Michael Jackson (58 page)

(A few years later, in 1990, Michael did the same thing to Elizabeth Taylor that he had done to Diana Ross. He was scheduled
to have dinner with Elizabeth at the Hotel Bel Air restaurant in Bel Air, California. However, he left her waiting for more
than an hour. She ate
Sevruga
caviar, drank Cristal champagne, waited and became increasingly infuriated. When Michael finally showed up, he explained
that he had been in the parking lot in his Rolls, talking on his cellular telephone to Jackie Kennedy Onassis. According to
the maître d' who had escorted Michael to her table and was still standing beside him, Elizabeth said, ‘I will not play second
fiddle to any woman, not even
that
woman. How dare you do this to me, Michael?’ Michael protested. ‘But, Elizabeth, I have a gift,’ he offered in his own defence.
From his vest pocket, he pulled out a pair of earrings that appeared to be two ovals of turquoise embellished with diamonds.
They weren't even in a box. Without a word, Elizabeth grabbed the earrings. She then donned her fur wrap and sunglasses (at
night!) and flounced out of the restaurant, leaving Michael standing there with the maître d'. He couldn't help but break
out into laughter; it had been one of the best exits he'd ever seen. ‘Oh my God! I can't believe she just did that,’ Michael
exclaimed, his face lit with delight. ‘Did you see that? Wow.’)

*

For some reason, Michael had his heart set on recording duets for the
Bad
album, but the plans never seemed to work out for him. While writing the album's title track, he decided he wanted Prince
to join him on the recording of it.

A couple of years earlier, Warner Bros, had sponsored an afternoon screening of the Prince movie
Purple Rain
for company personnel and film critics. The word in Hollywood was that the film, a drama with music, was so riveting, it
would make Prince a major movie star. Michael was deeply disappointed that he had not been able to make a strong impression
in films. Being so competitive, he had to see
Purple Rain
before it was distributed to the public; he arranged to attend the Warner Bros, screening.

When the house lights dimmed, Michael slipped into the small theatre on the Warner Bros. Burbank lot, wearing a sequined jacket
and sunglasses. He looked as if he were about to go on stage to accept an award. He sat in the last row and watched the film,
never once taking off his shades. About ten minutes before the movie was to end, he rose and walked out. Later, a member of
his entourage asked Michael what he thought of the film. ‘The music's okay, I guess,’ Michael asked. ‘But I don't like Prince.
He looks mean, and I don't like the way he treats women. He reminds me of my relatives. And not only that,’ Michael concluded,
‘that guy can't act. He's not good.’ Then, Michael let out a sigh of relief.

Though he didn't seem to appreciate Prince's talent, Michael realized that singing a duet with him could generate interest
not only in the title track, ‘Bad’, but in the entire album. His concept for himself and Prince was actually ingenious.

The plan was that a month before the single release of ‘Bad’ was to be issued, Frank Dileo would plant stories in the tabloid
press suggesting that Michael and Prince were bitter rivals. Michael's representatives would criticize Prince, and then Prince's
friends, a few of whom would be let in on the hoax, would condemn Michael. To then confound the public, Frank would then tell
a
Rolling Stone
reporter that the rivalry did not exist and that his client was disgusted with the rumours since he and Prince were great
friends, ‘and who believes the tabloids, anyway?’

In a month, rumours about him and Prince would be flying – are they friends or aren't they? – with the general consensus, hopefully,
being that they were not. At the height of such controversy, the ‘Bad’ single and video would be released. In the video, as
Michael planned it, he and Prince would square off against one another, taking turns vocalizing and dancing, in order to determine,
once and for all, who was ‘
bad
’.

Quincy arranged for Michael to meet him, feeling that the two were creative geniuses and should know one another, whether
they ever sang together or not. According to writer Quincy Troupe, ‘It was a strange summit. They're so competitive with each
other that neither would give anything up. They kind of sat there, checking each other out, but saying very little. It was
a fascinating stalemate between two very powerful dudes.’

