Here's a few minutes from a 1965 Ed Sullivan Show with impressionist George Kirby…a performer I'd always liked. I still do but let me tell you what happened when I worked with him in 1986…
The CBS Saturday Morning department persuaded me to help develop a cartoon show starring Michael Jackson. I signed on…and it was one of those jobs I knew I should have said no to and later regretted that I hadn't. Everyone involved with the project was really enthused about it with one exception: Michael Jackson, a man who loved watching cartoons but really, really didn't want to be one.
Some of it was wanting to be taken more seriously as a musician. Some of it was not wanting to be seen as a performer for children. Some of it was him wanting people to see him the way he wanted them to see him, rather than a cartoon character on a show that would have been somewhat out of his control.
I do not understand how a person who was obsessed with making sure every note of every song was done exactly as he wanted it done agreed to allow this show to proceed as far as it did; only that a lot of people around him had reasons for wanting the project to go forward and he didn't want to disappoint them. I didn't either but it was tough when they were all pulling it in different directions.
So I found myself in meetings with him where one of his associates (he had many) would say to Michael, "I really think you should do the voice of the Michael Jackson character in this show yourself." And Michael would say, "Can't you do it without a Michael Jackson character in it?"
There were many moments in the two or three months I worked on this project where I thought, "This is never going to work." That was about six of them. And then there was the George Kirby problem.
He was part of the deal. In recent years — remember this was 1986 — Mr. Kirby's career had hit the skids. Going to prison can do that to you.
He'd been sentenced to one in 1977, which is what can happen to you when you sell cocaine and heroin to an undercover police officer. He served 3.5 years and once he was out, The Industry was in no hurry to employ him, at least on a steady basis. He spent a lot of time in front of audiences but they were mostly unpaid speaking engagements where he told kids to stay the hell away from drugs…and usually threw in a few impressions.
For what it's worth, I believe he was sincere in his message. It wasn't just something he was doing to try and rehabilitate his image to get his career up and running again…but he was clearly angry that it hadn't. At some point, he hooked up with Michael who took an interest in helping the guy and when this cartoon show was proposed, someone — probably Michael — decided that George would be heavily involved.
I met with him several times. He was a delightful gentleman, filled with great show biz stories — and you know what a sucker I am for great show biz stories. But he had no idea how to do animation or television for kids, and while a fresh mind can sometimes be an asset, it can also send things wildly off in wrong or impractical directions. And he wanted to be the Executive Producer and overall head honcho and do all the voices and write all the music and…
…and that was never going to happen.
TV Networks aren't fond of giving the kind of control he wanted to someone who's never produced a show — especially a cartoon show — in his life. They also were a bit leery of a kids' show "run" (in some way) by a guy who'd served time in prison for dealing heroin.
So you have those two problems and then you toss in Michael J. saying he was fine with a Michael Jackson cartoon show as long as Michael Jackson wasn't seen, heard or mentioned in it. And I haven't even gotten to Michael's manager Frank DiLeo, who wanted the show to be about Michael's Pets, a line of toys based on the critters in The King of Pop's private zoo…and yes, M.J. took me on a tour of it and I met Bubbles the Chimp.
There were other people and with each new person who was involved, there were new problems and new ideas about what the show should be. I wrote outline after outline and the one that pleased Michael didn't please CBS or anyone else and then the one that pleased George didn't please Michael and then I wrote one that pleased Frank but he was the only one. Michael didn't like it, George didn't like it, CBS didn't like it, I wasn't fond of it and even Bubbles said he wanted no part of it…
…which is about when I decided I wanted no part of it either. I moonwalked off the whole project and shortly after that, CBS killed the whole development deal, which I'm sure made Michael very happy and George Kirby very unhappy. I felt bad for George because I really liked the guy. Watch this little clip of him and you will, too…
