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Michael Jackson Signed Newspaper?

I recently won this item on Julien's Auction and would like to get some opinions on the signature. I believe the signature is genuine, but of course I would like to read some of your opinions. What do you think? This was originally owned by Michael's personal physician, Dr. Steven Hoefflin. Judging from the release date of the newspaper and the signature style, I believe this might have been signed around 1984.

Thank you all for your help,

Big Saturn Comics

Tags: Jackson, Michael

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Permalink Reply by just some dude on February 11, 2019 at 8:36pm

Good point, Joe. I would agree with that sentiment. Isn't it more or less frowned upon in the industry of catering to celebrities to even ask for autographs, let alone to ask in the professional setting (office)? And then when you do, you have him sign a newspaper? Doesn't make sense.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on February 11, 2019 at 9:04pm

This is what I was speaking to - it seems very odd at least to sign a newspaper, and in that context as mentioned above. To the Reverse image - if one were trying to make smooth loops they would be a bit quicker and result in something like what was shown (but are they really smooth?). I do not know how long a newspaper would stay in a Dr's office. Magazines, yes. It seems a bit odd the whole newspaper was saved. This is a very good discussion and I did not see any animus etc. Differing opinions make for learning IMHO - they are necessary - no matter who is right everyone gains.

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Permalink Reply by James on February 12, 2019 at 12:13am

I agree, Eric. I didn’t feel any animus at all from anyone. You make great points, for sure. The speed of the downward slant of the M does seem a bit slow and hesitant. It does give me a slight pause, but I still believe the OP is authentic.

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Permalink Reply by wascher on February 12, 2019 at 3:39am

This is a snippet from an interview from Dr Klein about Dr Hoefflin with Larry King (the video is no longer out there but this was one of the things we uncovered when looking at these pieces originally sold at Juliens directly from Hoefflin).

Dr. Klein:

"For years in Santa Monica, Hoefflin had pretended to operate on Michael and then sent him a huge bill for work he had never done. In addition to forcing him to sign stacks of records and asking him to sign drawings Michael never made, by the early 90’s, Hoefflin had begun to fake surgery on Michael . How would the money-hungry Hoefflin do this? He would give Michael Propofol and Versed and turn the operating room clocks ahead ahead by hours.

Michael would then be awakened, gaze at the clocks, then settle back to sleep. Again and again Michael thought he had hours of nasal surgery when in fact he was only unconscious for several minutes. Hoefflin was deceiving Michael so frequently that eventually the other doctors there tried to intervene, arguing that administering the anaesthetic constantly was dangerous. Michael began going over Hoefflin’s office to nap on Propofol and soon he could not sleep without the drug. It was his greatest fear but by the mid 90’s Michael was a drug addict, .,. The Elvis Presley of Propofol. ”

So was he signing things half stoned? Likely. I would like to add though that in interviews with Mrs. Jackson (mom) - she had asked MJ's doctors to "pretend" to do work on him, she did not like how his face was looking. Personally imo, Dr Hoefflin and Dr Klein were both creepy and sued each-other numerous times, but since you asked why a Physician would do this, they were "yes men" that profited off of a star in many ways. No ethics. Unfortunately.

The one thing we concluded when we looked at the Juliens pieces was that MJ did likely sign everything, but we could not say the actual drawings he signed were done by him (some look right and some don't).

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on February 12, 2019 at 4:13am

To me, this information would seem to muddy things even more.

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Permalink Reply by wascher on February 12, 2019 at 4:42am

To me it says an unethical physician had him signing things drugged up and someone else knew about it years ago, (this interview was done shortly after MJ died).

Would I have personally bought it? NO. But I do think its real.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on February 12, 2019 at 5:46am

Of course re the "Doctors". The behavior of those men is deplorable - horrid - and suggests a financial motive in more than one way. What might come next? I am reminded a bit of disbarred lawyer Roy Cohn, of "Have you no shame, Sir?" fame, and our current presidents old and favorite/trusted lawyer back in the day. Cohn was observed in a hospital room forcing a pen into the hand of a dying comatose person to "sign" a will naming Cohen as a secondary beneficiary or some such in 1975. With M.J. in this condition as described (those drugs mentioned are a so very strong), this terrible situation could well cause good to be thought bad, bad to be thought good, and increase greatly any grey areas regarding authenticity and all that goes with it considerably I should think. And as a consequence quite fertile ground for forgery is created or enhanced. If M.J. was signing things in this condition...drawings not even by him...what might come next considering the clear motives and behaviors of those "Doctors"?

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Permalink Reply by Big Saturn Comics on February 12, 2019 at 8:34am

Unfortunately, I believe Dr. Arnold Klein’s comments came from a “competition mindset” between doctors (especially in California). Dr. Arnold Klein was not in the operating room when these procedures would be done and only heard these stories from second-hand sources. This interview also occurred after Michael Jackson’s death and every doctor was under investigation. During a salary dispute in 1997, Hoefflin was accused by four former colleagues of unprofessional conduct towards celebrity clients. The Medical Board of California found no evidence of wrong-doing by Hoefflin. The four former staffers of Hoefflin signed a letter stating that the suit was a working draft that was "inadvertently filled" and that its allegations "were without sufficient factual or legal basis." The letter also expressed regret for "any inconvenience or embarrassment the filing of the complaint has caused." According to Hoefflin, in August 2001, the four former employees who originally made the allegations issued apology letters to Hoefflin and paid a cash settlement. If any of these allegations were true Dr. Steven Hoefflin would not have an active license to practice medicine and would not have his own medical center. If he did in-fact change the time on his clocks to show the celebrity that he completed the said operations, how would the celebrity’s driver know when to pick up his client? Meaning that if the doctor told his patient that surgery would take 5 hours, the celebrity’s driver would arrive 5 hours later. If the clock was moved forward, the celebrity’s driver would not be present to pick up his client since a “true 5 hours” have not passed.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on February 11, 2019 at 11:34pm

The Michael Jackson in the OP is slam-dunk real to me. Not even a question. That's only my opinion but I'm sure I'm right.

It wouldn't surprise me for MJ's doctor to have seen the Jackson graphic in the newspaper and put it aside for him to sign, either that day or whenever he saw him. There could have been several things he saved. These were the days before eBay and before Michael Jackson's autograph had much of any value.

A good friend of mine is a good friend of Al Pacino. For years he'd have Al sign anything he came across. Magazine covers, articles inside magazines, programs, Big Boy toys from Dick Tracy, news stories, tons of books...you name it.

Pacino took Larry with him to Las Vegas on Steve Wynn's private jet to scope out desert filming locations for "Salome." Right before they got back on the plane to head home, Larry changed into a Scarface shirt he bought there. They get on the plane and he asks Al to sign it before they took off. He was always signing so much stuff for Larry, look at what he wrote:

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Permalink Reply by James on February 12, 2019 at 12:07am

Great! Okay, this will be the beginning of my Al Pacino exemplar file! I don’t have a Pacino autograph, but would love to eventually have one, preferably at the price Larry paid, lol!