Sammy and Dino

Sammy and Dino Episode 9: Is That All There Is? /  by Karina Longworth

Frank Dean Sammy Together Again Together Again National Concert Tour, 1988

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Desperate to be seen as cool and not a relic of an earlier age in 70s America, Sammy gets into porn and drugs. A Rat Pack reunion gives him renewed purpose, but causes Dean to alienate himself further. As their time begins to run out, both Sammy and Dino are forced to contemplate what it was all for. By the late ‘90s, they’re both gone. We’ll try to sort out the incredibly murky legacies they left behind.

Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., 1974 Celebrity Roast

SHOW NOTES:  

Sources for the entire season:

Dino by Nick Tosches

Jerry Lewis In Person by Jerry Lewis and Herb Gluck

In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr. by Will Haygood

Yes I Can: The Autobiography of Sammy Davis Jr. by Sammy Davis Jr., Burt Boyar and Jane Boyar

Sammy: An Autobiography by Sammy Davis Jr. and Jane and Burt Boyar

Rat Pack Confidential by Shawn Levy

His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra by Kitty Kelley 

Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob by Matt Birkbeck

Sinatra: The Voice by James Kaplan

Sinatra: The Chairman by James Kaplan

Memories are Made of This by Deana Martin

Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years by David Talbot

Making Movies Black by Thomas Cripps

My Song by Harry Belafonte

Mafia Spies: The Inside Story of the CIA, Gangsters, JFK, and Castro by Thomas Maier

My Lucky Stars by Shirley Maclaine

Sources specific to this episode:

The Other Hollywood by Legs McNeill

Ordeal by Linda Lovelace

“Actor, Athlete and Dashing Pilot, Dean Paul Martin Dies When His Jet Crashes on a Mountainside” by Ron Arias, People Magazine, April 13, 1987

“Yo, Is This Racist? Oscar Analysis: How Many People Had to Approve Billy Crystal in Blackface?” by Andrew Ti, Grantland.com, February 27, 2012 

“Howard Hughes changed Vegas” by Tim O’Reiley, Las Vegas Review-Journal, December 28, 2013 

“Inquiry reveals I.R.S. Master List” by Eileen Shanahan The New York Times June 21, 1975

“Black Supporters of President Under Fire” The New York Times, October 17, 1972

Please note: as an Amazon Associate Karina earns from qualifying purchases made when you click the clinks above. #ad

Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in 1976

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Lowball - Vermouth

Glass Stopper - Vermouth

Dakota - Unheard Music Concepts

Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod

Single Still - Vermouth

Spot Peter - The Sweet Hots

Our Only Lark - Bitters

Latecomer (Bass Face) - Cafe Nostro

Chaunce Libertine - Vermouth

On the Passing of Time - Kevin MacLeod

Luka 75 - Vermouth

Gra Landsby - Fjell

Chai Belltini - Vermouth

Cran Ras - Vermouth

The Big Ten - Warmbody

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Sammy and Dino Episode 8: Generation Gap /  by Karina Longworth

Sammy Davis Jr. by Phillipe Halsman

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In the mid-1960s, 47 year-old Dean Martin proves he's still got it by knocking the Beatles off the top of the pop charts, and by launching his long-running TV show, which brought a version of his nightclub act into America’s living rooms every week.  But his middle-aged drunk schtick sours as the decade of hippies and Vietnam wears on. Sammy Davis Jr has his own challenges, living up to the expectations of a new generation of activists--and he only makes matters worse by embracing Richard Nixon. After disastrously dabbling with Motown, Sammy records “The Candy Man” -- a silly novelty single that he hated, but which ended up saving his career.

