The Man and the Moon
The atmosphere at the Jacksons' house on Hayvenhurst was holiday-like, with people telephoning from across the country to rave about Michael. The house swarmed with people – relatives, CBS and Motown executives, neighbours and even fans – as members of the family repeatedly ran the videotape of Michael's exciting performance. ‘You gotta see this one more time,’ Joseph, the proud father, told everyone who came by. ‘I've never seen anything like it. Just look at this kid.’
Joseph may not have realized it, but video players all over the country were in overdrive, as well. With his appearance on
Motown 25,
Michael accomplished two things: he reconfirmed for lifelong fans that, yes, he is the amazing talent they had always revered. Also, through the might of television, he reached millions of viewers who had never experienced him as a performer. Only on two other occasions – the first national television appearances of Elvis Presley and The Beatles, both on
The Ed Sullivan Show
– has television so handily delivered pop music superstardom. However, Michael Jackson's was quite possibly
the
single most captivating pop music performance in television history – the singing
and
the dancing. ‘Beat It’ had just hit number one two weeks earlier; it was Michael Jackson's world, and all of the other Jacksons were just living in it.
Even the dance greats, such as Fred Astaire, were impressed by Michael's prowess. The day after the special aired, Fred telephoned Hermes Pan, the legendary choreographer and Oscar winner who taught Fred and Ginger Rogers their most memorable dance steps (and who was his neighbour in Beverly Hills). He told him to come by as soon as possible.
When Hermes arrived, Fred put in a videotape of the performance. ‘Just wait till you see this.’ Then the two old pros watched in awe as the new kid on the block wowed America. Fred, never one to give light praise to other male dancers, was knocked out by Michael.
‘We agreed that we must call Michael, immediately,’ Hermes Pan told me. ‘Somehow, Fred tracked him down. He told him that he was one hell of a dancer. “A great mover.” He said, “You really put them on their asses last night. You're an angry dancer. I'm the same way.” I got on the line to say hello, and this whisper of a voice answered me. I was surprised, actually, that a person who dances with such anger would have such a soft voice. I told him how much I enjoyed his work, and he was very gracious, very excited to hear from us. For a moment, I believed he thought it was a practical joke. I liked him right away because he seemed so unaffected by show business, and also star struck. He really could not believe that Fred Astaire had called him.’
Michael would say later that Fred's compliment meant more to him than any he had ever received. Michael's voice teacher, Seth Riggs, recalled that, ‘Michael was eating breakfast when Astaire called, and he became so excited he actually got sick and couldn't finish his meal.’ Later, Fred invited Michael to his home so that he could teach him and Hermes how to moonwalk.
Soon after that, Gene Kelly visited Michael in Encino to talk shop. ‘He knows when to stop and then flash out like a bolt of lightning,’ Gene would say of Michael, who had, it seemed, joined a new brotherhood of dance. ‘He's clean, neat, fast, with a sensuality that comes through,’ Bob Fosse would say of Michael after
Motown 25
was broadcast. ‘It's never the steps that are important. It's the style.’
The moonwalk dance movement was taught to Michael by one of the former dancers on the popular American television programme called
Soul Train.
The steps had been around for about three years. When he saw the routine for the first time while watching the show, Michael simply had to learn it. Ron Weisner put him in touch with sixteen-year-old Geron Candidate, who went by the stage name of ‘Casper’, the kid who actually invented the move.
‘I saw something you guys did on
Soul Train,
’ Michael told Casper, ‘where it looks like you're going backward and forward at the same time.’
‘It's called the backslide,’ Casper exclaimed.
‘That's amazing!’ Michael exclaimed. ‘Can you teach me to do that?’
Casper was so stunned, he could barely answer yes. The next day Casper and his dance partner, Cooley Jackson, met Michael at a rehearsal studio in Los Angeles. To the music of ‘The Pop-Along Kid’, by the group Shalamar, Cooley proceeded to demonstrate a version of the backslide which was more like pushing in place rather than walking backwards. It wasn't what Michael wanted. Then, Casper demonstrated the slide where it appears the dancer is walking backwards and forwards at the same time. Michael leaped into the air. ‘Yes!
That's
it. That's the oneI want to learn.’
When Casper sat down, Michael grabbed at his shoes to examine their soles. ‘What do you have on the bottom of your shoes?’ Michael wanted to know. ‘You got wheels under there, don't you? That's how you do that step, isn't it?’
Casper explained that there were no special shoes or wheels involved; it was just a cleverly executed dance step. With the help of a chair, Casper began to teach it to Michael. For this practice session, Michael grabbed on to the chair back and executed the step in place repeatedly, in an effort to become accustomed to the foot movement. ‘He learned the basic concept in about an hour,’ Casper remembered. ‘He wasn't comfortable with it, but he had it down.’
A couple of days later, Casper had another session with Michael. ‘He still wasn't at ease with it,’ Casper recalled. ‘Whereas I made it look so natural, likeI was walking on air, he was stiff. It bugged him. “I can't do this in front of people unless I can do it right,” he kept saying.’
After those rehearsals, Michael went on tour with his brothers. ‘I went to see the show in Los Angeles, and he didn't do the step,’ Casper said. ‘I was surprised. When I went backstage and asked him about it, he said he just didn't feel ready yet. He didn't feel he knew it.’
Casper was home watching
Motown 25,
like millions of others, when he saw Michael do the step for the first time in front of an audience. ‘I couldn't believe it,’ he remembered. ‘My heart started pounding. I flew right out of my chair and screamed out, “Yeah! He did it. He finally did it. And I'm the guy who taught it to him.” It's not the moonwalk though,’ he explained. ‘It's the backslide. The moonwalk is when you do the step in a complete circle. But, somehow, the step Michael did on TV became known as the moonwalk, instead of the backslide.’
Indeed, the moonwalk – or backslide – soon became Michael's signature dance step. His
Motown 25
performance was nominated for an Emmy (and the programme itself won one). For teaching it to him, Casper was paid just a thousand dollars. ‘That's how much I asked for,’ he said, laughing. ‘I was sixteen. To me, that was good money. I would have done it for free, to tell you the truth. How was I supposed to know it would become Michael Jackson's trademark?’