Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew
Cover it with choc’late and a miracle or two
The Candy Man, oh the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can ’cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
While I love all of my collectible children, sometimes there are finds that you come across that you love just a little more, because they are soooo special. That is how I feel about the original concept drawings that I recently acquired for a Sammy Davis Jr. cartoon titled The Candy Man. This cartoon concept was conceived by Hanna Barbera back in the 1970’s but unfortunately never saw the light of day. That would have been a fun cartoon to watch. Sammy was a such an amazing entertainer, one of the legendary hollywood showmen of the 20th century, the Black member of The Rat Pack. The boy was baaaaad. He sang, he danced, he acted and he was funny as hell! And of course, who didn’t love the song The Candy Man. I owned the 45 and wore down the grooves.
Here are some xerox copies of character model sheets from the cartoon.
Here are a couple of xeroxed pages of a storyboard. Looks like they were trying to work in Sammy’s Here Come Da Judge routine that he used to do on Laugh In, which was based on the old Pigmeat Markham routine. Lots of singing, lots of dancing, lots of Sammy.
Here are the four original concept drawings that I was able to acquire and are a part of the Museum Of UnCut Funk Collection. I was also able to pick up what I think is a publicity cel of some sort with Sammy’s image on it. Makes me do my happy dance every time I look at this art…Talk about your childhood wishes…You can even eat the dishes…
