Back in 1983, a tired old theater in downtown Los Angeles got turned into the creepiest dance floor in music history. That’s where Michael Jackson filmed most of “Thriller,” along with a spooky old house over on Carroll Avenue nearby.
Word got around town fast. A music video set isn’t usually a hot ticket, but this one pulled in some serious star power. Marlon Brando stopped by. So did the dancing legend Fred Astaire and the actor Rock Hudson.
And then one more guest showed up. She flew all the way out from New York, and she wasn’t there to watch Michael turn into a werewolf.
Can you guess who she was?
Here’s your hint. She was once one of the most famous women in the entire world, and for a few years she had lived in the White House.
It was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Jackie.
By the early 1980s she had built a whole new life as a book editor at a big New York publishing house called Doubleday. And she had her eye on Michael. She came to talk with him about a book, the story of his own life, told in his own words.
That book really happened. It came out in 1988 and was called “Moonwalk.” The most private superstar on the planet opened up on the page, and a former First Lady was the editor helping guide it along.
Step onto the set she came to see
This is the finished “Thriller” video, the same strange and wonderful set that drew Jackie Onassis clear across the country. Watch the dance out in the street and the old theater behind it, and picture a quiet book editor standing somewhere in the middle of all of it.
It’s almost funny when you lay it all out. Zombies shuffling around in the fog, and off to one side a former First Lady waiting for a quiet word about a memoir.
Two completely different worlds, sharing one soundstage for an afternoon.
That was the kind of pull Michael had in 1983. Movie stars, dancers and even Jackie Kennedy wanted to be in the room with him. And the little video they were all coming to see went on to become the most famous music video ever made.
Give it a watch and see what all the fuss was about.