The Michael Jackson Reel
Michael Glover
Christina Chaffin
Aug. 29, 2017
Aug. 29, 2017
Dedicated to Pat Glover - brother to Michael Glover. The Glover family have been Jackson family fans since "I Want You Back."
Michael Glover
Selected Dancer for the 1978 "1580-KDay Radio" Television Commercial
(Shared the stage while dancing along side Michael Jackson)
Selected Dancer for the 1978 "1580-KDay Radio" Television Commercial
(Shared the stage while dancing along side Michael Jackson)
Michael Glover describes the selection process for the "1580-KDay Radio" television commercial, along with his personal, one-on-one memories with Michael Jackson.
Brief introduction on Michael Glover's history of being a Jackson fan
"I have so much respect and appreciation for the entire Jackson family, and grew up being a fan of the Jackson 5. My brother Pat and I were big fans. Unfortunately in 1977, [my family and I] lost Pat in a car accident. But, I know he would have flipped out with excitement over the KDay commercial. My family and I were huge fans of the Jackson family. In fact, my brothers and I used to have our own musical group and we called ourselves the Glover Brothers. The "1580-KDay Radio" casting process and selection "It was 1978, and my family and I were in the middle of one of our group tours when I got a call from Central Casting, which I was affiliated with at the time. They called me and said 'Mike, we have this audition for you. If you can come to Hollywood tomorrow at about 5 p.m., that would be great. Bring something you feel comfortable dancing in.' I was like, 'Oh, okay. That sounds good.'" "I drove to the location in Hollywood and the room we were all in was like a big, huge ballroom or something, and there were a lot of people there. The casting directors said, 'Okay, guys. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to play a little music and you guys find a partner to dance with. Just get together and pick someone, and dance to the beat.' The crew started bumping some music, and I found this one young lady and we started dancing. I mean we were both really getting into it and were dancing good! Well, as we were dancing and changing up the music, little-by-little the crew started eliminating people from the commercial competition. She and I kept dancing and started looking around, thinking, 'We're getting more room on the dance floor!' *Laughs*..." "She and I were going strong with our dancing, and they kept changing the music. Well, it got down to a small group of people and that's when one of the producers came up to us and said, 'You guys look really good together. Are you comfortable dancing together?' We said, "Yes, definitely!' (Unfortunately they ended up taking her out. I was like, 'Woah!' You know, just very surprised. In the finished commercial, they matched me up with another beautiful girl who was black and that was my dance partner. She was a very nice girl and a great dancer). At the initial rehearsal, they matched us up then, and we started dancing together and were feeling each other's vibes. Well, after we finished for the day, the crew said, 'Thank you guys very much. We'll let you know if you're selected for the commercial.'" |
"From there, I drove home and pretty much forgot about it. I had other things on my mind and just thought, 'Okay, well that was fun,' and went home. After that, it was just a normal day after that until later that night around midnight or a little after when my phone rang. I answered the call and heard someone on the other end say, 'Yeah, Mike? You have a 6:30 a.m. call tomorrow morning for the 1580-KDay commercial. Make sure you're here on time.' *Laughs*... They said, 'Could you bring two outfits?' Now back then, there was something called Angel Flights clothing. Angel Flights made all of the big disco outfits and that's where I got all of my clothes. Actually, that was the place to go for all disco clothes."
1580-KDay commercial filming - living room set and lunch break
"The commercial itself was shot in Culver City, Calif., and KDay's radio station rented out a studio that had a sound stage ready for filming. So, all of us dancers walked in and a few people were already there. Well they had this big room that had two sets, and when you watch the commercial you'll see what I mean. The first set was a sound stage that was designed to feel like we were in someone's living room dancing. The other stage was set up like a disco tech. The crew said to us, 'You guys have your partners already. You're paired up with who you ended up with yesterday.' (I forget how many couples there were, but they said 'We're gonna play some music for you to dance to,' and the actual music you heard playing on the video is what we were dancing to. They told us, 'Get with your partner and pretend like you're at a party, and just start dancing.' I remember them doing several video takes of that portion of the commercial. After we finished a dance take, they would say, 'Okay, let's do it again,' and we did several recording takes."
