The raconteur and the Rat Packer

Jennifer K Mahal

Not many people got to know Sammy Davis Jr. the way Burt Boyar and his

late wife, Jane, did. Their friendship with the Rat Packer lasted from

the mid-1950s until his death in May 1990 -- almost 50 years.

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, the Boyars helped Davis write two

autobiographies -- “Yes I Can” and “Why Me?” The books have been combined

with additional material to create “Sammy, An Autobiography,” recently

released by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Burt Boyar will appear Thursday at

Round Table West in Newport Beach to discuss his “instant friend.”

“I idolized his talent,” Boyar said. “He was such a brilliant

performer and such a smart man. He was as close to a genius as anyone I

know.”

Davis was best known for his participation in the Rat Pack, with pals

Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. The singer/dancer/movie star -- “Oceans

11,” “Robin and the Seven Hoods” -- broke racial barriers with his

performances, helping to open opportunities for African Americans who

followed.

“I thought he was the greatest entertainer in the world,” said

Margaret Burk, one of the organizers of Round Table West.

Burk met Davis when she was working as an executive with the

Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

“He was the best entertainer I ever saw, and I saw them all at the

Coconut Grove,” she said.

Boyar met Davis in 1954, when he was a gossip columnist for the

Morning Telegraph. A former child radio star -- he was the voice of Billy

Batson on “Captain Marvel,” among others -- Boyar used to write about

Broadway and movie stars based, in part, on information he got from a

mole in the William Morris Agency.

In his column, Boyar wrote a number of tidbits about Davis -- that

Davis carried a gun and was seeing Chita Rivera, his co-star in “Mr.

Wonderful” on Broadway.

“Sammy called me up and said, ‘Why don’t we have dinner together?”’

Boyar said.

They met. They talked. They had fun.

“Our chemistry was amazing,” Boyar said of his and Jane’s first

meeting with Davis. “Afterward, he said, ‘Why don’t we get together for

dinner five nights a week?”’

And they did, for more than a year.

This was not typical of Boyar’s experience with writing about stars.

On the contrary, when the columnist wrote a piece in TV Guide about Eddie

Fisher’s marital troubles with Debbie Reynolds leading to a divorce,

things hit the fan.

“Eddie called and wanted to kill me,” Boyar said. “It’s amazing when

people know they’re getting divorced, yet they feel compelled to call.”

These days, Boyar said he doesn’t write gossip anymore. The author,

who is working on a soon-to-be-published book on Franco and Hitler, said

he doesn’t even know which columns still exist. When he started, Walter

Winchell was the king.

“Winchell was wonderful to me,” Boyar said. “As bad as a guy as he

really was, he was terrific to me. He used to take Jan and me riding in a

car at night. We’d go whizzing around New York with him at 3 in the

morning.”

Boyar, who also co-wrote the fictional “Invisible Scars” with his

wife, is a man with stories to tell. Many involve his friend Sammy.

Like the way that Davis would be a star onstage and then be called

racial epithets on the street.

Or the time he, Davis and Peter Lawford were in Sinatra’s suite at the

Sands Hotel and Sen. John F. Kennedy stopped by, campaigning for

president.

“Peter Lawford said, ‘Hey, want to see what a million dollars looks

like?”’ Boyar said. “And there was a satchel of bills that the casino

operators had donated to the campaign.”

Or how, at a party where drugs were common, a protective Davis

insisted that the Hollywood star who had just lighted a joint “stop” and

rushed the Boyars, who were not into drugs, upstairs.

Or how Davis apologized to Jane Boyar for cussing because others were

present, later explaining that though he knew she wouldn’t mind, he

didn’t want the others to think it was OK.

“He was a gentleman,” he said.The star could have spent every day on a

variety show but instead chose to tackle acting roles.

When he went to agents and asked about parts, Boyar said, “They’d say,

‘Sam, they’re not writing parts for colored guys.’ And he’d say, ‘Why are

they writing for colored guys? Why can’t I be a lawyer, a doctor, a cop,

a hoodlum?”’

Boyar said he hopes people will read the book and know how ahead of

his time Davis really was.

“He opened up doors for other people to follow that they don’t even

realize they’re walking through today,” he said.

Other authors featured at Round Table West will be Michael Mason, who

wrote “The Park Avenue Chorus Boy,” and Pat Farrell, author of “Get a

Life, How to Be Happy No Matter What’s Happening.”

FYI

WHAT: Round Table West

WHEN: Noon Thursday

WHERE: Newport Beach Country Club, 1600 E. Coast Highway, Newport

Beach

COST: $40, includes lunch. Reservations are required.

CALL: (323) 256-7977