10-17-2008, 02:02 AM
AlphaDog wrote:
Got it! The problem was that I think of Sammy as being part of the "Rat Pack" and had forgotten he was actually a dancer. Wasn't he also a very gravelly voiced singer? I know he acted.
Sammy was a very talented and enigmatic individual. I got to see him do his nightclub show once in Lake Tahoe, must have been around 1966 or maybe 1967. He was an accomplished dancer, and not only a tapper. He also had a fine singing voice, definitely not gravelly, and could phrase a melody with the best of them, ala Sinatra. During his show he played nearly every musical instrument in the band: drums, vibes, trumpet, piano - and he played them all well. Add to that the ability to tell a great story with humor and pathos and you start to understand what a great, one of a kind entertainer he was. I can't think of another current or past entertainer who had such a depth and variety of talent. He converted to Judaism, lost an eye in a car accident, and got to do the nasty with Kim Novak (which could have landed him in jail back in those days). All in all a quite remarkable man.