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Recorded Interviews,
Performances, and Public Appearances, 1954-1988 ,
undated ; bulk
1985-1988
(continued) |
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Recorded interviews, 1985-1988
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35 sound cassettes : |
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Thirty-five numbered audiocassette tapes of Burt and Jane Boyar's interviews with Sammy Davis, Jr., conducted between 1985 and 1988, for Why Me, the follow-up book to Yes I Can. Tapes 1, 29, and 30 are unaccounted for. |
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Arranged by cassette number. |
RYL 4362 |
No. 2: 1985
October , Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas,
Nevada |
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Topics include the book Yes I Can; Tom Jones
urging him to perform his now signature song "Mr.
Bojangles" and his initial resistance to doing so; the
mutual respect that he and his wife Altovise had for each
other as performers; the public's perceptions of the stages
in a performer's career and life. |
RYL 4363 |
No. 3: 1985
October , Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas,
Nevada |
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Topics include his salary, personal and business expenses,
taxes and assets (such as his luxury cars: Corvette,
Ferrari, Jaguar, Mercedes Benz and Stutz Blackhawk). |
RYL 4364 |
No. 4: 1985
October , Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas,
Nevada |
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Topics include entertaining the American troops in Vietnam;
his feelings about the Vietnam War; health issues, such as
arthritis and "dancer's hip." |
RYL 4365 |
No. 5: 1985
October , Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas,
Nevada |
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Topics include starring on a television soap opera; Altovise
and her television show; struggles with alcoholism and drug
abuse; Edward Kennedy; John McEnroe; "The NBC Follies." |
RYL 4366 |
No. 6: 1986
March 30 , Reno, Nevada |
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Topics include the Broadway production of Golden
Boy; critic Elliot Norton meeting with book
author Bill Gibson and producer Hillard Elkins; replacing
director Peter Coe with Arthur Penn; the negative backlash
against a love scene between Davis and white actress Paula
Wayne. |
RYL 4367 |
No. 7: 1986
March , Reno, Nevada |
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Topics include Jerry Lewis; the movie One More
Time and his experience in London during the
film's production; Satanism. |
RYL 4368 |
No. 8: 1986
March-April , Reno, Nevada |
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Topics include his struggles with alcohol and drugs; the
Richard Nixon administration; his stays at the White House;
his two marriage ceremonies with Altovise; his
relationships with Howard Hughes, Marilyn Chambers, Loretta
Young, Lucille Ball, Will Mastin, Joe Grant (his
bodyguard), Sy Marsh (his agent), Molly Marsh and Bill
Cosby; aging and death. |
RYL 4369 |
No. 9: 1986
March-April , Reno, Nevada |
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Topics include his friendships with Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth
Taylor, Linda Evans, Joan Collins; his clothing style;
assassination of John F. Kennedy; George Hamilton and
Robert Mitchum in the film Home from the
Hill; his relationship with Harry Belafonte;
drug use; Peter Lawford. |
RYL 4370 |
No. 10: 1986
March-April , Reno, Nevada |
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Topics include previous titles to Yes I Can;
his marriages to May Britt and Altovise; fatherhood; the
secrets to his success and how he has become accustomed to
it; Michael Silver; his relationship with and the death of
George Rhodes (his conductor and musical director). |
RYL 4371 |
No. 11: 1986
March-April , Reno, Nevada |
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Topics include his friendship with Jesse Jackson; Jesse
Jackson's Operation PUSH organization; working on the
Richard Nixon campaign; negative backlash he received after
