Michael and La Toya Partners in Prank

Late 70's- Michael drew his sister La Toya as a prank.


Because they still lived at home, Michael, Janet, and LaToya were especially close. Somehow, Janet and LaToya had the ability to turn my increasingly private, driven son into the lighthearted Michael of old -- if only for a little while.

They loved to play practical jokes on one another. Michael especially enjoyed tormenting LaToya with fake spiders and tarantulas. He’d place one of his plastic creatures atop the phone in her room, call her, and listen for her shrieks. Knowing how particular she was about her room, he’d also delight in
charging through the door and bouncing off her bed, with its white-satin sheets.

“I’ll teach you to be so picky!” he’d exclaim amid her furious screams.

Having been informed by Michael that he was so proud to be working with Sidney Lumet, LaToya conceived the revenge prank of all time.

One day shortly before Michael left for New York to begin filming, he received a call on his private line from “Mr. Lumet’s secretary." Mr. Lumet was in the neighborhood, the voice announced, and would be stopping by in five minutes to take him out to dinner.

Michael didn’t know what to do first; he wasn’t dressed, and his room was a mess. Somehow in five minutes he made himself presentable, tidied up, and ran from door to door informing everyone excitedly, “Sidney Lumet is coming to take me to dinner!” He then sat down and waited for our security to inform him that Mr. Lumet had arrived. And Waited. I sat with him; I, too, believed that the director was coming.

Finally, LaToya confessed, “Michael, Sidney Lumet isn’t taking you to dinner. That was me on the phone!”

I’ve never seen Michael so angry. He dragged La Toya outside and wet her from head to toe with the hose.


Source: "My Family, the Jacksons" by Katherine Jackson