However, when Michael telephoned Prince and told him about his idea, Prince was not enthusiastic. He said he wanted to hear
a tape of the song. Michael sent him one. After hearing it, Prince decided that he didn't like the tune and wanted nothing
to do with the hoax. That was the end of it. When word got back from Prince's representatives that he was not going to cooperate,
Michael was disappointed, but not really angry. ‘What do you think about this guy turning you down?’ Frank Dileo asked him.

‘Figures,’ was all Michael would say, shaking his head in disgust.

In September 1986, Michael Jackson's
Captain EO
was set to premiere both at Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida, and at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It was probably the
most expensive and most ballyhooed short subject (seventeen minutes) in film history, and it took over a year to complete
it.
Captain EO
was directed by Francis Coppola. The executive producer was George Lucas. Estimates of the 3-D film's budget ran as high
as twenty million dollars. Both parks had to build special theatres for the film with floors that tilted to coincide with
the space-age action on the screen. It was also a light-and-sound show, with smoke emanating from the screen. Michael played
a space commander with a crew of robots and fuzzy creatures battling a hideous queen (Anjelica Houston). Through song and
dance, a planet's inhabitants are transformed into peace-loving creatures. Michael performed two songs, ‘We Are Here to Change
the World’ and ‘Another Part of Me’.

Michael felt that he needed some kind of dazzling gimmick to promote the film. The publicity designed to create a buzz about
Michael and his
Captain EO
is an excellent example of how he could manipulate the press to do his bidding.

Earlier, in 1984, when Michael was burned while filming the Pepsi commercial, he saw an oxygen chamber at Brotman Memorial
Hospital called a hyperbaric chamber, used to help heal burn victims. The machine is about the size and shape of a casket
with a clear, plastic top. It encloses the patient in an atmosphere of one hundred per cent oxygen under increased barometric
pressure up to several times the pressure at sea level, thereby flooding body tissue with oxygen. When administered by trained
medical personnel, hyperbaric therapy is safe. However, in the hands of the untrained user, risks include oxygen toxicity,
seizures and danger of an oxygen-fed fire. When Steven Hoefflin told him that he had a theory that sleeping in this machine
could prolong life, Michael became fascinated by it and, immediately, wanted one for himself. The cost was about $200,000.

Though Michael could well afford it, Frank Dileo talked him out of wasting his money on such a contraption. ‘Well, I'd at
least like to have my picture taken in it,’ Michael decided. When Frank arranged for Michael to be photographed in the chamber,
at the hospital, word began to spread that he was interested in the chamber and, eventually, the story found its way to the
tabloid,
National Enquirer
. ‘ I had a phone-in from a source in Los Angeles who said that Michael was seen going to a hospital and taking pictures in
this chamber,’ said reporter Charles Montgomery who worked for the
Enquirer
at the time. ‘It sounded like a sensational story. I wanted to be the one to break it.’

Charles met with Frank Dileo and asked for details. ‘He didn't want to discuss it, told me to get lost,’ Charles said. ‘I
got some information on the phone from Steven Hoefflin, but not much. Without cooperation, the story had to be put on hold.’

Not for long, though…

When Michael heard that the
Enquirer
was asking questions about him, his wheels started turning. Earlier in the year he had given Frank Dileo and John Branca
a copy of a book about P. T. Barnum, his theories and philosophies. ‘This is going to be my Bible and I want it to be yours,’
he told them. ‘I want my whole career to be the greatest show on earth.’

Michael's idea was to promote the story that he was sleeping in the hyperbaric chamber in order to prolong his life to the
age of 150. He would add that he planned to take the machine on the road with him on his next tour. He wasn't certain that
the public would believe such a fantastic story – at this time, such wacky stories were not as associated to Michael as they
are today – but he was eager to see how much of a buzz he could start. John Branca thought the idea was odd, but it seemed harmless
enough as far as publicity stunts go.

