Book Cover Image of In Black And White: The Life Of Sammy Davis, Jr by Wil Haygood

In Black And White: The Life Of Sammy Davis, Jr
by Wil Haygood

Publication Date: Jul 29, 2005
List Price: $354.94
Format: Paperback, 518 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781845131067
Imprint: Aurum Press Ltd
Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd
Parent Company: Aurum Press Ltd

Paperback Description:

Sammy Davis, Jr was one of the most recognisable showbiz entertainers of the twentieth century: dancer, singer, hyperactive cabaret performer, film star and hard-drinking, high-living bad-boy member of Las Vegas’s legendary Rat Pack along with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Peter Lawford. But his story was also one of contradiction and compromise: a black man trying to make his name as a star during a time of racial prejudice and even segregation, Sammy Davis, Jr never came to terms with the complexities of his situation. He endured patronising humiliation from his fellow Rat Pack members; he marched with Martin Luther King while, notoriously, cozying up to President Nixon and conducting numerous affairs with white women. Above all, he made his name as a vaudevillian entertainer by arguably accepting the role of honorary white man. This is the definitive portrait of the Rat Pack’s most interesting and maverick member.