The Wham Of Sam

"Sammy Davis, Jr. was one of America’s greatest entertainers of the twentieth century. He could do it all: dancing, singing, acting, impressions. What’s more, he did this at a time when it was difficult to be an African-American in the United States—during a period where even the entertainment industry provided as many obstacles as opportunities. Davis was a champion of civil rights, and he constantly pushed against the boundaries of segregation on- and off-stage." Cindy Y. Rodriguez

"Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to go and get insulted." Sammy Davis, Jr.




While "The Wham Of Sam" could certainly apply to ace filmmaker, screenwriter and journalist Sam Fuller, we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog find ourselves thinking about one of the greatest of all the great entertainers - dancer, vocalist, actor, musician, comedian, impressionist and recording artist Sammy Davis, Jr. Today, we pay tribute to Mr. Davis, a genre and convention-buster if there ever was one.



Watching Sammy's appearances in Vitaphone musical short subjects while writing the February 8 post about the late Ron Hutchinson and The Vitaphone Project led directly to today's tribute.



Turns out George Burns & Gracie Allen weren't the only 20th century entertainment icons to appear in Vitaphone short subjects. Sometimes the showbiz greats were supporting players in the 1 and 2 reel musicals (Vitaphone Varieties, Broadway Brevities, Pepper Pots and, later, Melody Masters).



For example, note the very talented child actor who shows up in the last few minutes (entering at 13:28) of the following musical 2-reeler, Seasoned Greetings, starring Lita Grey Chaplin. . . Yes, that's Sammy Davis, Jr.



Sammy Davis, Jr.'s first prominent silver screen role was in Rufus Jones For President, released theatrically on September 9, 1933.



In Rufus Jones For President, Sammy, then seven years of age, was in the supporting cast working with another groundbreaking entertainment giant, Ethel Waters.



Ms. Waters provided the lion's share of the musical heavy lifting a few years earlier for the 1929 Warner Bros. Technicolor "all singing all dancing" extravaganza when she delivered stellar performances of terrific songs (including "Am I Blue?") in On With The Show.



The epic Ethel Waters did not get to headline a feature film, but made the most of her opportunities, invariably hitting the entertainment equivalent of a bottom of the 9th grand slam whenever she did appear in movies or TV. This including hosting one of the first television programs in 1939.



Sammy, a vaudeville veteran at a tender age, made his name as an acrobatic dancer as part of a trio with his father and Will Mastin. As multi-talented as they were, the older showbiz veterans gave the young dynamo the spotlight in The Will Mastin Trio.







The terpsichorean brilliance of Sammy Davis, Jr. would shine through concerts around the world and be the cornerstone of his last silver screen appearance in the 1989 film Tap.



This writer's favorite scene from the Rat Pack + Bing musical Robin & The 7 Hoods demonstrates how Sammy Davis, Jr. had an extraordinary ability to bust a move - and another one, and another one after that!



There was always more - a lot more - to the eye when it came to Sammy.



Had he just wanted to be a actor, Sam would have excelled at character roles on stage and screen.



As much as anything, it's the consummate musicianship of Sammy Davis, Jr. that impresses the living daylights out of this writer and music fan. It is not accidental that in the rip-roaring (and both insult and horseplay-filled) performances of The Rat Pack, Sam was the guy who always picked the most difficult songs, filled with key changes and shifting tempos/time signatures: tunes that not even Sinatra would tackle.



If he wasn't among the greatest dancers of his generation, Sam may well have made his mark as a bandleader who played all the instruments, as Stevie Wonder and Prince could.









Recently enjoyed watching the American Masters documentary about Sammy Davis, Jr.



Watching Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me, which I recommend highly to classic movie and old school showbiz aficionados, it was readily apparent that I knew very, very little about the struggles he endured on his long road from vaudeville to the pinnacle of success in concerts, television, movies, Broadway shows and recordings.



Even as a lifelong fan, for about the 19,000th time, found absolutely myself floored by Mr. Davis' wide ranging talents.



Imagine how it felt to grow up in vaudeville, tour the country, deal with unending racism, disregard barriers, support the cause of civil rights, work tirelessly and under very difficult circumstances, overcome bigotry to attain international fame, only to face hate mail, death threats and public denunciation after a disastrous 1972 endorsement of disastrous President Richard M. Nixon (see the following article, The Hug by Davis biographer Will Haygood for more).



Sammy Davis Jr. appeared on an episode of Late Night With David Letterman and elaborated on his career as an entertainer. The audience greeted Sammy with a thunderous round of applause.



For more, check out the BBC documentary, Sammy Davis, Jr. - The Kid in the Middle, as well as Mr. Davis' appearances on the Dick Cavett and Arsenio Hall shows - and, last but not least, Sammy Davis, Jr. recordings.

