Post by ClassicSoul on Nov 11, 2005 8:04:23 GMT -5
Come and get these memories
Motown museum celebrates its founder, Esther Gordy Edwards, and a 20-year history
'Motown Forever."
It's a motto that's been used by Motown Records for several decades. But without Esther Gordy Edwards, there would only be CDs, records and tapes to document the record company's legendary history and a frenzied, creative period in Detroit. It was a time when one guy, in one house, on an ordinary street would set the music world on fire.
Edwards, one of Motown's most capable executives, is being honored Saturday at Motown Forever, the annual fund-raising gala for the Motown Historical Museum, which she founded. The gala also will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the museum and is drawing a Tier A roster of Motown star power: Edwards' brother, Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., along with their two surviving siblings, Anna and Robert.
Set to entertain is Smokey Robinson, and flying in for the event are Motown songwriters Brian and Eddie Holland, former Motown executive Suzanne de Passe, as well as many Motown stars, including the Miracles, the Velvelettes, members of the Four Tops, Teena Marie and Brenda Holloway, and a few yet unnamed guests.
"It's special because we're honoring Esther Gordy Edwards, one of our founding members," said Robinson, who was not only a singer, songwriter and producer, but also a vice president at Motown. "She has been so instrumental in the preservation of the Motown legacy, because she's the one who created the museum."
Edwards is fragile these days, said her granddaughter, museum director Robin Terry, but she is "psyched" about attending the gala.
"I think she's most excited about having all of her living siblings back in Detroit," Terry said. "And sometimes you don't really know how much you've helped somebody. I keep telling her, these are people you've helped throughout their careers, and they want to show how much they appreciate what you did."
The museum takes form
Although a 20th anniversary is being celebrated (dating it from the 1985 charter established for the museum), the Motown Historical Museum didn't start with a bang. It evolved over the years after the record company left Detroit in 1972.
Edwards stayed behind to staff Motown's Detroit operations in the Hitsville house at 2648 W. Grand Blvd. Around 1980, Edwards, along with her assistant, the late Doris Holland, starting putting up gold and platinum albums, and thumb-tacked photos of Motown stars onto the walls. Edwards said it was because so many fans continued to stop by the house to see where their favorite music had been made.
"My grandmother's scrapbook, open to the world" is how Terry describes the museum back then.
Robinson recalls Edwards would painstakingly save artifacts from each Motown tour.
"Mrs. Edwards was head of our management at the time, and we'd be laughing at her," said Robinson. "She'd be saving all the placards from each concert, every photo of every marquee, and we'd say 'Oh, Mrs. Edwards is saving another placard -- ha!' But what a wonderful thing she did there. Because that is the Motown museum, that is the legacy, that is the documentation. And that's what makes this event Saturday so very special."
Inspiring the young
Carolyn Artman of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Motown Historical Museum is high on the list of attractions for groups visiting the area. The museum attracts 40,000 visitors annually, Terry said.
"We have a lot of travel writers who come in, too, and they always want to see it," Artman said. "It's one of those Detroit icons that's important to our history."
While baby boomers continue to stream through the museum, the very young visitors are just as important to director Terry.
"I absolutely appreciate the entertainment side of what we do here, but the educational side is, to me, at the end of the day, the most important thing," she said. "I want young people to see Motown as a model for what can be done, for what African Americans can achieve in an urban community."
On a recent Friday in Motown's famed Studio A, the educational component of the museum came to life in the form of an excited 8-year-old Detroit schoolgirl.
Kajiah Manley, along with several classmates from Fleming Elementary School, her language arts teacher Katherine Russell and principal Ronnie Sims were visiting the museum to present Edwards, 83, with a plaque of appreciation and $650 in donations for the museum.
Seeing sheet music for "My Girl" on a stand in the studio, Kajiah started singing the song, to the adults' amusement.
The children then delivered a prepared speech to Edwards and Terry, with each child saying a line: "Motown music is for all generations. Motown music is universal. Motown music is forever!"
Afterward, when Kajiah was told the Temptations recorded "My Girl" right where she was standing, the little girl's eyes widened.
She strode back in front of Edwards and exclaimed: "Esther Gordy, I have something else I want to tell you! Thank you for having the museum here so people can stand where the Temptations recorded, right here. And Esther Gordy, thank you for letting me come here and see all this wonderful stuff!"
Clearly touched, Edwards, elegant in a black fur-trimmed suit, leaned over to hug the little girl.
Russell, who grew up not far from Hitsville, brings her students to the museum every year.
Motown inspired me as a young girl, when this was a record company," she said. "We got spankings when we got caught sneaking over here, when I was 11 going on 12. We saw Marvin Gaye record one time, the Marvelettes another time, and Stevie Wonder. I want the kids to be inspired by the music, too."
