Sammy Davis Jr. documentary to open Jewish Film Festival
Sammy Davis Jr. had it all: a singer’s voice, a dancer’s athleticism, a comedian’s timing, an impersonator’s versatility and a hipster’s coolness.
But Davis spent a lifetime battling racism and a perception that he had sold out his fellow black Americans.
The entertainer’s life, including his fight against prejudice and his conversion to Judaism, is examined in “Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me,” the openingnight screening at the 2018 Columbus Jewish Film Festival.
Director Sam Pollard will attend the screening, scheduled for Sunday at the Columbus Museum of Art.
“In all honestly, he was a performer,” Pollard said by phone recently. “It was in his blood to perform. Anytime he had the ability to perform, he rose to the occasion.”
“I’ve Gotta Be Me” doesn’t take a deep dive into Davis’ beliefs; rather, it’s a crowd-pleaser, said Emily Schuss, director of the Columbus Jewish Film Festival.
“The movie is not really Jewish, obviously, but it’s been a really big hit as an opening film at Jewish film festivals,” Schuss said. “We need to open with something entertaining. … I hear from other (festival) directors that it’s a great opening movie.”
Such reaction to the film doesn’t surprise Pollard.
“”t makes me chuckle, but it doesn’t surprise me,” said Pollard, 68, of New York City. “For a lot of people who have seen the film and are over the age of 70 and Jewish, they remember Sammy Davis very fondly as an excellent entertainer who happened to be Jewish.”
According to biography. com, Davis was born on Dec. 8, 1925, in New York City, the son of dancer Sammy Davis Sr. When he was 3, his parents split up, and Davis went on the road with his father, a member of the Will Mastin Trio. Soon, the young Davis was acting and dancing in movies and performing with his father and godfather in the trio, Sammy Davis Jr. clowns for the camera in a scene from “I’ve Gotta Be Me” What: Where: Contact:
Showtime: Admission: becoming a full member of the act in 1941.
Two years later, Davis was drafted into one of the first integrated Army units, where he faced horrific racism. After a fight in which Davis bloodied a white attacker, Davis said in the movie: “He looked up at me and said, ‘Well, you beat me, but you’re still a n-----.’ I think that was the thing that turned me around. I said, there’s got to be another way to fight this. Because, physically, even if
you’re up there beating the guy — even if you win, you don’t win.”
Davis decided to battle racism with his talent, scoring a huge win on Feb. 17, 1952. He became a star during a dancing performance by the trio on the “Colgate Comedy Hour” TV show, when host Eddie Cantor called Davis “one of the greatest hunks of talent I’ve ever seen in my life.” After the performance, Cantor mopped the sweat from his face and threw his arm around Davis — a daring act of racial unity on national television in 1952.
But on Nov. 19, 1954, Davis’ life changed when he was involved in a car crash near San Bernadino, California, that cost him his right eye. While in the hospital, he talked with a rabbi — conversations that led to his conversion.
“After the accident … I needed something
desperately to hold on to,” Davis says in the movie. “And I found myself being more and more convinced that Judaism was it for me. I know that there is sort of a kinship between the plight of the Negro and the plight of the Jew — the oppression, the segregation, the constant trying to survive and the trying to achieve dignity.
“I was really shopping for something to believe in. See, when you’re a performer, you deal in such intangibles that you need a religion to hold on to. You really do.”
Davis’ career soared as he became a Las Vegas stalwart (even though, as a black man, he wasn’t allowed to sleep in the casinos where he performed) and a member of Frank Sinatra’s and Dean Martin’s Rat Pack. His career faltered, however, when he visited troops in Vietnam and supported
“Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me,” the opening film of the Columbus Jewish Film Festival Columbus Museum of Art, 480 E. Broad St. 614-231-2731, www. columbusjcc.org 6:30 p.m. Sunday $35