(soft music) ♪ With your elbows on the sill ♪ And your nose against the pane ♪ ♪ You'll toss the pumpkin at Ichabod Crane ♪ ♪ You're one guy Paul Bunyan couldn't lick ♪ ♪ You're the guy that whaled the daylights out of Moby Dick ♪ ♪ Grown-ups don't know where to find that magic window ♪ ♪ But it's any window little boys look through ♪ ♪ There's so much for you to see ♪ ♪ So don't ever say to me ♪ That you've got a lot of growing up to do ♪ ♪ 'Cause I wish that I were growing down to you ♪ (soft music continues) (soft music) - Those records today sound like they were recorded yesterday.

It's always remembered.

And each year it gets bigger and bigger.

35 years from now, they'll not only call what Nat Cole was doing jazz, they'll call it America's classical music.

(upbeat piano melody plays) ♪ Just you ♪ Just me ♪ Let's find a cozy spot to cuddle and woo ♪ ♪ Just us ♪ Just we ♪ I've missed an awful lot ♪ My trouble is you - Not only was the world ready for his music, I think the world was ready for his color.

- You say, "Finally, they get the right person on television."

(laughs) - He was the first Black artist who had his own television show, and it was flawless.

And every week it was a wonderful thing to watch.

(upbeat piano melody continues) - Incredible.

It was a big thing because it was highly unusual to see an African American hosting a show, period.

But if anybody deserved it, Nat Cole was the guy.

- So this event did more for me in looking at America changing, America beginning to awake, awaken itself to a greater truth, to a greater reality.

The pride was in the fact that the country was beginning to change.

- You know, when people ask me about my background and Nat, it's so interesting.

We were exact opposites.

My husband was from a very, very kind, gentle family who were very poor, I understand quite poor.

Nat was born in Alabama.

- [Interviewer] You are pastor of the First Baptist Church in North Chicago, aren't you, Reverend Coles?

- Yes, I am.

- Mm-hmm.

- But Nat was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and we moved to Chicago when he was about the age of four.

- [Interviewer] Little Nat was an inquisitive boy, wasn't he, Reverend Coles?

- Yes, he was.

"Dad, you said God can do anything."

I said, "Yes, God can do anything, son."

He said, "I bet He cannot get bare naked and sit on this red hot stove with no clothes on."

(audience laughs) - At the end of the Civil War, a great force had been unleashed.

For the first time, millions of Black people had the right to move about the nation.

And the overwhelming common desire among the slave population was to get as far away from slavery as they could.

And moving into the North meant that there was an opportunity for employment because the Northern part of America was the industrial base.

- Most Negroes at that time felt like that there are better opportunities in Chicago, very little better, at New York and California.

We wanted better.

They want equal.

And Nat King Cole also wanted the same thing anyone else wanted.

We all wanted it.

And those who had talent began to move and go away.

And those who had skills began to go north and get better jobs in the steel mills and the auto industry and things of that sort.

For Nat, I guess, he used that ability to sing and perform.

- [Nat] I feel that the panorama of progress telling the story of the Negroes' contributions to the progress of America is a noteworthy and patriotic service to all freedom-loving people whose hopes and aspirations find expression in our democratic way of life.

From Crispus Attucks to Ralph Bunche, the Negro people have played a significant part in the building of this great country of ours.

America has meant much to the Negro and the Negro has contributed much to America.

It is a glorious history, that of the Negro in America.

So it is with humble respect for those who help make that history, but with great pride that I dedicate the recording of "We Are Americans Too" to the youth of America, who are the inheritors of a great tradition.

(upbeat jazz music) - When Nat was a little boy, from what I understand, he showed his talent.

But the story that I was told, and I heard this a lot when he was alive, so I'm sure it was true, he only had two lessons and I think it was some friend of the family's.

He had two lessons, but he picked everything up.

It started with, "Yes, We Have No Bananas."

I do remember that.

And it was like me just talking or something.

He was an absolute genius.

- When he started kindergarten, he used to play for the children to march and at the age of 11, he played for the choir.

He played the gospel numbers and I played the slower numbers.

- I had such great admiration for him as a singer and as a pianist and a gentleman.

He was a class act man.

(upbeat jazz music) ♪ I like to riff ♪ Do-ba-da-do-ba-da-do-da-dat ♪ I like to riff ♪ Ba-da-da-do - So the music was jazz-orientated, rhythm and blues, or church.

♪ I like to riff ♪ 'Cause it puts me solid in the groove ♪ ♪ I like to riff ♪ Oh, it's a solid killer ♪ Da-ba-da-do-da-ba-da-ra-da-do-da ♪ All my life, I spent telling people that they've really missed the essence of this man because they weren't aware because of his very prolific singing that he was also one of the greatest jazz musicians, pianists in the world.

- Nat as a pianist was a giant.

Unfortunately, he was such a big star as a singer, being a singer, it overshadowed his piano playing.

- Sometime I get a real kick out of playing the piano.

Of course, I don't do it too much publicly because like I said, most of the people come to see Nat King Cole.

Now they want to hear him sing.

I imagine maybe that's because they only know of Nat King Cole as the singer.

Of course, some of the older fans revere me as a jazz king and I still have that constant fight of saying, how much piano you gonna play and how much singing you going to play?

And I don't know, but I like it.

(piano note plays) - Such a fantastic piano player and a wonderful jazz piano.

And there's a lot of people still don't know in this country what a great piano player Nat King Cole was.

- The level of excellence he had could not be denied and it eventually made its way through the challenges to the forefront of American music history and royalty.

- He was certainly listening to all the great piano players because he had touches of genius, even at the very early age.

I think he was only 19 or 20 years old when people started hearing him play.

And in the era where it was dominated by some of the greatest pianist in history, the pace was set.

And Art Tatum, that was it, and Fats Waller and Earl Fatha Hines.

So he had his work cut out for him.

He had a lot to listen to.

- I knew that Nat was great because I heard it from people who were great, like Art Tatum.

- And Oscar Peterson, of course, was a giant in the industry and he recognized Nat's virtuosity very early on.

- He told me he patterned himself after Nat on the piano.

He told me that himself.

- Nat had great roots in the jazz world and was very sympathetic to a lot of the very modern things, even the bebop things that were coming in during the reign of his popular trio.

When I say popular, meaning the trio that was garnering all of the hits on the hit braid at the time.

Nat was still at times reverting back to his jazz background whenever he had a chance.

Because of his artistic curiosity, I think Nat would be the type of person that would grow and progress as a player anyway.

(cheerful jazz music) - There's music from your past, Nat.

Let's go back in time and meet these gentlemen who were all members of Nat Cole & His Royal Dukes, a band that you formed when you were only 16 years old.

(audience applauds) (laughs) Ladies and gentlemen!

- Here are some guys that I grew up with.

- Well, they all came-- - Many year ago back here.

His father used to be the president of the Musician Union in Chicago.

- Yes, sir.

- Really?

- He did.

- And here's your brother, Eddie Coles, over here.

(soft music) ♪ I'm lost ♪ I'm like a king without a throne.

♪ ♪ I'm lost - Nat married when he was 19 years old to his wife, was much older than he was.

And evidently Eddie very strongly objected.

I wasn't there.

I mean, I don't know exactly what happened, but I know Nat said they had a fight because he was getting ready to go to California.

♪ If you ever plan to move West ♪ ♪ Travel my way ♪ Take the highway ♪ That's the best ♪ Get your kicks on Route 66 - I heard the story about him being a pianist, working this place wherever he was working.

