Michael Jackson (27 page)

‘That went pretty well, didn't it, son?’ Joseph said in the elevator after the meeting. He emphasized the word ‘son’. They
were descending in a car full of CBS executives and employees during lunch hour. Michael was observed smiling bitterly at
his father. He later recalled that the subsequent ride back to the hotel was ‘a silent one’. When they got back to the hotel,
as Michael recalled it, Joseph put his arm around Michael's shoulder as they walked through the lobby. ‘You're a winner, Michael,’
he told him. ‘All my boys are winners. Every single one of 'em. You got that?’

‘I got it, Joseph,’ Michael said. ‘I got it.’

By 1977, nineteen-year-old Michael Jackson happened to find himself on the same career path as his mentor, Diana Ross. He
wanted to begin making decisions regarding his own future, just as Diana, who had been dominated by Berry Gordy for seventeen
years, was beginning to break his hold on her. Determined to be a film actress, she was anxious to find a property in which
to star, and one she could claim responsibility for finding – unlike her previous two opuses,
Lady Sings the Blues
and
Mahogany,
both Motown discoveries.

At the same time, through a production deal with Universal, Berry Gordy's Motown Productions had acquired
The Wiz,
a musical based on L. Frank Baum's classic,
The Wonderful World of Oz. The Wiz,
an all-black production, had opened on Broadway in January 1975 and gone on to win seven Tony awards.

By 1977, Rob Cohen, a twenty-four-year-old white wunderkind who headed Motown Productions, had been trying to launch
The Wiz
for some time. He recalled that the project was intended to be a low-budget film featuring Stephanie Mills, who had starred
in the Broadway play. Stephanie had also been a Motown artist, though her experience at the company was less than satisfying
for her; her one album for the label,
For the First Time
(produced by Burt Bacharach and Hal Davis), was a commercial disaster when issued in 1975, despite the fact that it was an
excellent recording. Appearing in the motion picture version of
The Wiz
would have been a coup for her. However, when Diana Ross decided that
she
wanted to play Dorothy, it was all over for Stephanie Mills. ‘I absolutely believed in Dorothy and in her search to find
who she is,’ recalled Diana. ‘It seemed so very parallel to who I am.’

To Diana, this film presented an opportunity to demonstrate to Berry that she had not only talent but creative vision, as
well. Berry disagreed. He thought casting her in
The Wiz
was a dreadful idea which only encouraged Diana to want the role even more. A tug-of-war ensued between Svengali and protégé.
Eventually Diana prevailed.

Practically everybody at Motown agreed that, at thirty-three, Diana was too old to, as Berry put it, ‘play anybody's damn
Dorothy’. Still, Berry and Rob Cohen secured a million-dollar contract with Universal for her. ‘I wanted to do this project,
and I honestly didn't care what I was going to be paid,’ Diana said at the time. ‘I was very happy, though, to be paid what,
at this point in my life, I
should be
getting paid.’

After the Ross casting, Berry decided to give full responsibility for
The Wiz
to Rob Cohen. Rob then recruited director Sidney Lumet, whose film credits included
Serpico,
and
Dog Day Afternoon
and
Equus.
He'd never before directed a musical.

Sidney Lumet's concept was to make the film a modern-day Manhattan fantasy using actual New York locations. Diana would play
a twenty-four-year-old school teacher – Dorothy – who is whisked into Oz by a blizzard. The late Ted Ross and Nipsey Russell were
hired to play the Lion and Tin Man, respectively. Richard Pry or and Lena Home were also featured players. It was also Sidney's
idea to cast comic Jimmie Walker, best remembered for his overblown portrayal of the loud-mouthed J.J. on television's black
sitcom
Good Times,
as the Scarecrow. However, Rob Cohen wanted Michael Jackson for the role.

‘I was always impressed by Michael,’ Rob recalled. ‘He struck me as being so polished, yet still pure. Plus, he could sing – which
Jimmie could not do – and this
was
a musical.’

