When Prince Jackson sat down for a long talk on “Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson,” Michael’s oldest son ended up sharing one of his dad’s lessons.
Prince was born in 1997. The podcast is hosted by the former heavyweight boxing champion, and Prince’s episode made headlines in late summer 2023. EssentiallySports covered it in a run of articles from Aug 31 to Sept 4 that year.
At one point the talk turned to show business and young performers. Specifically, to parents who take advantage of their own famous kids.
Prince didn’t sugarcoat it. He called the industry a “very scary” place for young talent.
Then he shared something about his dad. Michael had a story he wanted Prince and his siblings to know, and he came back to it often. It wasn’t about Michael’s own career at all. It was about a boy who’d been famous long before Michael’s time.
Here’s how Prince put it: “My dad used to warn us about that and talk a lot about Jackie Coogan, the child actor.”
If that name doesn’t ring a bell right away, don’t worry. Hang on for a minute.
Jackie Coogan was born Oct 26, 1914. When he was just 6, he played the title role in Charlie Chaplin’s silent film “The Kid,” which premiered at Carnegie Hall on Jan 21, 1921. That movie made little Jackie one of Hollywood’s very first child stars.
A silent-film museum went looking for the real Los Angeles streets where Jackie and Chaplin filmed “The Kid,” and seeing those spots a century later is a lot of fun.
The real streets where little Jackie Coogan and Charlie Chaplin made “The Kid”
As a boy, Jackie earned an estimated $3 million to $4 million. That’s a huge amount of money for a little boy.
But when he turned 21 in 1935, nearly all of it was gone. Prince summed it up in one line: “They made the Jackie Coogan law because he got older and had no money; his parents took it all.”
What happened next still protects young performers today.
In 1939, California passed the Child Actor’s Bill, and people still call it the Coogan Act. It requires employers to set aside 15% of a child actor’s earnings in a trust. It also covers schooling, work hours and time off. Prince explained that part too: “So, they created that law where you have to have Coogan accounts.”
That’s the story Michael wanted his children to know. A kid’s paycheck should still be there when the kid grows up.
Now here’s the part older readers might not see coming.
Jackie Coogan’s most famous TV role came much later, and a lot of us grew up watching it. He played Uncle Fester on ABC’s “The Addams Family,” which ran from 1964 to 1966.
Yes, that Uncle Fester. The same man who was Chaplin’s little co-star in 1921 turned up in living rooms all over America more than 40 years later. Jackie Coogan passed away on March 1, 1984, at 69.
Prince had lighter things to say on the podcast too. Talking about music, he said, “My dad has an incredible library, so that kind of keeps me busy, you know what I mean.”
Somewhere in between all that music, Michael made sure his kids heard about Jackie too.