And the singer didn't show up and the guy told him, "Well, you gotta sing."

He said, "No, I'm piano player."

"No, you gonna sing or you gonna lose your gig, one of the two."

He said, "Okay."

And Nat King Cole was born.

- Come on.

What's the matter with ya?

I said sing.

- You know the words, Cole?

- Yes, but-- - Do like the man says.

This guy spends as much as four bucks in here some nights.

- But you see, I just can't sing.

- Well, then you better learn how fast.

- Come on, boy.

You can sing it.

Come on.

Come on.

- Sing.

♪ I've just found joy - Thatta boy.

♪ I'm as happy as a baby boy - Amazing to find that even in that situation, he attracted the right team of individuals around him from the ranks of the white world, if you will, who really believed in him.

- I first really got to know Nat Cole when I was working at a place called Ciro's, which was very famous nightclub on the Sunset Strip.

And one of the acts that we booked there was Nat Cole.

And he had been working downtown at a place called the Tiffany Room.

But I was convinced that Nat Cole had a great youth appeal.

So we brought him up for graduations in January and in the spring, and he packed the place and he sat down and just sang.

And it was like the sound of the gods, you know?

And he was very picky because the piano had to be tuned exactly to 220.

And we had the piano tuner come in and Nat would come in and he'd go, de-de-de-de.

He said, "George?"

I'd say, "Nat, he hasn't been here yet."

He had perfect pitch.

So anyhow, Nat would be there for like three weeks over graduation and three weeks in the spring.

And we became very, very good friends.

And Nat didn't play jazz on stage because he said people would talk.

So at two o'clock in the morning, I had enough on the head bartender to send him to jail and on the chef to have him go with him.

So we would save a couple of bottles of champagne and some hot and cold hor d'oeuvres and we would invite ladies to come in and listen to Nat, just a work light and Nat at the piano playing jazz.

And I mean, it was the most sought-after invitation in all of Los Angeles.

(soft piano melody plays) - Man, he showed us that he could hang in there with the best of the best.

Sinatra was the phenomenon of his time.

But when they mentioned Sinatra, they also mentioned this African American man, Nat Cole.

- Were the two best stylists around in that period of time and I think they had a lot of respect for one another.

And they had a lot of the same great qualities.

They were both family men.

They used to smoke a lot and they drank moderately.

And that was the kinship between the two of them.

- They both were above the title super stars and super people.

Nat did endless charity benefits, as did Frank.

Nobody ever asked Frank for a donation that didn't get a check.

And Nat spent half his life doing performances for nothing.

- It's like they're a god.

That was it.

You're talking about two of the greatest talents in the world, which will never happen again.

- While you're making a change, I'll drop a tune in here somewhere.

- All right.

(soft piano melody plays) - Oh, boy.

Dingy, ding, ding, ding, ring-a-ding-ding.

(audience laughs) (audience applauds) ♪ She gets too hungry ♪ For dinner at eight ♪ She loves the theater ♪ And she doesn't come late ♪ She'd never bother with people she'd hate ♪ - He actually built Capitol Records 'cause every record he made went to number one on the Billboard charts.

- Nat had a lot to do with building that tower.

He was a legend before we really had words for it.

Nat was part of our lives.

Wasn't just a singer.

Wasn't just a performer.

He was a part of the culture.

- Capitol was the singer's label.

And they really, I think Capitol had a great reputation.

I was very secure at Capitol.

I was at Capitol for 40 albums and 20-some years.

Capitol was the record company to be with at that time.

♪ Unforgettable ♪ In every way ♪ And forevermore ♪ That's how you'll stay - Nat was managed by a big man.

His name was Carlos Gastel.

Carlos Gastel was from Honduras and he was huge.

And he did occasionally like a beverage, you know.

And I would call Carlos and I'd say, "Pal of my cradle days, why have you forgotten?"

"No, no, pal."

I said, "Why don't you come by for a taste?"

So Carlos would come by for a taste about five, six o'clock at night, put a bottle of gin on the bar and a bottle of vodka on the bar, and we would have a taste.

And by two o'clock in the morning, I had a contract with Nat Cole.

And the next morning Carlos would call and say, "Pal of my cradle days, last night while we were having fellowship, did we negotiate any kind of--" "Oh, yeah."

I said, "You convinced me to bring Nat back."

"I convinced you?"

"Yeah, yeah."

I said, "You know, I didn't know whether I could, but you insisted, and so we signed a contract."

"Signed another contract?

You know, what money?

I said, "Same money.

We're not gonna... (laughs) I don't want him to take a cut because of these multiple appearances."

Carlos says, "You got me.

I didn't get you."

"You demanded it, Carlos.

You're a big guy.

I couldn't argue with you."

So anyhow, Nat would say to me, "Did you do that again?"

"Yeah."

He said, "What do you do to him?"

I said, "Nat, we have a beverage once in a while."

- When I first started with Nat and our association began-- - Yeah.

- I told him that I didn't think I should get any money until the trio made $800 a week.

- And Nat didn't think this was fair, is it?

Because he thought I may have to wait a long time, you know?

But a couple of weeks later, we got lucky.

And Cheryl Corwin out the Orpheum here in Los Angeles gave us a job at the theater for a thousand dollars a week.

I might add that was a lucky week for Cheryl Corwin too because the first week the King Cole Trio played, the theater grossed $30,000.

- Boy.

- Nat, it's been a lot of fun all these years.

- Thanks.

- Thank you, Carlos Gastel.

♪ De-do-de-do ♪ De-do-de-do ♪ Ba-da ♪ Ba-da-da-da ♪ Ba-da ♪ Ba-da-da-da ♪ Da-da-do-da ♪ Ba-da-do-dat ♪ Da-da-da ♪ Bit-da-do-bit - I first met him in Las Vegas when he was working at The Sands in the big room, of course.

And I was a little piano player in the lounge.

And he would oftentimes, after he got through his show, he would come into the lounge to see the show or hear me play.

And once he knew that I was a piano player and a singer, we became instant friends.

Even though I was working in the lounge, Nat could not go in the main room.

He had to go through the kitchen.

These great, great stars were not allowed to walk through the casino and they were not allowed to live in the hotel.

- See, at that point in Vegas, Black people couldn't come in the hotel.

They couldn't come in the front door.

And so there was a serious color line in Vegas.

- I was staying in first class hotels and Nat is staying with either somebody, a private room, or Black hotels, which were awful.

And we were playing to segregated audiences.

It got so bad.

I was really embarrassed.

And finally, I started staying at the Black hotels.

So, and I had a ball.

- They make millions of dollars for the owners of the hotels, but yet they had to live in the Black section of Las Vegas and really low down little motel rooms that were very seedy and terrible.

- All of us, Lena Horne, they emptied the swimming pool.

For the length of her stay at that hotel, the pool was out of order 'cause she dared to go in one day.

- It was a strong, strong color barrier, which fortunately has been removed.

- The mentality in the music world was different than the world as a whole.

So they had humility and they could put up with that without going to the death.

- Two hotel incidents.

Rock Island, Illinois was one.

And all I remember is I had to appear in court for my husband.

And the lawyers always said, "Let Maria do it."

Why did I sue them?

Because they refused us.

Absolutely.

I would've listened.

I would've gone to court at any time they wanted me to.

I wasn't intimidated at all.

And I think our attorney saw that.

- Nat had a lot to do with removing that, and so did Frank.

When Frank went out, they would go into a hotel.

If the hotel would not accept Frank's Black musicians, Frank didn't stay there either.