When Rob suggested to Diana that Michael might be right for the part, she agreed, whole-heartedly. It was she, then, who suggested
it to Michael. Though he'd seen the Broadway play a half-dozen times and, obviously, loved it, Michael was reluctant. He felt
that Berry Gordy might use his influence to have him rejected because of the bad blood that still existed between Motown and
the Jackson family. Diana reassured him that he would be given a fair chance. A few days after Michael auditioned, Sidney
Lumet telephoned him at the Encino estate to tell him that he had the job.

Joseph did not want Michael to have the kind of solo attention a major movie would generate for him. Since family prosperity
through unity had always been Joseph's goal, he was never one to encourage individuality within the group. When Michael recorded
solo albums at Motown, it was with the understanding that Jermaine and Jackie have the same opportunity. (Tito and Marlon
also worked on solo album projects for Motown, though the records were never released.)

Of course, Joseph knew that without Michael's voice, personality and charisma, The Jacksons would be a completely different
kind of act, and maybe not a good one, either – especially now that Jermaine was gone. Working with his brothers had never been
a problem for Michael in the past; he was always group-minded. However, now that he was older, he was beginning to feel constricted
by the group's democratic mentality. And, the fact that they were all so unsupportive of his solo dreams made him feel that,
at the core, they were just being selfish.

Though Joseph had been trying for years to find a property that would star
all
of The Jacksons, the brothers didn't really care about making movies as much as Michael. ‘I watch movies constantly and envision
how it would have been if I could have been the star,’ he recalled. ‘I wanted nothing more than to be a movie star.’ As much
as he wanted the role of the Scarecrow, accepting it was not easy for him. In order to do so, Michael had to defy Joseph and
risk the disapproval of his entire family. Also, he was going to have to perform in a strange medium. A weekly TV variety
show that he loathed doing was insufficient preparation for a major movie role. Michael, always the perfectionist, wondered
if he would be up to the challenge. Though he agonized over what to do, in the end he decided to follow his heart. ‘I'm doing
the movie,’ he told Joseph. ‘I hope you'll support me.’

‘Well, if I can't talk you out of it, then go ahead and do it,’ Joseph said. ‘But don't say I didn't warn you. It's a big
mistake.’

Michael became upset. ‘You're the one always telling us about winners and losers,’ he said, according to his later recollection.
‘Now you're telling me not to do this thing when I
know
I can be a winner at it.’

Joseph had to think about that comment for a moment. ‘It's a gamble, Michael.’

‘Sure,’ Michael said. ‘Just like all the gambles you took, Joseph. Just like the one when you brought us out here.’

‘You're right,’ Joseph said with a smile. ‘Do the movie, Michael. Take a shot. You're the man. But always remember one thing?’

‘Winners and losers?’ Michael asked, referring to his father's credo.

‘No,’ Joseph said. ‘Remember that you are a member of this family, and a part of a singing group with your brothers, no matter
what you do. Family, Michael, that's everything.’

The two men smiled at each other. If things had been different between them, perhaps they would have embraced but that wasn't
how their relationship worked. Michael gave his father a thumbs-up and dashed off.

The brothers did not share Joseph's benevolence where Michael and
The Wiz
was concerned.

‘To tell you the truth, we thought he was biting off more than he could chew,’ recalled Jackie. ‘We didn't think it was right
for him, or good for the group. So, yeah, we kinda wished he wouldn't have done it.’

However, Michael refused to deny his dream simply because his brothers did not share it. He's a born gambler, though few thought
of him in that way at the time. Exhilarated by his imagination, he wanted to take chances. ‘“I have to make this film for
personal reasons,” he told me,’ Rob Cohen recalled. ‘“There are things I have to prove to myself, and to a few others.”’

