Quote Originally Posted by RanRan79 View Post
I think that was their way of covering their asses in case they had to bring Florence back in the event that Cindy ended up not working out. I've always maintained that the initial firing of Flo in April would've been a done deal if the situation with Cindy's contract with her other group and label hadn't come up. That was the only reason Flo was allowed back in. I also think Flo would've ultimately been allowed to stay if she had decided to go along with the program once she was back, which always begs the question of what would Gordy have done with Cindy if Flo hadn't given him another reason to fire her?

But anyway, had Cindy stepped into Flo's shoes that July and turned out to be someone who just wasn't going to cut it, Gordy and company would've been in a sticky situation because the Supremes was the big money bag. They would've had to go back to Florence and ask her to return and only hope that she would agree [[with some terms hopefully) and they would've then been able to spin Cindy as having relieved Florence while she took a break.
‘That’s EXACTLY my read on the situation. In fact, I’ve always wished that Flo could have taken a few months off, rested, lost weight and chilled, then returned part time for TV shows and recording while having Cindy do most of the one-nighters [[except the ones in St Louis and southern Illinois) and Copa weekends requiring 3 shows per night. That way, Flo could have remained and coped and everyone would have been happy. I believe Flo would have dealt with all the group politics much better if she wasn’t under such constant strain. Maybe after a 3 month rest, she would have seen things from a different perspective. She could have rested from Ed Sullivan in May to Hollywood Palace in September and saved me the horror of wondering who that was in Flo’s spot. That would have given her 4 and a half months to recouperate between TV gigs.

As as it is, I don’t think Motown truly made up their minds until September ‘67 because with Refletions being released in late July, they should have appeared before Sept 28 to plug it on tv. Had they been just a few weeks earlier, it might have hopped up a notch like Come See About Me did. I really think they had not totally made up their minds yet. By then, they knew Cindy passed muster in shows, but still had not passed the TV test and, let’s face it, DR&TS Greatest Hits released in late 67 had Flo all over it.

Flo looks awful in this photo: bloated and not into posing. Of course, it could just be a bad shot and was all happy in the others, but the puffy, bloated face is not a mistake.