PRESS WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY Inc. DEPARTMENT 1740 BROADWAY, NEW YORK 19, N. Y., JUdson 6-5100
NEW YORK • BEVERLY HILLS • CHICAGO • LONDON • PARIS • ROME
BILLING THIS IS THECORRECT BILLING NO CHANGES ARE TO BE MADE.
WILL MASTIN TRIO 100%
Starring
SAMMY DAVIS. JR. 100$
BILLING CLAUSE: Sammy Davis, Jr.'s name is to be in the same size type as "Will Mastin Trio."
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THE WILLMASTIN TRIO
Starring
SAMMY DAVIS. JR.
PERSONAL APPEARANCES
COPACABANA, NEW YORK LATCH CASINO, PHILADELPHIA TOWN CASINO, BUFFALO CIRO'S, LOS ANGELES FAIRMONT HOTEL, SAN FRANCISCO CEZ PAREE, MONTREAL NEW FRONTIER, LAS VEGAS BEACHCOMBER, MIAMI BEACH TWIN COACHES, PITTSBURGH LATIN QUARTER, BOSTON
TELEVISION
ED SULLIVAN'S "TOAST OF THE TOM" MILTON BERLE SHOW STEVE ALLEN SHOW COLGATE COMEDY HOUR
BROADWAY
"MR. WONDERFUL"
DECCA RECORDS
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THE WILL i AST IN TRIO Starring SAMMY DAVIS. JR.
CRITICS REVIEWS OF "IvIR. WONDERFUL
"The youthful Davis is by all odds one of the most versatile and stupendous singer-dancer-musician-impersonators on view anywhere in the entertainment world today ...he dances as well as Bill Robinson, he can sing like a lark, play a perfectly adequate trumpet or traps, and he can flatten you with his imitations ...it's a monumental hunk of showmanship..." JOHN McCLAIN, NEW YORK JOURNAL-AMERICAN
"Sammy Davis, Jr. is a powerhouse...works with tremendous energy...he has warmth and charm as well as talent ...there is a distinct quality about his work, a direct communication and loveable assertiveness, that makes this dynamic little cricket a star. No lesser des- cription will do*" WILLIAM HAWKINS, NEW YOHK WORLD-TELEGRAM & SUN
"Mr. Davis is a talented and winning young man..." BROOKS ATKINSON, NEW YORK TIMES
"Sammy Davis, Jr. does just about everything acts, sings, dances, does imitations and everything he does is right. I'm for Davis." JOHN CHAPMAN, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS.
"Sammy Davis, Jr. is a great performer...he can sing, step and do impersonations with the tops...he has the spark." ROBERT COLEMAN, NEW YORK DAILY MIRROR
"...there is no doubt he is an unusually talented and versatile performer, with a notable gift of assured showmanship..."
RICHARD WATTS, NEW YORK POST
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WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY, INC. THE WILL MASTIN TRIO Starring
SAMMY DAVIS JR.
Acknowledged as one of the most phenomenally versatile
talents to appear on the show business scene in this past quarter
century, Sammy Davis, Jr., starring with the Will Mastin Trio,
will shortly be appearing at the
on the .
The trio's history started long before Sammy, Jr., arrived
on the scene. His dad, Sam Davis, Sr., and his uncle, Will Mastin,
were a well-known act on the vaudeville circuits for some time
before Sammy was born, Sammy's story begins when Will Mastin
had an act called "Holiday in Dixieland," consisting of seven
men and seven women, offering songs, skits and comedy in addition
to their specialty a dance novelty that was then sweeping
the nation, the "Texas Tommy." Sam Davis, Sr., married one of
the girls in the unit, Elvira Sanchez, and Sammy Davis, Jr.
was born in 1926 in New York City.
He celebrated his first birthday in a specially contrived
crib in a dressing rccm at the old Hippodrome Theatre in New
York. When Sammy was two, Will Mastin formed another unit called
"Creole" and Sammy, Jr., amazed the performers as he mimicked
their parts as the piano player tossed off the cues. When the
great depression era of the early 1930's hit the nation, Mastin
cut his act to five men and at the tender age of four, Sammy
was considered one of the "men." When the act hit the West
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THE 'JILL MAST IN TRIO
Starring
SAMMY DAVIS, JR.
