ever were."

He took him home with him

and just got himself back into condition to be able to perform.

Frank made plans for his friend's comeback

in LA's top night spot, Ciros,

the club where Davis and the Trio had first made their name.

Two months after nearly losing his life,

Sammy was standing in the wings with his dad and uncle,

nervously waiting to be introduced on stage by his idol, Frank Sinatra.

Every star in this town was there! Every star in this town!

Life Magazine's got him on the cover.

Excuse me, I'm sorry. Can I just...?

It's an emotional thing for me.

The three of them came on...

They did their act.

# They heard the breeze

# Through the trees

# Singing weird melodies

# And they named that

# Just the start of the blues. #

He gave it 600%.

Nobody could keep up with him.

He was spectacular, because the excitement just buoyed him up.

He performed beyond his ability even, which is really going some.

# And then they nursed it, yeah!

# Rehearsed it

# And then gave out the news

# That the south lands

# Really gave birth to the blues. #

Davis's return to the stage as a singer and a dancer was a triumph.

And an invitation to pursue his acting ambitions quickly followed,

on Broadway in his first role as a leading man,

Charlie Welch in Mister Wonderful.

Based on the Trio's Las Vegas act, it ran for a year.

# Love me or leave me and let me be lonely

# You won't believe me but I love you only... #

One of the entertainment world's most eligible bachelors,

Sammy was soon being linked romantically

to a number of high-profile white female stars.

When he was in love, he was in love.

Didn't matter who it was, he was in love.

Most of the girls that Sammy went with were nice girls.

He went out with everybody, black and white. He just liked girls

and they liked him.

Perfect relationship.

A top nightclub singer,

Peggy King, was just 26 when she first met Davis.

This was taken at Sammy's house at a party.

One of Sammy's famous parties.

Sammy and I just gravitated toward one another. We're very tiny.

He's a tiny man, I'm a tiny girl.

And we just couldn't stop talking.

In later years, Sammy told me that that evening was the closest

he ever came to the kind of romance he saw on the screen.

# Unforgettable

# That's what you are... #

But dating a white woman

at a time when America was still deeply divided along lines of colour

was soon to have serious consequences.

Today, you see interracial couples,

nobody thinks anything about it, life goes on.

And that's it. But in those days, no.

# How the thought of you just clings to me. #

I had no problem about being seen with him, whatsoever.

I was raised that everybody was alike and I had no problem with it.

My folks had no problem with it.

Once I heard that it might be dangerous,

then I changed, thinking about what kind of friends we could be.

I would have lost my job. God knows what would have happened to him.

Sammy didn't see social differences.

He saw social togetherness.

And so, in his mind, he didn't think about the fact

that he was a black man and that was a white woman.

He didn't care.

# One thing will lead to another

# Too late to run for cover. #

Davis refused to have society dictate his personal life,

and continued to date some of America's white leading ladies.

When his close friends

Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh invited him to dinner,

Davis found himself sat next to Kim Novak,

the star of Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 masterpiece, Vertigo.

The whole thing must have been so embarrassing for you.

Not at all. I enjoyed it.

Talking to you.

Well, I enjoyed talking to you.

It wasn't long before the gossip columnists

caught wind of their budding romance.

They were both treading on very, very thin ice.

Being a movie star going out with a black guy,

that wasn't good for her. I think she was his great love.

Columbia's studio boss, Harry Cohn, was determined to put an end

to the affair between black entertainer Davis

and his leading lady, Kim Novak.

He had a contract taken out on Sammy to discourage him from seeing her.

By either putting out his eye - other eye - or breaking his legs.

Cohn said, "You've got 48 hours to marry a black girl,

"or a black woman, or you're dead."

Now, when a guy like him - a mob member - says that...

they're not joking.

In spite of his love for Kim, faced with a death threat,

33-year-old Davis knew he had to take action.

He's sitting on the end of his bed,

and he's going through his address book.

I said, "What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for somebody to marry."

# Have you heard?

# I married an angel... #

He rang 24-year-old Loray White,

a black dancer and singer he'd previously dated.

He made it very clear with her.

"I need you to do me a favour -

"marry me.

"I'll pay you 10,000 for all the shoes you want to buy."

HE LAUGHS

And she married him and it was a big ceremony,

and Harry Cohn relaxed and withdrew the contract and it was fine.

# I married an angel

# This beautiful change will be... #

On the wedding day, Sammy had got a hold of some whisky...

and poured it into the ice bucket,

and was drinking the whisky out of the ice bucket.

Did he get drunk?

Oh, yes, he did!

HE SLURS

Like this, you know? Really drunk.

