Hitsville Goes Hollywood

Motown hopes to bring its golden touch to films and television

Can the company once called Hitsville, U.S.A., which produced a generation of singing superstars from Stevie Wonder to the Supremes, hit it big in pictures? That question is producing a heart-thumping atmosphere at Motown Productions these days. Founder and Chairman Berry Gordy, who sold his legendary record label to MCA last June for $61 million, is now plunging his company into the equally high-risk field of movies and television. In doing so, Gordy, 59, is banking on the talents of his ace protege, Suzanne de Passe, 42, the president of Motown Productions and one of the most promising new mini-moguls in...

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