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"Kool and the Gang" Concert Attendance
Tatum O’Neal, “A Paper Life” autobiography
For old times’ sake, we caught a concert together, Kool and the Gang at Madison Square Garden. Michael dressed in full costume for the event–coming in blackface, with a pasted-on beard–the whole nine yards. But things were never the same between us.”
At first glance you wonder what beaming young actress Tatum O’Neal sees in her older date, his features obscured by a huge afro and bushy beard.But the eyes are the giveaway – beneath the elaborate disguise is a 24-year-old Michael Jackson, hoping to enjoy a concert with his first girlfriend in blissful anonymity.The 1982 snap documents one of the many “crazy nights” Tatum, then 18, says she shared with Jackson. And while the singer came to be mocked for the crazy disguises he adopted, this one was clearly a work of genius.
When the snap resurfaced recently, a now 45-year-old Tatum told pals: “We were going to a Kool And The Gang concert, but Michael didn’t want to be spotted. “He got a special effects guy to help. We had an amazing night. No one recognised us, but we did get some strange looks as he appeared so much older than me.”
A Jackson insider reckoned the get-up – put together by Oscar-winning special effects artist Rick Baker, who worked on the Thriller video – cost thousands of dollars.They added: “Michael loved it. He thought it was so much fun. Rick created this beard and did some work on Michael’s lips. He also gave him make-up to make his skin darker.”
The photo was snapped by an employee at the Helmsley Palace, where Jackson was staying. The Palace paparazzo, who is accepting bids until October at a Bronx post office box, tells Eavesdropping that Jackson paid $10,000 for the get up.