I love this interview. Thanks. Mary looks stunning and is so articulate!
... so that happened ...
Of course she is! You’d have to be inhuman not to be
Mary looks fantastic here. Hard to believe she was 56 at the time!!.
Even now Mary looks great especially with a bit of weight loss
From about3:59 to about 4:38 it seems as if Bryant is trying to taunt her. Anyone else get that feeling?
“People shouldn’t assume anything about me at 56”, good for her! And yes, damn she looks great.
I don't think Bryant is that unprofessional. I do think he was trying to get Mary to reveal something that everyone was going to be talking about. She kept sidestepping what he was trying to get at, but I think it's telling that when he asked her about being happy about the tour's less than stellar turnout [[in most venues) she refused to answer. If the answer is "no" then say it. By refusing to answer it's clear that she believes her answer might backfire on her so she refuses. But even Helen Keller could figure out that Mary was highfiving somebody behind the scenes when the tour tanked and was yanked.
The problem for her ultimately is she ensured nothing at all ever came to pass and now try have no 3rd member unless they go back to Scherrie
Yeah, I'll always blame RTL mostly on Mary for trying to take a stand where there wasn't a need for it. Until something comes out saying that Mary wanted to come onto the tour as an investor, she'll always look greedy wanting an equal share of the money. If someone puts their own money into something, they should reap the most rewards. That's just business 101. You're putting nothing into it and think you should get the same amount? On what planet?
The only thing I agree with Mary on is that she should have had some say in whatever the Supremes were going to be doing. At this point in the game there was no reason for Diana to demand full creative control and disregard Mary's expertise as a Supreme...a Supreme who was not only a Supreme longer than Diana but also was a Supreme alongside Diana the entire time Diana was in the group. That would've pissed me off also.
I blame Diana for buying into the mentality that a few of her diehard nutcases...I mean fans...love to believe and that's Diana is the Supremes and the only one who mattered. The public ultimately spoke. If you're going to be Diana Ross and the Supremes, Diana better have Mary somewhere on that stage. When Mary finally wised up and called to accept the offer and got told that "the train has left the station", no one will convince me that Diana didn't have the ability to veto that decision and bring Mary on. She was sick of Mary's antics and reacted in a silly way. And RTL bit the dust.
I think at the time I was a bit happy too. Had Diana just went ahead with a Diana Ross tour and surprised people with a Supremes segment featuring Scherrie and Lynda, the tour probably would've done just fine. Luckily Diana was able to rebound and continue on with successful appearances and being awarded prestigious accolades. And of course Mary is still going full speed ahead. So they both may have stumbled behind this RTL nonsense, but they regrouped and did what the Supremes always did whenever they reached a bump in the road: moved on.
I never blamed Mary Wilson at all. She was only in control of herself. As soon as Diana Ross put the mic down at her Grand Central Station press conference, every media outlet in New York ran over to Mary Wilson's apartment! LOL! I remember because by the time the noon news rolled around they were already interviewing Mary sitting on her sofa, hehehehehehehe!
the fact that Ross was willing to share the stage after the knife in the back book is something everyone seems to be ignoring.. if Miss Wilson had done the tour minus the $$$ drama things might be quite different for her these days..one of m any wrong moves [[like turning down "Holiday" and letting Madonna get a career started with it)..
I don't know if she personally wished for RTL to flop. I don't think she was vindictive. She was hurt. Was $4 million chump change? Maybe to her, it was because she was the one left to carry the Supremes flag for seven years after F&D left. And because of their shared history, she felt she deserved more.
Then again, this was DIANA ROSS, you know? It really was on her lap. Her initial plan was to have the eight surviving members tour together. I think deep down she was as much a fan of the Supremes that came AFTER her and this was her way of putting the legacy to a great ending. And it backfired.
Diana would tell many the disappointing results of RTL nearly set her into a depressing tailspin. Everything else is speculation.
We should be thankful there wasn't another tragic death in the Supremes family and that these women are still entertaining us in their 70s, no matter which one we prefer.
[QUOTE=marv2;540016]I personally was VERY happy about it all! [[because I knew it was wrong) LOL![/QUOTE
Diane knew Mary was/is the heart and soul of the Supremes. If this concert tour was labeled as a Diana Ross and the Supremes “reunion”, why were Mary and Cindy not part of the planning? Oh yeah, that’s right, all they had to do is show up. Makes no sense. If the planning was correctly, we would not be discussing this debacle. As far as Mary‘s first book is concerned, there really wasn’t any great revelation regarding Ross’ persona as that had been long been established.
Spot on..........as in a sane and accurate assessment of the fabled RTL Gate.
I would like to think both Diana and Mary learnt a little something from the situation..
I think if the tickets had been a lot less expensive and as no original Supreme was featured anyway, people might have viewed RTL as another Diana Ross solo tour and bought tickets regardless.
It may very well be a stretch to suggest that Mary hoped the tour would fail. I certainly wouldn't want to think Mary would wish ill upon Diana, Scherrie or Lynda. But I'll never be convinced that she didn't laugh her ass off and enjoy a bit of the bubbly when she found out the tour ultimately flopped.
