The Elephant Man's Bones
Another publicity gimmick sprang forth from Michael Jackson's imagination in May 1987, one that was just as fantastic and – as it would happen – as damaging to his image as the hyperbaric chamber scam.
For years, Michael had been fascinated by the 1980 film about John Merrick,
The Elephant Man,
starring John Hurt. When he screened it in his private theatre, he sobbed his way through the entire film, he was that moved by it. John Merrick, the hideously deformed, Victorian sideshow-freak, was an outsider in a seemingly endless search for love and acceptance – just like, in his own view, Michael. In researching Merrick's life, Michael heard that his remains were kept in a glass case at the London Hospital Medical College. He wanted to see the ninety-seven-year-old skeleton, of course, and during a trip to England he obtained special permission to inspect the exhibit. (Because it attracted droves of tourists to the hospital, it had been removed from public view after the movie was released.) Michael was awe-struck by the exhibit and, as he examined the skeleton, said to Frank Dileo, ‘I sure would like to have these bones at Hayvenhurst house. Wouldn't it be cool to own them?’
‘Yeah, well forget it,’ Frank said.
‘But… hmmmm.’ Michael looked as if he had an idea.
‘Uh-oh,’ Frank said.
Remembering the hyperbaric chamber hoax, Michael came up with the idea that he should make an offer to the hospital to buy the John Merrick exhibit just to see what kind of press it would generate. ‘Man, that is crazy,’ Frank told him.
‘I know,’ Michael said, excited. ‘That's why we have to do it.’
In truth, Frank was all for it; he liked a good show as much as anyone else, and certainly as much as Michael. Therefore, claiming that Michael's absorbing interest in the remains of John Merrick was based on his awareness of ‘the ethical, medical and historical significance of the Elephant Man’, Frank told members of the press that he had offered a half-million dollars to the hospital for the bones. The offer was not publicized in the complex, cloak-and-dagger manner by which the hyperbaric chamber hoax made news. Rather, Frank called a couple of writers himself and gave them the scoop; the rules for such madness had, it seemed, become somewhat more flexible.
‘What's he gonna do with the skeleton, Frank?’ a reporter wanted to know.
‘I don't know,’ Dileo said, ‘except that he'll probably put it in the room while I'm trying to have a meeting with him.’
As expected, the media was interested in the story. The pop star who sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber wanted to buy the Elephant Man's bones. How could that
not
cause a stir? The wire services – Associated Press and United Press International – both picked up the story. By June, much of the public interested in such things was talking about Michael's latest eccentricity. The British media began referring to him as Wacko-Jacko.
Michael and Frank failed to realize, however, that the media might check with the London Hospital Medical College to verify that an offer had been received by them. In fact, when contacted by the press, officials at the College said they had received no such offer, that they had only heard about Michael's interest in Merrick's remains by reading about it in one of the British tabloids. Even if they did get an offer, the spokesman said, ‘We would not sell the Elephant Man. It's as simple as that.’
‘Oh, man, why didn't we think to cover our bases,’ Michael said to Frank. ‘Now we gotta make a real offer. And, anyway,’ he added, ‘of course they'll sell it if the money is right. Every man has his price.’
‘You serious now,’ Dileo asked. ‘You really want them, now?’
‘Yeah, I do,’ Michael said. ‘Let's get 'em.’
Now, Michael actually wanted the skeleton, but not because of any devotion to John Merrick but rather because he was told he couldn't have them.
Frank telephoned the hospital and made an offer of a
million
dollars for the Elephant Man's bones. The hospital officials said they were insulted. A spokeswoman told the press, ‘Indeed, he offered to buy it, but it would be for publicity and I find it very unlikely that the medical college would be willing to sell it for cheap publicity reasons.’
Back in America, Katherine Jackson figured out that the story was bogus. However, she thought it had been Frank's idea; she never dreamed that it was Michael's. She called Frank and said that she was upset; ‘you're making Michael look like an idiot.’ Frank told her that all he was doing was trying to make Michael appear to be more interesting. Katherine didn't like his explanation, though, and made her feelings clear. However, when Frank asked Michael what he thought about his mother's concern, Michael said, ‘Kate doesn't understand show business. So, don't worry about it.’
At this same time, the Jehovah's Witnesses' elders in Woodland Hills, California, began pressuring Michael again. They felt strongly that the recent publicity was doing him great damage, and that it reflected poorly on the Witnesses, because Michael was so representative of the faith. Michael was becoming disenchanted with the church's elders by this time, mostly because he didn't want to be told what to do. What's more he couldn't reconcile his lifestyle and career to the religion's strict tenets. In truth, it's almost impossible to be a Jehovah's Witness and be an entertainer. Therefore, in the spring of 1987, Michael withdrew from the Jehovah's Witnesses. A letter from the Jehovah's Witnesses headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, sent out as a press release, stated that the organization ‘no longer considers Michael Jackson to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses.’ Gary Botting, coauthor of
The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses
and a Witness himself, said that leaving the religion ‘is worse than being disfellow-shipped, or kicked out.’ He observed, ‘If you wilfully reject God's only organization on earth, that's the unforgivable sin… the sin against the Holy Spirit.’
