Book Ad of the Week: RASCAL (1963)

February 6, 1964

Rascal

by Sterling North

E.P. Dutton & Co., 1963

Sterling North's novel became the Walt Disney production RASCAL (1969) directed by Norman Tokar and starring Steve Forrest, Pamela Toll, Elsa Lanchester, Henry Jones, Bettye Ackerman, Jonathan Daly and John Fiedler, with Billy Mumy as the young Sterling North and Walter Pidgeon narrating as the older Sterling North.

Book Ad of the Week: TEN PLUS ONE (1963)

September 12, 1963

Ten Plus One

by Ed McBain

Simon & Schuster, 1963

The seventeenth novel in Ed McBain's popular 87th Precinct series became the Philippe Labro film SANS MOBILE APPARENT/WITHOUT APPARENT MOTIVE (1971), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Dominique Sanda, Stéphane Audran, Laura Antonelli and Jean-Pierre Marielle. It was released in the U.S. by 20th Century Fox dubbed, with a PG rating.

Book Ad of the Week: THE DAY BEFORE SUNRISE (1976)

May 2, 1976

The Day Before Sunrise

by Thomas Wiseman

Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1976

Thomas Wiseman's novel The Romantic Englishwoman became the Joseph Losey film of the same name, but a major motion picture based on The Day Before Sunrise was never produced.

Book Ad of the Week: HARRY S. TRUMAN (1974)

January 2, 1974

Harry S. Truman

by Margaret Truman

William Morrow & Co., 1972

This biography of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, was written by his daughter Margaret Truman, later a successful author of mystery novels. The major motion picture was never made.

Book Ad of the Week: THE SURVIVOR (1980)

September 28, 1980

The Survivor

by Jack Eisner

William Morrow & Co., 1980

Jack Eisner's autobiography The Survivor became the 1985 Moshé Mizrahi film WAR AND LOVE, starring Kyra Sedgwick, Sebastian Keneas, and David Spielberg.

Book Ad of the Week: THE SUMMER THAT BLED (1973)

May 21, 1973

The Summer That Bled

by Anthony Masters

St. Martin's Press, 1972

This non-fiction account of the life and death of Hannah Senesh was never adapted into a major motion picture. However, Yoel Palgi's books The Diaries Of Hanna Senesh and A Great Wind Cometh were the basis for the 1988 film HANNA'S WAR, directed by Menahem Golan and starring Maruschka Detmers, Ellen Burstyn and Donald Pleasence.

Book Ad of the Week: BLUE MERIDIAN (1971)

April 25, 1971

Blue Meridian

by Peter Matthiessen

Random House, 1971

This non-fiction book, an account of author Peter Matthiessen's experiences working on the shark documentary BLUE WATER, WHITE DEATH (1971), was never made into a major motion picture. However, Signet did publish it as a BLUE WATER, WHITE DEATH movie tie-in paperback in 1973.

Book Ad of the Week: UNCLE FRANK (1973)

December 9, 1973

Uncle Frank

by Leonard Katz

Drake Publishers, 1973

In addition to writing the foreword to Leonard Katz's book, Anthony Quinn secured the film rights and was going to play Frank Costello in the movie adaptation, but no movie was ever produced.

Book Ad of the Week: BRIEF CANDLE (1990)

June 27, 1990

Brief Candle

by Martin Boris

Crown Publishers, 1990

No major motion picture was produced. A made for TV movie was announced for ABC, but even that was never made.

Book Ad of the Week: WILLY REMEMBERS (1972)

July 17, 1972

Willy Remembers

by Irvin Faust

Arbor House, 1971

Irvin Faust's novel The Steagle was made into a 1971 movie directed by Paul Sylbert and starring Richard Benjamin, but the major motion picture of Willy Remembers was never produced.

Book Ad of the Week: JANE'S HOUSE (1982)

September 12, 1982

Jane's House

by Robert Kimmel Smith

William Morrow & Co., 1982

Robert Kimmel Smith's novel eventually got produced as the 1994 CBS TV movie starring James Woods, Anne Archer, Missy Crider and Graham Beckel. An Aaron Spelling production, it was directed by Glenn Jordan.