Dean Martin and the Golddiggers on the Dean Martin Show, c. 1972

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Calgary Sweeps - Vermouth

Chai Belltini - Vermouth

Gin Boheme - Vermouth

Gagool - Kevin MacLeod

Two Dollar Token - Warmbody

Glass Stopper - Vermouth

Thumbscrew - Sketchbook 2

Gaddy - Little Rock

Easy Listening in Jazz - Musique Libre de Droit Club

Lovers Hollow - Bitters

Chicken Steak - Truck Stop

Entrance Shaft 11 - The Depot

Latecomer (Bass Face) - Cafe Nostro

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Sammy Davis Jr. and Richard Nixon, 1972

Sammy and Dino Episode 7: Yes I Can /  by Karina Longworth

Sammy Davis Jr. by Phillipe Halsman

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Released in 1965, Sammy Davis Jr.'s autobiography became an instant classic, one of the most dynamic celebrity memoirs ever published and a testament to Davis’s barrier-breaking success as a black man in America. But the story behind the book, which was conceived and developed by two white ghostwriters -- and the racial and sexual dynamics of Davis's life during the years leading up to its release, which included two marriages and one relationship with a white movie star which almost got him killed -- are even more fascinating.

Sammy Davis, Jr. and Loray White at their wedding, 1958 | Photo UNLV University Libraries

Harry Belafonte, Martin Luther King Jr. and Sammy Davis Jr. at the Broadway Answers Selma Benefit, 1965

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Chai Belltini - Vermouth

Alum Drum Solo - Azalai

Lowball - Vermouth

Guild Rat- El Baul

Cran Ras - Vermouth

Spot Peter - The Sweet Hots

Lowball - Vermouth

Entrance Shaft 11 - The Depot

Single Still - Vermouth

Chaunce Libertine - Vermouth

Our Only Lark - Bitters

Sammy Davis Jr. with his wife May Britt and their children, 1964 | Leonard McCombe The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Sammy and Dino Episode 6: The Rat Pack /  by Karina Longworth

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In the early 40s, both Dean and Sammy idolized Frank Sinatra. 20 years later, they became Sinatra’s cohorts in the Rat Pack, and, through Vegas gigs and increasingly disposable movies, the trio set a standard for grown men behaving badly that’s still influential today. In this episode, we’ll reveal what the Rat Pack’s Vegas shows were really like -- racist, homophobic, misogynist warts and all. We’ll also discuss the web of corruption linking these performers to the Mafia and the Kennedys, culminating in the death of an actress, and the death of the pretense that the Rat Pack racket was all innocent fun.

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Peter Lawford in Ocean's 11 , 1960

Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra onstage, c. 1960s

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Everybody Loves Somebody - Dean Martin

Eee-O-Eleven - Sammy Davis Jr

Chai Belltini - Vermouth

Ranch Hand - Truck Stop

Gin Boheme - Vermouth

Entrance Shaft 11 - The Depot

Lowball - Vermouth

Flaked Paint - The Depot

Gibraltar - Unheard Music Concepts

Two Dollar Token - Warmbody

Laser Focus (Piano Improv) - TinyTiny Trio

Cab Ride - Pacha Faro

Guild Rat - El Baul

Alum Drum Solo - Azalai

JFK and Frank Sinatra, c. 1961

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Sammy and Dino Episode 5: A Serious Man /  by Karina Longworth

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

After the breakup of Martin and Lewis, Dino has to figure out how to stand on his own as a solo act. He ends up developing an on-stage persona as a happy drunk, while at the same time, developing a resume as a serious actor in some of the biggest hits of the late 1950s, such as Some Came Running and Rio Bravo, through which he emerged as a kind of icon for the white masculinity crisis of the 1950s. How did Dino pull this off, and why was his interest in being taken seriously so apparently short-lived?

Dean Martin onstage at the Sands Copa Room, 1957

Marlon Brando, Dean Martin and Montgomery Clift in The Young Lions, 1958

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Kevin_MacLeod - Monkeys Spinning Monkeys

Calgary Sweeps - Vermouth

Laser Focus (Piano Improv) - TinyTiny Trio

Single Still - Vermouth

25 Peaceful Piano

60 Easy Listening in Jazz

Babble Babble Brook (Soft Horn) - High Horse

Luper - Sketchbook

The Big Ten - Warmbody

Ranch Hand - Truck Stop

Thule Racer - Glacier Quartet - Araby

Chai Belltini - Vermouth

Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in Some Came Running, 1958

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Dean Martin in Rio Bravo, 1959

Sammy and Dino Episode 4: Mr. Wonderful /  by Karina Longworth

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Sammy tests the power of his new celebrity, on Broadway and in Hollywood, where he stars in the most controversial movie musical with an all-Black cast of all time -- a movie which is still being suppressed today.

