La Toya: Growing Up in the Jackson Family

CHAPTER FOUR: ON OUR OWN TOGETHER (part I)

Perhaps because Michael lost his childhood to his career, he's always loved fantasy and make-believe, counting among his favorite films E.T., The Wizard of Oz, and Walt Disney's Peter Pan. So he jumped at the chance to play the Scarecrow in the all-black remake of the second film, based on the recent hit Broadway play. Ironically, Motown had purchased the movie rights.

Diana Ross was already cast in the lead as Dorothy, while my brother beat out several actors, including Jimmie Walker from the TV series Good Times, for the part of the insecure, philosophical Scarecrow. He was absolutely thrilled. Michael and I had seen the play several times and adored it and its score. The song "Home," a poignant pacan to family and, of course, home, held special meaning for us.

In summer 1977 he and I flew to New York City. where shooting was taking place. Mother came along to help us get settled in our Sutton Place apartment before returning to Encino. We were both old enough to vote, yet this was our first time living away from home! It was a little frightening, especially because of the many horrible things you hear about New York-the crime, the grime, the unfriendly people- but a great adventure.

When not accompanying Michael to the set I hung around with our friend Stephanie Mills, the Broadway production's Dorothy. She was understandably miffed that Diana Ross was playing the role she'd created. Other times I went to the movies with Diana's younger brother, Chico. I'd been to only a handful of movie theaters in my life, and once, in Indiana, to a drive-in with my family. These outings were so rare, I even remember the film we saw at the drive-in: Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery as James Bond.

Chico apparently developed a crush on me, leading Diana to speculate about us becoming a couple. I really liked him but thought of him more as a brother. Back in our apartment after a day's filming, Michael would tease, "Guess what Diana said today: 'La Toya is so right for Chico. I wish those two would get together, because he's a little wild. He needs somebody like her." Michael, a brilliant mimic, imitated Diana's voice and manner, which was always hilarious to watch.

Mother visited us for a few days every now and then. Once when she was in town we watched them shoot the scene where the Scarecrow is lashed to a table in the wicked witch Evillene's sweat factory, and a buzzsaw is poised to slice him in half. The second the circular metal blade started whirring, Mother screamed, "Get my son off that table! You're not going to do this to my son!"

"Cut!"

Michael walked over and tried comforting her. "Mother," he said, laughing, "it's just a movie. It's perfectly safe."

But she was adamant. "Mike, that thing could slip; there could be an accident. Please don't do it."

"Mother, the blade goes through a dummy, not me."

"I don't care, Mike. Anything can happen."

The scene was later finished without Mother present. No matter what anyone said, her fears weren't assuaged a bit. When my brother was seriously burned while filming a TV commercial six years later, her suspicions that special effects could go awry were confirmed.

Michael and I became friends with other people working on the film: Dick Gregory, Nipsey Russell, Quincy Jones. I think they and everyone else saw we were babes in the woods, so to speak, and took an avuncular interest in us. Dick taught us all about metaphysics, mental telepathy, and nutrition, starting us on a daily vitamin regimen. Each morning Michael gulped down his fifty pills in one swallow, then stood around laughing at me as I spent an hour taking mine one or two at a time.

Michael and I, surrounded by our security people and servants brought from home with us, weren't completely on our own. But we did go out more than we ever did in Los Angeles. The Studio 54 disco was then the hippest night spot in New York, and we maneuvered our way through the dancing throng there several times, meeting regulars like Halston, Andy Warhol, Bob Mackie, Truman Capote, Bianca Jagger, and Liza Minnelli.