I took Sammy into the bedroom and I dropped him on the bed.

Loray is in the other room, crying her eyes out.

# The end has come

# My heart is numb... #

Something clicked in my head - "Go look at Sammy."

Opened the door and Sammy was just putting the gun to his head,

right about here.

He was THAT close to pulling that trigger.

I jumped right on top of him and pulled the gun out of his hand.

Then he went out. I mean...boom!

# That I can't go on... #

Loray divorced Davis in November 1958,

just nine months after they married.

They'd never spent a night together.

With his personal life in tatters,

Davis's acting career was given a boost when he was offered

the leading role as the drug-dealing pimp Sportin' Life

in the film of Gershwin's musical, Porgy and Bess.

Davis wanted the role so badly he offered to waive his fee.

# Come with me

# That's where we belong, sister... #

Davis performed Gershwin's songs many times on television -

including this appearance in March 1960

on his friend Frank Sinatra's network TV show.

The new decade finally saw the break-up of the Will Mastin Trio.

Failing health forced the retirement of Sammy's father,

putting an end to 30 years on stage together.

But, even as a solo act, Davis would continue to split his wages

with his dad and uncle.

And I would just like to say, very simply, would you welcome...

-Mr Sammy Davis Jr.

-APPLAUSE

# Here's a happy tune

# A happy tune

# You love to croon

# You love to croon

# They call it Dean's song... #

Looks like I'm gonna have to explain this thing.

Sammy would go on to headline in his own right,

performing twice nightly on the Strip

and then carousing at the Sands Hotel

with Sinatra, Martin, Lawford and Bishop.

# But, Dean, here's the scam... #

Whenever one of the boys was in town, the others would follow.

Their impromptu shows sent audiences wild.

The Rat Pack, as they were quickly known,

performed together for the next four years.

The affection for Sammy was justified,

because there was nobody like Sammy.

He really had that innate talent and that natural talent.

And Frank knew that -

Frank knew he needed him around

and they needed him as the dynamic in that Rat Pack,

because it was so diverse.

# She loves the theatre

# Doesn't come late

# She'd never bother with anyone she'd hate

# That's why the lady is a tramp... #

We would see them perform.

Of course, I was just mesmerised, totally taken with it.

There was nothing like it.

I love seeing him with those guys.

He's just so relaxed and chilled and just being him.

That's what I love most.

With his unique sense of comic timing,

it was Davis's role to play the fall guy.

# You're just too marvellous

# Too marvellous for words

# Like the glorious, glamorous... #

Audiences were treated to what often looked like

a very public stag party -

songs were interrupted by wisecracks,

many of them appeared racist and at the expense of Sammy or "Smokey",

as he was nicknamed by Frank.

Frank Sinatra meant no harm to the culture or to Sammy Davis Jr.

There was no prejudice amongst them, there was just love.

Frank loved Sam deeper than a brother

and would have done anything for him and did.

They had their differences, but brothers do.

# Someday I'll have me a chauffeur

# And a block-long limousine... #

Through the early 1960s, the boy from Harlem was living

the millionaire's lifestyle, making more money than he'd ever dreamed.

Sammy and money - they had a very strange relationship.

He didn't care about money.

He only cared about being a star.

He loved the watches. He loved the cameras.

He just spent money, spent money.

Like manure, he spread it around all the time.

Wealth and fame also saw Davis mixing

with the country's leading figures,

including the man who would be the next president.

# Here I stand at the crossroads of life... #

1960 witnessed Jack Kennedy go head-to-head with Nixon

in one of the most closely fought presidential battles ever.

Frank Sinatra had worked hard

to get Vegas's entertainment world behind Kennedy.

Persuaded by Sinatra to join JFK's campaign trail,

it was the successful black entertainer's job to win Kennedy

the support of African Americans

by publically endorsing his pro-civil rights message.

But away from the election trail,

Davis's love life was again an issue.

This time, it was his relationship with another white woman,

the Swedish actress and star of The Blue Angel, May Britt.

We did not go out in public that much.

There were times that we planned to go out, all dressed,

and a telephone call could come and Sammy would come and say,

"Listen, why don't we do something else tonight?"

"What do you mean?"

But he had then heard of some riots or some threats or whatever.

Davis's previous relationship with a white woman had led to death threats

and he feared continuing with May

could put both their lives in danger.

Nita Silber, Davis's support act in the early 1960s,

witnessed the racial abuse directed at the entertainer.

He did a show and it was right here in LA. And there were bomb threats.

We had to evacuate the theatre.

Yet, he had to bypass all of that, go on stage

and perform this absolutely astounding performance.

