MOVIES - Sept. 29, 1987

Eugene, Ore., novelist Kate Wilhelm has filed a suit claiming that “Desperately Seeking Susan,” the 1985 Madonna-Rosanna Arquette hit movie, was copied from her 1982 novel “Oh Susannah!” Wilhelm sought unspecified damages from the movie’s screenwriter Leora Barish, distributor Orion Pictures, video distributor Home Box Office, novelization writer Susan Dworkin and Crown Publishers Inc. in the U.S. District Court suit, filed in Portland. Wilhelm’s complaint alleged similarities between the film and her novel. In both stories the main character suffered amnesia after an accident and both found a phone number in their jacket pockets afterward. An attorney for Barish said he thought she had finished her script in 1980. Wilhelm, author of more than 20 books, completed “Oh Susannah!” in 1981.