Brief opening of the Tennessee Ernie Ford Special

[blackguy69]

https://youtu.be/Ot0SSu-EpOQ

[sup_fan]

https://youtu.be/Ot0SSu-EpOQ

i believe this is actually a rehearsal shot of the ending. the music and staging is how they show ended but the girls are all in different outfits. most likely testing which look works best with the lighting, staging, set, colors, etc.

Mary is wearing the cream sequin gown with the diagonal gold and pearl stripes.

Diana is wearing a dark gown with daisies over it. we've not see the Sups in a set of 3 of these. but if you look in the Surrender EE, she has some solo photo shoot images in it

Cindy - i'm wondering if she's wearing the gown worn on R&H today with Bobby Darin. but without the jacket

[reese]

i believe this is actually a rehearsal shot of the ending. the music and staging is how they show ended but the girls are all in different outfits. most likely testing which look works best with the lighting, staging, set, colors, etc.

Mary is wearing the cream sequin gown with the diagonal gold and pearl stripes.

Diana is wearing a dark gown with daisies over it. we've not see the Sups in a set of 3 of these. but if you look in the Surrender EE, she has some solo photo shoot images in it

Cindy - i'm wondering if she's wearing the gown worn on R&H today with Bobby Darin. but without the jacket

I believe this is actually the opening.

Many years ago, I had a bootleg of this appearance. It had a few seconds that are missing from the top of this clip. Ernie says something like "Here is Diana Ross and with her, the Supremes," and the girls walk over. Such an intro wouldn't be needed for the finale.

Plus, IMO, the still shots of Andy Griffith and Danny Thomas would seem strange for a finale, but for an opening, they make more sense.

Now it does seem strange that the girls are all wearing different outfits but maybe they wanted to try something different. Also, in all of the rehearsal photos I've seen Diana is wearing a different wig.

[sup_fan]

i'm pretty sure this is an alt version of the ending, not the beginning. it's a little different from what actually aired but very very similar.

the special was [[from what i can tell) a play on modern and older musical styles. You had the Sups doing Reflections and then the "Old Mill Stream" medley. and in that initial banter, you had Ernie and Diana doing a routine about her really being an old fashioned girl

later there's a sketch where Diana is teasing Ernie about oscillators and electric guitars. Talking about modern music and she tells him he just "broke the code" on what's going on with today's music and what's "happening" which leads into the girls doing a shortened version of The Happening. and they used a few of these "dumb founded" quick shots of the 3 men looking on in disbelief in this section. playing up the idea of the generation gap

that leads to a brief, sort of ho-down/square dance segment where Ernie, Andy and Danny do the calls for the square dance and then the young kids on the set dance it out. this goes on for 3 or so back and forths until you hear this singing in the clip above. the dancers and chorus sing while the Sups and the 3 men walk around the set, join in the last verse and the show ends. in the broadcast version the 3 girls are wearing those colorful halter top dresses [[from the 25th Anniver cover).

[blackguy69]

They ended with the dance sequence in this clip they were being introduced.