Coast, Will had young Sammy audition for, and win, a role in an Ethel waters picture for Warners titled "Rufus Jones
For President," later he played in "Seasons Greetings," also for the same company.
As the depression deepened, Mastin had to cut the act once again and as vaudeville began to fade into theatrical history, the Will Mastin Trio was born.
For the next ten years the Mil Mastin Trio ILabored in the vineyards of showbusiness. These years were the weaning years for Sammy Davis, Jr., when he learned his profession, every piece of business, the superb timing, the deft comedy touch, all the subtle nuances that have since placed him at the top of the ladder. While the trio was filling an engagement at a theatre in Michigan where the late Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was playing, the great star was so taken by the youngster's evident talent that he asked Will Mastin to bring Sammy to him for some extra tutelage. The lessons found an apt pupil, and Robinson and his student put in countless hours as Sammy absorbed the skill and wisdom that was Bill Robinson. The trigger-like turn of the heel and toe, the lightening-like of arms and legs, the rapid twist and turn of body, the thrill- packed finale that inspires the burst-of-glory ending.
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THE will mastin trio
Starring
SAMMY DAVIS. JR.
Though "Bojangles" left very little financially when he passed away, he had left his legacy of dance to young Sammy Davis
and no greater gift could he have bestowed. Earl Wilson of the New York Post has written of Sammy's dancing,"...his feet remind one of liquid rhythm."
The years passed and the Trio played nightclubs and theatres across the country and back again, constantly sharpening their act, shining up bits of business, smoothing out a spot here and there, getting even the minutest tap down to the most perfectly formed rhythmic pattern.
In 194-3, at the height of World Warr II, Sammy went into the Army, where in addition to his regular duties, his talents were pressed into service producing camp shows, many of which he wrote and directed himself. He was discharged at
San Francisco in late 1945 and immediately rejoined his dad and uncle who were then working in Seattle. The switch from
Army life back to show business was so fast that for a week
Sammy worked in a costume that was half khaki, half "civvies."
In April of 194-6, the Trio, unheralded and unsung, opened at the now defunct "Slapsie Maxie's" in Hollywood on the same bill with Ben Blue. The Trio was the opening act they scored such an overwhelming success that they were signed to come back as the headliners. On their returns
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THE -TILL MASTIN TRIO
Starring
SAMiiY DAVIS, JR. engagement they broke every previous record at the club.
Still working on their act, constantly revisiing, adding, polishing it to ap erfect entertainment gem, they signed for a two week theatre tour with Mickey Rooney six months later after a tour that had included all the major theatres in the United States, the Trio hit the major nitery circuit with an act already letter perfect, but now honed to a finei edge that glittered.
Opening in Los Angeles at Ciro's in April of 1950 for two weeks, they stayed for six. From there on their itinerary is a "Who's Who" of the top clubs, hotels and TV shows. Sammy's dancing, comedy, singing and impressions hit bullseyes every time. In June of 1954 another facet of his versatile talent was made available to a wider audience when Sammy signed with
Decca Records as a vocalist. His single releases and albums have appeared with regularity on the best-selling charts.
Moving into another phase of his career the incredibly talented young performer opened on Broadwway in March of 1956 in a musical comedy titled "Mr. Wonderful." Sammy boy/led the tough New York theatrical critics right over as they kudosed the fact that here indeed was a show business talent that could only come to the fore once in a generation.
In the Fall of 1954- while driving from Las Vegas to (more) FROM: PRESS DEFT* WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY, INC. Page 5
THE KILL MA5TIN TRIO
Starring
SAMMY DAVIS, JR. to Hollywood to make a recording session Sammy was in an automobile accident that cost him his left eye. Though the loss afi an eye is tragic, the police said it was a miracle that he wasn't killed. As Sammy put it, "God must have put His arms around me," While in the hospital he received over 100,000 telegrams and letters from friends, fans and wellwishers. He came back stronger than ever, triumphant over what could have been a crippling handicap.
Unanimously accSMmed in every quarter as one of the Greats of show business, Sammy Davis, Jr. and his dad and uncle stand at the pinnacle of their career. Frar Sammy
Davis, with over 25 years of show business already tucked under his belt, it is a career that is still developing, still flowering, a brilliant multi-faceted talent. Few have trod a harder path to realise a dream no success was ever more deserved.
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