Greg's DVD Review of "The Supremes: Reflections"
With "Dreamgirls" rekindling my memories of The Supremes, I was excited to see a new DVD released of the all-time greatest girl group in various performances from 1964 to 1969. It's some great stuff with such greatest hits as "Baby Love," "Stop! In the Name of Love," "You Keep Me Hanging On," "The Happening," "I Hear A Symphony," "Reflections," "Love Child," and "Someday We'll Be Together" among others.
I watched part of it last night and the rest this morning and was surprised at how I felt after: sad. I was sad mostly for Florence Ballard who was kicked out of the group in 1967 (The "Effie" character in "Dreamgirls" is loosely based on Ballard). She never mounted much of a solo career and was dead by 1976 of a heart attack. I felt sad watching her because she was simply exquisite. She was the tallest of the three girls and the most elegant (Diana Ross and Mary Wilson are the other two original Supremes) but her smile always seemed a little sad.
Ironically, in a January 1967 performance on the DVD, Ballard is smiling broadly and looks terrific. But she would be out of the group several months later due to what I have read was a drinking problem and not showing up for gigs. Her replacement, Cindy Birdsong, was fine and a total pro but she did not have Ballard's presence. I didn't realize until watching this DVD how much her departure made the Supremes just a little less special.
And with "Dreamgirls" in my head, I noticed how the years went on, The Supremes went from three girls singing together as friends standing side-by-side to Diana Ross and The Supremes with Ross always standing way out front of the other two girls with virtually little interaction. They had become background singers instead of singing partners and this unfortunate evolution is plain to see. Ballard, I'm sure, had other issues. But if you were the original lead singer then consistently marginalized as she and Wilson seemed to be, it's no surprise there would be tension in the group.
I think Diana Ross is sensational and you can see from all the performances on this DVD that she had the presence and confidence to pull off stardom at a very young age. She deserves much of the credit for the success of The Supremes and all those songs that live on. But why couldn't she (or Berry Gordy behind the scenes) let the other girls shine more?
Diana would have been just a big a star anyway and maybe Florence Ballard would have smiled more...
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Greg Hernandez, Page 2 "News Lite" columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News, gives you a fly-on-the-wall account of the Oscars and other awards show, movie premieres, film festivals and various star-studded events. He also shares his celebrity interviews as well as specially-selected videos and photos. He writes about all things pop culture through a gay man's eyes ...
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It always amazes me how death often seems to endow the deceased with qualities that were not really present in life. I do agree that Florence had a certain presence that added to the magic of the Supremes and I certainly don't wish to take that away from her, but I do think that Cindy added an elegance to the group that Ballard could not have done. It also amazes me how after her death, everyone seems to speak of her voice in glowing terms, even comparing her to Aretha. I always found it novel to hear Florence or Mary take an occasional lead, but neither of them seemed to have the type of voice that could capture the imagination. In this department Diana just happened to have the luck of the draw. Diana left the group more than 35 years ago, yet Mary Wilson has not managed to produce one single hit record on her own and only seems to gain any sort of attention when crying the blues about Diana and how poorly she was treated nearly half a century ago. We will of course never know whether Florence would have ever produced any worthwhile contributions, but only having Mary to go by it is obvious that Gordy knew what he was doing and he was able to see that Diana held the qualities of which legends are made.
When are we going to let this obsession with Ballard rest? On and on we go about poor Flo. Flo was one of the three original lead singers of the Supremes. Ballard was a hard sorprano and simply did not have the voice to sell records. Yes, she was louder and harder but with no personality. Flo did herself in; it was not Ross or Wilson's fault. Diana had it in spades and still does. Let Ballard rest in peace and let's admire Ross while she is still alive.
For me, once Flo was gone, the Supremes were a group no more. Diana Ross had everything, and wanted everything, for herself. She was great, no doubt, but i wish she was fair to her group mates. To this day, she won't give them any well deserved props. For anyone interested in "the true story of Florence Ballard", her sister Maxine has written a book about her life. Check it out at Maxineballard.com
Thanks for the plug, Maxine!
Yes, Florence did have a grand presence. Cindy did not have the statuesque presence of Florence but she was a versatile singer with a beauty and comfort on stage that Florence didn't have. Florence had a great wit and humor. Cindy waas a good dance. Flrence was not. Cindy showed up and did her job. Florence found that hard to do. MYTH: Florence was the original lead singer. She was the leader of the group initially but NOT the sole lead singer. Mary and Diana and Smokey and Maxine Ballard said that all the girls shared leads.