Posted on 06/14/2009 11:49:19 AM PDT by patriotgal1787
The life story of a Black star in a White world, a man who arguably was the world’s greatest entertainer, will not be coming to a theater near you anytime soon. If ever.
During a recent interview on my radio program “The Andrea Shea King Show”, Hollywood conservative Burt Boyar, longtime friend and biographer of the late great Sammy Davis, Jr., said he’s concerned that the true story about the talented entertainer who fought and broke through racial barriers will never be seen on the silver screen. Two years ago, Boyar had negotiated a deal to sell his two biographies to filmmakers who were all set to tell the story on celluloid.
What entanglements are keeping the former member of the Rat Pack’s compelling life from being made into a movie? A life studded with Tinseltown’s glittering constellation of stars whose orbits intersected his? Luminaries like Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, Dean Martin, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Liz and Burton, Paul Newman, Berle, Bacall, Bennett, Damone… when Hollywood was at its most glamorous?
(Excerpt) Read more at bighollywood.breitbart.com ...
I saw a Sammy Davis Jr show in person one time in Phoenix and he was one of those special performers. He really grabbed the audience. It was considerably better than watching him on TV or movies.
I never thought Sammy had a very good voice. He could really dance, though.
Talented, but not like Frank or Sammy.
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He fought back not through protests, courts, violence, or returning the hate, but by focusing on his talent, and becoming even better and more famous despite those who hated him. His career was his answer to racism, and every time he got onstage, or on tv, or into movies, there was a black man reaching all Americans with a smile on his face. We in this time should not underestimate how much that effected change in America.
People can compare him to the others in the rat pack, but the others didn't carry the cross he was carrying, and that's what makes him important.
I give points (again no fixed scale) for quality of the work, depth of the work (no one-hit wonders), breadth of the work (dancer plus singer gets a bump here over dancer or singer alone), and the timelessness of the work. (Frank proudly shines here, Sammy shines just a little less brightly)
I'm not sure where to put one more attribute - it's having what is considered to be the (or a) definitive version of a piece - here I would give Frank It Was a Very Good Year hands down, among others; Sammy clearly had one of the best versions of Mr Bo Jangles. Both artists have other examples.
Sammy earns lots of points in several of these factors - he has some great quality, great depth, good breadth (singing, dancing, acting), and work that has stood and will continue to stand the test of time. On top of all of that he was indeed a nice guy.
Sammy was a great performer and a class act with a lot of good friends who helped him in an unfair world. He was never bitter and kept his chin up all the time.
Too bad the race baiters are going to ruin his reputation now.
Sammy Davis Jr. was a great entertainer as well as a great American. It will be a long time before we see the likes of him again, if ever.
Very well stated.
Funniest moment in TV History.
I second your comments.
I always felt bad for Sammy that his death was somewhat overshadowed by the death of Jim Henson that same day.
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