So Frank had a big effect on the color barrier and Nat.

Of all the performers I've worked with, I think the two of them probably had more to do with removing the color barrier than anybody.

- Because of his stature and his carriage and the way he was, he would never put himself in a situation where he was a negative person.

- Everywhere you went, Nat Cole was not just accepted.

Nat was loved.

And I think as a result, he probably had a more positive effect on racism than many of the militants, many of the people who were actively fighting racism.

Nat just showed that it was acceptable, that there were no color barriers.

♪ My kinda lips ♪ Your kinda lips ♪ When love comes stealing ♪ Encourage that feeling ♪ My kinda love - He was loved by everybody.

There was something magical about him, not only musically, but as a person.

He was a true gentleman.

And I don't care who you are, somewhere along the line, there's gonna be something being written that's detrimental about you.

I never read something derogatory about Nat King Cole.

He was just a lovely man.

- He was the example of someone who could break through those racial barriers and make what seemed impossible, you know, during the lynchings and the Ku Klux Klan and colored bathrooms and white bathrooms, this was the breakthrough, this man who, again, spoke through his music, a man of few words, but who walked the talk.

- He had a charisma that was unbelievable.

So everyone liked him.

I'm sure there were people that were anti-Black, they didn't even realize he was Black.

They just liked the man for what he was.

- He really loved what he was doing.

He was really passionate about what he was doing.

His message was, this is me.

This is my music.

I want you to accept me for that.

- He was our beacon.

He was the person who was out there exposing himself to all this, you know, negativity and shining through it.

He was untouchable.

♪ Or is it the fact that I'm ugly ♪ - What was so strategic about Nat was the fact that it was Nat, a man who had by all measure met what it was that white Americans said Black people should be.

He was extremely gifted, a man possessed of genius when it came to his music, when it came to his singing.

By all measure, everybody thought he was indeed the greatest singer in the world.

And when he went on to air the things that he did, and the way in which he delighted us with everything that he would've wanted somebody in that position of opportunity to display what he did.

- And anybody with a brain accepted Nat for what he was, a superstar, a vision of hope and a vision of intelligence and tolerance and love.

- I think that right now would be a good time for us to pause and sort of review some of the events that made all of this possible.

- I'm with you.

- Okay?

- With a little music and with little drama, perhaps we can recreate and, you know, the highlights of our careers of today.

- Mm-hmm.

Okay.

- Won't you begin?

- Age before beauty.

(audience laughs) The time, the early forties.

I was playing piano in a little cafe in Omaha, Nebraska when I wrote a song based on an old joke my father used to tell.

The song?

(upbeat jazz music) ♪ Straighten up and fly right (audience laughs) ♪ Straighten up and fly right - When I was going to Africa during the war on a troop ship, they were playing what they called V-discs.

All the record companies would make special records for the troops where the troops would play it on the loudspeakers and mess halls, et cetera.

And I heard this wonderful jazz pianist with an instrumentation of bass, piano, and for the very first time I heard electric guitar and found out it was called King Cole Trio.

And I was completely mesmerized by that music.

And the first song I heard him sing was "Straighten Up and Fly Right."

(upbeat music) Across the bridge, it came from jazz to pop.

And it was very commercial and people liked it for what it was.

They didn't say it's jazz.

They didn't say it was pop.

They liked what they heard.

♪ Now, listen, Jack ♪ Straighten up and fly right ♪ Straighten up and fly right ♪ Straighten up and fly right And it was all new.

There was no one else like it.

♪ Ain't no use in divin' ♪ What's the use of jivin' ♪ Straighten up and fly right ♪ Cool down, papa, don't you blow your top ♪ ♪ The buzzard told the monkey, "You are chokin' me" ♪ ♪ "Release your hold and I will set you free" ♪ ♪ The monkey looked the buzzard right dead in the eye ♪ ♪ And said, "Your story's so touching ♪ ♪ But it sounds just like a lie" ♪ My job was to go out and get a new song recorded or get it performed by artists on radio.

Television was not even around.

And to promote the song.

So I went to see different people to see if they would perform the song, one being Duke Ellington.

- We will now give you our conception of the most popular composition in recent years, that haunting melody, "Stormy Weather."

(upbeat music) - And he had two girl singers with him.

One was called Joya Sherrill and the other was called Maria Ellington.

So I said, "Well, which one you want me to show it to?"

He says, "Show it to Maria Ellington."

I said, "Is that your daughter?"

"No, that's not my daughter."

That was her marriage name.

- [Maria] I was, as usual, plugging a song.

And he brought this song down to me.

So finally he said, "Would you come to the office?"

He said, "And I'll play it."

And blah, blah, blah, whatever.

I went up there.

I was bored to death.

I said, "It's awful."

- She said, "That's the worst song.

I wouldn't sing that."

Okay, enough of that.

But she was so pretty.

And I just got out of the army and I made an advance at her, towards her.

And she read me a riot act.

Who do you think you are?

And this and that.

- [Maria] Because he tells a story that he tried to hit on me.

I don't remember that.

I remember him in a brotherly like fashion.

And we are still very good friends.

- Months later, Nat is working the Copa and he says, "I got a night off.

I want to go to Zanzibar, see the show.

Why don't you come with me?"

I said, "Okay, great."

He says, "I met a girl the other day.

She's very pretty.

She works there.

She's in the show."

So I said, "Which one of the two?"

And he points to Maria.

I said, "Oh, I'm dead."

- I first met Nat in New York City in the Club Zanzibar.

The King Cole Trio came in to sub for The Mills Brothers, who were doing doubling between the Paramount Theater and the Zanzibar.

That was in 1946.

♪ And I've just found joy ♪ I'm as happy as a baby boy The best evening in our life together that I ever spent with my husband was one night when he took me home and he parked right in front of the, and we sat there, it was about four.

It wasn't night.

It was about 4:30 in the morning.

And we had the radio on.

And this great, great record came on, narrated by Elliott Lewis.

It was done by Gordon Jenkins about New York.

It is one of the greatest things I have heard.

And we were listening to that.

♪ And it's on a nice lake ♪ But it hasn't got the hansoms in the park ♪ ♪ It hasn't got the skylines after dark ♪ ♪ That's why New York's my home ♪ ♪ Let me never leave it ♪ New York's my home, sweet home ♪ I fell in love with him that night.

It sounds very...

The reason I'm hesitating with that story is it sounds very dramatic, but it was true.

And he held my hand.

It was really kind of school boy, school girlish.

And I'll never forget it.

And he said to me, "I've never met a girl like you before."

♪ I love you I absolutely did not fall in love with Nat Cole at first sight.

He sent me some champagne by his valet and I sent it back and I said, "I don't drink," which I didn't.

I took advantage of the wonderful invitations.

And then he was getting ready to go out of town about a week later and just kind of funny.

He said, "I have to leave."

He said, "But I'll be back."

And so he came up to me the day before he was leaving and he said, "Do you want to go?"

And I remember nodding.

So I went to the drug store and bought a toothbrush and got on the train.

We went in a Chinese restaurant.

And while we were eating in the midst of meal, he just looked at me, he said, "If I can get my divorce, would you marry me?"

♪ I think of you every morning ♪ Dream of you I think my husband and I had basically, just were meant for each other.

Everything that was wrong with him wasn't wrong with me.

And everything that was wrong with me wasn't wrong with him.

He just, he was not a take charge type in a home.

Not at all.

- They complemented each other and, but yeah, I think she really truly adored him.

