Motown film 'Hitsville' plays for a crowd that helped build Detroit empire

Brian McCollum
Detroit Free Press

Motown came home on a big screen Friday night, as the label’s new sanctioned documentary played for an audience of company alumni and others. 

“Hitsville: The Making of Motown” played a red-carpet premiere at Emagine Royal Oak, where more than 200 gathered for the occasion. The film will make its national debut at 9 p.m. Saturday on Showtime. 

“Look at us — 60 years later!” said Contours founder Joe Billingslea as he arrived at the festive event, hosted by the Motown Museum. 

Others included founding Miracles member Claudette Robinson, who’d come in from L.A. to “represent the members no longer with us,” she said. 

Grabbing boxes of Motown-labeled popcorn near a Hitsville, U.S.A, facade, the crowd settled in for the two-hour film, a Detroit-centric tale of the label’s early years. 

Robin Terry, CEO of Motown Museum and
Marc Byers, Motown Records general manager pose for a photo during the red carpet event before Detroit premiere of Motown documentary movie "Hitsville: The Making of Motown" at Emagine Royal Oak in Royal Oak, Friday, August 23, 2019.

The gathered alumni — musicians, singers, staffers — are “the backbone of the legacy you’re going to see (onscreen) today,” the museum’s Robin Terry said. 

Inside the theater, there were occasional tears amid the frequent happy laughter as the upbeat movie unfolded to tell the story of the little record company that blossomed into a global powerhouse in the '60s. 

Friday's audience included figures who appear in the documentary as interview subjects, including Robinson, arranger Paul Riser, former company exec Miller London and Vandellas Annette Beard and Rosalind Ashford.

From left, Foody Rome, Claudette Robinson and her friend Patty Turner pose for a photo before Detroit premiere of Motown documentary movie "Hitsville: The Making of Motown" at Emagine Royal Oak in Royal Oak, Friday, August 23, 2019.

London said he'd sat down for what he figured would be a short interview with the filmmakers, a pair of British filmmakers. They wound up talking for eight hours. 

"To get to 60 years and know that the company is still around is just amazing," he said Friday.

Others in attendance included Cal Street (the Velvelettes), Dennis Coffey, Ivy Jo Hunter, Melvin Moy, Ralph Terrana and Pat Cosby.

"I'm so thrilled just to be here," said Cosby. "I went on board in 1962 — I never thought we'd be around and celebrating (in 2019). Sometimes it's overwhelming. There was so much innocence back then to what we were doing."

"Hitsville" was commissioned by Capitol Music Group and executive-produced in part by Berry Gordy.

Marc Byers, the recently appointed general manager of Motown Records in L.A., said he was "super inspired" by the finished film, which gave him a new appreciation for the role he's taken on.

The Royal Oak screening was followed by a party at Hamlin Corner, where an ice sculpture and other memorabilia celebrated the new doc.

"Hitsville: The Making of Motown" will be available via on-demand following this weekend's Showtime debut.

A party at Hamlin Corner in Royal Oak followed the premiere of "Hitsville: The Making of Motown" Friday, Aug. 23, 2019.

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