Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr.

When Sammy Davis Jr. published his autobiography in 1965, it was an immediate long-running bestseller as well as a revelation. Yes I Can describes Sammy Davis's personal conviction, the view of success that both propelled him to stardom from ghetto obscurity and served as his armour against racism.

A massive bestseller in its day, with an aspirational title that is sometimes mockingly extended with “… if Frank Sinatra says it’s OK” in honour of the line from This Is Spinal Tap about his perceived subservient position to Ol’ Blue Eyes in the Las Vegas Rat Pack. Despite the conservatism of his later years, when he endorsed the presidency of Richard Nixon, his battle against racism is stirring. There is an extraordinary, Ballardian description of how he lost his eye in a car accident – it fell prey to the bullet-shaped horn button on the steering wheel of his 1954 Cadillac. Davis gallantly helped the other driver out of her car with the eye still dangling out of its socket.