Michael's decision to leave the church puzzled his mother, Katherine, and caused her great despair. Katherine wasn't sure she knew her own son any longer. However, there was no discussing the spiritual matter with him – literally. As it is strictly prohibited for a Witness to discuss matters of faith with ex-members, even if they are family, Katherine says that she has never asked Michael what happened, and she says that she never intends to ask such questions. ‘I was not required to “shun” my son,’ she claimed, referring to rumours of that nature. ‘But we can't talk about matters of faith any longer, which is a shame.’
Katherine maintained that her relationship with Michael continued to be warm. ‘Michael still asks my advice,’ she said. ‘And he helps me choose my clothes. He tells me to put on lipstick when company's coming. He has encouraged me to lose weight. He said, “Elizabeth [Taylor] lost all that weight. If she has, you can. And if you don't like it, you can always have plastic surgery.” But I wouldn't do that,’ Katherine hastened to add.
Michael soon lost interest in the Elephant Man's bones. As expected. It had certainly generated a great deal of press for Michael, though none of it favourable.
Playboy
magazine facetiously reported, ‘Rumour has it that the descendants of the Elephant Man have offered $10,000 for the remains of Michael Jackson's nose.’ In time, the controversy blew over. Gone, but not forgotten. Ever.
Michael's phony quest for John Merrick's bones created a domino effect in the tabloids, one from which his image would never truly recover. After the Elephant Man's Bones story, unscrupulous journalists began creating their own fictions about Michael, and they did so with a vengeance. After all, if Michael wanted the kind of publicity he had been diligently courting, why not accommodate him? Crazy-Michael stories sold millions of magazines.
In a short time, according to the tabloid press, Michael had asked Elizabeth Taylor to marry him and said, ‘I could be more special than Mike Todd. I could be more attentive and generous than Richard Burton, but she turned me down.’ He also apparently tried to convince Elizabeth to sleep in his hyperbaric chamber; was convinced that the world would end in 1998; refused to bathe in anything but Evian water; and had seen John Lennon's ghost (who convinced him to use The Beatles song ‘Revolution’ in a Nike ad). And the stories about Bubbles the Chimp seemed to never end. None of the stories was true, though, and Michael went on to complain bitterly about them, never admitting (and maybe not even understanding) that he was the one who had thrown the first punch. Since Michael refused to do any interviews in an effort to maintain his inscrutability, the stories just spread without contradiction or explanation.
CBS Records executive Bobby Colomby recalled, ‘Michael kept asking why so many bad things were being said about him. He didn't understand it. He said it really hurt to read all that stuff. I tried to tell him that the problem was his. I explained to him that he'd never seen Bruce Springsteen on the cover of the
National Enquirer
in a hyperbaric chamber. Even if that picture came in, they wouldn't believe. I said, “But you, Michael, spend so much time working on your mystique, on being reclusive and unusual, that people will buy anything with your name on it.” He said he understood… kind of.’
To this day, the stories continue. Some true, some false, all mad.
Since the time of the hyperbaric chamber and Elephant Man's bones, Michael has never stopped complaining about the press, and has even written songs about his victimization at the hands of the media; for instance, ‘Leave Me Alone’. In 1993, Oprah Winfrey asked him about the hyperbaric chamber during her televised interview with him. ‘I cannot find an oxygen chamber anywhere in this house,’ she said in mock exasperation. ‘That story is so crazy,’ Michael remarked, annoyed. ‘I mean, it's one of those tabloid things. It's completely made up.’ He explained that what happened was that he saw the chamber at the The Brotman Burn Center and decided to ‘just go inside it and hammer around, and somebody takes the picture. When they process the picture, the person who processes the picture says, “Oh, Michael Jackson!” He made a copy and these pictures just went all over the world with this lie attached to it. It's a complete lie. Why do people buy these papers?’
In May 2003, when he was about to release the tamed
Michael Jackson's Private Home Movies
documentary to combat the sensational one by Martin Bashir, he told
People, ‘
I want people to see the real me. I don't have sex with little kids. I don't sleep in hyperbaric chambers, and don't have elephant bones in my body. So many things are said about me, and I have no idea where they came from.’
In the end, the hard truth probably hurts more than any wacky fiction: Michael Jackson is responsible for his own image. He's given the media plenty to work with over the years and, in turn, the media has assisted him in achieving what he once stated was his ultimate goal, that of making his life ‘the greatest show on earth’.