# What kind of fool am I?

# Who never fell in love... #

In spite of the death threats,

Davis announced his engagement to May Britt.

Frank was mad. And Frank could get very, very mad.

Trust me on that.

He told Sammy not to do it.

And he had a lot of influence on Sammy.

"What are you doing, you son of a bitch?

"Do you know what you're doing with your life?"

In a climate where interracial marriage

was still against the law in many states,

Sinatra's concern was for Sammy and May's safety,

but Davis was not to be put off.

Sammy's attitude about everything was, "I'm not going to be told

"by other people what to do, as long as I'm not breaking the law.

"I'm not hurting anybody."

She was, "You're not going to tell me anything.

"I love this man. I'm going to marry this man and fuck you."

# Without you, I'm nothing

# Without you, I'm nowhere... #

A week after Kennedy's election victory in November 1960,

Davis and May Britt married and set up home in the Hollywood Hills.

Within a year, their daughter, Tracey, was born.

But through the early years of his marriage,

Sammy, a workaholic, was rarely at home.

Busy filming the musical Robin And The 7 Hoods in 1963

with his Rat Pack buddies,

Davis played the familiar singing, dancing gunslinger,

an act he'd been developing for over 20 years.

It was whilst on set that he learned that the president

he'd campaigned so hard for had been assassinated.

For Davis and the rest of the world,

Kennedy's shocking death signalled a massive blow

to the progress of civil rights.

# Can't you see it? #

Davis's reaction was again to throw himself into work.

In early 1964, he jumped at the chance to play the romantic lead

in a brand-new Broadway production of the powerful musical, Golden Boy.

# Can't you hear it?

# Sopranos everywhere... #

Understudying Davis was 25-year-old actor Ben Vereen.

Sammy used it to talk about a person's dream

and, in the process,

what he did was also integrate a love story within it,

to say, "Love has no colour.

"I love this person.

"Why can't I be with this person?"

Joe Wellington's journey in the play

echoed Davis's own life story

and his performance earned him a prestigious Tony Award nomination.

But approaching middle age,

Davis's staying power as a recording artist

was about to be challenged by the British invasion,

led by The Beatles.

# I want to hold your hand... #

Obviously, it affected the Rat Pack.

Because they saw that there was something else coming.

They started to feel the threat of they weren't the only game in town.

When it started to really take hold,

you'd notice they would start doing records that were a little more pop,

a little more contemporary, if you will.

But deep down, they really didn't like it.

They didn't get all that hard rock stuff.

Whilst The Beatles were arriving in New York,

Davis was on one of his many trips to the UK,

recording a series of TV shows.

Actually, I came here as a...

It's an exchange idea,

you sent over The Beatles...

LAUGHTER

..and Goldwater sent me over.

LAUGHTER

About to turn 40, Davis continued to be busy.

But throughout the early 1960s,

the issue of race was never far from his door.

Davis was aware of the situation in America's Deep South,

where civil rights activists were losing their lives.

# I can do anything

# Yes, I can

# Something that sings in my blood is telling me

# Yes, I can... #

Sammy was very involved, deeply involved, in civil rights

and all that was happening,

and he contributed everything he could.

He wanted to be accepted by his own.

He realised he lived in the white man's world.

But he was very much for their own cause.

Davis had contributed financially to the civil rights movement.

But in 1965 he was reluctant to join Dr Luther King

and the march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama.

Many people were fearful of going south.

Because it was so violent.

Artists were in jeopardy.

To get high-profile support among entertainers was a big deal.

I was scared, I was petrified.

Cos 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 married to a white lady.

So if you talk about having some things against you.

He didn't want to go, but he couldn't not go.

He went down there and Martin...

Reverend King said, "We got you here."

# Somewhere there has to be the other half of me... #

Davis was now a father to three children.

But with his career and his civil rights work,

he was struggling to achieve a home-work balance.

He couldn't be the father to the kids that she wanted.

She wanted a father who would play ball with him.

He couldn't throw a ball. He'd never thrown a ball in his life.

And he couldn't go to Central Park with the kids cos he'd get mobbed.

She just said, "I can't take this any more."

She said, "And I never want to get to the point

"that I hate you."

She said, "Because you're a nice person

"but you're just pointed in the wrong direction.

In 1968, May Britt divorced Sammy Davis Jr.

MUSIC: I've Gotta Be Me by Sammy Davis Jr

# I gotta be me

# I gotta be me... #

43-year-old Davis returned to the recording studio,

but with the notable exception of I've Gotta Be Me,

his star as a recording artist was fading.

