Michael Jackson
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I also referenced: Rothman v. Jackson (Weitzman, Fields, Pellicano), Case Number SC32081; Morris Williams, Leroy A. Thomas, Donald Storks, Fred Hammond and Aaron White v. Michael Jackson, Case Number BC093593; Michael J. Jackson v. Diane Dimond, Stephen Doran, K-ABC Radio and Paramount Pictures Corp., Case Number BC 119773 (as well as ‘Michael Jackson’s Statement Re Lies and Falsehoods’ from Howard Weitzman, Esq., 11 January 1995.
Michael and Lisa Marie Presley
I drew from my interviews with Lisa Marie Presley, which first appeared in ‘Suspicious Minds – The Troubled Life and Times of a rock ‘n’ roll Heiress’, by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Sunday Magazine (The Times), 14 April 1996.
In 1997, as a consequence of the strong reaction to the Sunday Magazine feature, I began researching and writing a book about Lisa Marie Presley, which was to be called Elvis, Priscilla, Michael and Me. However, I abandoned plans for the book when my career went into a different direction (with my biography of Frank Sinatra). I conducted a great deal of research for the Lisa Marie biography, some of which appeared in articles I wrote, such as: ‘Lisa Marie Presley – Seule, toujours seule‘ by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Paris Match, June 1996; ‘Lisa Marie, Michael and Debbie’ by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Star, 25 February 1997; ‘Michael and Lisa Marie’ by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Star, 4 March 1997; ‘Millionaire Lisa Marie Presley’ by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Star, 11 March 1997.
Of course, I also drew from my own interviews with Michael, and stories based on those interviews, such as: ‘Michael Insists: ‘This Marriage is no Joke”’ by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Star, 27 September 1994; ‘Jackson Insists Kiss was a Thriller’ USA Today, 13 September 1994; ‘Jacko Finally Breaks His Silence’ by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Woman’s Day, September 1995.
On 18 January 1996, I appeared on CNN to announce that Lisa Marie Presley had filed for divorce from Michael Jackson. For that broadcast, I conducted my own, independent research, from which I also relied for this updated book.
I also drew on my article, ‘Princess Heartbreak’ by J. Randy Taraborrelli, New Idea, 28 January 2002.
I also referred to my research for the following articles: ‘The Secret Power of Liz Taylor’ by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Woman’s Day, 11 December 2000; ‘Taraborrelli Defends Jackson (and Himself!)’ by Michelle Cushing, ‘King of Pop’, the Official Magazine of MJ News International, Issue Number 6, 1996; ‘Jackson scandal will be History’, New York Post, 22 June 1994; ‘Michael Promises No More Plastic Surgery’ by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Woman’s Day, 25 December 2000; ‘Diana Ross and Michael Jackson’ by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Woman’s Day, December 2000.
Regarding Michael’s hospital stay in 1995, I reported the story for CNN on 6 December, and did my own independent research for it at that time.
Thanks to Donald Trump, Hugo Alvarez-Perez, Marcel Marceau, Brett Livingston-Stone, Monica Pastelle and Otis Williams of The Temptations.
Of course, I was the reporter at the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills to whom Elizabeth Taylor said, ‘I am not in the business of clarifying rumours,’ and then issued the somewhat startling order, ‘Now, be gone!’
I also referred to reams of press coverage and TV interviews given by Lisa Marie Presley to publicize her Capitol Records 2003 release, To Whom it May Concern, including ‘Q and A with Lisa Marie Presley’ by Rob Tannenbaum, for Playboy, May 2003.
I also referred to the court records relating to Lisa Marie Presley’s petition to dissolve her marriage to Michael Jackson (Case Number BD22906).
Michael and Debbie Rowe up to Present Day
For most of these chapters, I drew from my own television reporting on Michael Jackson in the United States and Europe. It would be too lengthy a list for me to detail all of the television programmes I have appeared on having to do with Michael, Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe since the publication of the first edition of this book; I have made literally hundreds of appearances on shows such as Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Prime Time – Live, Dateline, The Larry King Show, CNN Headline News, and many others, expressing my views about Michael based on my own independent research.
