SWEETIE BABY COOKIE HONEY

by Freddie Gershon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 1986

A roman á clef about the pop-music biz in the 60's and 70's--by entertainment-lawyer Gershon, whose first novel this is and who should know whereof he speaks when it comes to hidden skeletons. David Barry is an ambitious music-business lawyer during the swinging 60's whose company records a number of rock acts, including that famous British group, The Silverfish (under their stoned manager, ""Brandon Levy""); but Barry's heart is really with two old pals from Brooklyn, Hedy Harlowe and Rick Firestone (read Bette Midler and Nell Sedaka). Both of them were singing stars (Hedy with a gay cult following) until they were torpedoed by the rock-and-roll invasion--when Hedy was reduced to sleeping with delivery boys, and Rick to playing dives in England and America. After Brandon Levy's fatal overdose, Barry becomes the head of Levy Organizations Ltd. (""one of the largest entertainment conglomerates in the world"") and helps Rick revive his career; but Hedy gradually becomes an eccentric recluse, living alone in a filthy mansion in Laurel Canyon. visited only by David, whom she thinks of as ""Mr. Power."" The years roll by and Rick is about to debut his tour de force (the ""Firestone Symphony"") when Thane Cawley, evil head of the American branch of L.O.L. Records, blackmails him through a hired thug who pretends to be the non-gay Rick's lover. With the press screaming ""Palimony,"" the too-gentle-to-live Rick kills himself (""Wake up, Rick! Please, wake up!""), but triumph emerges out of tragedy: Hedy rises like a Phoenix out of her ashes to sing soulfully at his funeral, and her career is rejuvenated. As a titillating guess-who exposÉ on the Mob, payola, drugs, and cynical management of popular American musical tastes, this is a fairly fast play. But a limping plot and limpid writing make it only 16 rpms as a novel.

Pub Date: Oct. 3, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Arbor House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION