[For previous blogs please visit “blog archive” to the lower left of this screen. Click on the small black arrows for a list of the blogs.]
Around the late ‘50s, early ‘60s, my grandmother learned that Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds were getting a divorce. She was used to celebrity divorces but she was sad because she liked the attractive couple. Soon after the news broke it was learned that the reason for the divorce was: Elizabeth Taylor. In that time period, and before, there was a substantial amount of celebrity gossip available if fans wanted to find it. There were “movie” magazines, newspaper columns by Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, and the occasional mention on talk shows and newsreels at the movies before the cartoons. However, most publicists were paid huge sums to keep their clients out of the press when scandals erupted. Scandals of the magnitude of the Fisher/Reynolds/Taylor level could not be “handled.” How much was true and how much was fiction we will never know.
Publicists made up stories about their clients and staged events. Rock Hudson had a marriage forced on him to prevent the public from finding out he was gay. It’s hard to believe today but it worked. No one knew for years about Rock’s secret except Hollywood insiders and fans with tenacious methods for learning about their favorites. The average person didn’t know much except what they learned in the mainstream media. A controlled scandal was much better than an uncontrolled mess. There were certainly plenty of those but unless you were a hardcore fan the average person did not know too much about celebrity dirty laundry. Just the pretty stuff and fancy clothes.
So when my grandmother learned of this terrible divorce, in her opinion caused solely by Elizabeth Taylor, as though Eddie Fisher had nothing to do with it, she announced she hated Elizabeth Taylor. For the remainder of her 91 years she hated Elizabeth Taylor. While reading her morning paper if she came across an advertisement about a movie starring Ms. Taylor, my grandmother would make shocking and rude comments. Some of the comments contained Portuguese profanity so that I wouldn’t understand. Of course, I understood perfectly well having heard her bilingual and oddly endearing diatribes from birth.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I try very hard to NOT learn about the personal lives of celebrities. Today, however, it’s almost impossible to totally avoid this gossip. We know so many things about them, true or not, that it’s as though we know them personally. We can literally find out the shoe size of our favorite movie star. We can go to eBay and purchase items they have used (ew). There are entire TV programs devoted to news about celebrities and some are absolutely horrific in detail. TMZ comes to mind as possibly the worst television celebrity “news” program I have ever watched. I had to watch it a few times recently because of research for a future blog on “reality television” I’m preparing. In fact, I’ve had to watch a number of programs that just made me stare into space in disbelief. I almost considered not doing the blog because of the appalling research I’ve had to endure but I’m too far into it now. I’m not sure when it will be ready for posting because the topic of reality (ugh) TV is disgusting.
When it comes to super stardom, unless we never leave our homes and rid ourselves of our newspapers, magazines, computers, TVs, and radios, we WILL hear about celebrities. It is unavoidable. However, few celebrities ever reach the heights of a Michael Jackson. Some come close in gossip mongering like Jennifer/Brad/Angelina, O.J., Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, etc. But Michael was an entity unto himself.
Our family was besotted with Michael from the time he was a little boy. Over the years he became more amazing with each new phase of his career. When he entered his Thriller period everyone was blown away with his talent and his continuing shy and sweet demeanor. Even Fred Astaire commented enthusiastically on the talented Michael Jackson.
Click on this wonderful link to see other famous admirers of Michael Jackson.
http://floacist.wordpress.com/2007/10/11/quotes-on-michael-jackson/
Also take a peek at YouTube’s Smooth Criminal with Fred Astaire’s dancing incorporated into the music via clips from his movies. Fantastic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKanPsUjP7w&annotation_id=annotation_211174&feature=iv
Michael went beyond charisma. I remember the first time I saw the Thriller video I immediately purchased a copy of it. It was one of the most remarkable things I had ever viewed. So when I heard of Michael’s passing, I pulled my VHS tape out of the cupboard, popped it in my old VCR player, and that feeling came back again in an emotionally strong way. He was just the most amazing artist of all times in all ways.
He was physically beautiful and flamboyant (until he met with unscrupulous plastic surgeons), a fabulous dancer, a wonderful singer, and a fantastic composer. He was also a generous philanthropist and he was truly loved by millions. My favorite piece by Michael is She’s Out of My Life. For some reason it touched me every time I heard it. I don’t know the story behind the song and I’ve never tried to find out. I love the mystery of it. Just like Michael, a true enigma.
After I watched Thriller a few times I remembered something else. Stuck in the back of a closet, untouched for years and years, was Michael’s red zippered jacket that I bought for my son when he was around 10 years old made by Andre de Leure. My son tried it on but I do not believe he ever wore it except for that one time because he didn’t want anything to happen to it. It’s in pristine condition and I just stood there gaping at it. (No, we are not going to sell it on eBay.) I have a vague recollection that the jacket cost $25. I can’t remember where I bought it. So after the discovery I asked my son what he would like me to do and of course I knew the answer: keep it forever. In fact, we’re going to place it in a special preservative bag or have it framed.
But my grandmother would be horrified by all of this adulation. (Not to mention his friendship with her old nemesis Elizabeth Taylor.) I don’t think Michael’s later eccentric life and change of appearance would have bothered my grandmother, though she would have made astute comments to be sure, but even the hint of child molestation would have actually done her in, true or not. I guess that’s why Congress has decided not to go forward with the resolution they considered honoring Michael’s life. Just the suggestion that Michael could have been involved in such behavior is enough to put Congress’ collective shorts/panties in a bunch. I think it’s because they are all so honorable and chaste and true to their wives and husbands. None of them have ever had relations with teens or young people under their tutelage. Congress, and politics generally, is filled with light and sunshine and there’s not a bigoted, narcissistic, dishonest, spouse-cheating, lying, deceptive, manipulative, pervert in the bunch. We are blessed.
But back to grandma. I remember trying to explain that the information we got on Elizabeth Taylor and her scandal could not be trusted. That “Hollywood” stories were often wrong. How were we to know, really, what happened between the three of them? How were we to know if Eddie and Debbie were separated or having marital trouble prior to Elizabeth entering the picture? It didn’t matter and my grandmother would have hated Michael for any connection with child molestation. She would have assumed that no adult in his right mind would surround himself with children in a bedroom for anything other than ulterior motives. Key words being “in his right mind.”
However, in our society we are innocent until proven guilty. O.J. is innocent, Robert Blake is innocent, and Michael is innocent too. For some reason that works for me with Michael and Robert Blake, but I haven’t been able to process that theory with O.J. even though he is also charming and handsome. [For some reason I sense a sinister creepy vibe with him. I did NOT watch the trial.] I guess I have some of my grandmother in me after all. Phil Spector is a lunatic so he got what he deserved I guess. Often it’s the person who is the most charming, has the most money, and has a clever attorney with great insight into jury selection who gets an innocent verdict, guilty or not. If you look and act like Phil Spector money doesn’t help. If I’m ever arrested I do not want a jury of my peers. I’m neither charming nor rich. It would be Chowchilla for me.
And so this is how I have justified my continued admiration for Michael. A jury of his peers found him innocent. He paid a large sum of nuisance money to the alleged victim, which is routinely done in legal matters with strict covenants to never speak of the matter again or risk losing the settlement. Because everyone lies about their personal lives, including our esteemed political leaders, we can only base our opinions on court decisions, not tabloids.
Michael was an extraordinary child in a tough adult business. He later became a reclusive man who did not understand boundaries, did not understand that it wasn’t okay to play with young children in his bedroom, and that he would be judged harshly by that behavior. He had mental confusions and conflicts that were not being treated except, perhaps, with drugs. He had a loving but complicated family structure that was unable to direct his personal life (or theirs at times) in a healthy direction. He was also surrounded with friends and attendants who were also at a loss as to how to help him live an adult life with limits, and if he did seek the care of a mental health care provider, that person failed him. All the money and fame in the world could not keep him from his sad spiral into a bizarre death at the hands of more unscrupulous doctors. Everyone loved him and no one could help him. And now he’s out of our lives.
[No part of this content may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.]
