“I’m a cartoon!”
That’s what Michael Jackson used to say to himself when he sat down to watch “Jackson 5ive,” the cartoon show about him and his brothers. It started on ABC’s Saturday morning lineup in September 1971, and it ran for two seasons and 23 episodes.
The songs were the real thing. Every episode had two Jackson 5 hits, taken straight from the brothers’ own records, so kids got “ABC” and “I Want You Back” with their cereal.
The talking was another story. The Jackson 5 were in such demand that they didn’t have time to record the speaking parts, so the show hired actors to play all five brothers.
Michael’s lines went to a 13-year-old boy. He was about the same age as Michael, and for two seasons, his voice came out of cartoon Michael’s mouth every week.
The first episode is a fun one. Michael’s pet snake gets loose and ends up somewhere it really shouldn’t be, and that’s how the brothers meet a very famous singer. Here’s that first episode, so you can hear the voice for yourself.
The first episode of Michael’s cartoon
The show went off the air in 1972, but it didn’t stay gone. When Michael became the biggest star in the world in the 1980s, the cartoon came back on TV in 1984.
By then, the boy who had voiced him was all grown up, and he never stopped acting. He worked in TV and movies for years, and later he lent his voice to some much-loved animated films, including Pixar’s “Up” and “Monsters University.”
But the part most people know him from came in 1985. It was a small role in one of the biggest movies of that decade, and fans still remember him in it. Keep an eye on everyone in this scene.
The movie scene he’s in
Did you spot him? If not, don’t worry. Most people who loved that movie never knew the same man had been cartoon Michael when they were kids.
He’s still a favorite at fan events today. In 2015, during the movie’s 30th anniversary, he sat down for an interview about the role that made him famous.
Michael’s cartoon voice, all grown up
The cartoon is a sweet time capsule now. Michael had his pet mice, named Ray and Charles, and that pet snake, who was always getting into trouble. The brothers had the same big smiles and the same music millions of families loved.
And somewhere in a recording studio in 1971, a 13-year-old boy was reading Michael’s lines, with no idea that 14 years later he’d be in a movie people would still be watching decades on.