TVparty - Classic TV Las Vegas Legends

 

"I have to be a star like another man has to breathe." - Sammy Davis, Jr.

 

Frank Sinatra

Dean Martin

Sammy Davis Jr Story

Dean Martin Live in Las Vegas

Frank Sinatra
with Dean Martin

Playing with The Rat Pack 1960s & 70s
with Dean Martin

Las Vegas in 1977

John Oliver: Las Vegas Is the Worst Place on Earth!

Jerry Vale

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George Burns

Don Rickles' Last Carson Appearance

Joan Rivers vs Johnny Carson

Angie Dickinson

Remembering Bobby Darin

Who Killed Elvis?

Viva Las Vegas!

Sammy Davis, Jr.

Las Vegas1967

Elvis

Las Vegas in the 1950s

MORE Las Vegas in the 1950s

Lola Falana

Don Rickles

Don Rickles' Last Show

Don Rickles vs Merv Griffin

Sonny & Cher

The Supremes

Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows

Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy

Louis Prima

Pat Cooper

Johnny Carson

Mort Lindsey

Liberace

TV's The Las Vegas Show

Red Buttons

Ernest Borgnine on Frank & Dean

Harlan Ellison vs Frank Sinatra

Demond Wilson on The Dean Martin Roasts, Las Vegas, and Walking Out on Sanford & Son

Joan Rivers

Las Vegas Postcards

TV's The Magician and Las Vegas

Liberace, Frank Sinatra, and Jackie Gleason Attempted an Intervention on Elvis in Las Vegas

What Las Vegas Looked Like Under Lockdown

Sammy Davis Jr.'s Home Was Looted!

Very Revealing Interview with Sammy Davis Jr.

Las Vegas in the 1940s

Frank Sinatra's Last Major Interview

Portrait of Frank Sinatra in 1959
Frank Sinatra in
Monte Carlo 1959

Drummer Hal Blaine on Recording with The Rat Pack

What Was Frank Sinatra Really Like?

Home Movies of Las Vegas During The Strip’s Golden Age

Donny & Marie Are Calling It Quits

Totie Fields

Sinatra's First Palm Springs Home

Phyllis Diller: An Appreciation

Steve Allen

Rich Little

Betty White on Don Rickles

Elvis' Background Singers

Wayne Newton

George Carlin

Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme

Redd Foxx

Las Vegas & The Mob

Henny Youngman

Rodney Dangerfield

How Las Vegas Has Changed Since the 1970s

How Las Vegas Has Changed Since the 1960s

More on How Las Vegas Has Changed Over the Years

BONUS: Garry Shandling in Las Vegas

Sammy Davis Jr. Story

Sammy Davis Jr. Story

Sammy Davis, Jr. earned millions of dollars as a recording artist and Vegas headliner yet he died broke, lived most of his life supporting family members and gambling away his fortune. He had to be working and earning constantly to satisfy his creditors.

He got his start as an entertainer as a toddler and never stopped singing and dancing, all the way up into the upper echelons of show business, as a member of the legendary Rat Pack with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra (see the 1960 original Ocean’s 11).

Some say Sammy was the greatest all around entertainer of all time, he could do it all, and I agree.

What a lot of people don’t know is that Sammy carried a briefcase with him at all times filled with cash, drugs, and porn. He was a complicated guy. Involved in the Civil Rights movement and yet palled around with Richard Nixon, its fiercest foe.

After reuniting with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin for one final performance in 1987, Davis toured with Frank and Liza Minnelli internationally. He died in 1990 after doctors found a cancerous tumor on Davis's throat.

Sammy was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in both 1987 and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

On May 18, 1990, 2 days following his passing, neon lights on the Las Vegas Strip were darkened for 10 minutes as a tribute. No star shown so bright.

This documentary, Sammy Davis Jr. - The Kid In The Middle, is one of the best on the subject:


Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th Anniversary Celebration won the Emmy in 1990 for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy.

On Saturday Night Live, Sammy Davis Jr. has been portrayed by Garrett Morris, Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal and Tim Meadows.

 

YOUR GO-GO HOST: Billy Ingram

 

"The success of the Rat Pack or the Clan was due to the camaraderie, the three guys who work together and kid each other and love each other." - Sammy Davis, Jr.

 

 


TVparty - Classic TV Las Vegas Legends