Originally Posted by
RanRan79
I think that the reprieve ultimately was because Motown needed time to deal with Cindy's contract to the Bluebelles and Atlantic Records. I believe that had Flo come back with a better attitude and willingness to go along to get along, Cindy would've never been a Supreme. For all of Gordy's nastiness, his dream wasn't that Florence is fired. He was smart enough- I think- to recognize her contributions to the group and thus would not want to lose that if he could avoid it. So Flo in a better mood would've been good business for the Supremes. Gordy would be happy with that. Cindy would've either ended up a replacement Vandella or Marvelette, or she would've been a casualty in the Motown machine's Supreme focus, because Patti and the girls definitely weren't letting Cindy come back.
But Gordy had a pretty good read on people and I think he recognized that at some point Flo would slip up, especially if he decided to target her hot button issues. So Cindy was brought on board as a stand in, to be called upon shortly.