Michael Jackson (124 page)

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. R
ANDY
T
ARABORRELLI
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.