Originally Posted by
RanRan79
Your mention of Hello Dolly and Tony Turner sounds familiar. And if that's where it came from, you can probably guess what I think of it. However, Mary makes mention in her first book that she heard some movie folks were interested in casting Flo in something but that Motown never followed up. She does not expand on this and we do know Mary was not above putting things into her book for dramatic purposes that may not have always had a basis in truth. With my limited knowledge and interest in Broadway, I suspect that Broadway producers looking to cast rock and roll singers in their productions would be an almost impossibility. The Supremes were the hottest American ticket in the world. What Broadway producer would be willing to shake up the stability of that world for someone who would, best case scenario, have to do double duty between Broadway and Supremes stuff, and worst case scenario, throw herself into the play only to jump right out when she discovers that what the Supremes do is where it's at for her, not Broadway.
Besides this Hello Dolly talk coming from Tall Tales, I give more weight to Mary's statement. It wouldn't have surprised me at all for Hollywood reps to have taken notice of any of the Supremes. It's interesting to read articles about them during the Flo years. Of the ones I've seen, most of them really do treat the group as a group, as opposed to a writer who writes only about the greatness of Diana Ross and then, almost as an after thought, writes: "And oh yeah, Flo Ballard and Mary Wilson sing with her too. They are lovely girls also. But back to Diana..." And that the Hollywood crowd were staples at Supremes shows, I'm sure there were probably quite a few inquiries regarding all three Supremes, although most, if not all, may have been rejectable suggestions considering the time period and what may or may not have been racially sensitive.
But of course, the bottom line is that limitedly talented drunk Florence, no one could've ever seen anything worth their time in her.*I say with such a severe eye roll, that it hurts*
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