Some of my most recent television appearances relating to Michael Jackson had to do with analyzing his interview with Martin Bashir, on programmes such as: ‘Michael Jackson – UnMasked’, Dateline, NBC, 17 February 2003; ‘Michael Jackson,’ Prime Time, 6 February 2003; The Many Faces of Michael Jackson – Prime Time Special Edition, ABC, 17 February 2003; CBS-This Morning, 18 February 2003. I also reported on Michael for Michael Jackson: The E! True Hollywood Story, June 2003.
I was also a contributor to the highly rated documentary Michael Jackson’s Face, on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, the highest-rated original programme ever broadcast on the channel.
I also drew from my research for ‘The Secret Michael Jackson’” (three-part series,) by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Daily Mail, September 1998.
Thanks also to Gordon Rowe, Steve Shmerier, Marsha Devlin, Tanya Boyd, Mavis McDermott, Mario Pikus and Theodore Miller for their assistance in understanding Michael’s marriage to Debbie Rowe.
Library Research
The following institutions were extremely helpful to my research:
American Film Institute Library; Associated Press Office (New York); The Bancroft Library (University of California, Berkeley); The Brand Library Art and Music Center; British Film Institute Library Archives; Born Free Foundation; Boston Herald Archives; The Beverly Hills Library; British Broadcasting Corporation; University of California, Los Angeles; California State Archives (Sacramento); Corbis-Gamma/Liaison; The Glendale Central Public Library; Hayden Library; The Hartford Public Library; The Hollywood Library; The Houghton Library (Harvard University); Hulton Picture Library; Lincoln Center Library of the Performing Arts; Kobal Collection; The Los Angeles Public Library; the Los Angeles Times; The Margaret Herrick Library (Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences); the Michigan Chronicle; Museum of Modern Art (The Film Study Center); Museum of the Film; National Archives and the Library of Congress; The Neal Peters Collection; New York City Municipal Archives; New York Public Library; New York Daily News; New York Post; New York Times; Occidental College, (Eagle Rock, California), Philadelphia Free Library (Theater Collection); Philadelphia Public Library; Philadelphia Historical Society; the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News; Photofest; Princeton University (The William Seymour Theater Collection).
Bibliography
One book I so value and which I would like to single out as wonderful is Michael Jackson: A Visual Documentary by Adrian Grant from Omnibus Press, London. It was first published in 1994, and then updated a number of times. If the reader wants to know more about Michael, go to an edition of this terrific book.
For this updated edition of Michael Jackson – The Magic and the Madness, I referred to many hundreds of articles having to do with the Michael Jackson molestation investigation and his marriages to Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe. Space simply does not allow the publication of the lengthy list of these features. One, in particular, that I think deserves special mention is: ‘Did Michael Do It?’ by Mary Fischer for GQ, October 1994.
Also helpful were: ‘Not Necessarily the News’ by Tom Rosenthal, Esquire, January 1995; ‘Nightmare at Neverland’ by Maureen Orth, January 1994 and ‘Prime Time Lies’ by Maureen Orth, Vanity Fair, September 1995; ‘Jackson Files Slander Suits’ by Adam Sandler, Daily Variety, 13 January 1995; ‘Jackson Pays; Case Closed’ by Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn, Hollywood Reporter, 25 January 1994; ‘Priscilla Presley – My Daughter, Myself’ by Jim Jerome, Ladies Home Journal, August 1996; ‘Can He Put Himself Together, Again?’ by Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News, 18 June 1995; ‘Is This the End?’ by Dana Kennedy, Entertainment Weekly, 10 September 1993; ‘Michael’s World’ by Cathleen McGuigan, Newsweek, 6 September 1993; ‘Who’s Bad?’ by Richard Corliss, ‘Time to Face the Music’ by Dana Kennedy, Entertainment Weekly, 17 December 1993; ‘Inside Michael’s World’ by Joey Bartolomeo and Jennifer Tung,
US Weekly, 24 February 2003; ‘Michael Jackson – The Man in the Mirror’ by Mary Murphy and Jennifer Graham, TV Guide, 10-16 November 2001; ‘What Friends Are For’ by Karen Schneider, People, 2 December 1996; ‘Michael Jackson – Losing his Grip’ by Maureen Orth, Vanity Fair, April 2003; ‘Michael Tells Where I Met Lisa Marie and How I Proposed’ by Robert E. Johnson, Ebony, October 1994; ‘Neverland Meets Graceland’ by Tom Gliatto, People, 1994; ‘The King as Pop’ by David Friend, Life, December 1997; ‘A Frank Talk with Priscilla Presley’ by Vernon Scott, November 1994; ‘Wanna Be Stopping Something’ by Tom Sinclair, Entertainment Weekly, 21 September 2001.
