this is my 1000 words on Sammy Davis Junior! Enjoy!

Sammy Davis Jr.: What he brought to the Stage.

I have decided to write about Sammy Davis Junior because I find his stage presence so compelling, it is almost difficult to look away once he has captured my eye.
Sammy started live performing when he was three with his Father, Sammy Davis Senior and Uncle, Will Mastin, in the “Will Mastin Trio”. From watching clips of this time in his life it is obvious he had an immense stage presence even then which eclipsed that of the others working around him. In “You Rascal You” he is centered round the main microphone and although his voice is obviously in its youth it is strong enough to carry a strong tune. His tap routine would have outshone some of the older performers with years of experience behind them, and yet he makes it all seem so easy.

The quality that I find makes watching him so entertaining is the fact that he is clearly enjoying himself and has taken to the stage so naturally it would be almost inconceivable that he could ever live not part of the entertainment business. Even when he had to join the Army and was asked to entertain the racists who abused him he couldn’t let the opportunity to be up on the stage go amiss. It is obvious to see that when he is performing he simply wants to entertain people and the prejudices of the world are forgotten to him when he is lost in his world of performance.
All of Sammy’s talents such as dancing, impersonations and acting, naturally came to him; none of these had to be taught or brought out of him by a peer, they just seem like a way of life and he has always been able to entertain just by being himself.

When I listen to him I realize he is the type of artist who can be associated with any sort of song, whether it is a ballad or an up-tempo number. He can perform a love song such as “Because of You” one minute then a livelier number such as “This Could be the Start of Something Big” the next. This is something that Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were less good at, and are more remembered for their ballads.
From watching many different concerts and T.V appearances I can see that impressions are a significant part of his act and admire how he can mould himself to the part of the song he is performing. Others he was performing with, such as Sinatra, I found only had his own persona onstage, as strong as it may be, Sammy could convince you that he was anyone, playing any part. Yet he is always respectful of other artists, especially other black artists such as Nat King Cole who he eulogizes before impersonating.
During singing “Because of You” during one of his shows, he not only sings in the styles of other singers of the time but also actors, during this one song alone he impersonates four singers and four actors. To me the reason he is so convincing is aided by the changes in his facial expressions, hand movements and leg movements as well as adapting his clothing to show the audience an all round impression of the people he wants them to see.
He also has a unique way of including the audience in his act and making them feel as though he is entertaining them personally; when he is changing between two impersonations in “Because of You” he whispers to the audience “Watch this, watch this” in a way that makes me feel as though he’s only speaking to me at that moment in time. This is also apparent in the “Medley” where he performs some dance moves and then breaks off to explain to the ‘older members of the audience’ what these dance moves are.
He plays to the audiences’ wants and needs and seems to constantly want to please them, at the end of each performance he thanks his audience repeatedly, this could be because of the racial inequalities at the time and as a black performer he felt he needed to thank the white audience for letting him perform for them.
He is also very conscious of the orchestra when on stage; he interacts with them and acknowledges them as part of his performance.

He loves to play for laughs, and this is emphasized even more when he is onstage with the rest of the Rat Pack. One key moment of seeing how Sammy fitted into the group is when he performs with Peter Lawford in “Shall we Dance”. Although Lawford can sing, his voice seems to be overshadowed by the strength of Sammy’s and stood next to Sammy onstage Lawford looks awkward and uncomfortable compared to Sammy. The joke of the sketch is that Lawford isn’t a strong dancer and yet wants to dance with Sammy, the strongest dancer in the group.

When the Rat Pack perform together at concerts such as St. Louis (1964) or The Summit at the Sands (1960) I find that they have an almost magical ease of being able to interrupt and perform over each other and the performances all flow into one showcase of talent; and yet it never looks staged or forced because they are strong performers in their own right, and also close friends.
To me the appeal of the Rat Pack is that by watching them onstage together I almost feel included in their private jokes and as one of the group. When they are performing together it is almost as though they’re merely entertaining a group of friends.
Ethnicity is referred to frequently onstage between them, not just for Sammy but everyone’s identity was the source of a joke in some way. As Sammy was a black Jew, he usually ended up being the butt of the joke more frequently than the others as these were the times when black rights were still being campaigned for. Although this never bothered him onstage and he could always retort with a witty comeback.

As a performer in his own right and as a member of the Rat Pack to me Sammy Davis Junior is the most talented, natural and all round performer who oozed comedy and gave a unique singing style to the group.