Gordy family values
From girlhood, Edwards had the same no-nonsense, serious personality that was such a help to her brother as he built his record company in the 1960s.
In his book "To Be Loved," Gordy remembers that when he went before the family co-op Ber-Berry to request a $800 loan in 1959 so he could press copies of Marv Johnson's record "Come to Me" and start Motown Records. He knew Edwards would be his most formidable foe. When the family meeting convened, it became a showdown between the two.
"You're 29 years old and what have you done so far with your life?" Edwards famously demanded of him. He admitted that he hadn't had any success yet, but that "tomorrow could be a total turnaround," and that he was never going to give up his dream.
His sister finally relented, but only after he signed an additional note pledging any future royalties as security.
Edwards described the Gordy family values that were such a big part of Motown's success.
"Be the best, strive for excellence, learn everything," she said.
As hard as she was on him growing up, it was Edwards who came to be one of her brother's biggest boosters.
But after years of working closely together, when Gordy's success with the Diana Ross film "Lady Sings the Blues" prompted him to spend more time on the West Coast, Edwards decided she couldn't move. It was partly because of family ties: her husband, George, a state representative, and son Robert Bullock lived here. But it was also that California culture just didn't seduce her as it did Gordy, Robinson and other Motowners.
"I was going back and forth a lot. But when they decided to move the headquarters out there, I just didn't like being out there ...," Edwards said. "... Detroit is small, you can drive 25 minutes anywhere. Out there, you have to drive an hour and you're still not anywhere."
Without Edwards keeping Hitsville open, it might have been closed and abandoned, or worse, torn down, as was the original Stax recording studio in Memphis.
The new, gleaming, multimillion-dollar Stax museum that was built from the ground up does stand as a challenge to Detroit and Motown to match it.
But the hoped-for expansion to the Motown Center -- the shuttered office building on Woodward Avenue at the Fisher Freeway -- has languished for lack of funding.
"The legacy is big enough for a very expansive space," director Terry conceded. "Our goal is to bring a wonderful Motown experience to the Detroit community and give it everything it's supposed to have. But what the (original) Motown Historical Museum represents is the authentic Motown experience. Nowhere else can you stand where all those musical icons stood. In order to be true to that, it does have to be somewhat humble."
Museum in the making
1959: Berry Gordy buys the house at 2648 W. Grand Blvd. He makes a recording studio out of a large room in the back, which was formerly used as a photographic studio, and names it Hitsville U.S.A. By 1967, the headquarters for Motown Records sprawled amongst nine structures he owned, including the Donovan office building on Woodward Avenue at the Fisher Freeway.
1960: Esther Gordy Edwards is the first African American to be appointed to the Detroit Recorder's Court Jury Commission.
1968: Motown's administrative offices are moved to the 10-story Donovan Building. Gordy christened the building "Motown Center." Hitsville U.S.A., at 2648 W. Grand Blvd., continues to be used as Studio A, Motown's primary recording studio.
1972: Motown's move to Los Angeles is official, and Studio A hosts its last recording session. Gordy tries to talk his sister into relocating, but she declines. Edwards is put in charge of international public affairs and the Detroit office.
1980: Because fans still stop by, Edwards and her secretary Doris Holland start putting up gold and platinum records and publicity photos on the walls.
1985: The nonprofit Motown Museum Historical Foundation is chartered by the state of Michigan.
Dec. 1, 1987: Gov. James Blanchard, Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young, Motown stars Smokey Robinson and Eddie Kendrick all attend a ceremony at 2648 for the dedication of the Motown Historical Museum and the unveiling of a Michigan historical marker at the Hitsville house.
1988: Gordy sells Motown to MCA Records and Boston Ventures Limited for $61 million. "In today's economy, the big get bigger and the small get extinct," Gordy says.
October 1988: In town for two shows at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Michael Jackson makes an appearance at the museum, and donates $125,000, a hat, a white jeweled glove and one of his stage uniforms from 1977. Several thousand fans thronged outside despite the rain and cold. Jackson later had dinner with Gordy at the latter's house on Boston Boulevard.
Oct. 1, 1991: Jackson's glove was stolen from the museum, leading MC Hammer to offer a $50,000 reward for its return. A tip led police to a house in Flint and the glove was recovered.
1994-95: In a project with The Henry Ford Museum, the Motown Historical Museum undergoes a restoration. The upper floor is taken back to the way it looked in the very early '60s when Gordy lived there, and Studio A's original recording equipment was returned, making Hitsville look the way it did during its heyday.