Davis, like so many others, was struggling to stay current

in the face of new acts like Jefferson Airplane

and The Mamas and The Papas, who were dominating the US charts.

MUSIC: White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane

Davis concentrated instead on his acting career,

returning to the role that had earned him a Tony Award nomination

in the revival of the musical Golden Boy.

Touring America and Europe, Davis was in London's Palladium Theatre

when he received shocking news from back home.

He was sitting in the room smoking and carrying on, holding court,

and Joe Grant came through the door. And Joe Grant was like...

Shock. He was shaking.

And Sammy said, "What's wrong?"

He said, "They killed him".

"They shot him," he said.

He said, "Who? Who?"

"Joe! Joe, they shot who?"

"King."

And Sammy spun around, and the room got like...

Really, and he said, "Quiet. Quiet. Everybody just stay cool."

MUSIC: I Cover The Waterfront by Sammy Davis Jr

# Away from the city

# That hurts and mocks

# I'm standing alone by these lonely docks... #

In the wake of Dr King's death,

angry riots erupted across America.

Devastated by the loss,

Davis went on national television to appeal to black and white Americans

to abide by Dr King's message of peaceful change.

Sammy was saying, "Don't self-destruct."

"Don't self-degrade. Remain focused.

"Our dream will be realised because our time has come."

He kept that message out there.

# ..As stone

# Will the dawn coming on

# Make it light? #

Davis returned to touring Golden Boy

and began a relationship with one of the show's dancers,

25-year-old Altovise Gore, the woman who would become his third wife.

MUSIC: I Want To Be Happy by Sammy Davis Jr

# I want to be happy

# But I won't be happy... #

At the start of the '70s Davis had not had a chart hit for three years

and was desperate to find a song that would put him

back in the spotlight.

It fell to his new label MGM and producer Mike Curb

to land Sammy a hit.

He had said to me,

"I don't want to do rock'n'roll and I don't want to do R'n'B."

It had to be a song that he felt Sinatra would have sung,

and I pointed out that Sinatra did High Hopes.

"Why can't you do Candy Man?"

Sammy just didn't want to record it, and I said,

"But I think we can get enough rhythm going on this record to

"get it on the radio."

So he made one take. He didn't sing the whole song.

And then, on the chorus that he didn't sing, where it goes,

"The candy man makes everything," that part, I dialled my group in

and had them sing that.

That record went all the way to number one on the Billboard chart,

and for the rest of his career, they called him the Candy Man.

MUSIC: The Candy Man by Sammy Davis Jr

# Who can take a sunrise?

# Sprinkle it with dew?

# Cover it with chocolate or a miracle or two

# The candy man... #

Written by Anthony Newley,

The Candy Man was Davis's eighth and final foray

into the American top 40, topping the hit parade for three weeks.

# Oh, the candy man makes everything he bakes

# Satisfying and delicious

# Talk about your childhood wishes

# You can even eat the dishes... #

Candy Man? A wonderful song.

# Who can take a sunrise, da-da-dee-dee-dee. #

Iconic.

It's funny the things that we resist.

I don't know... I'm looking for something to resist.

# To make the world taste good. #

# He said his name was Bojangles

# And he danced a lick

# Right across the cell... #

On the same album as The Candy Man,

Mr Bojangles, written by Jerry Jeff Walker,

would become another Sammy Davis classic.

He had a way of taking a song and making it his own.

I mean, there are a lot of people who if you say,

"Who had the hit of Mr Bojangles?"

They'll say Sammy Davis Jr.

They won't say the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

# ...and laugh

# Shake back his clothes all around... #

Whilst Davis was enjoying a brief return

to the top of the pop charts,

his friend Frank Sinatra, now retired from show-business,

was back in the news.

Sinatra had previously campaigned to get the Democrat Kennedy elected,

but by 1972 he had switched sides

to back Republican President Nixon.

Davis, until now a lifelong Democrat, followed suit

and accepted an invitation

to perform at the Republican convention.

Sammy was upfront on stage and he performed

and everybody loved him, of course.

And Nixon took the microphone...

In a surprising move,

President Nixon began his speech praising Sammy Davis Jr.

Sammy was standing behind him

and he was so overwhelmed with this wonderful flattery

and he went forward and he hugged the President.

Everybody came out against him because,

"What's he doing with this Republican?"

He was so committed to pleasing people.

I'll dance for you, sing for you, play the drums for you,

do comedy for you, inspire you, turn you on, pull races together.

He was all about entertaining and creating joy for people.

It was upsetting, you know. Wish it hadn't happened.

I think he eventually wished it hadn't happened.