Book Ad of the Week: THE CONTROL OF CANDY JONES (1976)

July 7, 1976

The Control of Candy Jones

by Donald Bain

Playboy Press, 1976

The fascinating story of fashion model and talk radio personality Candy Jones (a.k.a. MKUltra-controlled CIA courier "Arlene Grant") has, incredibly, never been made into a motion picture, although 20th Century Fox had one in development when this ad for Donald Bain's nonfiction bestseller appeared in the New York Times.

Book Ad of the Week: O JERUSALEM! (1973)

April 29, 1973

O Jerusalem!

by Larry Collins
and Dominique Lapierre

Simon and Schuster, 1972

Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre's first bestselling book, Is Paris Burning? (1965), became the René Clément film IS PARIS BURNING? (1966), scripted by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola and starring Kirk Douglas, Glenn Ford, Gert Fröbe, Orson Welles, Anthony Perkins, Robert Stack, Charles Boyer, Yves Montand, Leslie Caron, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Simone Signoret, and Alain Delon, but the major motion picture based on O Jerusalem! was never produced.

Book Ad of the Week: WHERE THE MONEY WAS: THE MEMOIRS OF A BANK ROBBER (1976)

August 27, 1976

Where the Money Was:
The Memoirs of a Bank Robber

by Willie Sutton
with Edward Linn

Viking Press, 1976

Bank robber Willie Sutton was the subject of the documentary IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF WILLIE SUTTON (2011), but the major motion picture based on his memoirs was never made.

Book Ad of the Week: RANSOM (1973)

April 24, 1973

Ransom

by Jon Cleary

William Morrow & Company, 1973

This is third novel in the Australian mystery series by Jon Cleary (The Sundowners) featuring Sydney homicide detective Scobie Malone, following The High Commissioner (1966) and Helga's Web (1970). Rod Taylor played Scobie in THE HIGH COMMISSIONER (1968) and Jack Thompson played him in SCOBIE MALONE (1975), based on Helga's Web, but a major motion picture based on Ransom was never made.

Book Ad of the Week: THE COURT-MARTIAL OF GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER (1976)

November 14, 1976

The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer

by Douglas C. Jones

Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976

Douglas C. Jones' novel of alternate history became the NBC television movie (airdate: December 1, 1977) starring James Olson as General George A. Custer, Brian Keith as the defense attorney, Ken Howard as the prosecuting attorney, and Blythe Danner as Mrs. Custer.

Book Ad of the Week: YEAR OF THE GOLDEN APE (1974)

October 20, 1974

Year of the Golden Ape

by Colin Forbes
[Raymond Harold Sawkins]

E.P. Dutton, 1974

Colin Forbes' 1977 novel Avalanche Express became the 1979 movie of the same name, but the major motion picture based on Year of the Golden Ape was never produced.

Book Ad of the Week: A TOUGH ONE TO LOSE (1972)

October 1, 1972

A Tough One to Lose

by Tony Kenrick

Bobbs-Merrill, 1972

Tony Kenrick's novels Two for the Price of One and Faraday's Flowers became the major motion pictures NOBODY'S PERFEKT (1981) and SHANGHAI SURPRISE (1986), respectively, but the film adaptation of A Tough One to Lose was never produced.

Book Ad of the Week: SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

September 10, 1980

Soon to be a Major Motion Picture

by Abbie Hoffman

Perigee/Putnam,  1980

Despite the title, the major motion picture from Universal was never made.

Nice try, Abbie!

Book Ad of the Week: BURTON AND SPEKE (1982)

November 7, 1982

Burton and Speke

by William Harrison

St. Martin's/Marek, 1982

William Harrison's novel became the Bob Rafelson film MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1990), starring Patrick Bergin (as Richard Francis Burton) and Iain Glen (as John Hanning Speke), from a screenplay by Harrison and Rafelson.