Footage of The Supremes Farewell - 1970

[soulballad]

Wasn't this shown originally on some Dick Clark Special? I remember seeing it somewhere. Not my video but thanks to the poster who put it up on YT!

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Thanks, soulballad. Short but sweet -- bittersweet. This just HAS to come out on DVD.

[captainjames]

Yeah I have seen this and a few with Diana in the Audience. Many claim they have and others claim if they copy it it will destroy their machines. Truth is if it does not come out this year it will probably never come to life.

[Weslley Francisco]

Wasn't this shown originally on some Dick Clark Special? I remember seeing it somewhere. Not my video but thanks to the poster who put it up on YT!

You're welcome soulballad! Not, this is from PBS Special: Brown Sugar!

[thanxal]

It's just unbelievable to me that record company executives did not have the foresight to film this. Perhaps the location made it difficult, but what a monumental error not to forever record this moment on video. The only other oversight along these lines that I can think of that is perhaps bigger in its sheer disbelief is Capitol Record's failure to video record Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall.

[antceleb12]

It's just unbelievable to me that record company executives did not have the foresight to film this. Perhaps the location made it difficult, but what a monumental error not to forever record this moment on video. The only other oversight along these lines that I can think of that is perhaps bigger in its sheer disbelief is Capitol Record's failure to video record Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall.

You're so right! The Supremes' farewell, and Judy's Carnegie concerts should absolutely have been filmed. There are brief bootleg video recordings of Judy's Carnegie appearance floating around on YouTube, but to not have captured such electrifying performances is beyond disappointing.

[Weslley Francisco]

You're so right! The Supremes' farewell, and Judy's Carnegie concerts should absolutely have been filmed. There are brief bootleg video recordings of Judy's Carnegie appearance floating around on YouTube, but to not have captured such electrifying performances is beyond disappointing.

The concert of Diana Ross and The Supremes Farewell was filmed, but Motown, not released the movie, I saw here in Soufuldetroit.com a comment from a guy who saw the complete concert once in the 80 and 90, this recording should be closely guarded in the vaults of Motown, but when will come to the surfaced?

[thanxal]

The concert of Diana Ross and The Supremes Farewell was filmed, but Motown, not released the movie

I didn't know that. At least it was filmed. And film restoration has come along way so at least there is a glimmer of hope.

[Jimi LaLumia]

in the 60's, the record industry hadn't become the big corporate machine that it evolved into in the 70's and 80's, and home video didn't exist as a market yet.. nothing seemed important back then, everything was treated as temporary, some very historic moments in time..these days, every sneeze is documented..

[bradsupremes]

I thought I read somewhere that Motown filmed Diana's final show with the Supremes with the intent of using the footage for a possible TV special like the planned 'Supremes In The Orient'; however nothing came of it. I could be totally wrong on this.

[marv2]

I thought I read somewhere that Motown filmed Diana's final show with the Supremes with the intent of using the footage for a possible TV special like the planned 'Supremes In The Orient'; however nothing came of it. I could be totally wrong on this.

They filmed the entire run [[all the shows) at the Frontier and sent them back to Detroit. There were some that could not attend and viewed the farewell shows via these films.

[antceleb12]

The concert of Diana Ross and The Supremes Farewell was filmed, but Motown, not released the movie, I saw here in Soufuldetroit.com a comment from a guy who saw the complete concert once in the 80 and 90, this recording should be closely guarded in the vaults of Motown, but when will come to the surfaced?

Why on earth would they not release this? We all know they made a documentary of the Supremes in Vietnam, which I can understand why they would not make public at the time. Still, there are a loootttt of fans who would love to see this film come to light.

[Weslley Francisco]

Why on earth would they not release this? We all know they made a documentary of the Supremes in Vietnam, which I can understand why they would not make public at the time. Still, there are a loootttt of fans who would love to see this film come to light.

I'll make a petition on the internet for it releases the recording of the concert I hope it works

[marv2]

Ever imagine how much "valuable" memorabilia ended up in the pile of rumble of the old Donovan Building?

[kenneth]

Ever imagine how much "valuable" memorabilia ended up in the pile of rumble of the old Donovan Building?

There are so many examples of rare and artistic performances by not just singers but actors and musical stars that were never captured on video. I suppose it must have been much more expensive prior to the 80s to capture things on film, but it's still amazing that there aren't at least audio recordings of some of the greatest theatrical performances or live recordings of so many singers.

