'Poor Devil' (1973)
Sammy Davis, Jr. and the TV show about Satanism that almost was.
From Alex Bhattacharji’s Rolling Stone article, “Inside Sammy Davis Jr.’s Secret Satanic Past,” chronicling Sammy Davis, Jr.’s doomed 1973 Satanism-inspired TV pilot…
Poor Devil would never have existed without a bit of Satanic serendipity. When Davis met with the NBC brass in 1972 to discuss projects, he bounced a comedy concept off them — a vague pitch about a guy working for the man downstairs. It’s possible the idea was inspired or informed by Davis’ own experience: In his 1989 autobiography, Why Me?, he would give a lurid account of a night in 1968 when he accepted an impromptu invitation to a heavily ritualized Church of Satan ceremony in the Hollywood Hills that, to his delight, ended in a drug-fueled orgy.
Inchoate as it was, Davis’ idea collided with the concept for another series under consideration at NBC, a comedy with the working title Beat the Devil by two veteran TV writers — Arne Sultan and Barret, who’d made light fare about the dark arts before, on Bewitched. Presented with the possibility of folding his Satanic comedy into Barret and Sultan’s project, Davis was intrigued.
“I love the idea of it,” Davis announced after hearing the writers’ pitch.
Davis saw Poor Devil, as the project was renamed, as an inversion of It’s a Wonderful Life: A bumbling but lovable underling in the afterlife attempts to earn a promotion — only not by saving a good man but by convincing one to sell his soul. Davis clung to this interpretation, Barret would recall: “But it was Faust. It’s about making a deal with the devil.” Actor and writer debated: It’s a Wonderful Life, Faust; feel-good story, morality play. Finally, Barret challenged his star. “But the devil has to lose. Right?” Davis just laughed…
As production began, Davis introduced knowing Satanic details not found in the script — flashing the Devil’s horn salute and painting a fingernail red — into his performance, and screenwriter Earl Barret, also an executive producer, was encouraged, thinking the star had done his homework.
The pilot aired on February 14, 1973. Less that a month before I was born. (Coincidence??) The series was never picked up, for all sorts of reasons that seem pretty obvious in retrospect. Mostly, though—and in spite of a really good cast, including Jack Klugman and Christopher Lee (as Satan)—it just wasn’t very good. As you can see for yourself…
Jump ahead to the 8:40 mark to see Lee’s appearance.
