Sometime in the late 40’s, before either man was famous, Frank Sinatra appeared in a theater in New York. After his show he went to Harlem to see the Will Mastin Trio led by a young Sammy Davis Jr. Frank is blown away by Sammy’s talent and after the show he asks Sammy to come see his show.
A week goes by. No Sammy. Sinatra goes back to Harlem to see the Will Mastin Trio again and asks Sammy why he didn’t show. Sammy said he was there but they wouldn’t let him in. Frank stormed back to the theater, tore up his contract in front of them, and never performed there again. That would be a common theme during the course of their friendship and careers. When Sammy wasn’t allowed to play at the Copacabana, Frank wouldn’t play there either.
When Sammy was refused a Las Vegas hotel room, Frank said, “Give him my room!” After Sammy’s car accident where he lost his eye, it was Sinatra who paid all his medical bills. After 5 decades and 40 years of performing together, a reporter once asked Frank why he was always so charitable to Sammy. Frank responded in three words, “He’s my brother.”
Do you remember the All In The Family episode with Sammy?
ReplyDeleteEdward, I don't remember it. I stopped watching the series about half way through.
DeleteFrank could be cool or Frank could be a jerk, but there were times Frank was the classiest guy in show biz.
ReplyDeleteedutcher, I can remember a lot of that.
Deleteso this is what systemic racism looks like? People need to see the reruns of the old gameshows from the 1970's. Smoking on the set, black, white, purple, green never seemed to matter. Everyone just "was".
ReplyDeletemer, obama fucked it up ... on purpose!
DeleteI remember going up in LA and we had cleaning ladies come to our house once a week from Watts. They would ride a bus an hour each way to get to our house. They were working so their kids could have a better life than they did. Once in a while they would be late for the bus to go home. When my father got home he would he would open the car door for them and then drive them, not to the bus stop, but home. He showed them respect, and I will always love him for that.