HALLOWEEN 1979

With Bruce Jenner, Valerie Perrine, Michael Jackson and members of the “Village People” at my Halloween Disco Party at The Hollywood Palace Oct. 31 1979 to promote solar energy.

For a number of years, I organized a Disco Dancing Halloween fundraiser for CED, the California Campaign for Economic Democracy. This is the same organization that profits from “The Jane Fonda Workout” supported but this particular event in 1979 was benefitting a project within CED aimed at expanding solar energy in California.

Michael Jackson attended several of these events with me. He said to me at the last one he attended, that one day he would ask me for a return favor. And in 1980 he called me and ask if he could come visit me on the set of “On Golden Pond” in New Hampshire. He stayed with me for about 10 days there. That’s when we went skinny-dipping together and he did long taped interviews with Katharine Hepburn. He had just finished “The Wiz,” his first movie and he wanted to learn all he could about film acting. I write about that experience in my memoir, My Life So Far.

In this photo, The Village People, Valerie Perrine and Bruce Jenner, far left, were all shooting a film together, “Can’t Stop the Music.” I must have visited their set and persuaded them to come as a package. I had a lotta guts in those days.

I especially remember Bruce Jenner at that party because he was so nice to me and asked a lot of questions about my life and my work.

So much has changed. But not the need for solar energy. This throwback photo reminds me how long we have been working towards breaking our reliance on fossil fuels. Solar energy has come a long way, more and more people are seeing the economic and environmental benefits of investing in solar for their business’ and homes. Most exciting however is that in this moment we actually have the ability to drastically change our energy policy and infrastructure in a way that will benefit all people and preserve life on our planet. If that sounds like great news, well it is! One of the brilliant minds at work on remaking our energy system, Shalanda H. Baker will join me this Friday for Fire Drill Friday. I could not be more thrilled and excited to discuss her new book Revolutionizing Power: An Activists Guide to the Energy Transition. I have so many questions, but I’m especially wanting to hear about the connection between energy policy and advancing civil rights. Please join us this Friday https://www.facebook.com/firedrillfriday.

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23 Comments

  1. As always, you rock!😊

  2. This will be another interesting Friday, I really look forward to that day, I have learned a lot and become aware of situations that I did not care about, thank you Jane.🔥🔥

  3. OMG Jane, that photo is fantastic. And that histoy with Michael Jackson is truly amazing.
    Any more amazing history about yours 10 days with him?
    Lots of love 😚

  4. Hello, Jane. I love when you share memories and when you have conversations for Fire Drill Friday. So I’m gonna take this post as a birthday gift for me (it was yesterday). Love you. Kisses from Brazil!

  5. Looks like it was a fun party! Can’t wait for Friday and to hear from Shalanda! Hope your trip to Minnesota is going well… and I agree with you… we are NOT going to let Line 3 get built!

    Best,
    Kennedy

  6. Hopefully, we will all move more and more towards both solar energy, wind energy, and — someday — cold fusion, too.

  7. Keep up all your wonderful work. I’m at work most of the time when fire drill Friday is live but I alway save them and try to catch up on them at night.

  8. Jane but I think that in these days you have maybe more guts, nothing to lost. And with out a husband you are unstoppable🔥🔥

  9. What is it they say, “the more things change, the more they stay the same?” Meaning, in this case, the need for solar energy has been here for a very long time and now, like you said, we have the power to make it happen

    (Also, a disco themed Halloween fundraiser? That must have been a fantastic time.)

  10. Your life. Wow!

    I’ll join you today for FDF. Thanks for continuing to host these. I teach college students and know of several who also tune in for FDF. Gen Z is really showing up for climate change. Inspiring.

  11. What a throwback! Around that same Halloween I remember you, Tom Hayden and Cesar Chavez spoke at UCLA, where I was a freshman, to address labor issues on behalf of United Farm Workers (I think Dolores Huerta was there too?). Now it’s inspiring to see you at every Fire Drill Friday, speaking at this moment about the travesty of the Citizens United decision that has facilitated funneling of dark money. My friends and I at the FPPC continue to be appalled, now wondering what we little people can do to overcome, beyond just voting and networking. Thank you for continuing to be such an inspiration, ever since the days when my parents and I used to canvas on behalf of CED, and before that in ’76 going door to door for Hayden for Senate.