# Hm, ka-dink-ka-do

# Ka-dink-a-dee

# Ka-dink-a-doo... #

The negative reaction saw Davis,

who was now approaching 50, enter a downward spiral.

Show business in the 1970s had become less

focused on nightclubs and Vegas.

And, apart from the occasional TV or casino appearance,

Davis was less in demand and struggled to cope.

In 1972, he began an affair with Linda Lovelace,

the star of the pornographic movie, Deep Throat.

She was back stage with us watching.

And, you know, Sammy would very openly

tell me how they were getting it on.

# ..Eskimo bells... #

And he said, "Hey, you got one life. It's not a dress rehearsal.

"And I'm going to do what I want, I'm going to live what I want,

"I'm going to take what I want."

He had different kinds of attitudes to how he wanted to live.

MUSIC: I've Got You Under My Skin by Sammy Davis Jr

# I got mud on my rainbow

# I got holes in my dream... #

Davis's reckless behaviour was taking its toll

on both his health and his relationships.

It hurt me to see him drinking

like a slob.

He was on his way to being an alcoholic.

He would give parties at his house,

and he would always have a little jar of cocaine on the bar.

He did it because he thought it was chic in the '70s.

In Hollywood, it WAS chic.

Frank knew that he was doing substance

and that was not Frank's thing, you know,

and they didn't talk for a while.

And all of his friends got to him that,

"Hey, you're not going to survive this."

I guess he started to realise that, you know,

your body starts to talk to you.

# And I think it's just about time to

# Have a little talk with myself

# Have a little talk with myself... #

Davis never gave up trying to reinvent his career,

but, plagued by ill health and two hip operations,

his earning potential was in decline

until, at the age of 63, he was offered the chance

to go back on the road.

In 1988, Frank Sinatra, who was also looking to make a comeback,

persuaded Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin to reunite on stage.

MUSIC: My Shining Hour by Sammy Davis Jr

# This will be my shining hour

# Calm and happy and bright... #

He was very excited that he was working.

He was very excited about the fact

that he was earning some major money.

And that was very, very important to Sammy at that time.

It was during a performance onstage with Sinatra

that Davis began struggling vocally,

struck by what he thought was a bout of laryngitis.

But an eight-month fight with throat cancer was about to be begin.

It would prove to be Sammy's final battle.

We knew his journey would be short and it was just a matter of time.

Everybody was just rallying around the best you could.

We had an opportunity to visit his home.

We had an opportunity to have some family quality time with him

and I actually left there thinking that he was going to be OK.

Funny how you make a friend and you anticipate

that you'll grow old together.

But then it didn't happen.

I didn't get a chance to say "goodbye" to him and that I...

Sammy Davis Jr died at the age of 64 on 16th May 1990,

leaving behind his third wife Altovise and four children.

MUSIC: I'll Begin Again by Sammy Davis Jr

# I'll begin again

# I will build my life

# I will live to know that I've fulfilled my life... #

Following his death, Davis's family discovered

he owed millions of dollars in unpaid taxes.

They had no other option but to auction off

his home and possessions,

including this personal photo album bought by his friend Nita for 500.

When this book went up for auction,

I thought, "Well, this would be fabulous."

Then I saw some other photographs that I personally knew

that Sammy was the one that took it.

Amazing. Just amazing.

# ..I will live my days for my fellow men... #

He just didn't leave his family in, you know,

the kind of position that one would want.

And, you know, by the time you gave half to Uncle Sam

and by the time you

spent and lived, you just really couldn't catch up.

It's difficult to see

when you've known somebody for so long

and go through what he went through

and lose financially, lose so much.

But despite the sadness surrounding his personal life,

there's no doubting Sammy Davis Jr's legacy.

# I gotta be me

# I gotta be me... #

Yeah. Look at that.

# ..The dream that I see

# Makes me what I am... #

I am truly blessed

by those Cinderella moments that I spent with him.

It was great.

# ..Is waiting for me if I heed the call... #

Sammy Davis was a real buddy.

He was loved by a lot of people,

but being the greatest entertainer, I think,

is what really is his mantelpiece.

# ..The chance that I can have it all... #

To transcend from here to here.

That's a long way to come.

# ..I can't be right for somebody else

# If I'm not right for me... #

He broke down walls.

I am nothing without the contributions of Sammy Davis Jr.

# ..To try to do it or die

# I've gotta be me. #

I love that little man.

I love him. I love him.

And as long as I'm on this planet

I will always let them know that Sammy Davis Jr came this way

and because he came this way, your life is better.

# I gotta be free

# Oh, I just gotta be free

# Daring to try To do it or die

# I gotta be me. #