Purchased with funds from the S. Dillon Ripley Endowment. Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Author's Note -- Preface: The Long Civil Rights Era -- 1. Star Rising ...

There are entertainers, and then there is Sammy Davis Jr. To call him a “triple threat” feels almost insulting because the man didn’t just sing, dance, and act – he commanded the very air in the room.

And even though his father retired from the act in 1959, because of a heart attack, and his uncle, Will Mastin, moved over from dance manager to manager in 1958, he still splits what is left equally ...