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    Bedtime Biography: Yes I Can by Sammy Davis Summary

    Bedtime Biography: Yes I Can
    Sammy Davis
    4.18 (708 Reviews)
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    Overview of Bedtime Biography: Yes I Can

    Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Yes I Can" - the electrifying 1965 bestseller that spent 18 weeks on the NYT list. This raw autobiography chronicles how a Black Jewish entertainer conquered America's racial barriers while dazzling the Rat Pack and inspiring generations of boundary-breakers.

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    Best quote from Bedtime Biography: Yes I Can

    “

    You've got to fight with your brain, Sammy, not your fists.

    ”
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    Key Takeaways

    1

    When Success Couldn't Shield Him from America's Ugliest Truth

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    A young performer stands in the wings of the New Frontier casino in Las Vegas, November 1954. After 26 years of grinding through vaudeville circuits, sleeping on dressing room floors, and entering venues through kitchen doors, Sammy Davis Jr. finally feels the shift. Audiences lean forward to catch his every move. Casino workers greet him with "Hi'ya, Sam" instead of "You're not allowed here." Walking through those same gambling halls that once barred him, he savors this hard-won freedom. Then fate delivers its cruelest joke. Driving to record his first movie soundtrack in his brand-new Cadillac, Sammy crashes into a roadblock. His eye hangs by a string. Twenty-six years of work, of swallowing indignities, of reaching for something better-was it all for nothing?

    2

    Born Into the Spotlight and Shattered by Reality

    3

    The Army Strips Away Every Protection

    4

    Breaking Barriers One Impression at a Time

    5

    The Crash That Nearly Ended Everything and the Comeback That Defined Him

    6

    Stardom Can't Erase the Color Line

    7

    Love Worth Fighting the Whole World For