It fell upon Frank Dileo to find a way to disseminate the fabricated story. He called Charles Montgomery and gave him the
information he had sought earlier and, to make the story even more irresistible, he promised a photograph of Michael actually
in the chamber – as long as Charles could guarantee the weekly's cover. He also made Charles promise not to reveal his source
for the information.

‘I honestly didn't know if the story was true or not,’ Charles Montgomery said. ‘But Michael Jackson said it was true, his
manager said it was true, and his doctor verified it. How many more sources do you need? Then, there was a picture. It turned
out to be a great shot, the guy laying there in the chamber. We knew what they were after in giving it to us, though. They
said they wanted us to use words like ‘wacky’ and ‘bizarre'. We knew the
Captain EO
thing was coming up, and figured he was probably trying to promote some kind of sci-fi image. Still, it was a good story.’

With the
Enquirer
in place, Frank wanted to strategize a way to distribute the story to the mainstream press, but without anyone knowing he
was involved with it. Planting it in the
Enquirer
did not risk his credibility since he could easily deny having had anything to do with it. Certainly, no one would take a
National Enquirer
reporter's word over Frank Dileo's. However, other more legitimate press might be tougher to crack. Since the media knew
that veteran publicist Norman Winter worked for Michael Jackson, Norman could not be the one to promote the bizarre story
to the press. Frank would have to hire an outside publicist for the job.

As it happened, Frank's Sunset Strip office was next door to that of leading show-business publicist Michael Levine. Frank
invited Michael to his home in Encino and told him about his idea, but with a few embellishments. Frank took Michael's idea
a step further. He wanted the press to believe not only that Michael was sleeping in the chamber, but also that he and Michael
were locked in a strong disagreement about its safety, and that Frank did not want him to take the machine on the road with
him during his next tour. Michael Levine was told that if he wanted to represent the story to the media, he would have to
do so without having any contact with Michael Jackson – and without informing the media that he (Levine) was involved in any
way. In other words, Michael Levine's task was to publicize one of the most ridiculous stories ever concocted without anyone
knowing he was doing it.

The next day an envelope was delivered to Michael Levine's office. The messenger had strict instructions that only Levine
be privy to its contents. He opened the envelope to find a single colour transparency of Michael Jackson lying in the hyperbaric
chamber in his street clothes, but without shoes. There was no covering letter or return address.

It was time for Michael Levine to go to work. He brought a well-known Hollywood photographer to Brotman to take pictures of
the empty hyperbaric chamber for any publication that might need additional photos.

One reporter recalled, ‘Levine telephoned me and said, “Look, I don't represent Michael Jackson. I don't even know Michael
Jackson. But I was up at Frank Dileo's house, and I overheard that there's this wild feud going on.’ Then he told me this
story about Michael sleeping in an oxygen chamber and the fact that he and Dileo were feuding about it. In about three days,
I was hearing this damn story all over town.’

About a week later, the pieces of the puzzle came together. The picture of Michael lying in the chamber made the front page
of the
National Enquirer
on 16 September 1986, as planned. Most people had never heard of a hyperbaric chamber, so it was difficult to know if the
picture was a set-up. In truth, patients and medical personnel who enter such a chamber must wear fire-retardant clothes due
to the high concentration of oxygen, not street clothes as Michael had on in the photograph. And why take off his shoes?

With Michael Levine's assistance, word of Michael Jackson's exploit quickly spread around the globe, a perfectly orchestrated
public relations coup. If his goal was to appear ‘wacky’… he certainly achieved it. The hyperbaric chamber story was carried
by the Associated Press and the United Press International. It appeared in
Time, Newsweek
and practically every major newspaper in the country. Television and radio news covered it. Suddenly, the words ‘hyperbaric
chamber’ were on the lips of many people as they gossiped about crazy Michael's plan to live to 150 and how he and his manager
were fighting about it.