The World's Greatest Entertainer

         en - ter - tain - er
         NOUN
         definition:
         a person, such as a singer, dancer, or comedian,
         whose job it is to entertain others.

         wor - lds  - great - est   en - ter  -  tain  - er 
         NOUN
         definition:
        (my definition; all of the above and more)


He was full-to-the-brim with talent but couldn't read or write
until he was 18 years old. His father and uncle had formed
a tap dance show, The Will Mastin Trio, and put him on a vaudeville stage with them when he was only 4 years old.

By his late teens, he couldn't wait for fate or good luck to help him.  He had to make it on his own.

So he stood outside the stage door following a Frank Sinatra concert in hopes of meeting his idol. At the same time, there must have been hundreds of other competing performers all looking for Sinatra's approval or word of encouragement or recommendation for a job.

For some reason, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra connected.

Sinatra approved and anointed him, gave him all the encouragement he needed and recommended him for a spot on the Vegas Strip.

When Sinatra heard that Davis and other black entertainers
weren't permitted to actually stay at the hotels they were performing in, he refused to perform himself until the hotels changed their policy.

No hotel-owning mafia syndicate would challenge "The Voice."

Things changed quickly for the better and the Sinatra/Davis friendship was forged.

It didn't take long for Sam to become part of Sinatra's Rat Pack  ... not the original Pack that was created by Humphrey Bogart.

Incidentally, the Rat Pack moniker came from Bogart's wife, Lauren Bacal.

But, Davis and his talent should never be judged by the Rat Pack connection.

In order to play off Dean Martin and Sinatra, he learned to be quick on his feet and funny at the same time -- the two skills that the other two Rat Pack members, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, lacked. For me, those two never seemed to fit the Pack profile.

The world knows that Sinatra was the leader of that organization and anyone/everyone in show business would have wanted to be a part of it.
To run with the Chairman of the Board was intoxicating. 

With Sinatra ... it was ring-a-ding-ding-time, all-the-time.

The Rat Pack group was powerful.

Sixty years after they tore up The Sands hotel
while filming "Oceans Eleven" and marking their turf,
they still continue to sell recordings individually
and as a group and dozens of make-believe,
Rat Pack copycats earn a very good living mimicking the originals.

But performing with him and the other members of the group did nothing to enhance Davis' resume. Sammy Davis Jr. really didn't
need them. His career took off like a laser beam.

You may be a little young to remember him.
 Is there a performer you can name who ...

Starred in 7 Broadway shows
(I saw him in Golden Boy, on Broadway at the Majestic in 1964.)

Acted in 23 feature films
And too many TV shows to count.
He also had 3 Billboard hits including "I've Gotta Be Me"
and "What Kind of Fool am I" and wrote 3 books about his life.

By 1970, his peers called him "Mister Show Business".

However, for me, he was the World's Greatest Entertainer. 
That title came to me in a moment during one of his performances.

It happened in 1973 at Toronto's premier concert venue,
The O'Keefe Centre. It was at the height of his career
and his show was the toughest ticket in town.
Everyone dressed up for the occasion.

That snowy evening, in the middle of winter,
you didn't have to look for gowns and tuxedos in the theatre, they were everywhere.

Everyone in that room knew Sammy could sing and especially dance like no other -- that's why we were there. However, it was the surprises that night that earned him several standing ovations throughout his 90-minute program.

His enormous O'Keefe stage was full of musicians including a six-member string section - the size of the group would have challenged the Toronto symphony orchestra. After a few songs, he gave them a rest and slipped into celebrity impersonations.

The soon-to-be, world-famous impersonator, Rich Little, whose career was just beginning, would have been envious of Davis' treatments of animated actors, James Stewart, 
Cary Grant, and John Wayne.

Then he sat in on the orchestra's drum kit.
His energy and drumming skills would have made Krupa take notice.

Then an assistant brought out
his silver-plated, gleaming Colt revolvers and holsters
and Davis amazed everyone with his twirling display
-- first, one pistol, then the other, then both at the same time,
shooting blanks at imaginary targets above the audience's heads.

