Top TV Moments: Sammy Davis Jr.

 

I moved to Las Vegas in 1982, just as the golden age of casino showroom entertainment was beginning its long sad decline. Thankfully, there were still a few years left to get a ringside seat at the MGM Grand or the Circus Maximus at Caesars, enjoy a sumptuous steak dinner, and spend the next 90 minutes in the company of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ann-Margret, Sammy Davis Jr., Diana Ross and too many others to mention.

 

All of these headliners made forays into series television, but none did it as often, or seemed to enjoy it as much, as Sammy. 

 

From the earliest days of the medium to one year before his passing, he was a frequent guest star in dramas, situation comedies, westerns, variety shows, soap operas, and even commercials. Who could forget his pitching the plop-plop-fizz-fizz relief of Alka-Seltzer after too much holiday partying? 

 

 

That one is hard to top. But here are ten more that come close.

 

Zane Grey Theatre (1959)

It’s fitting that Davis’s first TV appearance happened in a western; he loved the genre, and became so adept at twirling six-shooters that he often demonstrated his prowess during his nightclub act. In “Mission,” written by Aaron Spelling, he plays a soldier in an African-American cavalry unit assigned to escort a Comanche chief to the signing of a peace treaty. His unit is attacked by Apaches, who demand they turn over the Chief or be killed. Two moments elevate this standard cavalry vs. Indians shoot-out; first, when the Apache leader questions why black soldiers would be loyal to America: “You are fools to die for a land that does not want you;” second, the ending, which I admit I did not see coming. Spelling crafted a great twist and resolution to what seemed like a no-win situation.

 

The Patty Duke Show (1965)

Patty is pressured into finding a big star to entertain at her high school’s junior prom. Her attempts to attract a celebrity catch the eye of Sammy Davis Jr. who calls to offer his services – but she doesn’t believe it’s actually him. “Will the Real Sammy Davis Please Stand Up?” aired at the same time Davis was starring on Broadway in “Golden Boy,” and the episode is packed with references and visuals to the Broadway shows playing at that time – and it was a very good year on the Great White Way. All of that is fun for theater historians, and the closing moments of Davis on stage in a high school gym capture one of the greatest entertainers of the 20^th century in his prime. Plus, there’s another unexpected cameo for Rat Pack fans in the tag scene. 

 

 

The Wild, Wild West (1966)

“The Night of the Returning Dead” is a top-ten episode in this fine series, but I can’t say much more without spoiling its secret. For me this is Davis’s best dramatic work. In westerns he couldn’t get by playing himself or something similar, but he more than rises to the challenge of a complex role here as Jeremiah, a stable boy somehow connected to the ghostly appearances of a supernatural figure who is impervious to bullets and dynamite, and even gets the best of James West in a fistfight. 

 

 

The Pigeon (1969)

Sammy’s association with Aaron Spelling continues in this pilot movie (co-produced with Danny Thomas) for a proposed series that was not picked up. He plays a private detective who stumbles into an attempted kidnapping and soon finds himself dealing with a reluctant would-be hostage and a mob vendetta.   It’s not good but it’s interesting. How could it not be with a detective agency run by Davis and Pat Boone, a client in Playboy stunner Victoria Vetri, and Ricardo Montalban as the heavy?

 

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1968)

Sammy appears in eight episodes according to IMDB, in some bits that would get everyone involved canceled and possibly arrested now. 

 

Fans will remember when he boxed Wilt Chamberlain and signed autographs for the Klan. But his most famous contribution to the series was “Here comes the judge,” which he did not originate but he certainly re-popularized. 

 

 

The Name of the Game (1970)

Full disclosure: I have not watched “I Love You Billy Baker, Pts. 1&2.” But I put it on this list because of the consistent high quality of this series, and this being the only two-part episode in the show’s run. Apparently it’s about a Las Vegas entertainer who gets cagey anytime anyone asks him about his connection to a young girl who mysteriously disappeared. That sounds intriguing, as does a cast that includes several Vegas headliners playing themselves: Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Xavier Cugat and Charo, Tony Martin, Norm Crosby, Marilyn Michaels, and Jack Carter. Given that lineup and the likelihood that both episodes feature a few songs from Sammy, how could this not make the list?

 

Only potential drawback: From the one clip I could find online, it appears Sammy asked his hair stylist for the Carol Brady. 

 

 

All In the Family (1972)

Some situation comedies have a premise that lends itself to celebrity guest appearances. This one, about a working class family in Queens, is not one of them. But All in the Family not only found a believable reason for Sammy Davis Jr. to visit the Bunkers, it became the entertainer’s most celebrated TV moment, and delivered the second most famous interracial kiss after Kirk and Uhura. 

 

 

The Julie Andrews Show (1973)

In addition to all of his other talents, Sammy Davis Jr. was also a remarkable impressionist. Here he is holding his own against the best in the business, along with the wonderful Julie Andrews. Moments like this are a reminder of the caliber of entertainment once freely accessible to us every week without leaving home. How often we took it for granted, believing it would always be that way. 

 

 

 

Charlie’s Angels (1977)

Sammy asked to appear on Charlie’s Angels, so Aaron Spelling drafted Starsky & Hutch writer Ron Friedman to create a show around him. The result was “The Sammy Davis Jr. Kidnap Caper,” a feather-light adventure in which bumbling kidnappers try to abduct Sammy but instead capture his lookalike, a liquor store owner named Herbie Brubaker III. Davis played himself and Herbie and seems to be having a great time. “I think I’m gonna like danger,” he says when he first meets his beautiful bodyguards. 

 

 

Sammy Davis Jr.’s 60^th Anniversary Celebration (1989)

Watching this tribute is such a bittersweet experience. Davis was suffering from the cancer that would take his life just three months after this aired, and yet he seemed in good spirits as his contributions to show business were lauded by a truly remarkable cast: Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Bob Hope, Anita Baker, Bill Cosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Clint Eastwood, and the President of the United States, George HW Bush. It’s the type of tribute most legendary stars don’t get until after their passing. The highlight was when Sammy joined Gregory Hines on stage for a tap dance challenge. Even at a debilitated age 65, he more than held his own. 

 

 

 

Honorable Mention: Foster Brooks at the Dean Martin Roast of Sammy Davis Jr.

Because every moment of this performance is genius.