Rufus Jones for President Davis, Sammy, Jr. performer Will Vodery Girls performer Film 1933-09-09 Vitaphone/Warner Brothers Vitaphone Warner Bros. black short subject two-reeler that features the motion picture tap dancing debut of Sammy Davis Jr., at the age of eight, playing a little boy who falls asleep in the lap of his mother (Ethel Waters) and dreams he is elected President of the United States. 1. The Will Vodery Girls kick and tap and strut line 2. Sammy gets sworn in by putting his hand on a phone book, and then breaks into an inaugural tap dance, stomps and steps turns 3. Sammy performed an eccentric dance based on time steps, a few perches, and in the trenches 4. a tap Charleston by an unidentified couple doing eccentric slides and mashed potatoes Author Roy Liebman describes Sammy Davis, Jr. as a "black Shirley Temple: a funny face, small stature, "miniature man" in top hat and tails whose tap technique goes far beyond his age: quite a sophisticated rhythm tapper for such a small boy." with Ethel Waters, Hamtree Harrington, Dusty Fletcher, Edgar O'Connor Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Frank, Rusty E.: Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and their Stories 1900-1955. New York, William Morrow. (1990). Smith, Ernie: The Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection. The Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History: Archives Center (). Liebman, Roy: Vitaphone Films: A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts. McFarland & Company (2003). Vitaphone Internet Database: Vitaphone Internet Database: The Vitaphone Project. www.picking.com/vitaphone54.html (). Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html Sammy Davis Jr. (biography) loc.music.tdabio.72 tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.65