Whatever gun-spinning display I'd ever seen by a movie cowboy couldn't match what Sammy did in those 3 minutes.
It was exhausting just watching him - it must have taken hundreds of hours of practice.

The audience screamed for more.

Then he sang a few Broadway show tunes
while gliding across the stage to demonstrate
some soft shoe and mile-a-minute tap dancing.

His song list also included his #1 hit, The Candy Man, and as he finished it he asked to have the house lights turned up. He looked out into the audience and pointed at a mink-coated lady in the expensive seats and asked her to give him a line -- any line.

"He said, "I'll build your line into a song".

She yelled out, "The moon is blue in June"
and the audience roared with laughter at her suggestion.

He turned to his pianist/conductor, George Rhodes,
and gave him a beat.

He then created and sang a love song using the ladies' first line.

He did it two more times with other patrons and their made-up first lines just to show his musical talent wasn't a fluke. Sammy Davis Jr. may have been the world's first Rapper.

Wait for it ... my moment is coming.

Following his show-stopping final song, he exited the stage to another thunderous ovation. This was the 70's. It was a time frame before the phony encore where a performer would take a bow, say goodnight and then come back to the stage for at least one more song.

Sammy left - stage right.
The house lights came on.
People started to pull on overcoats
to meet the weather challenge going on outside
- ya know, February in Toronto.

Just then, Sammy came back on stage.
He sheepishly looked out into the audience
and admitted that he wasn't happy with his performance. 

He said, "I've had a cold for the past few days
and I don't think I gave you my best
... if you're willing to stay, I'd like to sing a few more songs to help make it up to you".

Who does that?
Who has ever done that?

Everyone ... and I do mean the entire theatre, sat down.
The house lights dimmed. Sammy loosened his bow tie, took off his tux jacket and hiked himself up on a stool that an assistant provided.

Then, with just piano accompaniment, sang three soft, smoky love songs ... I'm sure every woman in the theatre thought they were directed right at her.

Outstanding showmanship.

When he finished and took his final bow, I wanted to hug the guy.
I felt like he did all that just for me.

I don't know if the make-up-a-song segment was real or rehearsed.
I don't know if the ... I've had a cold for the past few days
was just part of his show ... it doesn't matter.

That moment hit me ... this guy is the greatest entertainer in the world. He didn't just give his all.
He did that and then some.

Everything he did on stage seemed to be 
about us making sure that we got our money's worth.

You've heard the phrase ... "Let Me Entertain You"?
Sammy Davis Jr. may have invented that line - there was no other multi-talented entertainer like him. Before him or after him.

Unfortunately, international fame and fortune and ego and entitlement can take their toll. Some entertainers, as well as sports celebrities, become so simpatico with their talent that they can make it look so easy. They become bored and look for other things to reach for.

Sammy Davis Jr. was no exception.

The success of his life in show business should have been a reason to celebrate. But, like Judy Garland and Billie Holiday, Whitney Houston and Marvin Gaye, the very success that he yearned for was also the beginning of the end.

We lost the "world's greatest entertainer" in 1990.

Officially, he died of throat cancer, likely from the 4 packs of cigarettes he smoked every day but he also had cirrhosis of the liver and didn't hide the brightly painted, red, extended nail on his pinky-finger which he used to measure a nose-full of cocaine.

The greatest entertainer in the world's story ended tragically at only 64 years of age after a remarkable 60 years of entertaining the world.

Sadly, all of his possessions and homes,
even the furniture, was confiscated by the government
to cover millions in unpaid taxes.

His third wife of twenty years, Altovise,
ended up serving tables in a small restaurant
in her hometown because there was no money left for her following his death.

It's now 2023. Recently, on TV, we've heard Sammy's hit song "I gotta be me" as a background tune on a commercial ... for Macaroni and Cheese! I wonder if it's taken the government this long to tap into the Davis estate, or what's left of it, to pay his bills. 

Sinatra, who had been the launchpad for his career, ended their friendship with he found out that Davis was taking cocaine.

The first time they met, Sammy said to Sinatra ... "I think I'm good enough to make a living as an entertainer".

In Buddhism, "Karma" is defined as the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.

Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for.