(soft music) ♪ There was a boy ♪ A very strange enchanted boy ♪ They say he wandered very far, very far ♪ ♪ Over land and sea - While we were on our honeymoon in Mexico, very different, Al send us a telegram.

I wish I remembered the exact words, but it was akin to, "What a wedding gift.

'Nature Boy,' complete smash all over the world."

We were excited.

I don't think I realized how big it was till we got home.

I don't think we really did.

♪ A magic day he passed my way ♪ And while we spoke of many things ♪ ♪ Fools and kings ♪ This he said to me ♪ The greatest thing ♪ You'll ever learn ♪ Is just to love ♪ And be loved in return We bought the house immediately, at least six months after we were married.

- When he moved to Hancock Park and moved into that community, it was not an easy time for him or his family.

Nobody wanted in the restricted covenants on real estate.

Although it wasn't a written law like in the South, it's written that Blacks cannot own property.

- [Ivan] The neighbors didn't want Black people in the neighborhood, and they did everything to make him uncomfortable.

♪ In return - When we were first married, there was bedlam everywhere.

It was just a, they just...

When I think back about it, it's just, I have to say it's amusing because we were, thank God, so young that I was just angry.

Never felt any fear or anything like that, although there were people who were worried, concerned, you know, about that.

And he was.

We didn't act abnormal at all when this happened.

It just happened.

- They had a meeting in the neighborhood and the lawyers that lived there and very affluent people.

- Something about it being their community and of what they really just didn't want any undesirable people in there.

I don't know how they had the guts to say it, but I understand that my husband stood up and said he agreed with them and anytime any undesirables came, he would be the first to speak up.

I mean, he let them know, you know?

But like I, that goes back to the way my husband was.

You pushed him, you're gonna get it all.

♪ Hide every The saddest personal incident was the poisoning of our dog.

- Somebody threw a piece of meat, poisoned meat over the wall and poisoned him.

- It went on, I would say little things for maybe a year.

My daughter remembered it more than I did, that they wrote on the lawn.

- [Carole] They burned in the word nigger.

- In, you know, big letters.

- And again, this is an isolated incident, but it was so powerful, you know, burned in the lawn.

And the fact that they could even do this, I mean, there was supposedly very good security in Hancock Park.

The shadow of that word was always there.

It was just there.

- All the people who were protesting that he moved to their neighborhood, but they protested for another reason.

They were afraid of their property values.

And they all had his records in their house, but they signed a petition to get him out.

- You either have to think of it as something that, oh, how stupid can people be?

Or it was a real tragedy, you know?

But being as young as we were, we were, I think, able to handle it.

And I think we did, considering the times, handle it very well.

- There's a woman that lived down the street from us.

She asked my father to come and perform at her little luncheon if he wouldn't mind playing a few songs.

And he did.

And he sent her a bill and she was, you know, mortified.

But I thought that was such a great story, you know, because people were just so insensitive and so, you know, just taking advantage.

- [Interviewer] Maria, would you introduce us to the children?

- Yes.

This is Natalie Maria, better known as Sweetie.

Say hi, Sweetie.

Say hi.

- Sweetie.

- Hi.

- And this is Carole, better known as Cookie.

Say hello, Cookie.

- Hello.

- [Maria] But he always wanted, evidently, he told me he had always wanted to have children.

That was very important to him.

We had adopted our first child, who was my sister's child.

My sister died.

We had adopted her, and then I became pregnant and Natalie was born.

And that at that time was to him just, oh, I know all men, most men feel like this when their children are born.

But it was very, very important to him to have a child.

- I do remember that Nat would come to rehearsal and bring this adorable little girl with him who would sit there and watch her daddy.

And she listened and she learned, and she grew up to be Natalie Cole.

- You know, every time I walk into the Capitol building, I just get chills because I remember being there with my father, you know, and just trying to stay as out of the way as possible so he wouldn't tell me I couldn't come with him again.

It's just such a wonderful memory because, you know, as a kid that's, you know, who knew that's what I was gonna grow up to be in that environment as well?

For me, it was just fun, you know?

And a chance to be with my father.

(upbeat music) ♪ What to do, what to do has me guessing ♪ ♪ It seems I can't learn my lesson ♪ ♪ Every time I'm with you, I'm confessing ♪ ♪ I just don't know what to do I was about six.

Cookie was about 11.

And it's a hysterical little song.

It's just the cutest.

And they just let the tape roll.

And we were kind of clowning and acting up and giggling.

And it's a beautiful, sweet, sweet little record.

- But I did stay close to Natalie as she grew up into a, what a lovely, talented, gifted, exciting woman she is.

Then she did a big record with him.

Was it "Unforgettable?"

Yeah.

♪ Song of love ♪ That clings to me ♪ How the thought of you does things to me ♪ ♪ Never before ♪ Has someone been more ♪ Unforgettable ♪ In every way - Was talking to my manager and I said, you know, "I'm really starting to think that I want to do a record of my dad's music."

And my manager, you know, he was pretty flexible, you know?

And he was like, "Yeah, yeah, that's not a bad idea."

We went to the record company and they said, well, the last record that I had done was so-so.

I wasn't even that happy about it.

It was called "Good to be Back."

And this was after I'd gotten out of rehab, got myself together, and blah, blah, blah, blah.

And the record company said, "Well, you really should be coming off of a hit record before you do a record like what you're talking about, this tribute to your dad."

And I said, "Well, what if I don't have another hit record?"

And nobody could answer that.

Basically I was able to leave, get out of my contract.

You know, when you fast forward to the Grammys the night, that night when "Unforgettable" won everything, and one of my acceptance speeches was, "Thank you, Capitol, for letting me out of my contract."

A lot of people got fired because of that situation, because they didn't have the vision to do a record like this.

But we came up with the idea of doing it with "Unforgettable."

By then, we had hired Andre Fischer, who I was then married to, and David Foster.

David had to go to New Jersey to get the master of "Unforgettable."

It had been sitting in storage for who knows how long.

And Al Schmidt, the engineer, was like, what am I going to do with this?

You know, back in the day, tracks were done all at the same time.

So it really was a technological coup that Al was able to lift Dad's voice off of the old "Unforgettable" track and put it on a new one that we recorded.

♪ Too (soft music) - I kind of did want a boy because of Nat and his baseball and all of this, you know.

He just loved sports.

So we were talking about it and I said, "Well, it would be just my luck to have another girl."

Now, just like that I said it to him.

I said, "Let's adopt."

And I said it just like that.

And of course he said, liked everything.

He said yes to everything.

He said, "Okay."

And I don't remember how long afterwards, we were all having breakfast one morning, and the phone rang and I went to the phone.

They said, "Mrs. Cole, I think we might have your boy."

Well, it was like a movie scene.

We left there.

All of us got in that car, left.

The Children's Home Society was on Adams Boulevard, not really that far from our house.

We got in that car, we flew, and we got over there.

And this was Willie Smith's ex-wife.

And she had this, she brought this little boy in in a little jumper suit.

He was five months old.

She left the baby with us and about 15 minutes later, she came back in and said, "You really don't have to make up your mind, Mrs. and Mr. Cole, right now, because sometimes--" And Nat interrupted her.

He said, "What are you talking about?"

He said, "Get whatever I'm supposed to sign.

We are leaving."

And he says, "This is my boy."

And we left.

(bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) - President Kennedy came as a favor to my dad to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and showed up at her ball.

And there's a picture of her dancing with him, you know, and I just could not believe that I could not be there.

- And we hadn't been sitting there, I don't think 15 minutes before this gentleman walked up.