The Wiz
offered Michael a temporary avenue of escape from the negativity of his male siblings and father. When he moved to New York
in July 1977 to begin the film, he asked LaToya to accompany him. The two resided in an exclusive two-thousand-dollars-per-month,
thirty-seventh-floor apartment located in Manhattan's expensive Sutton Place. These few months would be the first time the
two Jacksons had ever been away from the rest of the family. Katherine was nervous about her children being off on their own,
but she decided that it would be best if someone could be with Michael, ‘and LaToya's being there was as close to me being
there as possible. She and I were so much alike back then.’

Because LaToya was anxious about her time away, she turned to chocolate for comfort. ‘She ate chocolate the whole time she
was in New York,’ Susie Jackson said. ‘She became addicted. She told me that it got so bad, she had such chocolate fits, that
she would take Hershey's cocoa and just mix water with it and drink it, that's how addicted she was to it. By the time she
came back, she had gained twenty pounds.’

Though LaToya was apprehensive about being away from home, Michael basked in his new independence. ‘He was nothing like the
odd Michael Jackson you hear about nowadays,’ Rob Cohen remembered. ‘Back then, he was great fun; we had the best time. He,
LaToya, me and some of the others involved with the project would go to clubs every night to dance. He was not fearful of
going out in public, then. He was excited, like a little kid in a playground. The only thing on his mind was work during the
day – and I've seldom seen anyone work as hard other than, perhaps, Diana Ross – and play at night.’

Filming the $24-million movie – at the time one of the most expensive films ever produced – took place from 3 October through
30 December 1977, at Astoria Studios. It was hard work, six days a week. Michael would awake at four in the morning in order
to leave for the studio by 5:30. Following her mother's instructions, LaToya would prepare an early breakfast for her brother,
usually consisting of orange juice, bacon, buttered toast, herb tea and oatmeal. Michael's makeup for his role as Scarecrow
took cosmetologist Stan Wilson five hours to apply.

‘I loved it,’ Michael told me after the film was done. ‘I was the Scarecrow from the time the makeup was put on until the
time it came off, which I hated.’ Sometimes, he said, he would even go home at night wearing the makeup. It was a welcome
cover for his acne, he said. Once it was applied, and his phony nose and fright wig of steel-wool pads were in place, Michael
could walk around and not be recognized – though, of course, he drew more attention in that get-up than he would have without
it.

‘Manhattan was full of excitement for Michael,’ Rob Cohen recalled. ‘He met Jacqueline Onassis at the Rainbow Grill. He talked
about her for days afterwards, how glamorous and sophisticated she was, how he hoped one day to know her better. He met Caroline
and John Kennedy at the Robert Kennedy Tennis Tournament. He did more socializing then than he does today, sometimes with
Diana.’

There was actually a bit of tension between Michael and Diana during production. In July, the cast began rehearsing their
musical numbers at the St George Hotel in Brooklyn. Michael was an accomplished dancer; however, Diana had to work at it.
Whereas, Michael could remember the choreographer's direction immediately and execute the step with precision, Diana would
have to rehearse for hours and would still have some trouble with it. During one particularly trying session, she pulled Michael
aside. ‘You're embarrassing me,’ she said, urgently.

‘What do you mean?’ Michael asked. His surprise was genuine.

‘You're learning the dances too quickly.’

‘I was sort of shocked,’ Michael told me. ‘I didn't mean to embarrass her, that's for sure. So I tried to act like I didn't
always know what I was doing, so I could make her feel better.’

Michael had only happy memories to share with the press where Diana and
The Wiz
are concerned. ‘She would come into my dressing room every day and ask what she could do to make things more comfortable,’
he said. ‘She was like a mother to me. I love her very much.’

At this time, a nineteen-year-old friend of Michael's, Theresa Gonsalves (whom he first met in November 1974 when she went
to Las Vegas to see the group for her sixteenth birthday), telephoned him to say she was going to New York for a visit. They
made plans to see each other in New York.