Sam
on ScreenSam
on Screen
Unfortunately there is not much videofootage of Sam in action. He appeared in a few tv-shows that are listed here. To my knowledge he was portrayed in a movie three times.
*** NEWS: The Amazing YouTube site has many of the tv-appearances ***
Documentaries
Sam
Cooke - Legend
This documentary was first shown on VH1 and then released on DVD. It is written by Peter Guralnick.It is the only documentary on DVD so far but well worth it.
Get it at Amazon.com
For those who don't want to pay for it, I've seen it on YouTube as well.
This is the renewed list of Sam Cooke Appearances. Thanks to work of many people, but most of all Matt Wheeler who wrote most of the following, this is the list we were able to put together. The links all correspond to a page (mostly YouTube) where the clip can be seen.
Sam Cooke appeared on the following shows:
November 3, 1957Ed Sullivan Show.
AVAILABLE
The infamous debut on “Ed Sullivan”. Sam appeared at the tail end of the show after all the other guests (including Paul Anka and Jimmy Rodgers) had performed. Sam’s rendition of “You Send Me” was cut short as the show ran out of time.
November 11, 1957
The Guy Mitchell Show (ABC)
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
Guy Mitchell was a popular singer and actor of the 1950s best known for “Singing the Blues,” a million-selling disc that spent a staggering ten weeks lodged at No. 1 on the Billboard music charts. For three months in 1957, Mitchell was the host of his own variety series, “The Guy Mitchell Show,” which aired on ABC. It’s not known what song(s) Sam performed on this edition of the series.
December 1, 1957
The Ed Sullivan Show
AVAILABLE
Sam returns to Ed’s show to sing two of his hits, “You Send Me” and “For Sentimental Reasons”. The performances – which are available on bootleg videos – are fine, but are a bit stiff and affected. Sam’s overly mannered hand gestures seem painstakingly rehearsed rather than casual or spontaneous – not surprising, perhaps, given his lack of previous television experience. Still, this was a very impressive debut and it’s worth checking out. (One interesting footnote: This show featured Buddy Holly and The Crickets who performed “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue”.) Those of you who have a PBS affiliate that airs the syndicated “The Best of Ed Sullivan” program should watch for this classic episode. Both of Sam’s performances are shown in quality that far surpasses the commonly circulated bootleg videos. In fact, the PBS version isn’t marred by the rather obvious digital blocking effect that can be seen in the version include on the official “Sam Cooke: Legend” DVD.
December 4, 1957
Club 60 / The Howard Miller Show
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
This program was broadcast by WBBM, Chicago’s CBS network affiliate. Sam appeared on the program at a time when it was being broadcast from the old Garrick Theater on Randolph Street.
January 5, 1958
The Steve Allen Show
NOT COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE
Sam performs “You Send Me”, then jokes around with Steve who shows off a gold record of Sam’s big hit, then makes it disappear. Sam then performs “For Sentimental Reasons”. Brief portions of this episode have aired on VH-1 in pretty good quality and the joking with Steve can be seen on an episode of “Mysteries and Scandals”.
January 29, 1958
The Big Record
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
“Big Record”, hosted by Patti Page, was a CBS variety show that aired for one season, from the fall of 1957 to the spring of 1958. Given the one-hour program length of most episodes in this series, Sam most likely performed at least two songs, including his then-current single, “For Sentimental Reasons”. It’s particularly sad that this show has not survived as it was normally filmed in color – highly unusual for a program of the era.
March 2, 1958
The Steve Allen Show
AVAILABLE / posted on YouTube.
Sam performs “Old Man River”. This can be seen on-line at the web site of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, although the on-line copy is of poor quality.
March 22, 1958
In Town Tonight
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
This was a locally produced television show based out of Chicago and broadcast from the studios of WBBM. This series featured Mahalia Jackson as a guest – although not in the same episode in which Sam appeared.
March 29, 1958
The Jimmy Dean Show
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
This variety series ran on CBS from 1957 to 1958, and a few years ago highlights of the program were released on videotape. Unfortunately, Sam’s appearance was not among those included. Recorded in Washington D.C.
