Interesting you put that way…Jackson himself answers you directly.
Regarding Sammy’s estate: earlier this year Altovise’s estate was said to be in excess of $10 million in papers where their adopted son Manny sued to enforce his mother’s homemade will, so apparently she recovered rather nicely. (I’m guessing that figure is mostly copyrights and publishing rights and what not rather than cash, but it still boils down to “not broke as most would understand the term”.)
She was younger than Sam, but not by that much I don’t think. She liked her Jag… A strangely distinct memory I have is riding in the back of the Jag when PeeWee was driving and wearing some kind of leather jacket… I distinctly remember the sound of the leather jacket. I don’t know why that made such an impression on me.
PeeWee was the first anal-retentive I ever knew, and I say that with affection. It was funny that she and my mom were so close, my mom was such a slob about the house and PeeWee was fanatical. She was a GREAT cook, wonderful. I always remember “PeeWee biscuits” - she cut them with thimbles. Very amusing.
When we went to Disneyland with Sammy and his kids, PeeWee was really sweet because I was too much of a wuss to do the Matterhorn, so PeeWee stayed with me while we waited for them to do the ride. Which wasn’t a long wait, since we got to go to the front of every line. The VIP experience…
Oh, and a few tidbits about Sam Sr.: he liked to play pinochle with his buddies, and for a long time I thought it was “peaknuckle”, they had the first color TV I ever saw and Sam pretty much lived in front of it, and Daddy Sam said of me, after watching me dance (I am a good dancer, excellent sense of rhythm) that I must have “a nigger in the woodpile” - don’t get mad, SAM said it. First time I ever heard that expression. Probably true, since my dad is from Tennessee hillbillies.
[quote=“Stoid, post:33, topic:555270”]
Sammy’s Deusey was a reproduction. A first rate one, but not an original.
Maybe we’re suffering from a bit of amphiboly here. As far as I understand, a “hack” is someone in a creative capacity, usually but not necessarily in the print medium, who produces formulaic or mundane output that merely meets the expectations of his/her sponsors or targeted audience; who breaks no new artistic ground nor expresses a unique artistic viewpoint. So if you mean his work was above the norm, I don’t think you could call it hackery, but if you’re sticking with hackery as defined, then “well executed” just means “meets expectations.” If that’s your evaluation of SDJ after more than a cursory viewing of his performances, I think it’ll be hard to convince you of his importance!
Dependence is a tough standard with which to measure influence. For instance, it’s not ridiculous to ask whether we’d have had Julia Child if there’d not been a Georges Auguste Escoffier, but it’s a tougher question to ask how much of Stephen King’s output is dependent on what E. A. Poe did? Is there a direct line of causation between Hank Williams and Toby Keith? Madonna and Lady Gaga? Little Richard and Elton John? Red Skelton and Jim Carey?
Some of those lean “yes” some of 'em are less obvious, but the influences of the earlier performers are just as clear.
I had forgotten what a talent he was. Calling his work hackery is to ignore all the great stuff he did pre-schlock era. The 70’s and 80’s weren’t exactly known for excellence in pop songwriting or for showcasing older pop singers, but all his earlier stuff was great. Just ignore “I’ve Gotta Be Me” and “The Candyman” which even he didn’t care much for. Watch his Porgy & Bess clips and the pre-hippie stuff. YouTube doesn’t do justice to his voice, which was absolutely beautiful. His range of styles and his versatility was unsurpassed. He was mesmerizing to watch and his performances flawless. To think that he wasn’t allowed to stay in the Vegas hotels he performed at in the 1950s, that he was kidnapped by thugs and threatened in order to make him stop dating Kim Novak, what he did to advance civil rights, switched to Judaism at a time when actors were still hiding their Jewishness…
From Wikipedia:
I remember that his fawning over Nixon left a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of liberals. JFK had uninvited him from performing at his inauguration party because of his marriage to May Britt. Apparently he went back to supporting Democrats post-Nixon.
Hard to say what exactly his “legacy” is, but he was a remarkable talent.
Come now, those Scots/Irish roots make for good rhythm, too. It’s possible your ancestry includes guys and gals like these 'uns in the woodpile. 
Except you’re assuming that the people in that video have snow-white woodpiles themselves. 
That is a marvelous word! One I’ve actually wanted for a long time…thank you!
And I think the OP is also having a bit of trouble separating his own tastes from his assessment of Sammy.
Stoid- did you go to his funeral?
There’s a rumor- the truth value of which is impossible to gauge of course- that a photographer took several pictures of Sammy in his coffin, which in addition to never being anybody’s greatest position/lighting/etc. in Sammy’s case was particularly bad due to the cancer wasting him away and certainly not how he’d want to be remember. Per the rumor the photographer was called at home by Shirley MacLaine who conveyed a message from Frank Sinatra that he’d like for the photographer would give him the negatives, and that it would make Sinatra sad if he didn’t (i.e. less bribe, more threat). In any case the photos never surfaced.
This is a great thread, especially the posts by Sampiro and Stoid. I now have a true appreciation for the man that I never had before.
I’m very glad. Honestly, I was a little surprised at how much it bothered me that this ever came up! Sammy’s the MAN…
Nio, by the time he died PeeWee had been dead for awhile already and my family wasn’t really in touch with his anymore.
In fact, I’ve been trying to find his sister via Facebook and so far no luck.
How many did he have? I knew he had a sister named Ramona- she did some interview shows- but she died in 2001.
Two. The other is named Suzette. She was my sister’s age. And I actually found her right after I made the post!
I sent her a message and I’m hoping to hear back.
but my mother was a huge Sammy fan. My favorite of his works has to be the musical Golden Boy. Lots of good stuff on that soundtrack. A shame he couldn’t get more ‘centered’ in his personal life - a poster boy for ‘acquired narcissism syndrome’ if ever there was.