Sammy Davis Jr Dick Cavett 1971

but dick cavett roll you tonight six guests are Sammy Davis jr. star a family affair and this is Joel Garrick Ohlsson and pop Rosengarten and orchestra ladies and gentlemen Dick Cavett thank you here in the studio and to those at home for letting us into your living rooms and bedrooms as military intelligence is saying these days but they get a bigger lab do you know about that the Army's spying I was shocking yesterday so they're actually they've actually concealed cameras in people's boudoirs how'd you like to turn up in a training film at Fort Dix that's terrible say it's a beautiful day in here I've kidded about the air in New York a lot but you can always get a breath of fresh air in New York City the way you do it is find a car with New England license plates and puncture the tire was it is this Thursday yeah Thursday right do we usually get a dreary dull dumb-looking audience on Thursday oh what a pleasure to see you yeah we do women often do for some reason I don't know why that is yesterday was Ash Wednesday if I'm not mistaken I always and this is not a joke but I always don't know it's Ash Wednesday and tell someone they have something and therefore it ice because as a kid I don't remember seeing the people with that it does anyone know what you call that the the ash that Catholic people put on their forehead and ash means it must be a word for it does anyone in band Oh certainly what is it whatever it is it certainly slows up a monologue of it no I just have never known what that what that is called and yesterday so people with the ash on the forehead it's either you know that it's a Catholic or Protestant who walked to work in New York you see well I'm really glad we dig rest on that for about five minutes say you're not supposed to do jokes against women these days as you know but today one of my secretaries I was trying to find something and I said to her what on earth is your filing system and she said once over my nails with an emery board just testing you to see if you're the normal Wednesday audience hey you know what they've done now for our safety you'll be glad if you're here in New York they've put marshals on the subways the way the planes are dead yeah cuz of it it's working so far not one subway has been hijacked to Havana very excited about that and there's the phone company I it is really ridiculous 7:00 it's getting worse i yesterday I made several calls I not only could not get three out of three numbers that I dialed but I got and I've seen Cohn kaha I've seen phone call that was meant for David Frost that's what even without being able to say it it came out of me where were we Oh New York is an endless supply of humor though they are scrapping 50 tug boats that's in today's paper they were very old the tug boats there it's very hard to find about anywhere in which the insurance policy includes falling off the edge of the earth but that's a they found that in several New York hey do you know we're having another baby boom yeah well they seem to know it in the balcony you can fact you can hear it in the bed no there's another it said the statistics say that there is another baby boom upon us and that this one started in 1968 which you will remember is the year President Nixon said he was going to bring us together who wants to hear a con Edison joke who has one con Edison is a joke they've been defending themselves lately the paper they've been saying that all their power failures lately this is the truth just as they were who has been an act of God there's some they're jealous because when he said let there be light it worked I mean I got one finally listen I better get out of here because we have as you know moving right along we have I always say that when we aren't moving right along but Sammy Davis jr. is here today he's never been here before and he's you know he's a singer because he's here we have a singer a dancer and actor a comedian an impressionist and an author cancel him we're overbooked at the day and Anissa Jones from family affair remarkable young lady who may have not met but been warned about and Garrick Ohlsson who won the Chopin Festival terrific pianist so why should I stand out here put that lady in the ejector seat Oh am i on I've been on television all this time well let me get this straight wait a minute your sister doesn't want to come here and listen oh I see okay you know under the new pornography laws I can declare the balcony obscene and have it sent back let me introduce someone right now that I've never introduced before and it's easy to over introduce him and it's hard to not over introduce him but there's a sense in which all men are created equal but they certainly didn't get equal amounts of talent Sammy Davis got enough for about 20 people will you welcome please Sammy Davis jr. okay you dress considerably you make me feel shabby you make me is either us getting either of us getting married today ha ha I know I tell you what happened right in Vegas where Las Vegas where I just closed uh-huh for the first time in about seven years I went back to wearing tuxedos for the type of show I wanted to do and we went back to doing all of the old songs and things because it seems to be that kind of trend and I figured it would just shake everybody up if I would on television it did what's the last time you wore a tuxedo on television how about about between five and seven years I haven't seven yeah that's close enough