July 4, 1958
The Larry Finley Show
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
It was a tribute to Keen Records and Sam got an award for being “The Brightest Young Singing Talent to Grace the Airwaves of KLTA for 1958”. Bumps Blackwell got an award for discovering Sam. Here he sang “Win Your Love For Me” with the Bumps Blackwell Rockin’ Combo.
October 6, 1958
The Arthur Murray Party (NBC)
AVAILABLE
A wonderful appearance circulating on bootleg videos. A finger-snapping Sam performs a live, swinging version of “Mary Mary Lou” and he’s clearing having a good time. Although this show widely circulated as a black and white video tape, it was filmed in color and some bootleg dealers do sell copies of the performance in color.
October 22, 1958
Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beachnut Show
This is the legendary broadcast from Atlanta that the KKK threatened to disrupt. Sam performed “Win Your Love For Me” before an integrated audience of 6,000 people. This show was broadcast live, but it’s not known as to whether or not Sam lip-synced to a record. Dick Clark usually favored lip-syncing. The show took place not at a television studio, but at a fairgrounds grandstand.
1958
March of Dimes
Sam lip-syncs to “Desire Me”, speaks of the need for contributions to the March of Dimes to help polio patients, and lip-syncs to “For Sentimental Reasons”.
1958 / 1959
Buddy’s Music Shop
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
This U.S. television broadcast was hosted by Buddy Bregman. Bregman was a well-known arranger and conductor for television shows and films. While working as the musical director of the NBC Chesterfield Television Hour, Buddy was given his own series, “Buddy’s Music Shop”. In addition to Sam Cooke, this program featured Bobby Darin, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others.
March 14, 1959
The Dick Clark Beechnut Show
AVAILABLE
A set of lip-synced performances of “You Send Me” and “Everybody Loves To Cha Cha Cha” were Sam’s contribution to this precursor to “American Bandstand”. Given the poor camera work – including plenty of distracting shots of the teenage audience – and the fact that this isn’t a live performance, there’s not much to recommend this appearance. The latter song is available on bootleg videos but “You Send Me” is available in good quality on a legitimate 1986 videotape entitled “Dick Clark’s Best of Bandstand, Volume One”. The video is out of print, but used copies can be purchased on eBay for as little as $5.00. Sam Cooke fans looking for the best quality picture and sound of the “You Send Me” performance should keep an eye out for the laserdisc.
May 1, 1959
The Jimmy Dean Show
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
Another appearance on this short-lived series. It’s not certain whether this broadcast is a repeat of the March 1958 show mentioned above. It’s more likely that this is an entirely different episode.
November 1960
Saturday Prom
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
No information is available on this show or Sam’s appearance.
1960
General Electric Theater: The Patsy (1960)
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
Not a singing performance, but a 30-minute made for television movie that constituted Sam’s acting debut. The movie was aired as part of the General Electric Theater, which was then hosted by Ronald Reagan. It starred Sammy Davis Junior and Sam’s role was minor. Although many episodes of this series have surfaced, the episode featuring Sam has not.
April 1, 1961
Saturday Prom
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
No information is available on this show or Sam’s appearance.
April 13, 1961
Play Your Hunch
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
This was a celebrity game show that aired on all three networks at various points during the early 1960s. The hosts included Gene Rayburn and Merv Griffin. At the time of Sam’s appearance, the show was aired on NBC during primetime evening hours.
June 14, 1961
PM East
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
PM East was a show hosted by Mike Wallace that was famous for introducing a young singer named “Barbra Streisand” to the world. The program featuring Sam was called “The Sam Cooke Phenomenon” and it included Sam’s PR manager, Jess Rand (who essentially scripted the program), along with record producers Hugo and Luigi. In addition to interviews with Sam, the show featured a dozen live-in-the-studio musical performances. In what can only be described as one of the great tragedies of Sam’s professional career, all the footage from this program appears to have been wiped. However, audio tapes of certain episodes have been known to survive. In Peter Guralnick’s “Dream Boogie”, he describes the show in such detail that it seems that he may have listened to a surviving audio tape of the episode.
November 16, 1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
Sam’s first appearance on “The Tonight Show”, filmed just a few weeks after Johnny Carson took over as host. It’s likely that Sam performed either “Nothing Can Change This Love” or “Send Me Some Loving”.
