The One and Only Sammy

"When I was a kid, I was Sammy Davis Jr. before I was anyone else. I started my entertainment career as a tap dancer. That was what led to my first appearance on television, in Philadelphia on KYW-TV. I was 5 years old. Later that day, the parents of other dancers and talent-show participants complained that my afro had covered up their kids on-screen."

"In some sense, Sammy and I were knit together from that moment on. I grew up in the 1970s, the end of the golden age of the variety show, which you could also call the second (or third) golden age of Sammy Davis Jr. If you turned on the TV, he would be there, singing "The Candy Man," singing "Mr. Bojangles.""

Sammy Davis Jr. served as an early, defining influence, beginning with tap dancing and a television debut in Philadelphia at age five on KYW-TV. Early visibility provoked complaints when the narrator's afro obscured other children onscreen. Growing up in the 1970s presented constant exposure to variety-show culture and Sammy's hits like "The Candy Man" and "Mr. Bojangles." Sammy appeared with major entertainers and across genres—sitcoms, dramas, and soap operas—playing both himself and character roles. A lyric in "Mr. Bojangles" prompted a formative conversation with the narrator's mother about death.

Read at The Atlantic