for me you can use my mitzpah suit ah come on come on you're gonna kid me about being a Gentile now no I don't do them kind of jokes I know but you're doing some of the older numbers yeah so you decided to wear a tux in case they're so old they die you want to let me do a number out here and you see if they die on me would you take a chance Thank You grant okay wait a minute right before I do it I must say that I've looked forward to sitting in the chair next year I'm a fan are you Lia and I watched a show and I mean that honest to gosh well if this that's true you can sit in the chair with me here we are yeah that was good of you to do that old man terribly decent of you to be so kind to allow me wait a minute I'm not David 3cc you know I gotta ask you this do you ever bomb I mean I can't imagine there are a few entertainers who are so dynamite that just I put you in a strange position now because yes I might say something I do or you have to say no I'm perfect hi Scott can i rephrase the question I know I want you I want you to keep the question exactly as it were cush yeah cuz I am and I I've gone home sick about it and you have done bad man just walked out sometimes I do bad when the audience is good and they they've given me a 95 and I didn't earn but a 50 and I guide you feel guilty about it could I set a level for myself that's why after 40 years it's you know it's still fun for me could they've got to set a level you have a level yeah my level I've decided early on though to set the level quite low then I'm Seldon disappointed even though they always know but that's interesting cuz I could imagine I was singing a comedian you know can go out and get absolutely literally no last not one less yeah I'm gonna be funny if a singer went out sometime an end of the song on a high note and that I had cut off no no applause I'll tell you where that happened to me that happened to me in Osaka Osaka Japan in Japan Osaka's in tonight Osaka Nebraska and I did we work that we did a concert and when you go to Japan you go to the over there to the Orient you you work a kind of a strange thing you do one night in a big auditorium where 8,000 people come and it was fantastic and the kids and everybody came was beautiful the next night we worked in a nightclub and it was elderly Japanese people now I had never worked in a nightclub for elderly Japanese people mm-hmm somehow that kind of group just don't come to the Concord so uh I don't know to expect but I got Augie and Margo on the bill dance team well-known and they walked out on the stage is true yeah walked on the stage and they came off in four minutes hello one of them he said their murder that's what Augie said they murder he said I cut one number out cuz he only did 12 minutes right and it was one big Spanish thing I did it so I said what murder we'd been over here for a week and a half and everybody loves us I walked out and it was complete silence now those were the days that I didn't feel as secure as I feel about my career about my where my head was here so uh night without you know an old black magic yeah well gee whiz I don't know I had the impressions all right you guys up against a wall know about Saba you dirty rat you're gonna get it dancing dancing playing the drums de vibes everything at the end and they nursed it rehearsed it gave out the news and the Southland game one more time Wow I've never been so I didn't know what to do I mean it happened the night you walked off the stage and the man who owned the club a very nice man came back he said ah you are very big hit ok I swear to get me because they didn't attack you soon they know he meant that they never applaud for anybody but the word of mouth as the people were leaving was good and they've all elderly rich Japanese men who come with their chicks you know so they don't want to raise up a lot of fuss apart they may cause a ruckus and somebody will recognize them it was so bad George Rhodes can tell you it's a true my conductor could tell you it's a $5 fine for anybody in my group to mention Osaka oh I'm gonna remember that I that's wonder we have a message we'll be right back you um I don't have a minute here that's why I'm filling it okay when you've been in this business as long as I have you'll know how to fill a minute with we have two most amusing mr. Davis we'll be right back he's in love Oh riff that was peace in love I didn't know man giving signals there it's always they always makes me nervous when they count you down I mean I figure just let it happen that's it yeah you don't waste a second I notice that little break we head there you were you still drive yourself to the brink of exhaustion or over the brain cord you stopped just this side of the brink no I so like having fun I still like doing nutty things like that but I'm 45 and I'm then married almost a year and I been the hospital four times as my wife is 25 that's why I've been in a hospital no seriously I love working I love to work but I found that in the last couple of years in the last year particularly I have contained the off stage activity so that when you get over your coming here to do this the show get your thing together man so that you can do it and have fun doing it but when I leave here and I go back to the solitude of our private lives whether it be in a hotel or our house did I relax I love to relax but that's a change for you isn't it you just beyond when you were off as well as when you're tired all the time