hugging Richard Nixon; interview with Eddie Peterson, who
was Sammy Davis' business manager for nineteen years. |
RYL 4372 |
No. 12: 1986 , Los Angeles, California |
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Topics include his inadequacies as a father; fashion
trendsetting; favorite retail stores in Paris; prejudice
against Blacks in the entertainment business and in
general; financial troubles; his relationships with Ossie
Davis and Ruby Dee. |
RYL 4373 |
No. 13: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include performing at the Desert Inn; how to portray
genuine emotion and personality during a performance;
nightclub audiences; gambling; salaries; being introduced
to the song "Mr. Bojangles" by Tom Jones; Jerry Lewis;
Danny Kaye; having confidence as a performer; the nature of
show business; his and Johnny Carson's failed investment in
the DeLorean car company. |
RYL 4374 |
No. 14: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include financial troubles; Frank Sinatra's domestic
life and home; the Hotel de Paris in France; health
problems; hip surgery; partying; what it's like to be the
boss of his staff; racism; alcoholism; drug abuse; his
relationships with Nancy (Davis) Reagan and Johnny Carson;
the ghosts of Dolly Madison and Abraham Lincoln in the
White House; performance techniques. |
RYL 4375 |
No. 15: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include photographs of himself, Elvis, bullfighter
Carlos Arruza, the Vietnam War and the cast of The
Cannonball Run movies; his gun collection; his
friendship with Frank Sinatra; Dick Powell; Rosa B. (his
maternal grandmother); Colton Dinner Theater; doing
benefits; the Black American experience in the 1960s and
1970s; Yes I Can; the Broadway production of
Stop the World - I Want to Get Off; the
Johnny Carson Show; feeding lines to actors; the conflict
between Jackie Garfinkel and Altovise. |
RYL 4376 |
No. 16: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include Mel Tormé; his relationship with the
black and white American communities; the Vietnam War; his
expectations for the sequel to Yes I Can;
his career and getting older; womanizing; his friendships
with Ruby Rosa and Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari, who was the
Princess of Iran; White Elephant Club in London and owner
Stella Richman; Paris; parties in Las Vegas; Israel and the
Jewish people; Bill Cosby; Jenny Jones; entertainers ending
their careers at their peak. |
RYL 4377 |
No. 17: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include hip surgery; medicine and doctors; his wish
to be an entertainment spokesperson for Harrod’s (Holiday
Inn); his neglect of Altovise's alcholism; the death of
George Rhodes (his conductor and musical director);
smoking; unknown content on Side B (tape requires repair).
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RYL 4378 |
No. 18: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include his enduring popularity; being an older
entertainer and reuniting with former colleagues for
projects; The Cannonball Run movies; Dean
Martin and Frank Sinatra; Shirley MacLaine; Burt Reynolds;
Bill Robinson and the song "Mr. Bojangles"; alcoholism; the
quality of a good joke; the 1975 show Sammy and
Company; his hair and hair care; Side B is
blank. |
RYL 4379 |
No. 19: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include how entertainers must maintain a broad
appeal; analyzing audiences; his friendships with Frank
Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Burt Reynolds; The
Cannonball Run movies; how he prepares for
performances. |
RYL 4380 |
No. 20: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include Clint and Maggie Eastwood; separating from
May Britt and meeting Altovise; his friendship with Jesse
Jackson; allowing his house to be used for meetings during
America's Civil Rights movement by Martin Luther King, Jr.
and the Black Panthers. |
RYL 4381 |
No. 21: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include meeting John F. Kennedy via Peter Lawford;
campaigning for John and Robert Kennedy; Black Americans
rejecting him after the "Nixon hug"; Altovise's alcoholism.
