Growing Up in the Public Eye
It's always tempting, when dissecting a person's life, to go back in time and assign blame for the way things turned out, but it's not always fair. Certainly, Joseph and Katherine had the best intentions when they were raising their family, and didn't intend to harm their children. It's the rare parent, one would hope, who purposely sets out to completely screw up his kids' lives. If Joseph had told his brood to forget about show business, and focus on lives out of the public eye, such a demand would not have gone over well, at all. Try as they might have, the value system the Jackson parents passed on to their children was, at best, warped. Whatever it takes to get to the top, that's what they were told they had to do –
that
was their value system. Katherine tried to fight it and hoped to instill other ideals along the way – especially having to do with her religion – but none of them really seemed to matter when applied to the world in which her children were being raised, the world of show business. They were all caught up in the powerful illusion that if they became rich and famous, their lives would be better. Fate and circumstance, along with an obvious inadequacy in parental skills, set into motion a chain of events that would do irreparable harm to all of the Jackson children, and especially, to Michael. At least the older brothers had had a few years to act like children. Michael never did; he was barely five years old when thrust into show business.
Of course, the boys loved to perform and even
wanted
to perform. They excelled in that arena. The look of satisfaction on Michael's face when he was onstage made it clear that he was doing what he wanted to do, and that if someone had given him the choice between playing basketball with his friends and entertaining them on a stage, he would have chosen the later. However, a fine line exists between what children may want, and what may be in their best interests. It's not likely that Joseph understood as much, or was able to gauge the difference between what might be in the best interest of his children, and what his own agenda was for them.
It is not only the vast sums of money child stars earn which set them apart. Most child performers are shortchanged on their education, as well. Few have ever attended public school regularly. In the film industry, they are often tutored on the set. MGM even had a school for the youngsters who worked in their movies. Although the children were supposed to study a certain number of hours each day, filming often took precedence over education. They gleaned from their studies what they were able to, and then went back to their work in front of the cameras.
What's more, child performers are often cheated out of learning social skills – the all-important art of getting along with people. The other boys and girls with whom they associate are usually working children like themselves. Some of Judy Garland's happiest memories were of the short time during her teens when her career seemed to be going nowhere. She left the studio school, enrolled in Hollywood High – hiding her background from her fellow students – and enjoyed herself, immensely. (That happy period came to an abrupt end when a vice-principal told her she shouldn't be enrolled in school with ‘normal people’.)
The couple of years that the younger Jackson boys spent in public schools are romanticized by Michael and Marlon as highlights of their lives but, in truth, they weren't very happy. Michael attended sixth grade at Gardner Street Elementary in Los Angeles, though not consistently because of his work schedule. In truth, he was just a guest there, making cameo appearances in the classroom as he might on a television variety show. His sixth grade teacher, Laura Gerson, remembered, ‘OnceI was teaching the kids a song with a three-part harmony, and I hit a flat note that made my hair stand on end. Michael's eyes popped wide open. Nobody but him noticed. He never talked about himself. Occasionally, he would disappear and turn up on television…’
*
In the seventh grade, Michael joined Marlon at Emerson Junior High. But by this time, The Jackson 5's accomplishments at Motown had robbed them of their privacy. They only had two weeks at Emerson, obviously no time to integrate into the population or get to know anyone, before they were forced to leave. There had been a death threat against them, and that was the end of that: Joseph pulled them out of public school. His decision was fine with the boys; they wanted to leave, anyway. ‘There were mobs of people standing in the hallways just looking into the classrooms,’ Marlon recalled. ‘It was embarrassing, and frightening.’ From that time onward, the two were either enrolled in private schools or tutored at home.
California law requires that minors have a minimum of three hours of schooling a day when they are working. Mrs Rose Fine, accredited by the state as a ‘children's welfare supervisor’, became the tutor for all of the younger Jacksons. Much of their travelling time was spent studying for tests that they would take as soon as they checked into their hotel rooms. Between their studies, rehearsals, sound checks and concerts, and the usual goofing off, the Jacksons were kept busy.
When in private school, which occurred from time to time in between touring, Michael was bored by his studies, refused to do his homework, and was a terrible student. During class, he would draw pictures of animals and monsters when he should have been paying attention to his lessons. When called upon for an answer, Michael didn't have a clue as to what was going on, and he didn't care.
Jackie and Tito have unpleasant memories of their time at Fairfax High School, a public school in Los Angeles. The demands of their careers made normal routines almost impossible; they couldn't join any of the sports teams – a crushing disappointment for Jackie, who loved baseball – because they were the focus of attention. When they were singled out by classmates who had previously ignored them, the two brothers became suspicious of everyone. Who was legitimate in their intentions, and who had ulterior motives in wanting to know them?
Jackie and Tito would graduate from Fairfax when they were eighteen. At least they can reflect on a small period of time when they were exposed to people who weren't in show business, even if they did not enjoy that time. Michael, Marlon and Jermaine can not do as much; they were granted high school equivalency diplomas by Rose Fine, who was empowered to award them. Though technically graduated, the three younger Jacksons certainly did not obtain a good grounding in basic subjects, no slight to Rose Fine who probably did the best she could with them. To this day, each has problems with penmanship, grammar and (Michael in particular) spelling. They also lack a sense of history, except that which they managed to pick up during their travels.
As early as 1972, when Michael was about fourteen, he began exhibiting behaviour unlike that of his brothers. While they took the pressures of success in their stride, Michael seemed more affected by it. ‘He's just more sensitive than the others,’ Katherine would explain. If anyone in show-business history could ever be said to be lacking in ‘people skills’, it would be Michael Jackson. To this day, he doesn't really understand people, or even
try
to understand them, because when he was a youngster he was surrounded, for the most part, by either showbiz kids or wealthy students who, like himself, were never exposed to the ‘normal’ masses.
By the time Michael was fourteen, Bill Bray (The Jackson 5's security man, who still works for Michael) would arrange for him to have access to freight elevators in hotels, rather than take public lifts along with ‘normal people’, as Michael called them.
A year earlier Michael had told Judy Spiegelman of
Soul
magazine, ‘I'm just like other kids.’ However, he soon realized he was not like them at all. The other group members didn't seem to mind ‘normal people’ – as long as they weren't in the form of a pack of rioting fans – even if they had nothing to do with them. Michael, though, was always the one who attracted the most attention. If he entered a room with any of his other brothers, he was the one to whom the fans would flock. Being singled out, being made to feel different, knowing all eyes were on him, had a deep impact on Michael. He began to show signs of a deep insecurity, and even inadequacy. It was as if he knew he didn't fit in. If he could spend his life on stage, he felt he would be happy. Unfortunately, the world was not his stage. He had to deal with the public, and he wasn't able to do so in a way that made him feel comfortable in his own skin.
‘He became a loner,’ Katherine Jackson would remember. ‘I was worried about him, but I hoped he would grow out of it, that it was a phase. He didn't get along with other people his age. He was better with adults. I don't know that he had friends his own age. I think, probably not. As always, his brothers were his friends. As long as we all had each other, I figured we would be okay. I prayed we would be okay.’