I only recently found out that the original idea was all the Supremes tour. I think that would have been a great thing. But ultimately the public wanted Diana and Mary together, anything else would be an after thought. The first mistake made was that Diana and Mary didn't sit down together and square away the past. I think that would have gone a long way to getting the tour off on a good path. Whatever anyone's thoughts on Mary's books, one has to admit that they were definitely authored by a woman who was resentful about the past. Some of the negative stuff as it relates to Diana that Mary brought up in the book was unavoidable as it impacted Mary's life. Some of it was stuff that wasn't Mary's business to tell, and it's those portions of her books that convince me that writing them wasn't just Mary needing to tell her story. She had an axe to grind and the easiest way for her to do it was with a pen and paper. But instead of being completely cathartic, I think there was still some stuff Mary needed to deal with Diana over, particularly before they could do any business together. There was some stuff Mary needed to say to Diana directly in order to move forward.
As for Diana, without airing things out with Mary beforehand, she's attempting to enter into a situation with someone who has given her every reason not to trust Mary. So I imagine that every step of the way Diana was side eyeing Mary, which is not a good way to start a fresh thing. So when Mary became difficult for the promoters, it sealed the deal with Diana. She felt she had Mary's number and was done with her. I certainly understand it. But had they come together, just the two of them, and cussed each other out, screamed, yelled, shouted and then hugged it out, we may have gotten a tour and an album out of it. [[The latter probably not, but it would've been nice.)
That's what I said. Diana Ross' diva antics were already circulating. All Mary did was confirm the stories. Diana had the right to write Mary off afterwards, but I don't get why the fans like to pretend like Diana's reputation was Mother Theresa until Mary's book dropped.
Mary just discusses those exp from her personal point of view.... the hurt and disappointment. Diane told Mary they were not friends way before the book. So who cares. If someone told me that, odios!! But we know Mary Has a very strong attachment to their dream as three young girls and their related success. I believe Diane also had an opportunity to discuss the book with Mary but turned it down I could be wrong but I think that’s true .
That was no knife in the back book. Mary just told "some" of what happened in their early lives and career. If Miss Ross took it that way, then maybe she should think about how she lived her life up to that point. She knows that Mary didn't hardly tell everything. Had she done so, then maybe she'd have justification for being upset. I don't recall Mary Wilson even once mentioning Ross getting pregnant by Gordy.
Exactly! There are still plenty of folks in and around Detroit that could tell stories to knock your socks off! In many of the Motown related books, they just hint at some things and expect the reader to read between the lines. That's exactly the impression I got from Mary's book when I got a copy way back in Oct. 1986. If you've read it, then read it again and pay close attention and you'll see that Mary takes an almost mournful tone when speaking about Ross. Some of shit she did was bat shit crazy in a normal World.
Diana Ross had more than an opportunity to discuss the book before it was completed and published. Mary Wilson went to her and personally asked her to be interviewed for the book and Ross turned her down! I now wished she had wrote "everything" and got the Holland Brothers to chime in! LOL! Wooooo...!
That is because she was singing shit like "Reach Out and Touch"..."Lend a hand to a friend or someone on the street". Stuff she hardly meant. Anytime you can sit up in an interview after your own mother begged you not to discuss her personal health and you tell the reporter your mom suffered from TB, you ain't no good! I
care who doesn't like what I just said!
Nope! It was not Diana Ross' initial plan to have all 8 surviving members tour together. That was Scherrie Payne's idea and she brought it to Ross. Ross' initial idea was to tour with Scherrie and Lynda as early as 1998 when she went to check out their show in Vegas as a part of Mickey Stevenson's Motown Revue type show.
For the record: Mary accepted 4 million and was told “the train had left the station.”
Exactly! People always leave that part out. It was not Mary Wilson calling the shots for that tour. She did wield a lot of power when it came to the fans, the media and the general public. Diana Ross fans like to believe that Mary Wilson is some unknown entity when that is no where near the truth or reality. Mary has been performing in front of PAYING audiences all over America and the World for something like 40 years. Prior to that, every time the Supremes were on national television, so was Mary Wilson! Every album cover, every group picture, there she was! The promoters were really dumb the way they helped to create the whole situation. If they didn't know who Mary Wilson was before that nightmare, they certainly know now!
Lol. So so true ! To treat her that way so disrespectful.... but that train ran them over!
When Mary first delivered her book it was returned and she was told to"juice it up". This was a way of exaggeration to some of events that she wrote about. Mary needed the money and she couldn't keep running to Diana for a loan, so " Dreamgirl my lies as a Supreme" was written. I don't really know if Mary is envious of Diana but dang she sure talks about her a lot. My thoughts are move on.
Phyllis Hyman here discusses Diana Ross, Tina Turner and others here.........
I didn't know Diane stole Gladys Knight's dressing room.....
OMG. She could have at least let Gladys sing a couple of more lines before calling out others! Go Gladys keep rising above! [[Haven’t Mary and Gladys become good friends?)
Last edited by luke; 09-27-2019 at 10:11 AM.
Bookmarks