"After filming the first segment of the commercial, the crew said to us, 'Okay guys, we're going to go ahead and take a lunch break. Make sure you change into your next outfit after lunch. When ready, we're going to get the next shots on the disco tech set.' I grabbed some lunch and during the break, I started hearing these little rumors. People started saying, 'Michael Jackson's coming to the set.' I was like, 'Oh yeah, sure.' But, people kept talking about it and it was starting to become a really big deal. We didn't know if it was true or not, but people kept talking about it."
1580-KDay commercial filming - living room set and lunch break
"The commercial itself was shot in Culver City, Calif., and KDay's radio station rented out a studio that had a sound stage ready for filming. So, all of us dancers walked in and a few people were already there. Well they had this big room that had two sets, and when you watch the commercial you'll see what I mean. The first set was a sound stage that was designed to feel like we were in someone's living room dancing. The other stage was set up like a disco tech. The crew said to us, 'You guys have your partners already. You're paired up with who you ended up with yesterday.' (I forget how many couples there were, but they said 'We're gonna play some music for you to dance to,' and the actual music you heard playing on the video is what we were dancing to. They told us, 'Get with your partner and pretend like you're at a party, and just start dancing.' I remember them doing several video takes of that portion of the commercial. After we finished a dance take, they would say, 'Okay, let's do it again,' and we did several recording takes."
"After filming the first segment of the commercial, the crew said to us, 'Okay guys, we're going to go ahead and take a lunch break. Make sure you change into your next outfit after lunch. When ready, we're going to get the next shots on the disco tech set.' I grabbed some lunch and during the break, I started hearing these little rumors. People started saying, 'Michael Jackson's coming to the set.' I was like, 'Oh yeah, sure.' But, people kept talking about it and it was starting to become a really big deal. We didn't know if it was true or not, but people kept talking about it."
1580-KDay commercial filming - enters, Michael Jackson
"All of us dancers were together talking and laughing about the possibility of Michael [Jackson] coming. We were very excited inside, but I personally didn't want to get my hopes up because I was such a huge fan of him. All of the sudden, this white Bentley pulls up to the set. Baby - it was a chauffeur, and in the back seat was Joe and Michael Jackson. We all just watched this car pull up and get out. Christina? Oh, Christina. Now mind you, I'm a heavy, heavy fan and always was ever since the Jackson 5 performed on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' in 1969. My brothers and I used to pretend we were the Jackson 5! *Laughs*..." "So we see this car pull up ever so slightly and it was almost surreal. It was like 'Is that Michael Jackson?' See they didn't tell anybody including us dancers that he was going to be in the commercial because it would've been pandemonium. Michael's appearance on the commercial was top secret because they knew we would have told friends and the studio would have been flooded with fans trying to catch a glimpse. We didn't know this commercial had anything to do with Michael Jackson. So, Joe and Michael got out of the car and inside of the soundstage where the two sets were was a trailer. Michael and his father got out of the car and immediately walked into the trailer, and the director and producers walked in behind them to talk." |
"While they were in the trailer, all of us dancers were waiting around, and at that point we were changed into our other outfits, ready for the disco tech scene. While we were waiting to start filming again, the producers came out with Michael and were trying to decide what they wanted him to do. At the same time, Michael was also telling them what he wanted to do, and what started to transpire was a decision that ultimately affected my commercial outcome."
"The producers wanted to take me out of the commercial and have Michael dance with my dance partner. I was like 'Okay,' but was nervous about the final decision because I wanted to be in that commercial with Michael - my hero. And then, the coolest thing happened. Michael said, 'No, leave him in.' So I got to stay! Michael said, 'I'll do something by myself.,' and he just ad-libbed his dance moves on the commercial."
Filming Michael Jackson's scene
"Basically, when we did the disco tech scene, the camera panned out as Michael strutted across the stage to capture a view of everyone dancing, but keyed in on him in the center. He did a spin and looked at the camera, and they froze it, and that's the commercial ending. They shot that portion of Michael over and over. See, his part on the commercial is quick, but he had to continuously do it over and over, and he just ad-libbed his moves each time."
"The producers wanted to take me out of the commercial and have Michael dance with my dance partner. I was like 'Okay,' but was nervous about the final decision because I wanted to be in that commercial with Michael - my hero. And then, the coolest thing happened. Michael said, 'No, leave him in.' So I got to stay! Michael said, 'I'll do something by myself.,' and he just ad-libbed his dance moves on the commercial."