March 18, 1963
The Merv Griffin Show
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
Its possible Sam performed “Another Saturday Night” on this show, given the single’s impending release at the time of the broadcast.
December 7, 1963
NOT COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE / NEW ON YOUTUBE ! ! ! !
“The Jerry Lewis Show” was a short-lived ABC-TV series and is the source of Sam performing “The Riddle Song” and “Twisting The Night Away” on the “Sam Cooke: Legend” DVD. This performance is tightly controlled by the Lewis camp.February 7, 1964
The Tonight Show
AVAILABLE
February 18, 1964
The Mike Douglas Show
AVAILABLE
More good stuff, gearing a live performance of “Ain't That Good News”. The instrumental accompaniment is tasteful, but so slight that this song almost comes across as a capella number. Sam then chats with Mike for a few minutes and sings a medley of “For Sentimental Reasons” and “You Send Me”. At the end of the show, Sam takes part in Douglas’ trademark gimmick of closing each show by having all the guests line up on stage, sitting on stools and singing a song together. Sam leads his fellow guests through a relaxed version of “Basin Street Blues”. All in all, this appearance is one of Sam’s best and can be seen in good quality on bootleg videos. The “Sam Cooke: Legend” DVD includes a fair amount of interview footage from this show, but none of the musical performances.
March 4, 1964
BBC Television
AVAILABLE
There exists a film clip of Sam performing a brief, impromptu version of “The Gang’s All Here” with his friend Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali) for whom Sam produced the song the night before. The heavyweight champion was being interviewed by BBC sportscaster Harry Carpenter. via satellite when Sam joined him for this off-the-cuff performance. This clip resurfaced not long ago on a BBC special, but the documentary hasn’t been officially released on video. However, the clip appears on the “Sam Cooke: Legend” DVD.
April 4, 1964
American Bandstand
AVAILABLE
The second of two officially released Sam Cooke television performances, this can be purchased on the 1986 compilation videotape called “Dick Clark’s Best of Bandstand: The Superstars”. Sam does a lip-synced performance of “(Ain’t That) Good News”, then chats with America’s oldest teenager for a few minutes. If you have a laserdisc player, this is worth buying in that format just for archival purposes. Used copies of the video tape and the laserdisc appear on eBay from time to time. Collectors short take note – the commonly circulated video of Sam’s various television appearances includes this performance, but from an inferior source that also has a very distracting time code stripped across the screen. The officially released video offers excellent picture quality, vastly improved sound and no time code. The “Sam Cooke: Legend” DVD includes interview excerpts from this show, but not that “(Ain’t That) Good News” performance.
June 30, 1964
Missing Links
MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED
This was a short-lived celebrity game show hosted by Dick Clark. No episodes of this series are known to be circulating among traders of game show videos.
September 16, 1964
Shindig!
AVAILABLE
One of the true highlights of Sam’s television appearances. Sam does a killer live version of “Tennessee Waltz” then reappears later in the show for an excellent rendition of “Blowin In The Wind”. The latter has soul. Lots of soul. This is truly a performance for the ages. Sam reappeared at the end of this show to join The Everly Brothers on a rocking version of “Lucille”. While that sounds enticing, the song is incomplete (they played it over the closing credits) and the sound is seriously marred by an audience that was all too willing to obey the “applause” sign. Sam’s vocals are virtually inaudible. Segments of the first two songs can be seen on the “Sam Cooke: Legend” DVD.
1964
The George Klein Show / Talent Party
AVAILABLE
George Klein is a legendary friend of Elvis who had his own television and radio show in the 1960s. Among the episodes that have survived is a lip-synced performance of “Everybody Likes To Cha Cha Cha” that’s most interesting because Jackie Wilson appears on half-way through the song and starts lip-syncing and dancing with Sam. A very fun performance, with both artists cracking up and totally giving up on any attempt to lip-sync by the song’s end. Sam and Jackie Wilson were in Memphis on Election Day (November 3, 1964) to play at Ellis Auditorium. On the afternoon of the show, Sam got a call from local DJ George Klein, asking him to appear on his TV show, which Guralnick says was called "Talent Party."
Actors who played Sam Cooke
Sam's Music On Screen
or watch it on YouTube.