Supremes full appearance on Tonight show 1967

[luke]

Doesn’t she say her name is Diane? I think she was losing track of it herself!How about those earrings Flo had on! Even at this point they were still getting raves. I’ve never see all the weight Flo had supposedly gained. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LspB2rJHXLk

[blackguy69]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LspB2rJHXLk
i wouldn’t say Flo was fat but as you know a pound gained spelled disaster.

[blackguy69]

[TheMotownManiac]

I don’t see Flo as “fat” .....she IS much bigger than two years prior, and was wrecking havoc with their wardrobe choices, but I don’t think she’s too fat at all. She’s....”bigger” - I think the issue was more like how much more is she going to add since the trend is definitely on the plus side? Look at The Reflections gowns arriving in 8 weeks - how us dhe gonna fit into those???

What this his video does show is that Flo - regardless of size - was a huge bright spot in the group and the void she left could not be filled by the great Cindy Birdsong or anyone I can think of. Flo was a Star. Props to Mary as well - she looks sensational as well and the two of them together here is unmatched by anyone. Who would have thought that in 6 weeks it would all be over?

[sup_fan]

people seem to want to go on and on that Berry fired Flo simply because she was fat. As with every disaster, it was a chain of events and not 1 single incident.

1. flo was unprofessional in her behavior by simply not showing up for recording sessions, public appearances and even concerts. this alone should have been justification for her dismissal. M and D were under the same stresses and still managed to fulfill their contractual duties. While i understand some of the issues with flo revolved around her personal and mental issues, the fact remains she wasn't holding up her end of the deal

2. flo was belligerent and uncooperative - mary, Berry and Diana have all stated in their books that she could be moody and difficult. Mary and some of the other books [[Randy's, Tony's) go into a bit more specifics. while part of this was most certainly driven by the fact that Diana was being pushed forward and flo was being pushed back, if you say Fuck You to the boss enough, guess what? that's what he's gonna do.

3. substance abuse - she went out onto the stage drunk. and not just any stage. but the Flamingo in Vegas. this was a very important high stakes and high paying gig. this wasn't just some college auditorium. if an employee in any other field of work behaved in such a manner at a similarly important part of their job, they'd be fired too

any one of these would frankly be justification for termination. the fact that she was gaining weight wasn't the reason. all of the girls added/dropped pounds. Cindy certainly did. Mary and Jean talked about it also in the 70s. there were times when Diana was even skinnier than she normally was. that's natural and something you can deal with. but when the person in question is also contributing to many other group problems and she's not able/willing to drop the weight which means costly alterations to outfits then that's a problem.

[luke]

I just said Flo was criticized for gaining weight. Some books have questioned whether she was drunk at the Flamingo and no reviews of the shows said that.

[RanRan79]

I just said Flo was criticized for gaining weight. Some books have questioned whether she was drunk at the Flamingo and no reviews of the shows said that.

Agreed. I've never heard/read anyone saying Flo got kicked to the curb only because she was fat. In fact I don't think her weight was used as a reason to let her go at all. What it was used as was a weapon by a man who seemed to enjoy being cruel to women. Never should it be okay for an employer, especially a man, to body shame his employee, especially a woman. Those kinds of comments can have disastrous results for young women. But anyone with eyes can see that Flo was never fat. She was sexy as hell and the group should've embraced it.

[RanRan79]

Doesn’t she say her name is Diane? I think she was losing track of it herself!How about those earrings Flo had on! Even at this point they were still getting raves. I’ve never see all the weight Flo had supposedly gained.

Johnny actually calls her Diane and she repeats it. I imagine it is difficult keeping it straight when you're Diana professionally and Diane personally. They all looked great and the act just seemed to be getting better and better. Whatever behind the scenes crap was going on, when the lights came on each girl did what she was supposed to do. To the public Flo was never unprofessional.

[sup_fan]

I just said Flo was criticized for gaining weight. Some books have questioned whether she was drunk at the Flamingo and no reviews of the shows said that.

sorry - didn't mean to sound like i was harping on your post Luke was just discussing the general topic of Flo's dismissal. there are a lot of fans that sing the old song of how everyone was so cruel to Flo. I don't deny that she had some tough shit to deal with. but she was also partly culpable in her own demise.