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The many faces of
Sammy Davis Jr.
toward blacks and ews to become one of the greatest entertainers o
Samm y Run?
age 18, he performed in military
shows. A civilian again, he returned to
the stage circuit and traveled with a
show starring Mickey Rooney.
Celebrity impersonations became part
of his act.
Befriended by Jewish comedian
Eddie Cantor (who gifted him with a
mezuza), Davis was invited to appear
on Cantor's TV program in the 1950s.
Following Davis' performance, Cantor
suffered public criticism for wiping
the brow of a person of color on live
TV. In response to the criticism,
Cantor hired Davis to appear on the
rest of the season's shows.
Performing on Las Vegas stages,
Davis, in the 1960s, became part of
the famed Rat Pack that included
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter
Lawford and Joey Bishop.
Besides recording more than 50
albums, Davis starred in such stage
musicals as Mr. Wonderful and Stop
the World I Want to Get Of Film
credits include Porgy and Bess, Sweet
Charity, Ocean!s. Eleven and Robin and
the Seven Hoods.
The talent and personality of
Sammy Davis Jr. helped him break
through barriers of prejudice for him-
self and other entertainers to follow.
Starting out in an atmosphere where
black entertainers could not frequent
the clubs or hotels where they were
performing, Davis asserted himself
and worked toward integration.
"Sammy thought that one day we
could all live together in unity, help each
other and not fight with each other,"
Altovise Davis says. "He thought that if
we could all learn to live and work
together, life would be a better place."
In his quest for spirituality, Sammy
Davis Jr. turned to Judaism. Born to a
Baptist father and Roman Catholic
mother, the idea of conversion hit
home after he lost an eye in a 1954
car accident and had a conversation
with a rabbi, who was the hospital
chaplain. The rabbi advised him to do
considerable studying before thinking
about converting.
"These are a swinging bunch of peo-
ple," Davis commented about the Jews
in his autobiography Yes I Can. "I've
heard of persecution, but what they
went through is ridiculous. There wasn't
anybody who didn't take a shot at 'em.
"The whole world kept saying, 'You
can't do this' and 'You can't do that,'
but they didn't listen! They'd get
kicked out of one place so they'd just
go on to the next one and keep swing-
ing like they wanted to, believing in
themselves and in their right to have
rights, asking nothing but for people
to leave 'em alone and get off their
backs and having the guts to fight to
get themselves a little peace.
"But the great thing is that after
thousands of years of waiting and
holding on and fighting, they finally
made it."
Over the years, on the way to con-
version and after, Davis counseled with
several rabbis. Ruth Nussbaum, the
widow of one, recalls the conversion to
Judaism of May Britt, Davis' second
wife, with whom he had one natural
daughter and two adopted sons.
Her conversion occurred before
their marriage and as a surprise for her
then husband-to-be.
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