I don't remember who now.

And mentioned something in Nat's ear.

And Nat was, I think, eating.

And he looked up like this.

He had funny expressions sometimes.

Anyway, he said like that.

And he said, "The president's coming to me."

I said, "What?"

"And he's coming over here."

And then of course, by that time, a few minutes later, here come all these secret servicemen and here comes Jack Kennedy.

Well, one of the few times again in my life that I just couldn't believe it.

And he just stood up there at the podium and he said, "Thank you very much."

He said, "I'm so glad that I was able to come by."

He said, "It's the least an itinerant president can do for a man like Nat Cole."

(upbeat music) - The United States, one of our great cultures that we've created for a young country was elongated improvisation.

It was jazz.

Jazz changed the history of music.

And it's strictly American.

Jazz is strictly American and people love it, especially in Europe.

(upbeat music) - I was doing Sunday night at the Palladium at the time.

And then Glen Jones, who worked for the grade organization, Glen phoned me.

He said, "Bruce," he said, "I know you were thrilled about Nat King Cole coming over."

I said, "Well, he's my idol.

I mean, I love this man."

So he said, "Well, he's here now."

He said, "We've got two pianos backstage."

He said, "And we were wondering, we've had a word with Nat, and we were wondering whether you could do a number with him."

I said, "Do a number with Nat King Cole?"

I said, "That is fantastic."

Ladies and gentlemen, last night on the Palladium Show, I had one of the biggest thrills.

In fact, I had one of my biggest thrills all day to meet the star of our show last night.

He is now very, very thrilled to be here this evening.

Ladies and gentlemen, the very, very wonderful Nat King Cole.

(audience applauds) We put this number together with what number we could do.

I said, "Well, 'Paper Moon' are probably good 'cause it's up-tempo.

'Paper Moon' will be good."

He said, "Yeah."

He said, "Now, what key do I do that here?

What key?"

I said, "You do it in F." I said, "Anyway, I know it in F, so we will do it in F." So he said, "Oh, great."

So we worked that out.

10 minutes.

We did a couple of choruses.

He sang the first eight, I sang the second eight, and so on and so on.

Then he played a little piano solo.

I played a piano solo.

And then we finished together.

That was all done in 10 minutes.

(audience applauds) Very good and-- - Thank you.

- What's it gonna be?

- I'm going to sing-- - Oh, no, that's my favorite.

- It is?

- I love that.

He sat at the piano and played me his latest LP and sang all the numbers from his latest LP.

Now, can you really imagine that that happened?

I have to think quite a few times myself.

But he did that for me, having not met me before.

He was so, so wonderful.

And I was just overwhelmed, the fact that he did that just for me personally.

(Nat singing) (audience applauds) Later on that night, I had to go to a rehearsal for the Royal Variety Performance.

And there I am in a cab with Sammy Davis, Nat King Cole, and myself.

And I thought, well, this is it.

Can't get any bigger than this.

(upbeat music) - He loved Japan 'cause he got to meet the whole baseball team.

I mean, they loved him and he loved, and Nat was, I think Nat was in heaven.

Australia was I think the people more than anything else that amazed him.

Oh, saw thousands of people at the airport.

♪ To this timely tip - [Nat] Very nice meeting you, but now if you don't mind-- - Oh, you gotta sing another song maybe right there.

- I'd like to sing another song.

- You would?

(indistinct) Sing her a favorite, will you?

- What's that?

(indistinct) (audience laughs) And I'll tell you what, love.

If she doesn't embark on the (indistinct) soon, it'll be too late.

- Well, it's been very nice-- - Nice meeting you.

Ah, you're a real gem.

Thanks very much.

- Very, very... - Oh, look, she fainted.

(announcer speaking foreign language) - We almost bought a house there.

We were there twice.

It was a lovely time for Nat.

He loved it.

He loved the musicians.

He loved working with them.

In fact, even after he died, I was invited back there.

They have, I understand, a sculpting or something of his, I was told over there.

The second time we went back, we were in the car going to work and they stopped our car and they put the guns in the car, like in the windows.

And the guy said, "That's Nat King Cole."

He said, "Oh."

And we went through like that.

(bongo playing) (Nat singing) When it came down to the nitty gritty, I had to take over.

- Not only was she keen to it, she was instrumental in helping.

♪ Mehachi feels so sad - He wanted to make a change.

He wanted to get more into than we would've said today's music.

And so he decided he wanted to add a bongo player.

(bongo playing) Musically, we had Joe Comfort on bass and Irving Ashby on the guitar.

I was on the Conga drums more than the bongos.

And Nat, of course, was the star.

- And he was saying, "What are we gonna call the group now that you have added another musician?"

So they said, "Well, call it the King Cole Quartet."

So I said, you know, "Everybody knows that Nat is the piano player and Nat now is doing the singing."

So I said, "He's the star.

Call it Nat King Cole and His Trio."

Well, they were very upset that I put my two cents into it and they read the riot act to me.

But that's what it became.

It became Nat King Cole and His Trio.

- Here's a Black trio that hires a white guy to join the trio.

And it had never been, nobody knew that it had ever happened before.

No matter how much the trio and I didn't like the fact that we were being made, I don't know how to say it.

We weren't second class citizens, but we were not as important in the trio as he had been from the beginning, you know, because he was starting to do things with big bands added, and we didn't get to play instrumentals anymore.

I'm talking now three years into when I was there.

♪ I guess I always will ♪ I hope we'll never depart ♪ Dear, with your lips to mine ♪ A rhapsody divine ♪ Zing!

Went the strings of my heart ♪ - I was, thank God, smart enough to realize how talented he was.

But I have always felt and I really feel that he had the talent.

I gave him everything else.

- His wife was smart.

She said, "No, Nat, you're one of the world's greatest singers."

And she said, "I tell you what, don't play the piano.

Then they'll stop the controversy.

You'll be on one side.

You won't be straddling the fence."

And a lot of musicians hated his wife for doing that.

What I say, if I went to a Nat Cole concert and he didn't sing, I felt I would've wasted my money.

- The thing that Nat had was that wonderful sound, that Mona Lisa.

It was just, it wasn't exaggerated because that's the way he sang.

That's the way he spoke.

- My husband never mispronounced a word.

Never.

I just know that came from our relationship.

It couldn't have come from anywhere else.

♪ Many dreams ♪ Have been brought to your doorstep ♪ - Over the years, I never figured it out.

And then one day it came to me and I said, he just waits.

And then he sings and then he waits, and then he sings and then he waits, and then he sings.

And it's wonderful.

- Because if I didn't hear "Nature Boy" and "Mona Lisa," I mean, that would've been a tragedy for me.

And I'm a musician, a person who likes his piano playing.

But his voice and his choice of material, he was a genius at selecting material and his way of approaching them.

He kept them from getting bogged down.

He made everything acceptable, easy to accept.

- [Johnny] There was nothing about his performance that was not absolutely perfect.

It was flawless.

♪ Mona Lisa ♪ Mona Lisa (theatrical music) (audience applauds) - And I don't know why, man, but it just resonated with me, except that, guys, it just had this mesmerizing quality to his vocals.

And I was sold.

I was done.

- Just the way he played, just the way he sang.

There was something about him that for me was magic.

- The young people have taken to Nat King Cole because he is so, he's got a voice that communicates and he had a voice like nobody else.

- It wasn't something that you could study and learn and a coach, you know.

That was never the case.

And that was a very natural, and just to watch him, sit and watch him play and sing was, it was a joy.

