Day 1221 – Sammy Davis, Jr.
Saturday May 23, 2020
162 Days until the election on November 3rd
242 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021
I have become very aware of time. Not deep time, and not the quick passing of seconds, but rather how the decades have rolled past. “It seems like only yesterday…”
Last night we watched a PBS “American Masters” show on Sammy Davis Jr.
I had forgotten much about the man. I had last heard that he died alone, of cancer, weighing 88 pounds – or something like that.
What I had remembered about him wasn’t the story. He died at age 64, of throat cancer. He knew he was dying and so did those who knew him. A TV tribute was made celebrating his over 60 years in show business. He started when he was three. Starring in a movie in the 30s at age eight, never went to school, and the best words I can think to describe him are “immensely talented.”
At his sixtieth Gregory Hines went over to his table and brought out Sammy’s tap shoes. He helped put them on him. Sammy whispered to him, I assume the cancer forced him to whisper, as they went on stage, “Try to keep up.” Hines is a excellent tap dancer – excellent. At the end of their back and forth tapping Hines got on his knees and kissed Sammy’s shoes. Davis was dying. He only had a few months left to live and here he was out tapping on of the greats.
He could sing. He could tap. He could dance. He could impersonate. He could act. He could play any and every instrument. He was of his time and way ahead of his time. He was an anachronism and he was constantly reinventing himself. He was magnanimous and he was insecure. He was the greatest showman of his time and he was afraid he’d be forgotten.
He died in 1990 at age 64. Having been born in 1925. He would be 95 today. It’s hard to imagine that 1925 seems so distant, yet not that long ago.
We have been through so much.
My cousin of my grandfather’s generation remembers when you rode in a carriage pulled by a horse. At every intersection there was a lantern in the middle of the street. The driver of the carriage would get out and pull the lantern via pulleys to one side so that the horse wouldn’t get scared, then drive through the intersection and get out and replace the lantern in it’s proper position. How far we’ve come.
I remember the picture of Sammy hugging Nixon. In the show Whoopi commented that Sammy hugged everybody. Here was a kid from Harlem who never went to school, paling around with presidents. A black man! Imagine that!
Sammy was the butt of jokes by the Rat Pack. The core of which was him, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin. Those jokes seem terribly insensitive today, but what I was reminded of in this show was that they made fun of Italians, Jews, and anyone else. It wasn’t the mean spirited type of joking that Milton Berle did. It was making fun of everyone.
I had forgotten that he appeared on “All in The Family.” Norman Lear, the creator of the series, said Sammy wanted to appear on the show. Norman told him they didn’t have guest stars. Then Norman found a reason to have him on the show. The scene, which I had forgotten, is a perfect encapsulation of the nature of prejudice. By that I mean, a bigoted prejudiced person can make a statement like, “I hate all blacks,” but they can make an exception for someone because, “He’s like us.”
Some in the black community might think that this is selling out. Uncle Tomism, etc. But it’s not. What is really going on is a recognition of shared values.
When Sammy showed up at the door of the Bunker household everyone was thrilled. The black next door neighbor came over and said she was thrilled to see him, kissed him, and ran out the door. Edith similarity said she was thrilled to see him and took a step back to look at him. Archie wanted a picture taken with him. When the moment came to snap the shot, Sammy turned and kissed Archie on the cheek. Then he walked out the door.
Norman Lear said the kiss was Sammy’s idea. It illustrated a great point about racial prejudice. “We like ‘em, but we don’t mix.”
PS Seen on the streets of Mexico City
Very nice Rick-boy, very nice.