110K views · 3.2K reactions | The great American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. was born on this day in 1925! We share with you this clip of Sammy Davis Jr. performing his famous West Side Story Medley live in Amsterdam in 1964 with Johnny Mendoza on bongos. | Leonard Bernstein | Facebook

On July 9, 1959, Sammy Davis Jr. hosted his first ever TV special. But he had to come to Canada to do it, right here to CBC. In the United States in the 1950s, corporate sponsors largely controlled what was seen on television. "Sponsors didn't see that a show hosted by a Black performer would be the kind of show they would want their product associated with," explained Canadian television historian Blaine Davis. "Presumably because consumers might be turned off by the association of their car or