I also reviewed the PBS Frontline documentary, ‘Tabloid Truth: the Michael Jackson Scandal’, which was broadcast on 15 February 1994, as well as the transcript of CNN’s Larry King Live discussion of Michael Jackson on 21 February 2003.
J. RANDY TARABORRELLI is the New York Times bestselling author of Elizabeth; Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot; Sinatra: A Complete Life; Call Her Miss Ross; and the forthcoming The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, among other titles, as well as a frequent contributor to many publications and a CBS News consultant. He lives in Los Angeles.
* Katherine Jackson would also sign a similar parental approval agreement on 17 October 1969. It appears that she did not actually read the agreement, for in it she and Joseph are referred to as the parents of John Porter Jackson – Johnny Jackson, the group's drummer, to whom they are not related.
* Michael's signature meant nothing since, at nine years of age, he was a minor. Having him and his brothers sign contracts was only intended to make them feel part of the Motown family. Underneath Michael's signature, Joseph W. Jackson signed as guardian.
* On 11 October 1989, school officials at Gardner Street Elementary School dedicated the ‘Michael Jackson Auditorium’ in Jackson's honour. Michael attended the ceremony.
* The Socrates quote was ultimately edited from the final cut of The Wiz. Michael had actually met Quincy Jones when he was twelve, at Sammy Davis, Jr.'s home. Michael doesn't remember the meeting, though Quincy does.
* The United States Post Office must have been particularly happy about the plan, as each money order cost $1.55. If twelve million fans purchased money orders, post offices would collect $18 million. In all of 1983, the Postal Services collected $124 million in money orders.
* In 1993, Michael sent Jackie an extravagant gift, perhaps trying to win her over. Recalled Stephen Styles, who was a close friend of John F. Kennedy Jnr’s, ‘Michael was pushing for a deeper relationship, I think. But you just didn’t do that with Jackie; she was the one to set the boundaries. One day, my phone rang and it was John. “You will never guess what’s going on around here,” he said. “My mother is fit to be tied.” Then, he explained to me that a big screen TV had been delivered to Jackie’s apartment building from Michael, and that was so large they couldn’t even get it in the front door of the lobby. It was just out in the middle of the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue, with a giant pink bow on it that said, “For Jackie. The Most Wonderful Woman in the World.” A big crowd had gathered, hoping that the most wonderful woman in the world would come down and claim her prize. “My mother is having a fit, about it,” John said, laughing. They finally got it up to her apartment, but they had to disassemble much of it just to get it in the lobby.’
* Later, Arnold Klein was forced to testify at a Grand Jury. He brought along his assistant, Debbie Rowe. The two testified that Michael had been a patient since 1983, was diagnosed with Vitiligo and acne in 1986, and was given his first of many prescriptions of Benoquin, a bleaching cream, in 1990. Klein said he had never seen Jackson’s penis, but – on one occasion – saw his buttocks when Michael had tried using his Benoquin bleaching cream there. Klein also confirmed the incident with Michael’s scrotum, when he tried to bleach it in the spring of 1993. However, Rowe treated him for that particular problem, not Klein.
* In 2001, Michael, Justin and ’N Sync made a couple of TV appearances together, on Michael’s megalomaniacal thirtieth anniversary television special, and then on the MTV Video Music Awards that year. Britney also appeared on the anniversary programme, performing ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ with Jackson. However the footage was cut from the broadcast due to contractual issues.