wonder what changes in you is it has to do with age I think that has a lot to do with it the steps get a little steeper the notes get a little harder to hit and you need rest the truth of the matter is I was I've been ill a couple of times the last year and a half seriously ill and I mean kind of close for me and to the close to the point that it looked like I'd have to take two or three years off to rest from work from overwork from overwork and I've also got a good cat who is my partner SCI mosh who takes care of things for me and he's been with me we've been together now we've been we've been friends for 15 16 years but how long have you known each other oh about a week know we've know he was the man that fought for me to get me on television you know he fought for me to get me dramatic shows on television and he's a good friend but he's also a good business manager a good business partner and when he joined me got me my first vacation that I had had in about six years mmm that was the first thing he accomplished you can also dock my debts paid up you know your debts yep are you bad with money no I think I'm pretty good with it that's the venture problem yeah I call like a sailor whoopee you know what money's for them but it's very money really isn't it in show business as the English say yeah I guess English can get away with saying it's very money but yeah I've heard think that she's that expression it's fairy gold that you make and show business it vanishes at the touch of the fingers well I think this I think is a realization that comes I think that a man any man proportionately to what he make should be allowed of it's a if the cat that's a construction cat and he makes ten thousand a year I think he needs to blow a hundred dollars just on something stupid and dumb just a good time whoopee this good time I think if I make two and a half million I'm entitled to blow maybe five ten thousand dollars out of the year just blow it I mean if I feel like this girl will be out the window yeah you know where are you gonna do that next thing oh but I don't think you have a right to deny your family or all the personal needs I don't think you should be in debt up to your ears which I was you know I make no bones about a medal I'm not I'm not nor am i proud about it yeah but I do feel that there's a happy medium that you can reach and keep your family secure and living a style that you like and do the things you want to do without worrying if I don't work tomorrow man I'll be I'll be you know I'll be on welfare you know and I was at that point one time that's why we rich people can't believe that you know they think another thing people can't believe is when someone appears on a show like this and they say they'll do a joke about working for scale or something like that and people think I'd be willing to spend one night for 265 or 320 or whatever it is it's hard for them to believe that that actually can be meaningless money to someone who has enormous taxes enormous financial problems and all you know and they always think that they getting kind of but it's true and it is true oh why is it that some people are born able to imitate Humphrey Bogart and others are not it isn't fair isn't I have always thought that I would be well I don't know I I was liked him I'm a lucky cat you know I've been lucky all my life you know because I wanted to do impersonations when I came out of the Army in the 40s I had the good fortune I'm hanging around Hansen's when I was open and we'll Jordan and Larry Storch and dick Wesson and all those guys were working the theaters up and down the street and they taught me they really we would sit there in the afternoon and I would start to do something and all the Impressionists will hang out on the client and I'd say hey I get one I think I can't mine I think I finally got Jimmy Stewart and you know and we'll or Larry Storch would say no you haven't got a mint that isn't it's gotta be up here you've got a too long and when you're do it you gotta have a a sort of a a draw behind her so that a lot of disappears and there and then you realize hey man all of the exciting cats you know I love Elliott Gould I cannot impersonate it so I've been hurt anyone you Elliott go I don't think you gonna I don't think I am here because it's hard to do because it's we've gone to the natural yeah and you know I defy someone to imitate the man that played Joe you know be in the way because it's so naturally so us that it becomes almost impossible but yet still there are guys today who who really swing with impressions you know Frank Gorshin scares you to death you know and many other cats around is it true that you do Olivier I've never heard Olivier of course I do Olivia you do Olivier yes really what would you like to hear me do oh yeah couple acts from King Lear would be nice well he only did Lear once how about Richard the third we all settle for dick the third okay now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer in this son of York since I cannot by rightful claim my way to the throne I shall hack and who my way instead oh that's great that's not how I do it but that is yeah that is he did it he did that very strange voice we did let people criticize him for they thought it was to caricatured for the road he does it all cuz he felt Sir Laurence told me that he felt that with the humpback that he wanted to have a voice that was in here yeah and when he did Hamlet because Hamlet is so Fey he did