One example from theatre is what many view as the greatest performance on stage that influenced whole generations of actors, Laurette Taylor in "The Glass Menagerie." That performance is often highlighted as what inspired so many actors to become actors. Yet the only thing which remains of it are a few minutes of an audio recording for a special record which was made at the time. No one ever bothered to record the whole thing.

There are lots of examples of this from musicals as well. Ethel Merman's "Gypsy," Carol Channing's "Hello Dolly!," Angela Lansbury's "Mame," I don't think any of these shows were ever preserved on film or video except for the Original Cast albums. And it's pretty much agreed to that the movie versions of these shows [[all with different leads) suffered greatly in comparison.

As for Motown, we learned via the excellent Hip-O set that the few live recordings of Tammi Terrell came out in that release, there's no live recordings of The Marvelettes beyond what's already come out according to our friendly archivists, and even though there's evidently a recording of Martha and the Vandellas at the Copa, we've never been able to hear it!

Of course, I always say the worst thing for a collector to hear is that there's "no more" yet to be released so I'd rather hope to hear Martha's Copa show rather than know there's nothing still there as is the case with The Marvelettes. At least then we still have hope!

[mindful1]

interesting question to ponder, wow, I bet a lot of great stuff was left behind.

[marv2]

interesting question to ponder, wow, I bet a lot of great stuff was left behind.

There was a tremendous amount of stuff left in that rumble that was hauled off to the dump! They have this really stupid practice [[at least in Michigan and Ohio) of demolishing buildings with the contents still inside. They tore down scores of public schools in Toledo, Ohio in recent years with all the furniture, books and other documents inside.

[Bokiluis]

I think Mr. Gordy did film the "Farewell" concerts, BUT, not professionally. There would have been an entire film crew there which there wasn't. As far as I know. But considering that Motown already had tremendous success with the television airings of "T.C.B." and "G.I.T.", it must have been intentional that no home video version was released.
Add Marvin Gaye's performance of the entire "What's Going On" album at I believe the Kennedy Center, to the list of misopportunities that should have been filmed for commercial release.
And finally, it's pretty clear that VH1 filmed "Return to Love" opening night. I cannot see going through the trouble of setting up a camera crew for just the first few songs. Somewhere exists the entire "Return to Love" concert opening night in professional quality. Now that I can see being held in the Diana Ross Estate for either her kids or grandkids to possibly release after I am long gone. You know how things are discovered in the vaults like "Blue", some Diana/Supremes fan in 2051 being the beneficiary of the long lost "Return to Love" concert. [[*a bucket list request that seems unlikely to be fulfilled in the near future).

[Bokiluis]

There was a tremendous amount of stuff left in that rumble that was hauled off to the dump! They have this really stupid practice [[at least in Michigan and Ohio) of demolishing buildings with the contents still inside. They tore down scores of public schools in Toledo, Ohio in recent years with all the furniture, books and other documents inside.

And apparently it's no urban legend that when Motown was relocating to California, the publicity and artist development department[[s) destroyed tons of memoribilia. [[Example: press kits on Marvin, The Jackson 5, etc. was carelessly disposed of. Even some of the Motown Fan Club memoribilia would be priceless on eBay).

[sansradio]

Somewhere exists the entire "Return to Love" concert opening night in professional quality.

Yes, bokiluis. RTL was indeed filmed in its entirety. A bootleg definitely exists; I viewed it at an old acquaintance's home. Not sure from what venue or what his sources were. If you believe in "unofficial" copies, take heart!

[LuvHangOva]

Yes, bokiluis. RTL was indeed filmed in its entirety. A bootleg definitely exists; I viewed it at an old acquaintance's home. Not sure from what venue or what his sources were. If you believe in "unofficial" copies, take heart!

There was a professional camera crew in place for at least four RTL shows. Steve Binder was on hand calling the shots at the three RTL shows I attended and we know opening nite was filmed as well. There's enough right there for an excellent DVD of what really WAS a great show.

[Weslley Francisco]

Petition To Diana Ross and The Supremes Farewell 1970 in DVD https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition...DVD/share/?new

[captainjames]

Wasn't this shown originally on some Dick Clark Special? I remember seeing it somewhere. Not my video but thanks to the poster who put it up on YT!

The footage here is even bad, I would really be surprised if this video survived or is in in good condition.

[marv2]

The footage here is even bad, I would really be surprised if this video survived or is in in good condition.

The film I saw was in good condition, in color and the sound was decent. That was in 1990.

[captainjames]

I wonder if anyone has just asked Berry Gordy if he recorded it on video.