Happy Thanksgiving 2018 From Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog

The Usual Band Of Idiots at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, who are busy reading 19 Horrifying Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas From Vintage Food Ads, wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!



Time spent waiting for the turkey and pies to finish cooking constitutes as good a time as any for comedy - such as this holiday entertainment starring Harry Langdon and a turkey.





If one feels bad about how the dinner came out, take heart, one could be Mr. Bean.



It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without Stan Freberg.



And for that matter, the holidays just wouldn't be the same without Bob & Ray. Forget football - here's Wally Ballou!

From The Bandstand To Hollywood: Musicians In The Movies, Part 4: The Rat Pack

In the immortal words of Joe E. Lewis, "it's post time" and passing of Jerry Lewis last Sunday brings to mind The Rat Pack - and especially Dean Martin.



In the Rat Pack, which featured three musicians who transitioned successfully into movie acting, the comedian was Dean, no doubt by fueled by a decade of setting Jerry Lewis up, often adroitly, in nightclubs, movies and such classic television shows as The Colgate Comedy Hour.



Lewis, arguably the last of that old school showbiz breed, would note that his partner, suave onstage persona notwithstanding, was a modest individual offstage who had no idea how talented he was.



Martin was an interesting anomaly in show business, perhaps more akin to Bing Crosby than to his colleague and pal Frank Sinatra.



As Bing and Dean made their names as relaxed entertainer/crooners, the concept of either as driven, unrelenting and ambitious - descriptive words that fit Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. like a glove - proved the diametric opposite of their showbiz brand, even though when they first rose to fame, that's exactly who they were.



While Dino did not necessarily want anyone to think he was anything but the devil-may-care swingin' Dino from Dean Martin Live In Las Vegas, The Rat Pack and The Dean Martin Show, he took his movie acting jobs seriously.



In particular, Dean digs into his character roles in two unbeatable classic movies, Some Came Running and Rio Bravo - and darn near steals these movies from some very big stars.





Dean also plays a most unsympathetic scoundrel of a character, the showbiz lout, in Billy Wilder's Kiss Me Stupid and pulls it off. The movie audiences of 1964 no doubt were taken aback by this - and it may not be an accident that this role would soon be followed by a return to Lil' Ol Entertainer Dino.



The larger-than-life Cult Of Personality legend of Frank Sinatra can overpower and obliterate everything, including his fine work as an actor. That said, one would surmise that The Chairman Of The Board, in one of his reflective times, would insist that transitioning from music to movies was not a transition at all, just part of an organic whole. Frank might mention Mabel Mercer and stress that singing, performed the right way, with proper attention to the lyric, was the purest method acting any artist could do.

Sinatra no doubt was intrigued by dramatic acting, and his performances in From Here To Eternity, which won an Oscar for Best Actor In A Supporting Role and Some Came Running were standouts. Among a fair number of plum character roles in Sinatra's five decades in movies, there's that baaaaaaaad bad guy, an assassin no less, in the 1954 thriller Suddenly.



Perhaps the most provocative, and still timely, of the films The Chairman Of The Board appeared in, was The Manchurian Candidate, directed by the frequently inspired and brilliant John Frankenheimer.



Sammy Davis, Jr. was arguably the last of a breed that also included Bobby Darin and Mel Torme: the entertainment dynamo.



An accomplished and acrobatic dancer with The Will Mastin Trio, Sam was the monster musician of the trio, ridiculously adept on piano, vibes, drums and other instruments. He also had a likability and warmth that was not just in his music or showbiz persona, but part and parcel of who he was as a person.






As part of Sammy's Mr. Entertainment persona, he could segue seamlessly into character acting, much as his contemporary and fellow musician, actor and child entertainer Mel Tormé did.

The first installment of From The Bandstand To Hollywood: Musicians In The Movies noted a little known masterpiece directed by Leo Penn (a.k.a. Sean's father), A Man Called Adam, in which Davis stars as a combative yet talented jazz trumpeter. As expected, Sam puts his heart, soul, intelligence and intensity into the part.



The indie film features an all-star supporting cast that also includes Tormé, Louis Armstrong and Rat Pack mainstay Peter Lawford.



Whenever Sam got the opportunity to act on stage or screen he made the most of it, right up to his last silver screen appearance in Nick Castle's 1989 film Tap.



Mostly, the 1960's did not mean character parts in dramas for Rat Packers not named Sinatra, but did mean a series of goofy comedies and spy film spoofs.









Just a few years after the ring-a-ding-ding Rat Pack movies, that is to be expected.





In closing, one could do a helluva lot worse, pally, than relaxing by listening to some great records by Frank, Sammy and Dino, enjoying their movies and pondering their wide ranging careers in music and on the big screen.