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Carol Burnett Show

Air date confirmed in TV.com (“3/16/74”) and Carol Burnett’s “In Such Good Company” autobiography (“March 16, 1974”)

Carol Burnett, In Such Good Company

The first time Michael, Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, and Marlon -- along with their youngest brother, Randy -- were on our show was March 16, 1974.

The Jacksons performed "Dancing Machine," featuring the incredibly talented sixteen-year-old Michael, and later on in the show they took part in our finale, portraying bored "students" (along with our dancers) in a classroom run by an uptight old biddy (me) attempting to teach the kids how to read music.

My character continues trying to engage a totally disinterested bunch of kids, when out of the blue . . . there is an earthquake!

I mean a real earthquake. (Editor’s Note: This occurs after Carol Burnett says “very good” in response to the class successfully singing back her “A-B-C”)

The stage lights above us started swaying like crazy, and everybody in Studio 33 stopped breathing for a few seconds, until the jolt was over. I glanced at our audience, and no one had moved. I figured I should keep on going with the scene, and as the teacher I said, "No visiting, no visiting! The earth just moved. See what can happen when you pay attention!"

There were no more jolts and we finished the number, none the worse for wear.

The Jacksons were very shy during rehearsals, so very, very shy. But when it came time to perform, they blew the roof off the studio! They were the sweetest kids in the world, and I couldn't wait to have them back with us. They graced our show with their fantastic talents three times. I'm still sad that Michael thought he was unattractive. I thought he was beautiful.