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RYL 4382 |
No. 22: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include hip surgery; brainstorming about the book
title for the sequel to Yes I Can; Linda
Lovelace; Marilyn Chambers; Chuck Traynor; pornographic
films; his love affairs; friendships with women; Lisa
Hartman; life in Reno, Nevada; self-esteem problems in his
youth; ambition; Count Basie; Walter Winchell; Nat King
Cole. |
RYL 4383 |
No. 23: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include movie budgets; his desire to produce a film
about Blacks in World War II and another about the story of
Haiti; the movie Brother from Another
Planet; his desire to play the lead role of a hit
man like that of Alan Ladd's character in This Gun
for Hire; performing in Vietnam during the war;
race relations during the Vietnam War; engaging in
ménage à trois relationships; double
standard in relation to the sexes; his marriage with
Altovise; drug abuse; "male menopause" and aging in
general. |
RYL 4384 |
No. 24: 1986 , Caesar's Palace and the Desert Inn, Las
Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include his enduring career; drugs; the maintenance
of friendships; people's perceptions of him; friendships
with Burt Reynolds, Ricardo Montalbán and his wife
Georgiana Belzer; The Cannonball Run movies;
aging and death; his relationships with his three children
Tracey, Mark and Jeff; collaborating with Jerry Lewis; the
difference between being married to a white woman as
opposed to a black woman; race relations during his
lifetime; Satanism and Anton Lavey (the High Priest of the
Church of Satan); the Hellfire Club; his intellect; sex
practices. |
RYL 4385 |
No. 25: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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Topics include the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem; performing;
friendships with Jack Haley Sr. and Jr.; being an
established performer; playing golf; the dynamics between
Liza Minnelli and her sister Lorna Luft; colloquialisms
within the black and white communities; the live audience;
falling in the bathtub; Jack Entratter and the Sands Hotel
in Las Vegas; his professional relationship with long-time
manager Shirley Rhodes; dietary habits; performing at the
White House; classical music favorites; The Sammy
Davis, Jr. Show; book reviews; cooking secrets
and techniques; cooking for Sinatra; horticulture. |
RYL 4386 |
No. 26: 1986
June 5 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas,
Nevada |
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Topics include toy collecting; Frank Sinatra's train
collection; collecting as a hobby; photography; money and
happiness; philanthropy; the 1964 film
Becket; American movie sets versus
European; White House dinner invitation; the production of
an anti-drug special; the disappearance of black-and-white
films; Richard Pryor; Eddie Murphy. |
RYL 4387 |
No. 27: 1986
June 18 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas,
Nevada |
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Topics include his meeting and marriage to Altovise;
Altovise's introduction to drugs and alcohol by Sammy;
their Broadway experiences; Altovise's studies with
Katherine Dunham; Altovise at the audition for
Golden Boy; his former girlfriend Lola
Falana; involvement with the major racial events of the
1960s and 1970s; Altovise's two car accidents; friendships
with Bill Cosby and Barbara Sinatra; his drug abuse and the
rift that it created in his friendship with Frank Sinatra;
how supportive his friends were during Altovise's
alcoholism; going to London to film One More
Time; partying; his fascination with evil; Jay
Sebring and Charles Manson murders. |
RYL 4388 |
No. 28: Undated
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Radio waves were picked up during the recording of this
interview session |
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Topics include the harmony that must exist between a
performer and his staff; the definition of the word
"freaky"; what it feels like to be a legend; rehabilitation
for substance abuse; his busy schedule; remaining focused
while on stage; gossip; the end of his marriage to May
Britt; interracial relations; marriage of daughter Tracey;
his frequent worries; changes in the entertainment industry
over the years; how audiences determine your level of
stardom. |
RYL 4389 |
No. 31: 1988
January 18
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Topics include working for Robert Kennedy's campaign; his
friendships with Robert and Ethel Kennedy and Martin Luther
King, Jr.; John Kennedy's lack of enthusiasm for the Rat
Pack; being on the White supremacists' hit list; being
harassed by American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln
Rockwell; playing a concert in Tupelo, Mississippi during a
Civil Rights rally; his security guard Joe Grant; his
relationships with Sy and Molly Marsh, Ben and Jackie
Garfinkel; Bob Brown of Richard Nixon’s staff; how many of
his friendships ended because of his support for Richard
Nixon; performing in Vietnam during the war; going on the
Johnny Carson Show the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was
assassinated; the assassination of Malcolm X and how Alex
Haley had once arranged for Davis to meet him; hanging out
with "Mama" Cass Elliot and Jimi Hendrix. |
RYL 4390 |
No. 32: 1986
November , Desert Inn, Las Vegas,
Nevada |
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Topics include his attitude towards marriage; the definition