- Today they record a lot of albums in pieces.

When you go into the Capitol Archives and look at Nat King Cole's work or listen to Nat King Cole's work, you don't hear pickups.

You don't hear any pickup on Sinatra and you don't hear any pickups on Nat.

Nat started at the top, went to the bottom.

And if a technician made a mistake, 'cause Nat didn't make mistakes.

He had perfect pitch.

They would take it from the top.

(upbeat music) ♪ In the evenings ♪ May I come and sing to you ♪ All the songs that I would like to bring to you ♪ - [Announcer] The Nat King Cole Show.

- Because of the political climate at the time and, you know, the climate in general in the nation, when Nat Cole had a TV show, that was super special.

And although I only saw it maybe once or twice in those days, I had to see it to believe that it was really true 'cause word of mouth did not convince me that a Black man had a TV show.

I had to see it for myself.

- Here's a tune that I hope will bring back a special memory to you.

♪ There will be ♪ Many other nights like this - This wonderful 15-minute performance on television, which I loved.

And it's one of the classics of that era.

And Sammy Davis and all the musicians that he brought along with him.

♪ There will be other songs to sing ♪ - Maybe 10 years earlier it could not have happened, but Nat made it happen.

And the timing was just right.

(cheerful piano melody plays) - A man possessed of genius when it came to his music, when it came to his singing.

By all measure, everybody thought he was indeed the greatest singer in the world.

When he went on the air, the things that he did and the way in which he delighted us was everything that we would've wanted somebody in that position of opportunity to display.

(drums playing) (piano melody plays) - We knew that Nat was very exceptional.

We didn't know whether it would ever pass on, but he did show that it could be done.

That's what the big thing was.

- A victory for America that this place opened up and Nat's greatness was part of what prevailed.

So to that degree, we had a pride in the moment and a pride in what was taking place.

- It was his way by not making political statements or anything like that, by just being a very wholesome human being.

- Musically and intellectually, so far above what people were accustomed to hearing on television at the time.

- If he can do that, I can do that because that's how those things happen.

It was a chain of events, you know?

So it was very significant.

Although he had a lot of trouble, it was still very significant.

I mean, he didn't expect no free ride and nobody expected he would have a free ride.

But if anybody could pull it off, he could.

- Thank you.

Now, if you'll all just get a little closer to your television sets, we don't want you to miss a word.

- I had left Ciro's and the Frontier and all those nightclubs and gone to NBC primarily to bring the guest stars who used to work the nightclubs.

So they were listening to me at that point.

And so I said, "This man is magic."

And I took Alan Livingston and I took Hal Kemp, come out to Ciro's and sit there and listen to this man and see what happens.

You couldn't get in.

The audience was young.

The audience was primarily white because Black people could not afford that cover charge.

And you saw magic happening.

If those people go home, turn on a television set, they would love to see Nat Cole.

So that was the whole pitch that I made.

And guest stars, guest stars wanted to work with Nat Cole.

- And now for our first guest-- - [Tony] Okay, Nat, I'll take it from there.

- [Nat] Well.

- You know, if we've told you once, we've told you a thousand times.

We're taking over your show tonight.

- But Tony, you are our guest tonight.

I want to give you a proper introduction.

- Well, now, Nat, you know this is Las Vegas.

Relax.

Take it easy.

On at least one show, you could let your own guest artists introduce themselves.

- Okay, Tony.

If you insist, take it away.

- Thank you.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, here is a young man who has had a meteoric rise in show business, a modest fellow whose greatest pleasure it is to entertain everybody.

Let's really say hello to Tony Bennett.

(audience applauds) Yeah!

Yeah!

(upbeat jazz music) ♪ In the middle of an island ♪ Lived a king in all his glory ♪ - Nat was the ultimate god of doing it the right way.

I mean, he had a television show that was so flawless and perfect.

I was fortunate enough to be on his show also.

And he had the most wonderful guest artist on the show.

And he had Nelson Riddle, who was the master, the one who discovered Nelson Riddle.

Sinatra adopted Nelson Riddle to his great shots, but really, Nat was the one who found this great orchestrator in the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and said, "This is who I want to record with."

- He was absolutely obsessed with his music.

That was more important to him than anything.

And my mother respected that, even though she took a back seat, if you will, possibly too often.

- I worshiped him like my mother did.

I thought he was a wizard.

I thought, but I thought more of him than the Wizard of Oz where they pulled the curtain back and they found a guy behind a curtain pushing a lot of buttons and everything.

I felt that he truly was a wizard because of what he made happen.

- Nelson Riddle was probably one of the fathers of pop music.

- In many ways, Nelson was a lot like Nat.

He was a gentleman.

He was enormously creative, very inventive, very supportive.

And he did love Nat Cole.

- My impression was is that he respected and loved Nat and really loved working with him.

I think that he felt a great deal of sympathy for Nat given the difficulties that Nat ran into as a Black man competing in a white world.

- I think he really, really, it was just basically two geniuses coming together and saying, "Hey, we get it.

We get it on the level that we get it.

Let's work together to make you known."

He understood that Nat Cole needed space to his vocals, but they made it pop.

That was the thing.

Frank Sinatra, Nat Cole, and you know, Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, so many others.

Just amazing pop arranger and composer.

- Every note that these people are playing, my father wrote all these notes.

I thought he sat at God's right hand.

- You know, one of the most important factors in the success of a record is the musical arrangement, arrangements like "Begin the Beguine," "In the Mood," "Marie," and one of today's leading arrangers is our own Nelson Riddle.

(theatrical music) The product of this man's imagination is familiar to everyone who enjoys popular music.

When he finishes an arrangement, Nelson hands the score to his chief copyist, Vern Yocum.

Vern sees... - Well, first of all, Nelson and I met for years before that.

Nelson did some arranging for the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra after I had left the orchestra.

And we were friendly through the years, obviously up until the time we began to work.

But when I heard the things that he had been doing with Nat, I said, I've got to work with this guy because he's absolutely marvelous.

And he really did some beautiful orchestrations, wonderful orchestrations.

But he and Nat fitted so well that I was trying to be as successful as a vocalist with Nelson as Nat was.

(trumpet melody plays) And I never did find out whether we made it or not.

(trumpet melody continues) - He could work for 48 hours straight and was oftentimes under great pressure because they'd decide on what was going to be recorded, oftentimes with very little time for preparation.

And he was always doing too much work 'cause he always thought this was gonna be the last job, and as a result of which he was always cramming on deadlines.

(upbeat jazz music) And I think they empathized with one another around the sentiments of the blues because they both suffered, I won't call it depression, but they were melancholy fellows deep down inside.

(audience applauds) - Nelson, that was really wonderful.

We'll be back in just one moment.

I was doing a gospel album called Rhapsody in Sacred Music.

And we were recording this album at Capitol Studio A, about 40 musicians.

And a guy who was the hot mixer around town was our mixer that day, Val Valentin, and Val liked what he heard.

And unbeknownst to me, he made a copy of the tape and took it to a guy by the name of Lee Gillette, who was the head of A&R at Capitol Records and was producing Nat Cole's albums.

And the rest is history.

It was only a short time that I got a call from Lee Gillette and the call was, would I be interested in doing a Christmas album with Nat?

And what do you suppose the answer was?

(laughs) ♪ Chestnuts roasting on an open fire ♪ ♪ Jack Frost nipping at your nose ♪ ♪ Yuletide carols being sung by a choir ♪ - [Ivan] And I knew Ralph.

He was another gentleman.

