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FILM LIST
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For the record, Dreamgirls is a fictional account of a hugely successful black female singing group in the Sixties. But off the record? The similarities of the film's "Deena Jones and the Dreams" and the real-life "Diana Ross and the Supremes," are overwhelming, and the sense of reality is only heightened when characters resembling James Brown, the Jackson Five, and famed Motown manager Berry Gordy appear on the screen. The original Supremes certainly noted the similarities. Mary Wilson recalled crying upon first seeing "Dreamgirls" in its Broadway incarnation in the 1980s, because, she said, "there were bits and pieces of my life - and the lives of my two best friends - up there." Diana Ross was less sanguine. She hated the Broadway musical, according to a long-time colleague, "because she feels like she's been ripped off, like its creators changed just enough key elements of her story so they didn't have to pay her royalties." Twenty-five years after its triumphant Broadway debut, Dreamgirls, the film, has just opened to good buzz and great box-office. And even though the filmmakers can't, or won't, admit to it, here are some ways the film echoes the story of the Supremes. Q. In the movie, the three girls are discovered in a talent
show by manager Curtis Taylor (Jamie Foxx) who sends them out on
tour as backup singers for another artist. Is that what happened
to the Supremes? Unlike in the film, however, Gordy had been in the music business for a few years by 1961, and already managed a large group of artists soon to skyrocket to success at Motown, like Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, and a young Stevie Wonder. All of them - and others - went on the Motown tours together in the early 1960s, and each took turns taking the stage. Q. Did Diana Ross take over as lead singer in the same way Deena
Jones does in the film? Q. Did Gordy have an affair first with Flo and later Diana,
as the film suggests? Q. Was Flo Ballard suddenly replaced in the group, like Effie
is in the film? Ballard also developed a drinking problem. By 1966, she was often showing up late for rehearsals and press conferences, and occasionally got so drunk that she missed entire performances. Gordy hired Cindy Birdsong as a standby singer for those occasions, and in early 1967 installed Birdsong as a permanent member of the Supremes, sending Ballard packing back to Detroit. Though the film's Effie makes a solo comeback, the real Flo Ballard never could. She had three children, battled depression, and ended up on welfare in Detroit, where she died in 1976 from cardiac arrest. The autopsy revealed both alcohol and pills in her system. She was only thirty-two years old. Q. In the film, Deena marries Curtis, and continues to get manipulated
by him. How true is that? Q. Where can I find more background information on the Supremes? Cathy Schultz, Ph.D., is a history professor at the University
of St. Francis in Illinois. You can reach her through her website
at www.stfrancis.edu/historyinthemovies. |
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