Filming Michael Jackson's scene
"Basically, when we did the disco tech scene, the camera panned out as Michael strutted across the stage to capture a view of everyone dancing, but keyed in on him in the center. He did a spin and looked at the camera, and they froze it, and that's the commercial ending. They shot that portion of Michael over and over. See, his part on the commercial is quick, but he had to continuously do it over and over, and he just ad-libbed his moves each time."
1580-KDay Stills
1580-KDay Radio Commercial Stills
Michael Meeting Michael
"In between takes, they would stop taping for a while and we would all stop and wait to do it again. And while waiting, Michael would walk slowly over to a corner on set by himself and dance a little bit, and you could hear him singing, 'Doo-bop! Doo-bop! Bop bee-bop!,' to himself. I stood there watching him and literally said to myself, 'I will be damned if I am going to sit here all day while my idol, Michael Jackson, is an arm reach away from me. I'm going to say something to this man.' So, I got my nerve up, walked over to him and was still really nervous."
Michael Glover: 'Uh-uh-uh, Mike? Hi, my name is Michael too.'
Michael Jackson: 'Hi, how you doing?'
"Christina, he was so nice. So humble. He looked me dead in the eye and shook my hand while smiling."
"We talked about different things, and I kept seeing him do that spin he did on screen over and over, and I kept saying, 'Mike, you know Imma' break my neck if I try to do that!' *Laughs*... He said to me, 'Oh, well I spin on my heels, you see?,' and he did the spin to show me, and as he did it, you could see he was on his heels. I was on the floor watching his heels and then stood up to try it. Well after trying it myself, I fell and told him 'I won't be trying that anymore!' *Laughs*... He was just so humble, so nice and so sweet... Just a really cool guy. After that, we talked for a little bit about music and just life in general, and what I was doing in my career. He said, 'Oh, that's cool!'"
"He was very respectful and personable to all of us, while shy at the same time. Just very caring and casual."
"In between takes, they would stop taping for a while and we would all stop and wait to do it again. And while waiting, Michael would walk slowly over to a corner on set by himself and dance a little bit, and you could hear him singing, 'Doo-bop! Doo-bop! Bop bee-bop!,' to himself. I stood there watching him and literally said to myself, 'I will be damned if I am going to sit here all day while my idol, Michael Jackson, is an arm reach away from me. I'm going to say something to this man.' So, I got my nerve up, walked over to him and was still really nervous."
Michael Glover: 'Uh-uh-uh, Mike? Hi, my name is Michael too.'
Michael Jackson: 'Hi, how you doing?'
"Christina, he was so nice. So humble. He looked me dead in the eye and shook my hand while smiling."
"We talked about different things, and I kept seeing him do that spin he did on screen over and over, and I kept saying, 'Mike, you know Imma' break my neck if I try to do that!' *Laughs*... He said to me, 'Oh, well I spin on my heels, you see?,' and he did the spin to show me, and as he did it, you could see he was on his heels. I was on the floor watching his heels and then stood up to try it. Well after trying it myself, I fell and told him 'I won't be trying that anymore!' *Laughs*... He was just so humble, so nice and so sweet... Just a really cool guy. After that, we talked for a little bit about music and just life in general, and what I was doing in my career. He said, 'Oh, that's cool!'"
"He was very respectful and personable to all of us, while shy at the same time. Just very caring and casual."
Life after 1580-KDay's Television Commercial
"After all of us dancers finished filming, the producer and crew let us go, while Michael was still there. I walked out and I was just amazed at what transpired that day. Us dancers were with Michael from 12 p.m., around lunch time until 6 or 7 p.m., and I remember driving home in my Pinto station wagon on cloud nine!"
"After filming the commercial, I went on tour and that's when I started seeing it nonstop on TV. It aired a lot during prime time television and mainly after late night movies and during 'The Midnight Special.'"
"Through the years, I would tell people 'Back in 1978, I worked with Michael Jackson.' Christina, they never believe me. Then years later, 1580-KDay released the commercial again, but it was just a short 30-second version. I have the full version of it, which is around a minute in length. I'm telling you, I will remember that day for the rest of my life."