Read In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Junior for Free Online

from publication; Straus was holding an advance copy. The Boyars were beside themselves. Giddily they asked about the
New York Times
. Could they dare think, dare imagine, they’d get the cover of the
Times
as well? In New York City, such a feat—the
Times
and
Herald Trib
on their respective covers on the same Sunday featuring the same book—was known to rival the almighty hat trick. And it was rare indeed to become the beneficiary of such an accomplishment. “Don’t be silly,” Straus told them. “Count your blessings.” The Boyars hugged and kissed.
    They planned to celebrate. Maybe the Waldorf, maybe “21,” maybe the Carlyle. Everyone knew Burt at the Carlyle; hell, he used to do publicity for the place. But before they could make a move, the phone rang again. It was Straus. “Don’t leave the apartment,” he advised. “I don’t want you to lose my next phone call.” Pause. “You might get the front page of the
New York Times
.” The Boyars couldn’t believe it. They made goo-goo eyes. Laughter stretched their faces. Roger Straus’s prediction was correct: the book was indeed planned for the September 19
Times Book Review
front cover. Its own hat trick indeed. Straus soon had an advance copy of the
Times
review as well. It was written by Martin Duberman, a professor of history at Princeton. “We have recently learned much of the Negro’s mistreatment, but the trials of a single man, when recounted as vividly as Sammy Davis Jr.’s are in his lengthy autobiography, renew and redouble the shock,” wrote Duberman. Duberman liked the book, but he had misgivings, and it was deeper inside the review where those misgivings could be felt. “When one man’s experiences are filtered (to any degree) through someone else’s prose, the experiences themselves are altered. To evaluate this book at all, we must proceed on what we know is a false assumption: that every sentence represents Mr. Davis and no one else. If the portrait is not a fair likeness, he must nonetheless abide by it, for he has allowed the book to bear his name.” Duberman quotes Davis: “Baby, I know everything wrong that I ever do—and I don’t need a psychiatrist to tell me why I keep doing it,” and immediately senses falsity in the claim. “If so,” Duberman wonders, “why not share the knowledge with the reader? Why be reticent in the area of how? Can it be that it is now permissible to reveal everything except thought?”
    Straus’s sources had certainly done well in getting him advance copies of the
Herald Tribune
and
Times
reviews. (The
Herald Tribune
review was titled “What Made Sammy Run.” It was accompanied by a drawing of Sammy sitting at a piano looking skyward. He seemed melancholy, was wearing suit and tie, with the tie askew. To the discerning eye, he had been sketched into a very Sinatraesque pose.) There was more than enough, in both reviews, to start a publicity campaign. But there was one problem, and it was hardly insignificant. For weeks there had been talk of another New York newspaper strike. The114-day strike of 1961–62 was brutal, and the new talk, when it began, caught many by surprise. The powerful newspaper print unions—known as the Big Six—were yet again wielding enormous weight. As well, the city was in the midst of a full-throttled mayoral campaign—Congressman John Lindsay (another “golden boy”) had caught the fancy of the
Herald Tribune
editorial writers. (The
Tribune
was also receiving huge plaudits for its series of articles titled “New York City in Crisis.” “New York is the greatest city in the world—and everything is wrong with it,” was the first line of the series.)
    Another strike might cost the closing of other city newspapers—the
Herald Tribune
, even the
Times
, perhaps. “I don’t think it’ll happen,” Straus told Boyar. But it did. And Burt and Jane Boyar and Roger Straus were mortified. They had a book to sell; they had advance copies of stunning reviews