He was very much into gospel music and he was a terrific arranger.

♪ Mistletoe help to make the season bright ♪ ♪ Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow ♪ ♪ Will find it hard to sleep tonight ♪ - There was one, an incident where they did do his face strangely, and I don't know who did it, who was responsible for, but it was outrageous.

It made him look like he had padding on his face and they painted the padding.

It was terrible, ugly, ugly.

- They put makeup on him to make him appealing to the white audience in America.

And because they said, well, you know, his amazing talent, but we can't present him in a way that would be offensive.

And at that time, Blackness was very, you know, was very offensive.

- This was the blackest man I'd ever seen in my whole life.

- I mean, it is obvious the man was Black.

In fact, he was dark black.

His skin was dark.

He was not beige.

It was pure black.

It's like going to a circus and see a man who was white and he put a lot of makeup on him to make him look like a clown.

To me, it was ridiculous.

He is what he is.

Why change him?

You are deceiving the public by taking a man who is Black and trying to make him white.

♪ Friendly, freshening Rheingold ♪ ♪ Always happily dry - We were able to get Rheingold to sponsor.

That was the main sponsor.

♪ Rheingold is my beer ♪ It's extra dry ♪ One reason why it's my beer - My wife, Jolene, had been a Rheingold girl.

So we were very close to the head of the Rheingold Company and we brought him in to hear Nat.

And he loved him.

And when he was at Ciro's, he saw the audience.

He saw the place was packed.

You couldn't get in and they wouldn't let him off stage.

Well, there's an audience of great acceptance.

He said, "Wait a minute, those are the people who drink Rheingold beer."

So it wasn't easy to sell the show, but when the South came out against it and started canceling stations, Rheingold could not stay with the show.

- His ratings were not good.

And a lot of the South did not broadcast his programs.

They were anti-Black.

- I didn't think he had a chance.

There were too many people against the fact that there was a Black man on national television and it just wouldn't go.

- There was resistance to anything intelligent in the South at that time.

You know, they were still living in the cave dwellers, you know, and some of those station men just had feet that would fit on a limb.

I mean, so I can't really relate to them too well.

(laughs) That would get you in trouble.

- That's their loss.

You know?

That's stupidity.

At the time, there were far more who liked it than didn't.

- But Nat, can I give you just a little suggestion?

- What's that?

- Nat, you're doing wonderful now, but you need a style when you sing.

(audience laughs) - Style?

You want to show me?

- Well, there was a guy, I remember I saw a guy many years ago, he used to work with a trio and he played the piano.

He was wonderful.

King something his name.

It went like, his style went like this.

(piano melody plays) ♪ I used to walk with you ♪ On the avenue ♪ Our hearts were carefree and gay ♪ (audience laughs) - It's so ignorant because we're all here on this planet.

And regretfully, what I really disliked about it is the show was flawless.

They could play it right now on television and it would be a smash now.

- The show was, first of all, number one in its time slot, had the largest viewing audience of any show in that time slot and that space.

And despite this display of audience numbers of the willingness to support the show and whatnot, they decided to pull it from the air.

- If he wasn't embarrassed, he was hurt that he couldn't get sponsorship.

He was a tremendously big star.

- Nat just finally made up his own mind.

That was the only thing I kept trying to make clear.

Like, you know, they would say in the paper he lost his show.

He didn't lose that show.

He could've gone on if he wanted.

Everyone almost on it did it for nothing, you know.

Everyone.

I mean, all those stars came out.

They were just so anxious for him to get this going.

But Nat himself finally said, "I don't want to do it like this anymore."

I mean, killing us trying to get sponsored.

He said, as I've told you before, he said, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark."

To me, he belonged somewhere with that line written, his name with that written beneath it about his show because after he said that, he did this.

- It was just a resistance to let go of any of those old hatreds.

And they should have been hating each other.

- For the nation to have done what they did to him in relationship to this show was an unforgivable act of cruelty.

And he never quite recovered from that.

(soft music) - Every so often, a performer wants to thank everyone at the end of a motion picture, a theatrical production, or in our case, a television show.

And on this show, what has meant the most to me has been the wonderful spirit of our feeling that has existed at all times.

This quality is the most difficult to find and we had it.

Judging by your mail, you must have felt it at home.

And that counts the most with us too.

Naturally, there just isn't enough time to express my gratitude to every individual here in the studio or you at home.

So, may I simply say to all of you for now, thanks.

A merry Christmas and a happy new year.

- [Announcer] Nat King Cole as Goldie, the Fighting Legionnaire.

- I always wanted a kid, Brock.

My wife was told we couldn't have one.

We put in papers to adopt one.

- I don't think Nat King Cole was ever as uncomfortable anywhere in the world as he was in front of a camera being required to act.

He was always brought on because of his personality and because he was a great singer and that his name on the box office never hurt audiences coming.

But he was never, ever comfortable as an actor.

And I remember once he did a Western and when the picture just come out and whatnot, I had not yet seen it.

And I told him I was going to go see it and he said, "You're not only not going to see it, but if you should see it, I'll never want to know about it."

And the reason he was saying that was because he just wasn't comfortable what he did and how he came off.

But he kept at it.

He kept at it because it was the right career move to make.

- We were sort of just fooling around waiting for him to go to appear.

And he acted kind of funny.

He just didn't act.

I don't remember anything hurting.

He just wasn't acting.

He didn't feel well.

- I showed up at the hotel.

Maria was there and Nat.

He answered the door and I couldn't believe it.

He was like, he looked the night before pale, absolutely pale.

I said, "Man, you look the worst."

He says, "I feel the worst."

- He passed out.

I wasn't there, and Ivan was with him.

- I said, "What's the matter?"

And he described what was happening to him.

I said, "You gotta do something about this.

Let me call my buddy and my doctor."

He says, "All right, go ahead.

Call him."

- Just a little indigestion, huh, Doc?

- You know it's quite a bit more than indigestion.

I'd warned you before about those ulcers of yours.

- But I've got to go out there to do a concert.

I'm late now.

- Sorry, Mr. Cole.

The only place you are going is the hospital.

- Hospital?

- Came out of the audience and made an apology to the audience.

And he wound up in the hospital and he was deathly ill. - But it was strange what the doctor said.

Nat was supposed to go on a tour after that in the South.

And he said, "I don't want you taking a chance and going down there and they won't admit you in a hospital."

But it was true.

If he had gone down there and become ill, bleeding ulcers, you know, needed an immediate operation, could have died.

(soft music) I think the one that was talked about the most, it was very public, was the attack in Alabama.

- Nat signs up to do a tour down South.

It was financially very good, but emotionally, it was terrible.

- After I got to about the third song, next thing I know, the spotlight had me blinded across the stage.

The auditorium was completely dark, as you know when you working.

And next thing I know, I was hit around the ankles and I was part of a trip.

I guess he was sort of reaching over the footlights.

- For the people who saw that happen, it heightened a sensibility and the sensitivity to what the rest of us were experiencing who didn't have Nat's platform.

- There was a lot of criticism by some of his own people, because I don't know what they expected him to do.

I've said this before, but I think they felt that he was, he rationalized too much about it.

- Do you expect any more trouble?

- Oh, no, I don't think so.

I think this is one out of a million.

I don't think that anything would turn out to be a continuous thing.

The only thing, we just couldn't take a chance on continuing there last night because we never can tell.

A lot of innocent people might have gotten hurt from this scene.

- [Interviewer] Are you gonna request police protection?

- [Nat] No.

No, not exactly.

