In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr (Paperback)

by Wil Haygood (Author), Denzel Washington (Foreword) "By the ever twisting light of fame, he has lived a life both mesmerizing and distinctly peculiar..." (more)
Key Phrases: old vaudevillian, nightclub performer, golden boy, Will Mastin, New York, Sammy Davis (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this moving, exhaustive life of one of America's greatest entertainers, Haygood (King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.) casts Sammy Davis Jr. as a man shifting between identities, between the worlds of black people and white people. Born into vaudeville and raised by his grandmother and vaudevillian father, Davis (1925-1990) never knew the world off the stage, never experienced a loving mother and never experienced racism-until his stint in the army during WWII. Sammy spent most of his life before the army above the Mason-Dixon line in the protective bosom of the Will Mastin Trio (of which he and his father were two-thirds) and experienced his first love with a white woman in Montreal. From here, Haygood makes clear, Sammy wanted to be white-he had mostly white friends and courted ivory-skinned, blond women. As his career-and his determination to be accepted by white America-grew, so did problems with the media, including death threats from angry Southerners and Hollywood moguls not wanting the reputation of their white starlets (e.g., Kim Novak) to be tainted by Davis. Haygood shows how Davis desperately needed love and attention, so much so that he switched allegiances, first backing Kennedy and marching with Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson, then, years later, being seen on national TV giving a hug to Archie Bunker (while doing a cameo) and Richard Nixon (while campaigning for him). Haygood's reporting and powerful prose reveal Davis's career against the backdrop of the swinging '60s and the Rat Pack (with Sinatra as a mighty presence in Davis's life) and Davis as a tragically complex man.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Sammy Davis Jr. never went to school. His show business career began at age 5, with the Will Mastin Trio, and lasted until his death at 64. Davis' life story is all about the American Dream (he called his autobiography Yes, I Can!), but as Haygood tells it in this remarkably rich biography, it is dream mixed with nightmare, illusion with reality, the story of a black man "with his face pressed against the white world." Did Davis want to be white? Haygood tackles this politically charged question straight on, delivering answers as complex as the history of race relations. Davis, Haygood argues, knew no world beyond the footlights; he created himself in the image of Hollywood stardom, and yes, that image was unquestionably white: Bogart, Cagney, Cooper (all of whom Davis would later impersonate on stage), and of course, Sinatra, Sammy's idol. (The women were white, too, and usually blonde, a fact not lost on the young Davis, who wooed Kim Novak and married Scandinavian Maei Britt.) While Haygood's psychosexual analysis of Davis' life is unfailingly perceptive, it doesn't overwhelm the book. He vividly re-creates the world of vaudeville, where Davis got his start, and he tracks the performer's career as tap dancer, impressionist, singer, and actor, emphasizing the remarkable talent of this child prodigy turned Vegas headliner. As he follows Davis from one unbridled enthusiasm to another (from black power to Richard Nixon, from Judaism to devil worship), Haygood never loses sight of Sammy the entertainer, indefatigable on stage and insatiable in his craving for adoration. A fascinating American life story, brilliantly told. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Billboard Books (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823083950
• ISBN-13: 978-0823083954
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #840,838 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a fascinating take on The Candy Man, November 3, 2003

By	eclectictastes "eclectictastes" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. (Hardcover)

Sammy Davis, Jr. is probably best known these days as one of Frank Sinatra's sidekicks. But during his lifetime, Davis was a multi-talented performer who could both delight and infuriate his audience.My generation's main memories of Davis tend to be of a man who laughed too hard at jokes that weren't funny, went overboard in trying to be hip until he became a parody and someone who whose discomfort in his own skin was only too apparent.

Davis was a super talent but a complex human being. It would probably be impossible to encompass the whole of his personality in a single book but the author manages to get a good grasp of his subject. Haygood's prose tends to be overdramatic at times but he makes the reader understand Davis' confusion over his racial identity. He also explains the reasons behind many African Americans' ambivalence toward Davis. We also get a fuller and previously untold story about Davis' parents Sam, Sr. and Elvera whose tense relationship with her son was a contributing factor to many of his demons.

Thankfully, Haygood avoids the sleaziness and shallowness of Gary Fishgall's book Gonna Do Great Things. He also presents a fuller picture of Davis than Davis' daughter Tracy did in her book (a horrible work.) He writes of his subject's more questionable habits (sex and drugs) but doesn't lose sight of who Davis was.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars what makes sammy run?, October 28, 2003

By	kevnm "kevnm" (Costa Mesa, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. (Hardcover)

I was put off a bit at first - the book's momentum was slowed by the author's habit of inserting a mini-biography whenever a character was introduced - but I grew to enjoy this fascinating book much more as it progressed. Some may feel that the author goes too far in assuming the reader has never heard of Marcus Garvey, the Harlem Renaissance, the civil rights movement, etc., and may find the constant summaries of historical events unnecessary. I did. Still, the details of Sammy's growing up on the road, the hardships endured by negro vaudeville performers, the complete lack of formal education, the hand to mouth existence, the constant travel, form a powerful cumulative portrait of a man and his time.

This book drew me in, fascinated me with its psychologically complex picture of Davis, and left me with a desire to reinvestigate the music and films he left behind.

A top-notch biography.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN INTRIGUING BIO AND CHRONICLE, February 13, 2004

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. (Hardcover)

Sammy Davis, Jr., the true "I Gotta Be Me," man was not only a topnotch entertainer but also a tortured individual according to this exhaustive biography by journalist Wil Haygood. More than simply a comprehensive biography "In Black and White" is an intriguing chronicle of black entertainment in our country.

Trained by his father and uncle Sammy had no classroom education but a world of stage smarts. As a small child he mastered soft shoe and tap to become the star of the vaudeville threesome "The Will Mastin Trio." There seemed to be nothing the youngster couldn't do whether it was singing, dancing, playing an instrument or miming other performers.

This energetic bundle of talent couldn't be contained. He burst upon the television screen and was soon a member of Hollywood's celebrated "Rat Pack" paling around and joking on stage with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Joey Bishop.

Nonetheless, Sammy was black and they were white. He was very aware of the difference - where he could stay and where he could not. Once married to a black girl he later started dating blond white actresses and eventually wed May Britt, a union that shocked.

He survived a 1954 car accident which caused him to lose an eye, and his face with the black eye patch soon became familiar. For reasons unknown and only surmised he converted to Judaism. When he told Jerry Lewis of his plan, Lewis asked, "Don't you already have enough problems?"

Problems were to dog him for all of his life. Beneath the happy veneer was a wellspring of anguish.

"In Black and White" is a memorable biography of a one-of-a-kind entertainer and an eye-opening glimpse of the world of entertainment as it once was.

- Gail Cooke