of "decadence"; his avoidance of personal problems through
performing; having confidence as a performer; auditioning
for the 1986 film Crossroads; Ralph Macchio;
his adopted children Mark, Jeff and Manny; the Betty Ford
Center. |
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Altovise’s interview: the circumstances under which she met
Sammy Davis, Jr., while starring in the musical High
Spirits; her lack of interest in Davis at first
because she wanted to marry the doctor that she was dating;
her desire to attend nursing school; her motive for
auditioning for Golden Boy and starring in
it as Davis' sister; how their first conversation lasted
for ten hours. |
RYL 4391 |
No. 33: 1986
November , Desert Inn, Las Vegas,
Nevada |
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Topics include the 1960s Civil Rights period; Robert
Kennedy; Harry Belafonte; Sidney Poitier; Atlanta and the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference; fashion;
pantomiming "Mr. Bojangles" on several occasions before
finally singing it; how audiences changed over twenty-five
years; American race relations between Blacks and Whites;
billing for The Cannonball Run movies;
leaving a legacy; Mel Tormé; Bobby Darin; Ruby
Rosa; philanthropy; "soul food"; trying LSD; the White
Elephant Club in London; the rift that his drug abuse
created between him and Frank Sinatra and their eventual
reconciliation. |
RYL 4392 |
No. 34: 1986
November , Desert Inn, Las Vegas,
Nevada |
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Topics include Milton Greene; Janet Suzman; Lauren Bacall;
remaining mysterious; the movie 1776; the
deaths of his mother Rita Wade Davis, Cary Grant, and
George Rhodes; Tom Smothers (of the Smothers Brothers);
having rapport with an audience; standing ovations; acting
your age as a performer; aging and the entertainment
business; European women; the king of Sweden coming to Las
Vegas to see him perform; being a womanizer; being humble
about winning awards; the film The Pigeon;
Aaron Spelling; doing benefits for UNICEF. |
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Altovise’s interview: comments on the trendsetting fashion
sense of Sammy Davis, Jr.; becoming a member of the Share
Happily and Reap Endlessly charity; designing their current
home; the first friends she made within her husband's inner
circle; her friendship with Lucille Ball. |
RYL 4393 |
No. 35: 1986 , Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada |
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This cassette was marked "backup" and contains much of the
same information found on tape 18 |
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Topics include his enduring popularity; the essence of the
Rat Pack; Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly as tap dancers;
problems with his hip; The Cannonball Run
movies and working with Dean Martin, Burt Reynolds, Shirley
MacLaine and Frank Sinatra; the song "Bojangles" and Bill
Robinson; what the sequel to Yes I Can will
be; alcoholism; his hair and hair care. Side B contains a
radio program about Windsor, England. |
RYL 4394 |
No. 36: Undated
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Audio problems occur halfway through side A |
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Topics include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death and
aftermath; appearing on the Johnny Carson
Show after King’s assassination; campaigning
for Robert Kennedy. Side B is blank. |
RYL 4395 |
No. 37: 1988
January 21
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Topics include being a performer in America versus Europe;
attending a ceremony commemorating John F. Kennedy's death;
attending various meetings with and the funeral of Martin
Luther King, Jr.; the atmosphere in Chicago during the
1960s Civil Rights movement; Billy Rose (his publicist);
relationship with Altovise; the lack of modesty in
contemporary society; the murder of Sharon Tate; being
recruited by Richard Nixon and the problems that caused;
his impressions of Richard Nixon; his relationship with
Ronald and Nancy Reagan; public perceptions of the Civil
Rights era; the slow progress in the Black community since
the 1960s; keeping one's private life private; Marlene
Dietrich. |
RYL 4396 |
No. 38: 1988
January
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Topics include the inner strength that it takes to overcome
substance abuse; how a crisis shows you who your real
friends are; knowing when to end your career as a
performer; fashion; his Motown album; modern music in
Europe; Michael Jackson's crotch-grabbing; doing six
symphony concerts; defining himself as an entertainer;
winning "Entertainer of the Year" award in Las Vegas for
four consecutive years; Ann Jillian; being a tap dancer
with a hip problem; hip replacement surgeries; how some of
his jokes during his performances fell flat; America's
smoking laws. |
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Digital audio of various interviews, performances, and
appearances, 1954-1988,
undated
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Approximately 113 gigabytes of digital media and text files stored
on a LaCie portable hard drive formatted for Apple Macintosh.
Includes AIFF, AAC, SD2, and MP3 digital audio files documenting
radio, television, and live appearances by Sammy Davis, Jr., as
well as a number of his commercially released recordings. Also
included are digital versions of complete interviews and excerpts
of interviews originally recorded during the 1980s. Some of the
files are described in four PDF audio log files. |