I don't think it was a personal affront to me personally.

- It was shocking to think that anybody as sweet and nice as Nat could have this happen to him.

- I didn't know what I could do about it.

And when I tried to do things about it, like when we played one place, I went up under the balconies on the break and sat up there and talked to the Blacks up there and the policemen came and told me, he says, "You can't be up here.

We don't do that down here."

And then Nat took me aside and says, "Look, you can't carry our cross, Jack, okay?

Just don't do that anymore."

- [Timolin] Dad quietly made his mark.

- He was not-- - He did.

- And often criticized for that.

- Right.

- Often criticized for not being the political big mouth-- - Activist.

- Activist that a lot of his counterparts were who were going through the same thing.

It was not his style.

It was not who he was.

(soft music) - He showed up at the recordings, not in his usual casual manner.

He dressed in a suit.

And we commented about that.

Why would he dress up to come to a recording?

He must have been valuing every day.

Maybe he knew his time was short.

- [Buddy] I never saw Nat without a cigarette.

Never.

When he had that holder, everybody went out and bought holders and 'cause Nat King Cole did it.

- I used to argue with him a lot about, one main thing is smoking.

- A lot of us pleaded with him to stop smoking so much.

Not because we understood that cancer was inevitable.

We knew that illness was inevitable, but we didn't know that death was inevitable, ♪ Couldn't possibly heal ♪ All this pain here in my soul ♪ ♪ Won't you tell me what's lost ♪ ♪ But a prelude ♪ A prelude to sorrow - [Maria] I think I'd been married about seven years, you know, just things that were just getting to me.

And I just decided I'd go back to work 'cause I worked for not very long.

And then I decided I didn't like it.

I didn't want to work that hard.

And I quit.

And it was, things were fine.

And then just about, oh, a couple of years before he died, he did have a major, that's the only time really I can say he had an affair.

You'll only hear about so much of it from me.

♪ Goodbye I went to Europe to get away.

That's all.

That's what the trip to Europe was.

When I came back, I came back into New York to our apartment and I called his doctor.

(theatrical music) (audience applauds) - We had recorded "L-O-V-E" as a single down here at Capitol.

And it became a hit.

So we took the band and Nat was playing at a club that he used to play up in the Bay Area during one of those performances that he fell gravely ill. And they brought him back immediately to the hospital in Southern California.

- I called the doctor and spoke to him and I said, "What?

He's not well?"

And I said, "Well, maybe I should, do you think I should just come on home?"

He said, "I think you should."

That's all he said to me.

But I'm not a fool.

I mean, I knew then it was something serious.

That's all the doctor said to me.

And I came home, he was already in the hospital.

- I remember when Nat went into St. John's in Santa Monica.

- My sister came one day.

They were very close.

And he had a room, beautiful room looking over the mountains right at the end of the hallway.

And she wheeled him out to the windows and he was sitting there.

It's the only inclination that we ever had.

He said, "Turn me away."

♪ And now the purple dusk of twilight time ♪ The nurse who I loved, the last we had, Mac and I took him down, took him out for a ride and they put him in the wheelchair.

And, "Honey, I wanted you to see the beach house that I was looking at."

And oh, he loved that.

So he made him think he was gonna, I guess, I don't know.

I did want him to see it.

So we took him on this ride to Santa Monica and we took him to this house and it was huge.

And we rolled him into the living room.

It was, you know, situated so you could see the ocean.

And he looked out the window and I'll never forget what he said to me.

He said, "Go ahead and buy it, Skis."

♪ Of yesterday ♪ The music of the years gone by ♪ ♪ Sometimes I wonder ♪ Why I spend the lonely night ♪ Dreaming of a song ♪ The melody haunts my reverie ♪ And I am once again with you We were coming out of the treatment place in the Santa Monica hospital and the press was out there and he had me.

There's a picture of me with him that was in the paper that holding onto me.

And I looked at them and I saw, and he said, "No, Skis.

Let 'em take the picture."

And I did, and they cried.

♪ Tells his fairytale ♪ A paradise where roses grew ♪ Though I dream in vain ♪ In my heart it will remain ♪ My stardust melody ♪ The memory of love's refrain I remember always saying to myself, I know if my husband gets well, I am not too sure I'm gonna stay here, but if my husband doesn't get well, I'm never going to leave him.

Never mentioned the word cancer the whole time.

He was there two months.

He went in on December 6th, he died February 15th.

- It was a tragedy.

And I think we all felt that, a huge loss.

- He had a ton of people came through to see him, to pay their respects.

And yeah, I think the world was very sad when Nat passed away.

We're talking 46 years ago and I still feel that.

- We of course had a sealed casket.

Kelly was right there with me.

And when we got ready to leave, he said, "Let me just touch the casket."

♪ I love you ♪ For sentimental reasons - You know, when you're at the funeral of a parent, I don't think you remember too much.

You know?

I just kept looking at my mom.

I mean, she was just...

Broken.

- [Maria] He said he's been carrying us all of our lives.

Now it's our turn to carry him.

I thought that was so profound.

- [Ivan] I cried like a baby.

- It was a very, very tough, tough time.

And everybody, it seemed, was there, you know, everyone that ever knew my dad, everyone that ever loved him, including quite a lot of celebrities.

Yeah, it was pretty massive.

Lots and lots of people.

♪ I think of you every morning ♪ Dream of you every night ♪ Darling, I'm never lonely - It was a universal reaction where everyone was sad.

And although Nat was in the hospital and had lost a lot of weight, they weren't really publicizing the fact that he was that sick.

So it was kind of a surprise to a lot of people.

- To me it was one of the worst days 'cause we truly lost a great human being as well as a great performer.

- He had prayers from the Frank Sinatras and the Tony Bennetts and everybody, you know, 'cause they could feel his soul.

They could feel his truism.

- The thing that I learned about Nat, and it's strange to say that about such a big masculine figure like Nat King Cole, is I learned gentleness.

- Quality artists that produce 'em live in our memories a long time.

- His music will live forever because it will never sound dated.

It will never become old fashioned.

- I listen to him and I just can't get the sense that he's gone.

- No matter how many years we all live, there's only one Nat King Cole.

- The blazing of the trail and making things happen was Nat Cole.

He was the first to do many wonderful things.

- He had a lot of the challenges, the oppressive conditions of America at the time, and yet he did it with dignity and he did it with charm and he did it with love.

- It's about love.

And he sang that song, "L-O-V-E." So that is to me what he represented.

- I happen to know that he was, especially toward the end, he was a great believer.

Thank you, Nat.

♪ Or help solve a case with Sherlock Holmes ♪ ♪ Or you'll get to go with Gulliver each time he roams ♪ ♪ Grown-ups don't know where to find that magic window ♪ ♪ But it's any window little boys look through ♪ ♪ There's so much for you to see ♪ ♪ So don't ever say to me ♪ That you've got a lot of growing up to do ♪ ♪ 'Cause I wish that I were growing down to you ♪ ♪ With your elbows on the sill ♪ And your nose against the pane ♪ ♪ You'll toss the pumpkin at Ichabod Crane ♪ ♪ You're one guy Paul Bunyan couldn't lick ♪ ♪ You're the guy that whaled the daylights out of Moby Dick ♪ ♪ Grown-ups don't know where to find that magic window ♪ ♪ But it's any window little boys look through ♪ ♪ There's so much for you to see ♪ ♪ So don't ever say to me ♪ That you've got a lot of growing up to do ♪ ♪ 'Cause I wish that I were growing down to you ♪