Honesty and reputation alike should
lead to the following story about singer Sammy Davis Junior, described in the New York Observer,
happening more often:
He was also, in his work, an honest man who implicitly understood and
respected the nature of the transaction between performer and audience.
Once, in Atlantic City, he told the audience he didn’t think he’d given
a good show and picked up the tab for the 900 people who had come out to
see him. That beau geste cost him $4,000. He did the same thing at
Harrah’s, years later, and it cost him $17,000.
You were safe going to one of his performances. Contrast that with piano recitals by
people like Martha Argerich, where the frequent cancellations lead not to the audience
getting their money back, but to substitution by minor performers.
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