LOS ANGELES — The stage was set Monday for Michael Jackson's final act as the world capital of make-believe braced for what could be the biggest, most spectacular celebrity send-off of all time.
Ecstatic fans who won the lottery for seats at today's memorial received the tickets and spangly wristbands that will get them into the 20,000-seat Staples Center downtown. The family announced the participants would include Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Martin Luther King III.
The legal maneuvering that marked Jackson's extraordinary and troubled life also continued on Monday, with his mother losing a bid to control his enormous but tangled estate. And in one of the few reminders of Jackson's darkest hours, a New York congressman branded Jackson a "pervert" undeserving of so much attention.
More than 1.6 million people registered for free tickets to the memorial, which will be broadcast live worldwide. It starts at 10 a.m. — Tucson time and California time. A total of 8,750 people were chosen to receive two tickets each. The lucky ones picked up their passes Monday at Dodger Stadium amid heavy police presence.
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"I got the golden ticket!" one fan screamed out of his car window in a Willy Wonka moment as he drove out of the parking lot.
"My mother loves Elvis. This is my Elvis," said ticket winner Mynor Garcia, 29.
Downtown hotels were quickly filling. British Airways reported a surge of bookings as soon as the memorial arrangements were announced.
About 50 theaters across the country, from Los Angeles to Topeka, Kan., to Washington, D.C., were planning to broadcast the memorial live, said Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. spokeswoman Suzanne Moore. Admission will be free — first-come, first-served.
Jackson friend Elizabeth Taylor will be mourning in private. She said on her Twitter feed Monday that she would not attend the memorial.
"I just don't believe that Michael would want me to share my grief with millions of others," she tweeted. "How I feel is between us. Not a public event."
In Los Angeles Superior Court, meanwhile, a judge appointed Jackson's longtime attorney and a family friend as administrators of his estate over the objections of his mother, Katherine. Attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain had been designated in Jackson's 2002 will as the people he wanted to oversee his empire.
Mrs. Jackson's attorneys expressed concerns about McClain and Branca's financial leadership.
"Frankly, Mrs. Jackson has concerns about handing over the keys to the kingdom," said one of her attorneys, John E. Schreiber.
Another one of her attorneys, Burt Levitch, told Judge Mitchell Beckloff that Branca had previously been removed from financial positions of authority by Jackson. Branca's attorney said he was rehired by Jackson on June 17, days before Jackson's death.
Branca and McClain will have to post a $1 million bond on the estate, and their authority will expire on Aug. 3, when another hearing will be held.
Jackson died at age 50 with hundreds of millions in debts. But a court filing estimates his estate is worth more than $500 million. His assets are destined for a trust, with his three children, his mother and charities as beneficiaries.
On eBay, bids for memorial tickets were reaching as high as $3,000, and prices on Craigslist were in the thousands, although both sites were removing postings trying to sell memorial tickets.
Debbie Rowe, Jackson's ex-wife and the mother of Jackson's two oldest children, had planned to attend the memorial but backed out Monday.
"The onslaught of media attention has made it clear her attendance would be an unnecessary distraction to an event that should focus exclusively on Michael's legacy," her attorney, Marta Almli, said in a statement. "Debbie will continue to celebrate Michael's memory privately."