  12. Wow, I didn´t know about the Michael Jackson thing! Thank you for this amazing Blog, it is the first time that I comment something but I have read your blog for a long time now. I enjoy your little storys very much and if you read this: Thank you for everything you have done, you are such a rolemodel to me and to so many others! I also just read your last book about the climate crisis and now I trie to do my part to safe our planet. You have such a big impact on my life and I want to thank you for that. You are also the reason why I do sports now haha. Keep doing what you love and I will always support you. Stay safe and feel huged, Thomas.

  13. Jane, Regretfully, I only caught half of the Shalanda Baker’s visit on FDF today. Now in Arizona, I didn’t have any clues that the “spring forward” had happened. So I sat waiting for the 12:00 I was use to when the change in Book club’s time the night before hit me and I jumped in. The part I caught was very high energy and positive especially the ending with the positive answers from you and Shalanda to women’s role to change our direction. Greenpeace is making it easier again to get the invitation on your site and it makes it a better participation with chatting. Next Friday, I’ll be there on time. Dona

  14. Are you KIDDING ME, with this post?

  15. Wow, 1979! The year I was born!!!

  16. You´re a huge inspiration to me!!! My birthday is tomorrow,it would mean the world to me if you respond 🙂

    • Bonne anniversaire!!! Buon Natale!!! Happy Birthday!!! xx Jane

  17. Hi Jane! I can see how great you have been doing, with you two vaccines taken. Are you feeling good and confident? Thank God for President Biden and the end of those 4 years nightmare! Love this post, and having read you book twice, already new the story behind the photo. So incredible, such an increadible life, so much to learn from you! God bless you Jane, we need you so much!
    Hugs & kisses from Portugal.
    Love
    Isabel

  18. Hi Jane,

    During your conversation with Shalanda Baker on Friday (what an interesting talk, her book was an eye-opener), you briefly mentioned the ads urging people not to put solar panels on their roofs and asked whether others had seen them as well.

    I’ve been running across the ones listing how detrimental solar panels are to the environment ever since Michael Moore’s documentary ‘Planet of the Humans’ came out. The latter might have been intended to be a warning about the involvement of corporate America in the climate movement, but ended up making the oil industry quite happy instead.

    The documentary uses old data to illustrate, for example, how inefficient solar panels are (they supposedly only last 10 years and aren’t capable of powering much of anything) and how solar cell manufacturing creates harmful by-products. Half-truths, at best. They used to last 10 years, but now last up to 30 years with a minimal decrease in power capacity during the first 20 years, and, while there are by-products that aren’t environmentally friendly and panels need to be recycled properly, there are many solar recycling companies whose goal it is to ensure that solar panels do not become a burden to the environment. I’m not 100% sure how it works in the US (I think PV panels might sill be considered general waste), but in the EU, they are classified as e-waste and are regulated by the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive and, therefore, companies have to adhere to very specific recycling standards.

    I truly hope that people make the effort to look this stuff up and compare the environmental impact of solar power to other power generation methods, before they believe these ads or documentaries. Solar energy will always have a significantly smaller impact.

    I thought I’d add something completely random that has nothing to do with climate change, but might be interesting to this community. Due to the anti-Asian/American and xenophobic harrassment, the amazing people at Hollaback are offering free bystander intervention trainings. Their current trainings are already at capacity, but they will add dates soon. If anyone is interested in learning how to intervene when we witness harrassment, here’s the link:

    https://www.ihollaback.org/bystanderintervention/

    Maybe, this way, we can all help to make this world a safer place for everyone!

    xx Dani

  19. Thanks for come back to the blog, I missed you💕💕

  20. This is a good article Jane:
    https://www.treehugger.com/electric-utilities-climate-pledges-falling-short-5116830

  21. Hi Jane,
    I think you should be using Caitlin Jenner’s name instead of dead naming her, even if it’s a photo from her past. Otherwise, pretty cute story about Micheal Jackson and solar energy parties. Let me know if you need help hosting the next one!

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