Sammy Davis Jr. in "Mr Wonderful". From the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York.

SHOW NOTES:  

Sources for the entire season:

Dino by Nick Tosches

Jerry Lewis In Person by Jerry Lewis and Herb Gluck

In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr. by Will Haygood

Yes I Can: The Autobiography of Sammy Davis Jr. by Sammy Davis Jr., Burt Boyar and Jane Boyar

Sammy: An Autobiography by Sammy Davis Jr. and Jane and Burt Boyar

Rat Pack Confidential by Shawn Levy

His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra by Kitty Kelley 

Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob by Matt Birkbeck

Sinatra: The Voice by James Kaplan

Sinatra: The Chairman by James Kaplan

Memories are Made of This by Deana Martin

Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years by David Talbot

Making Movies Black by Thomas Cripps

My Song by Harry Belafonte

Mafia Spies: The Inside Story of the CIA, Gangsters, JFK, and Castro by Thomas Maier

My Lucky Stars by Shirley Maclaine

Sources specific to this episode:

“David Geffen, Samuel Goldwyn and the Search for the “Holy Grail” of Missing Movies” by Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter, February 23, 2017

“This Day in Jewish History | 1990: Sammy Davis Jr., Famous Convert to Judaism, Dies” by David B. Green, haaretz.com, May 16, 2013

“The Complex History and Uneasy Present of ‘Porgy and Bess’” by Michael Cooper, September 19, 2019

“Porgy and Bess at the Met” by By Joseph Horowitz, The American Scholar, October 9, 2019

Jule: The Story of Composer Jule Styne by Thomas Taylor

Dorothy Dandridge by Donald Bogle

Preminger: An Autobiography by Otto Preminger

This Life by Sidney Poitier

Please note: as an Amazon Associate Karina earns from qualifying purchases. #ad

Sammy Davis Jr. and Eartha Kitt in Anna Lucasta, 1958

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

Via Verre (Comping Run) - The Sweet Hots

Lowball - Vermouth

Cran Ras - Vermouth

Calgary Sweeps - Vermouth

Gin Boheme - Vermouth

Luper - Sketchbook 2

Watercool Quiet - Calumet

Our Only Lark (Rhythm Leader) - Bitters

Luka 75 - Vermouth

Single Still - Vermouth

Porgy and Bess, 1959

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Sammy and Dino Episode 3: Nothing But a Dollar Sign /  by Karina Longworth

Sammy Davis Jr. dancing shot by Phil Stern, mid-1950s

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In the first half of the 1950s, Martin and Lewis mint money as movie stars--and find unique ways to make their access to gangsters payoff--but stardom tears them apart. During this period, Sammy tries to prove himself to a Hollywood that still has little use for Black performers. Then, a horrible accident changes Sammy’s life--and changes his perceived value to the gate-keepers of the entertainment industry.

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in publicity portrait for the film 'You're Never Too Young', 1955. Photo by Paramount/Getty Images

Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in Artists and Models, 1955

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

"Luca 75” by Vermouth
"Chase and We Follow” by Ray Catcher
"Late Comer” by Cafe Nostro
"Jat Poure" by The Sweet Hots
"Pacing” by TinyTiny Trio
"Gin Boheme” by Vermouth
"Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" by Kevin MacLeod
"Glass Stopper" by Vermouth
"Laser Focus (Piano Improv)" by TinyTiny Trio
"Doghouse" by Warmbody
"Impromptu in Quarter Comma Meantone" by Kevin MacLeod
"Single Still" by Vermouth
"Faster Does It" by Kevin MacLeod

Sammy Davis, Jr with Jacques Sernas, Marilyn Monroe, photographer Milton H Greene and jazz musician Mel Torme at the Crescendo Club, 1954. | Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Sammy and Dino Episode 2: Martin and Lewis, Sammy and Mickey and Frank /  by Karina Longworth

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, 1949 | Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures Shutterstock

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Dean Martin meets and begins collaborating with Jerry Lewis. Martin and Lewis — an Italian and a Jew — become the most successful nightclub act in the country, and transition to Hollywood. Meanwhile, Sammy Davis Jr, determined to get the attention of the white entertainment world,  starts working impressions of white stars into his act. 

