Sammy Davis Jr.

There was a man who could do everything, literally everything, on a stage: sing like few others, dance like almost nobody, act, play several instruments, do impressions, get a laugh. A complete performer, the kind who shows up once a generation. His name was Sammy Davis Jr., and his talent was so overflowing that the word "singer" is too small for him. He was a total entertainer. But what really makes him bigger is not just what he did, it is everything he had to carry while he did it, without ever stopping smiling at the audience.

He could do it all

Sammy Davis Jr. grew up on a stage, almost literally: he was dancing in shows from the time he was a boy in short trousers. As an adult he became the most versatile member of the Rat Pack, that legendary group with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin that ruled Las Vegas. Alongside them, and on his own, he left behind anthems like "The Candy Man", which went to number one in the United States, and his version of "Mr. Bojangles", that story of an old dancer which he sang and danced like someone telling his own life.

Watching him was watching somebody do ten jobs at once, all of them at the highest level. He would sing a ballad, get up to tap dance, do impressions of half a dozen stars, tell a joke, go back to singing. That kind of complete performer barely exists any more. He was the standard.

The weight nobody else carried

And here is the part that has to be said in full. Sammy Davis Jr. was a Black man succeeding in American entertainment in an era of brutal, open racism. He filled the casinos of Las Vegas with white people who gave him standing ovations, and in those same casinos, for years, he wasn't allowed to stay as a guest or to come in through the front door. They applauded the artist and humiliated the man, on the same night.

He carried that through his entire career, and he kept walking out on stage. He lost an eye in a car accident while he was still young, came back with a patch and kept performing. He converted to Judaism, adding another layer of rejection to the one he already lived with, and he held it with pride. Every time he stood up to entertain, he did it carrying a weight his white audience could not even imagine. And he smiled. Not because it didn't hurt, but because he had decided that his talent was going to open doors that force could not. And it opened them.

What to remember

Sammy Davis Jr. was one of the most complete entertainers who ever lived: singer, dancer, actor, impressionist, musician, all at the highest level. He shone in the Rat Pack and left classics like "The Candy Man" and "Mr. Bojangles". And he did it while carrying the racism of his era, losing an eye and being rejected for his race and for his faith, without ever giving less than everything on stage.

Remember him this way: there are artists who are great for what they do, and artists who are great for what they do in spite of everything. Sammy Davis Jr. was the second kind. He entertained a country that did not treat him as an equal, and by sheer talent he forced it to look at him. That is a form of greatness no other generation of artists has had to practise.

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Sources

Sammy Davis Jr., American performer born on 8 December 1925 in New York and died on 16 May 1990 in Los Angeles, at the age of sixty-four, of throat cancer. A singer, dancer, actor, impressionist and musician, he trained in vaudeville from childhood and became one of the most versatile figures in American entertainment, a member of the Rat Pack alongside Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Among his recordings are "The Candy Man" (number one in the United States in 1972) and "Mr. Bojangles". He lost his left eye in a car accident in 1954 and converted to Judaism. Throughout his career he faced the segregation and racism of his era, including restrictions at the very venues where he performed. Frank Sinatra has his own profile in this series. Profile compiled for Rebobinados with fact-checking; interpretations of the meaning of the work are offered as the author's reading. No song lyrics are reproduced, for copyright reasons. Information drawn from Britannica, Biography, Oral Cancer Foundation and other coverage.