Sammy Davis Jr. appeared on The Ed Sullivan Present many occasions in his profession, however none had been fairly like this. In a newly shared clip, the musician and his band take the stage for a jam session with Davis swinging behind the drum set.
“I asked Mr. Sullivan if we could do the kind of thing that we do at a nightclub or in theaters,” Davis tells the viewers on the high of the clip. From there, he offers his band some mild ribbing: “Sinatra might be my leader, but I’m your leader,” the musician quips to conductor and pianist George Rhodes earlier than hopping behind the drum set. At all times the showman, Davis switches from drumsticks to brushes earlier than abandoning the set and transferring over to the vibraphone—all in below 4 minutes.
Davis’ appearances on The Ed Sullivan Present noticed him showcase a variety of his many items. Different occasions he sang, and no less than one time he carried out a faucet dance together with his father and uncle. However Davis’ second look on The Ed Sullivan Present in 1951 was a second that helped launch him into the supernova he turned. “In the middle of our spot, the coaxial cable broke for the first time in television history and every screen in America was blacked out. Only the sound remained on. We didn’t find out about it until we were off the air,” the musician wrote in his autobiography.
Fortunately, that night time’s act showcased Davis’ impressions, and the tech challenge solely elevated his notoriety. “Ed Sullivan told us he’d book us again, which was gravy, and the next day’s papers were full of stories about what happened. People all over the country were saying, ‘Some guy was on Ed Sullivan’s program when the picture went off, and I’d have sworn it was James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart talking to Edward G. Robinson.’” That was the start of a relationship that may take Davis again to The Ed Sullivan Present a number of occasions all through the Fifties and 60s, together with this clip right here.
Watch all of the archival movies from The Ed Sullivan Present on this system’s official YouTube channel.