a another thing speak the speech I pray you as I pronounced it to you trippingly on the tongue but if you mouth it as many of your players do wisely very fair here which is what an impressionist has to catch it I could listen to impressions for days on in without being bored by them I just love them how about my Willy Bess how did your Willy best stack up your other Willy guesses you know who really best wasn't I well I Willie best uh Willy but no no no exactly I knew most of the best family Willie you know was willingness where he was the black comedian who did the things in the old days uh which I guess some people would say it was Uncle Tom but I considered him a character actor said to me if I can do Cagney I can do Willie best he was a cat with Bob Hope and the ghost breakers who mumble remember remember him going here speak when he says how know what they're doing on here I'm onion Israel I do a good Willie best to go from Sir Laurence Olivier to Willie best misheard it Rancher we'll be right back with Bob Hope in the ghost breakers who mumble remember remember in here speak when he says I don't know what they're doing around here I'm on this one I do a good will it best to go from so Laurence Olivier to Willie best misheard it rent you would be right so you did I did Richard Lou recently on the show so I guess it's too early to do it again that's my one impression that I can knock people out with Richard Lou and it's such a shame which which picture do you do it I usually do the Purple Heart I realize oh yes I love that Dana Andrews and Richard Lou and I'd love to get them both on some night and sit at the purple so that he really went he went to a real traumatic experience about you know because after the war having played all of those heavies yeah he opened up a restaurant he opened up first a clothing store then he opened up a restaurant in Hollywood and people would come in and when the after the war was over and he got so many it started out jokingly and he got so many of this mm-hmm that he really almost had a nervous breakdown because he represented the villain for submitting you represent a villain yeah and he got tired of people going Yankee dog you die you know Oh UCLA I went UCLA whatever it is and I've heard this from a good friend I don't know if it's truth I don't I've met him several times but he never told me a story but I heard it from someone if it's true it's pretty sad state of affairs yeah I can believe it because you convention it you know they get same things said to you over and over Jack Benny was in an elevator once with one time and within five floors somebody said is it true you have a Maxwell somebody else said is it true you're 39 somebody else said do you really play the violin you know you must just get numb finally what do they say to you is it true that are you really Jewish is that what it is yeah that's that's most of it yeah for me in fact that's that's really predominantly until I went to Israel when I went to Israel and the press I must say was very kind about the trip and they didn't try to do any zips as apps and no I went to the you know I went over to entertainer soldiers and a pier at hospital and I did one benefit with moisture for which moisture Diane General Diane was was kind enough to sponsor well all the proceeds going to the veterans but after that it was cool I don't get it as much now but I used to get it all the time because every performer including myself joked about it so that people thought that it was not true you really must forgotten had those jokes up to here by her even higher probably probably yeah could you spend a week in a cabin in the mountains alone and not go berserk or do you need the audience after a few days no I need my old lady man yeah that's all I need I just need my old lady your wife met my wife yes I keep forgetting we must have respect for women these days no no I say that with with the most affection that's a show business terminology hey man I'm gonna go pick up my old lady and we don't mean that in terms of all at disrespectfully at all we mean that like like we say in show business I know you say it hey well the kids are gonna meet later we don't mean their children we mean that is show business affection my wife if I was with my wife I could be anyplace for any amount of time wouldn't miss the audience television or anything else really mm-hmm Jean must be some old lady yeah what does a guy say who's actually married to an old lady does he say I'm gonna pick up the kid already good would your wife care to be seen she's going no no no I won't embarrass her I'll just one of the people in this area of the audience is mrs. Davis jr. and she doesn't want to be identified so I I thought I thought I did that discreetly I'm gonna do mom I love showbiz I I know that that's it's hard to believe that what oh how about that they're rating something near biking yeah Wow that always happens when some elderly actresses on doing a reading from the shakes on the siren goes off like this say would you do another thing for us I don't like to put a performer on the spot but it's so seldom that we get you here and we did build that stool and then we felt that my croissant be mine can we can we do something kind of now we did some old songs let's do something up okay something today

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Id: yfM9SZHIsLE

Length: 27min 37sec (1657 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 28 2016