By Heikki (62.71.79.239) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 08:12 am: |
Hi!
Does anybody remember - or perhaps have - a book titled Number One With A Bullet? I guess it came out in the early or mid-70s, and it was supposed to tell about the stuff that was going on at Motown, but then all of a sudden it was taken off the market ?
There was a plan to make a movie out of it (not the detective film that came out in 1987), the Spinners were supposed to perform in it, but it never materialized.
What is this book all about ? Why was it taken off the market; where's the contoversy ?
Heikki
By RD (63.188.32.178) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 09:01 am: |
Heikki, it wasn't taken off the market because of controversey, it ran its course and is out of print. I still have a worn and tattered copy. The book is a veiled fictional account of supposedly Motown Records set in Houston, TX. The main character, Daniel Stone looked like Smokey Robinson on the cover but more closely resembled an account of Marvin Gaye in the book. Berry is depicted by a character name Bob Vale and one of his sisters is married to Stone. The sister is characterized as loud and obnoxious and Stone smoked weed throughout the book. I thought it would have made a good movie but it never happened.
By Reese (204.152.13.48) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 09:41 am: |
Heikki, you might try searching for a copy of Ebay. I found a nice hardcover edition there.
By Davie Gordon (193.122.21.26) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 03:25 pm: |
I don't know if it's true or not but it was
rumoured back in the seventies that the film rights to the book were bought up by Berry
Gordy so that the film would NEVER be made.
I've been looking for a replacement copy of the
book for some time now - it was issued as a
paperback in the UK but went out of print pretty
quickly - the publisher either went out of business or got taken over in a merger.
By Davie Gordon (193.122.21.26) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 03:27 pm: |
Heikki,
It's by Elaine Jesmer.
By Ritchie (62.254.0.10) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 03:30 pm: |
Hasn't a fictionalised account of the Motown story just been pubished? I believe it's by some guy named "Posner".
By Scratcher (65.132.76.246) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 03:53 pm: |
Sometimes obvious movies from books don't materalize for a multitude of reasons. People who read the late Detroiter Donald Goines' black experience books in the sixties just knew they would be made into movies but they never were.
By sdl (63.72.98.2) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 05:11 pm: |
RD has described the book perfectly. Each character seemed to have a real life Motown counter-part. I just recently found a hard copy
on E-Bay after trying to track down a copy for about a year.
And, I agree that the book would really would make a great movie. For that reason, I surely hope the rumour that Gordy purchased the book rights isn't true.
Can Ms. Jesemer perhaps help us out here with some more info.
By Heikki (62.71.79.239) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 01:01 am: |
Thank You!
By Aba (208.191.122.205) on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 02:06 pm: |
Just finshed reading it again. It would have made a good movie. I thought it was a thinly veiled account of Motown happenings with Daniel Stone being Marvin Gaye also.