You can reach Susan Whitall at (313) 222-2156 or swhitall@det news.com.
www.detnews.com/2005/events/0511/10/E01-377726.htm
Motown museum celebrates its founder, Esther Gordy Edwards, and a 20-year history
'Motown Forever."
It's a motto that's been used by Motown Records for several decades. But without Esther Gordy Edwards, there would only be CDs, records and tapes to document the record company's legendary history and a frenzied, creative period in Detroit. It was a time when one guy, in one house, on an ordinary street would set the music world on fire.
Edwards, one of Motown's most capable executives, is being honored Saturday at Motown Forever, the annual fund-raising gala for the Motown Historical Museum, which she founded. The gala also will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the museum and is drawing a Tier A roster of Motown star power: Edwards' brother, Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., along with their two surviving siblings, Anna and Robert.
Set to entertain is Smokey Robinson, and flying in for the event are Motown songwriters Brian and Eddie Holland, former Motown executive Suzanne de Passe, as well as many Motown stars, including the Miracles, the Velvelettes, members of the Four Tops, Teena Marie and Brenda Holloway, and a few yet unnamed guests.
"It's special because we're honoring Esther Gordy Edwards, one of our founding members," said Robinson, who was not only a singer, songwriter and producer, but also a vice president at Motown. "She has been so instrumental in the preservation of the Motown legacy, because she's the one who created the museum."
Edwards is fragile these days, said her granddaughter, museum director Robin Terry, but she is "psyched" about attending the gala.
"I think she's most excited about having all of her living siblings back in Detroit," Terry said. "And sometimes you don't really know how much you've helped somebody. I keep telling her, these are people you've helped throughout their careers, and they want to show how much they appreciate what you did."
The museum takes form
Although a 20th anniversary is being celebrated (dating it from the 1985 charter established for the museum), the Motown Historical Museum didn't start with a bang. It evolved over the years after the record company left Detroit in 1972.
Edwards stayed behind to staff Motown's Detroit operations in the Hitsville house at 2648 W. Grand Blvd. Around 1980, Edwards, along with her assistant, the late Doris Holland, starting putting up gold and platinum albums, and thumb-tacked photos of Motown stars onto the walls. Edwards said it was because so many fans continued to stop by the house to see where their favorite music had been made.
"My grandmother's scrapbook, open to the world" is how Terry describes the museum back then.
Robinson recalls Edwards would painstakingly save artifacts from each Motown tour.
"Mrs. Edwards was head of our management at the time, and we'd be laughing at her," said Robinson. "She'd be saving all the placards from each concert, every photo of every marquee, and we'd say 'Oh, Mrs. Edwards is saving another placard -- ha!' But what a wonderful thing she did there. Because that is the Motown museum, that is the legacy, that is the documentation. And that's what makes this event Saturday so very special."
Inspiring the young
Carolyn Artman of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Motown Historical Museum is high on the list of attractions for groups visiting the area. The museum attracts 40,000 visitors annually, Terry said.
"We have a lot of travel writers who come in, too, and they always want to see it," Artman said. "It's one of those Detroit icons that's important to our history."
While baby boomers continue to stream through the museum, the very young visitors are just as important to director Terry.
"I absolutely appreciate the entertainment side of what we do here, but the educational side is, to me, at the end of the day, the most important thing," she said. "I want young people to see Motown as a model for what can be done, for what African Americans can achieve in an urban community."
On a recent Friday in Motown's famed Studio A, the educational component of the museum came to life in the form of an excited 8-year-old Detroit schoolgirl.
Kajiah Manley, along with several classmates from Fleming Elementary School, her language arts teacher Katherine Russell and principal Ronnie Sims were visiting the museum to present Edwards, 83, with a plaque of appreciation and $650 in donations for the museum.
Seeing sheet music for "My Girl" on a stand in the studio, Kajiah started singing the song, to the adults' amusement.
The children then delivered a prepared speech to Edwards and Terry, with each child saying a line: "Motown music is for all generations. Motown music is universal. Motown music is forever!"
Afterward, when Kajiah was told the Temptations recorded "My Girl" right where she was standing, the little girl's eyes widened.
She strode back in front of Edwards and exclaimed: "Esther Gordy, I have something else I want to tell you! Thank you for having the museum here so people can stand where the Temptations recorded, right here. And Esther Gordy, thank you for letting me come here and see all this wonderful stuff!"
Clearly touched, Edwards, elegant in a black fur-trimmed suit, leaned over to hug the little girl.
Russell, who grew up not far from Hitsville, brings her students to the museum every year.
Motown inspired me as a young girl, when this was a record company," she said. "We got spankings when we got caught sneaking over here, when I was 11 going on 12. We saw Marvin Gaye record one time, the Marvelettes another time, and Stevie Wonder. I want the kids to be inspired by the music, too."
