Many years ago, I remember seeing a variety television show with the following:

* It may have been the first time Michael Jackson did the moon walk on television.

* Over the Rainbow was sung by Joe Cocker and Patty La Belle in a duet. 

What was the date, and the name of the television show.

Is it possible to buy a DVD or a VHS copy of the show?

Hi there!

You may be remembering several shows rather than just one, but the
closest you're probably going to come to is 1985's "Motown Returns to
the Apollo," which featured a duet between Patti La Belle and Joe
Cocker (who did "You Are So Beautiful," as opposed to "Over the
Rainbow.") Michael was not in attendance, however, though he had been
involved with earlier Motown retrospectives (like 1983's "Motown 25:
Yesterday, Today, Forever") so it is possible archival footage was
used of him. It's also possible you saw a later program, such as
1990's "Motown 30: What's Goin' On," which celebrated the achievements
of many of Motown's entertainers (which would include La Belle,
Jackson and Cocker, and might have shown part of the duet.) Certainly,
the Michael Jackson 'first moonwalk' would be a significant event in
Motown's history and would have a place on Motown retrospectives.
However, according to the Internet Movie Database and other
collections, Jackson, La Belle and Cocker never appeared on the same
program before 1983 as featured performers, and as "Thriller" was
released in 1980, clearly Jackson was moonwalking before then.

"Over the Rainbow" was a standard for La Belle, however, and she sang
it not once but twice on her own network television special not long
after the above.

FOR MORE RESEARCH:
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0293432 (Motown 30: What's Goin' On)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0250595 (Motown 25: Yesterday, Today,
Forever)
http://www.bettemidleraloha.com/labelle.htm (Patti LaBelle Video
Archive)
http://www.barnson.freeserve.co.uk/cocker.htm (exhaustive listing of
Joe Cocker television appearances.)

PURCHASE INFORMATION:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6301972317/qid=1036484195/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/103-8812548-2806264?v=glance
(Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. Note that it is out of print
and therefore expensive to get.)

I hope this helps!

---

Clarification of Answer by scholarman-ga on 05 Nov 2002 00:32 PST

A couple more useful sites for you:

http://www.delafont.com/music_acts/Patti-LaBelle.htm (quasi-official
Patti LaBelle information)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0277167 (Motown Returns to the Apollo)
http://www3.airnet.ne.jp/junco/Ali-j/discography/review/video/01-apollo.html
(a japanese video site listing for Motown Returns to the Apollo which
confirms that "Over the Rainbow" was in fact performed on the show,
which greatly increases the likelihood that this is what you're
looking for.)

I cannot find any listing for a video or DVD of "Motown Returns to the
Apollo" at this time.

Hello scholarman:

Thank you for answering my question.
You pointed me to sites that I did not know existed.
I will rate you 5 stars.

Thanks again:  clicker5