Sammy Davis Jr. and the Extraordinary Obstacles He Overcame

Know as “Mr Show Business” and “the greatest entertainer ever to grace a stage in these United States” -– Sammy Davis Jr. is a dearly missed superstar who forever carved himself into American history.

I enjoyed Sammy Davis Jr. tremendously,; he was an incredible musician and actor, one of the most talented performers ever.

But his life story is also a tale about the extraordinary obstacles he faced, including deep-rooted racism, secret love affairs, and a mysterious confession on his deathbed.

Sammy Davis Jr. was born in Harlem, New York on a chilly December day in 1925. He came into this world with music and entertainment in his blood – there was never any doubt which path Davis would take in life.

His father was the African-American entertainer and vaudeville performer Sammy Davis Sr. His mother, Elvera Sanchez, also made a living as a vaudeville dancer.

Unfortunately, his parents divorced when Sammy Davis Jr. was only three years old. But that decision didn’t turn out all that bad for the young boy; Davis’ father didn’t want to lose custody of his son, so Davis Sr. took his son on tour.

Sammy Davis Jr. was very young when he debuted as “Baby Sammy” and started performing with his father and his ‘uncle’ Will Mastin. The audience loved the talented 3-year-old, and he soon, along with his dad and uncle, became part of the popular Will Mastin Trio.

His father and uncle made sure to protect little Sammy from the racism during this time of segregation in America. Such mindless hate would be a recurring theme throughout Sammy’s life – but when he was a child, he couldn’t possibly have fathomed how bad things were.

As a young boy, his career rolled on at high speed. He landed his first film role at the age of eight when he starred in “Rufus Jones for President”, released in 1933. He spent his early life on the road – remember this was an era where there wasn’t that big of a debate around child labor or whether children should go to school.

Davis received all his education on stage and by his teens he was a fully-fledged musician, entertainer, comedian, and dancer. Davis’ father sometimes tried to hire teachers to provide his son with some form of education, but when Davis was touring with the Will Mastin Trio, there was little time to sit at a school desk.

Sammy Davis Jr. didn’t go to pre-school and he never attended college – instead, he was drafted into the U.S. Army as an 18-year-old.

In 1943, World War II raged on and Davis served in the Army’s Special Services branch, providing entertainment for the troops.

Racists broke his nose

However, his time in the Army turned into a minor hell for Davis, who was ridiculed and abused by many white soldiers from the South. Some attacked him, both physically and mentally.

”Overnight the world looked different. It wasn’t one color anymore. I could see the protection I’d gotten all my life from my father and Will. I appreciated their loving hope that I’d never need to know about prejudice and hate, but they were wrong. It was as if I’d walked through a swinging door for 18 years, a door which they had always secretly held open,” Davis said according to the book Sammy: An Autobiography: with Material Newly Revised from Yes I Can and Why Me?.

In the army, Sammy was beaten several times, painted white, and he got his nose broken so bad that it was permanently damaged. Later, Davis was forced to perform and entertain the soldiers who had previously abused him.

Still, Davis kept his pride and did his best to keep the troops happy and relaxed. But he got a rude awakening concerning the open racism and discrimination – both in the army and society in general. He then decided to strive for change, and always came back to ”Sergeant Williams”, a person in the army who taught him how to use his talent to fight racial ignorance.

“My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man’s thinking,” Davis later said.

He was discharged in 1945 and returned to the entertainment industry and his beloved Will Mastin Trio. Davis also tried his hand at a solo career, but it was in 1947 that the big turnaround would come for the then-22-year-old.

The Will Mastin Trio got to open for Frank Sinatra at the Capitol Theater in New York, and that changed everything for Davis.

Frank ”Ol’ Blue Eyes” Sinatra and Sammy clicked right away – the famous singer was frankly blown away by Sammy’s talent. The duo would become lifelong friends and Sinatra always had Davis’ back, which was vital given that he was constantly exposed to racism.

There are several examples of Frank Sinatra standing up to racism and the discrimination that Davis was facing as a black entertainer in a whitewashed world.

When Davis was turned down or couldn’t sleep at the same hotel as his friend and colleague, Frank would become furious and often stood up for Sammy.

He would even tear up his own contracts with any theater that didn’t want Davis on stage because of his skin color. And remember, this was during Sinatra’s early days, when he was still relatively unknown and needed all the gigs he could get.

“With all the racial tension I endured, I never turned around and hated right back,” Davis later told his daughter.

“There was always some white guy like Sergeant Williams or Frank Sinatra, who helped me back up.”

Without the support from a man who became the most popular white singer in the country, it’s not impossible to imagine that Sammy’s career could have looked very different.

Sammy Davis car crash

“Sinatra, first of all, was never a racist kind of guy. He cared about everybody being equal. When Frank said, ‘This guy’s great,” they all paid attention,” Sammy’s daughter explained in her book about her father.

In the early 1950s, Davis got the chance with the record company Decca Records and went to Los Angeles to record an album.

The time in Los Angeles would change Davis’ life forever – and not in a positive way. It was in California, on his way home from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, that he nearly lost his life in a serious car accident.

Davis lost one eye in the accident and was forced to wear an eye patch for quite some time after. Later, Davis got a glass eye.

But again, Davis managed to put a positive spin on the tragedy.

The accident made him think about life and he soon discovered Judaism. Davis felt that the situation of the Jews was very similar to that of African Americans, and by 1961 he had converted to Judaism.

Thankfully, Davis recovered from the car crash, and in 1956 he got his breakthrough on Broadway. A few years late maybe – since Davis had been touring since the 1920s – but he experienced huge success in the musical ”Mr Wonderful”– written specifically to manifest the talents of Davis.

One could easily argue that Sammy Davis Jr. was at the peak of his career in the late 1950s. He became a member of the famous Rat Pack, a club of entertainers led by Frank Sinatra.

The gang did shows and movies together – but the group was also known for their wild parties and extravagant habits.