Gordy family values
From girlhood, Edwards had the same no-nonsense, serious personality that was such a help to her brother as he built his record company in the 1960s.
In his book "To Be Loved," Gordy remembers that when he went before the family co-op Ber-Berry to request a $800 loan in 1959 so he could press copies of Marv Johnson's record "Come to Me" and start Motown Records. He knew Edwards would be his most formidable foe. When the family meeting convened, it became a showdown between the two.
"You're 29 years old and what have you done so far with your life?" Edwards famously demanded of him. He admitted that he hadn't had any success yet, but that "tomorrow could be a total turnaround," and that he was never going to give up his dream.
His sister finally relented, but only after he signed an additional note pledging any future royalties as security.
Edwards described the Gordy family values that were such a big part of Motown's success.
"Be the best, strive for excellence, learn everything," she said.
As hard as she was on him growing up, it was Edwards who came to be one of her brother's biggest boosters.
But after years of working closely together, when Gordy's success with the Diana Ross film "Lady Sings the Blues" prompted him to spend more time on the West Coast, Edwards decided she couldn't move. It was partly because of family ties: her husband, George, a state representative, and son Robert Bullock lived here. But it was also that California culture just didn't seduce her as it did Gordy, Robinson and other Motowners.
"I was going back and forth a lot. But when they decided to move the headquarters out there, I just didn't like being out there ...," Edwards said. "... Detroit is small, you can drive 25 minutes anywhere. Out there, you have to drive an hour and you're still not anywhere."
Without Edwards keeping Hitsville open, it might have been closed and abandoned, or worse, torn down, as was the original Stax recording studio in Memphis.
The new, gleaming, multimillion-dollar Stax museum that was built from the ground up does stand as a challenge to Detroit and Motown to match it.
But the hoped-for expansion to the Motown Center -- the shuttered office building on Woodward Avenue at the Fisher Freeway -- has languished for lack of funding.
"The legacy is big enough for a very expansive space," director Terry conceded. "Our goal is to bring a wonderful Motown experience to the Detroit community and give it everything it's supposed to have. But what the (original) Motown Historical Museum represents is the authentic Motown experience. Nowhere else can you stand where all those musical icons stood. In order to be true to that, it does have to be somewhat humble."
Museum in the making
1959: Berry Gordy buys the house at 2648 W. Grand Blvd. He makes a recording studio out of a large room in the back, which was formerly used as a photographic studio, and names it Hitsville U.S.A. By 1967, the headquarters for Motown Records sprawled amongst nine structures he owned, including the Donovan office building on Woodward Avenue at the Fisher Freeway.
1960: Esther Gordy Edwards is the first African American to be appointed to the Detroit Recorder's Court Jury Commission.
1968: Motown's administrative offices are moved to the 10-story Donovan Building. Gordy christened the building "Motown Center." Hitsville U.S.A., at 2648 W. Grand Blvd., continues to be used as Studio A, Motown's primary recording studio.
1972: Motown's move to Los Angeles is official, and Studio A hosts its last recording session. Gordy tries to talk his sister into relocating, but she declines. Edwards is put in charge of international public affairs and the Detroit office.
1980: Because fans still stop by, Edwards and her secretary Doris Holland start putting up gold and platinum records and publicity photos on the walls.
1985: The nonprofit Motown Museum Historical Foundation is chartered by the state of Michigan.
Dec. 1, 1987: Gov. James Blanchard, Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young, Motown stars Smokey Robinson and Eddie Kendrick all attend a ceremony at 2648 for the dedication of the Motown Historical Museum and the unveiling of a Michigan historical marker at the Hitsville house.
1988: Gordy sells Motown to MCA Records and Boston Ventures Limited for $61 million. "In today's economy, the big get bigger and the small get extinct," Gordy says.
October 1988: In town for two shows at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Michael Jackson makes an appearance at the museum, and donates $125,000, a hat, a white jeweled glove and one of his stage uniforms from 1977. Several thousand fans thronged outside despite the rain and cold. Jackson later had dinner with Gordy at the latter's house on Boston Boulevard.
Oct. 1, 1991: Jackson's glove was stolen from the museum, leading MC Hammer to offer a $50,000 reward for its return. A tip led police to a house in Flint and the glove was recovered.
1994-95: In a project with The Henry Ford Museum, the Motown Historical Museum undergoes a restoration. The upper floor is taken back to the way it looked in the very early '60s when Gordy lived there, and Studio A's original recording equipment was returned, making Hitsville look the way it did during its heyday.
You can reach Susan Whitall at (313) 222-2156 or swhitall@det news.com.
www.detnews.com/2005/events/0511/10/E01-377726.htm