Sammy Davis, Jr. c. early 1950s | Getty Images

Jerry Lewis Holding Dean Martin and Jeanne Biegger's Son

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

"Single Still" by Vermouth
"Single Still (No Trumpet)" by Vermouth
"Black Out" by Royalty Free Music World
"Via Verre (Comping Run)" by The Sweet Hots
"Cobalt Blue" by Marble Run
"Our Only Lark (Rhythm Leader)" by Bitters
"Cran Ras" by Vermouth
"Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" by Kevin MacLeod
"Trompette (Blues, New Orleans Music)" by Musique Libre de Droit Club
"Doghouse" by Warmbody
"Chaunce Libertine" by Vermouth
"Starlight" by Royalty Free Music World
"Janitor" by Union Hall
"FasterFasterBrighter" by Ray Catcher

Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. c. 1950s

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Sammy and Dino Episode 1: The Hustle /  by Karina Longworth

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

This season, we look at the movies, music and lives of Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin. Singers, actors, TV stars and nightclub performers, Davis and Martin became rich and famous selling versions of mid-20th-century hipness as the biggest stars in the Rat Pack who weren’t Frank Sinatra. The standard-setter for masculine cool in the second half of the twentieth century -- as well as a nexus where Hollywood power, political power and mafia power came together -- the Rat Pack feels uniquely uncool today. As its mystique recedes, it’s the perfect time to begin to unpack its allure, and take a cold hard look at the art it produced.

But Sammy and Dino were both more than the Rat Pack, and examining their lives and careers in tandem reveals tons, about the evolution of racial attitudes from the beginning of the 20th century -- when Italians and Italian-Americans like Dean were widely considered to be non-white; about how Hollywood responded to, and influenced, changing ideas about masculinity and “the man” from World War II to Vietnam and beyond; and above all, about the differences and similarities between mainstream capitalism and underground criminal economies, which is laid bare by the intersection of the music industry and the mafia.

Today, we’ll talk about Sammy and Dino’s childhoods and early years as entertainers -- years which formed their talent, their stage personas, and taught them their first lessons in the racket that was, and is, the music business. Both grew up in marginalized communities where they learned an ethos of success based on hustle. We’ll track both Dean and Sammy to major coming-of-age moments in the middle of World War II. Coming up in industrial Ohio as both a card dealer and a nightclub singer, Dean learns how and why the house always wins. As a child, Sammy joins his father’s touring dance act, and eventually becomes the main attraction -- before the war forces him to encounter racism at a level he’d never experienced before.

Sammy Davis Jr., Hamtree Harrington, and Ethel Waters in Rufus Jones for President (1933)

Young Dino Crocetti and his brother, c. 1920’s/30’s

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

"Low Horizon" by Kai Engel

"Calgary Sweeps" by Vermouth

"Cab Ride" by Pacho Faro

"Luka 75" by Vermouth

"Cran Ras" by Vermouth

"Cach" by Pacho Faro

"Glass Stopper" by Vermouth

"Faster Does It" by Kevin MacLeod

"Doghouse" by Warmbody

"Via Verre (Comping Run)" by The Sweet Hots

"Au Coin De La Rue" by Marco Raaphorst

"Late Comer (Bass Face) by Cafe Nostro

"02 Main Stem" by U.S. Army Blues

"Black Out" by Royalty-Free Music World

Sammy Davis Jr. in the Will Mastin Trio, c. 1950’s

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.

Young Dean Martin headshot