Worth A Second Look?

[marv2]

Luckyluckyme, I would need to see pics of both Stephen Burrows and Bernard Johnson with facial hair. I do know that Eddie Kendricks was touring with the Supremes as their opening act at the time of the photo. Jean Terrell says that is Stephen Burrows in the pic. I still say it is Eddie.

[bradsupremes]

Luckyluckyme, I would need to see pics of both Stephen Burrows and Bernard Johnson with facial hair. I do know that Eddie Kendricks was touring with the Supremes as their opening act at the time of the photo. Jean Terrell says that is Stephen Burrows in the pic. I still say it is Eddie.

I can confirm it is not Stephen Burrows. The photos are pretty evident. Stephen had a lighter skin complexion.

The man in the photo is Bernard Johnson. Why else would they talk about him and the Supremes in the article? Of course they are going to have a photo of the subjects to match what's being discussed in the article. It's not Eddie Kendricks or else it would be mentioned in the article that it was him. Can you imagine an article on Eddie Kendricks with a photo of him surround by the Supremes and nowhere in the article does it mention that it's the Supremes with him? Believe me, it's Bernard Johnson in the photo.

[marv2]

I can confirm it is not Stephen Burrows. The photos are pretty evident. Stephen had a lighter skin complexion.

The man in the photo is Bernard Johnson. Why else would they talk about him and the Supremes in the article? Of course they are going to have a photo of the subjects to match what's being discussed in the article. It's not Eddie Kendricks or else it would be mentioned in the article that it was him. Can you imagine an article on Eddie Kendricks with a photo of him surround by the Supremes and nowhere in the article does it mention that it's the Supremes with him? Believe me, it's Bernard Johnson in the photo.

Magazines do make mistakes. I think that was from Essence Magazine and during it's first or second year of publication. The designer of the dresses the Supremes are wearing in the photo may have been Bernard Johnson, but that is Eddie Kendricks kissing Mary Wilson's back!

[bradsupremes]

Magazines do make mistakes. I think that was from Essence Magazine and during it's first or second year of publication. The designer of the dresses the Supremes are wearing in the photo may have been Bernard Johnson, but that is Eddie Kendricks kissing Mary Wilson's back!

Marv, I've done the research on the gowns and their designers. It's Bernard Johnson.

[BayouMotownMan]

Magazines do make mistakes. I think that was from Essence Magazine and during it's first or second year of publication. The designer of the dresses the Supremes are wearing in the photo may have been Bernard Johnson, but that is Eddie Kendricks kissing Mary Wilson's back!

Wrong as usual Marv it is Johnson. Johnson has only a vague resemblance to Kendricks but was significantly shorter than Kendricks. He is seated in that photo because Jean towered over him. In other outtakes from the denim hot pants photo session he is seen dancing with the ladies and it is clearly not Eddie Kendricks in those shots. Also these shots are from early 1971 when Kendricks was finishing up his stint with the Temptations. Kendricks didn't open for the Supremes until early 1972.

[sup_fan]

I can confirm it is not Stephen Burrows. The photos are pretty evident. Stephen had a lighter skin complexion.

The man in the photo is Bernard Johnson. Why else would they talk about him and the Supremes in the article? Of course they are going to have a photo of the subjects to match what's being discussed in the article. It's not Eddie Kendricks or else it would be mentioned in the article that it was him. Can you imagine an article on Eddie Kendricks with a photo of him surround by the Supremes and nowhere in the article does it mention that it's the Supremes with him? Believe me, it's Bernard Johnson in the photo.

Brad - as you've worked with the gowns and done some research, any info on why they seemed to bounce around to much in the 70s? i realize that as budgets got tighter they might not have been able to afford Bob Mackie or Mike Travis. but with these other designers it seems like they'd do 1 dress and that was it. who did the floral gowns the MJL used in LA for that Grove appearance with the Tempts? or the yellow wool ones that now have the sleeves removed?

i also find it interesting that fans and the public felt the Sups weren't as relevant in the 70s or keeping up with trends. But they did try out a variety of less Vegas/glam looks:

these blue overalls - as few fans here thought they were the Emotions!
the red satin haltertops with blue hot pants - worn on Flip
the chiffon Kate Smith gowns
the floral Grove gowns
the red hexagon Touch gowns
the black pants and coats and lavender sequin tops from Touch
the white Central Park mini dresses
the deep purple MJL gowns from Lean On me from flip

[bradsupremes]

Brad - as you've worked with the gowns and done some research, any info on why they seemed to bounce around to much in the 70s? i realize that as budgets got tighter they might not have been able to afford Bob Mackie or Mike Travis. but with these other designers it seems like they'd do 1 dress and that was it. who did the floral gowns the MJL used in LA for that Grove appearance with the Tempts? or the yellow wool ones that now have the sleeves removed?

i also find it interesting that fans and the public felt the Sups weren't as relevant in the 70s or keeping up with trends. But they did try out a variety of less Vegas/glam looks:

these blue overalls - as few fans here thought they were the Emotions!
the red satin haltertops with blue hot pants - worn on Flip
the chiffon Kate Smith gowns
the floral Grove gowns
the red hexagon Touch gowns
the black pants and coats and lavender sequin tops from Touch
the white Central Park mini dresses
the deep purple MJL gowns from Lean On me from flip

Bob Mackie only worked with them on GIT and that was due to the insistence of NBC. Michael Travis was originally been tapped to do the designs for the special, but NBC told George Schlatter they wanted Mackie so Travis was bumped out of GIT. Travis told me “I was all set to do that special. I can tell you...My designs were better.”

They worked with Travis up to 1971. I actually have many design sketches of gowns he did for the group that never got made. I don’t know exactly why they stopped using him. I had briefly interviewed him the autumn before his death. We had intended to do a bigger interview, but sadly he died before we got to do that. That question was one I intended to ask him. Mary can’t remember why either. I had assumed his work with Liberace began to ramp up, but I doubt that’s the full reason. I don’t believe there was any falling out. The Supremes possibly wanted to try someone new.

After Travis, they started using Michael Nicola. He did several designs for them between 1971-1972 including those yellow wool dresses with the rhinestones and sleeves. They’re actually very beautiful in person. Simple yet elegant. He also did the white bugle beaded gowns with the beaded fringe sleeves and the tropical floral gowns with the feather coats. He did many other gowns too. They also used several different people between 1970 and 1973 like Stephen Burrows [[short white fringe “Central Park” gowns) and Bernard Johnson before they found Pat Campano and used him for most of their post-1973 gowns. They briefly used George Faison in 1976. I believe he did the black & rhinestone tuxedos and the infamous “Hair Folly” three-in-one gown.