![]() Pillaging pirates and tap-dancing penguins, Superman versus X-Men, Bond going up against Borat - it's been a big year for fantasy at the cineplex.īut it was when you walked past the auditoriums featuring the special-effects-driven epics, and on to the other theaters, that you would generally find something actually special: Helen Mirren's regal performance in The Queen, for instance, as a British monarch resisting her prime minister's call to react more publicly to the death of Lady Di.Īnd if The Queen has Mirren all but disappearing into her real-world character, Martin Scorcese's The Departed managed the opposite trick by having Jack Nicholson's fictional gangster be deliciously outsized, as he sneaked an informant onto the police force, while they sneaked one into his gang. And as Michael Bennett, who directed the original Broadway production, once said, if it were the story of the Supremes, he would have been sued.įive for Friday Not to Miss: Lists with a Twist for 2006 In the end, Dreamgirls is an entertainment film about entertainment. America should be proud of Motown, because Motown made a statement all over the world that America could be proud of." Motown is Eddie Murphy's heritage," he says. Robinson says the stars of the film have tarnished their own history. "And for him to be maligned and made out like this villainous character is very, very, very offensive to me." So he borrowed $800 from his family's fund and started Motown, so that we could be paid," Robinson says. Robinson says in starting Motown, Gordy offered dozens of young black artists better employment. "I really am quite upset about it, because there's a lot of false information in there, and millions of people are seeing it every day," Robinson says. was nothing like his counterpart in the movie, slick, conniving and controlling.Īnother who finds fault with the film's version of the story is Motown pioneer Smokey Robinson, the singer and songwriter. The Holland brothers spent years in litigation with Motown, and yet they want to set the record straight - that Berry Gordon Jr. In fact, many of the label's own artists had legal battles with the company at one time or another. The music business is not for the faint of heart, and to make Motown as successful as it was, Berry Gordy Jr. She went on welfare, and troubled by depression and alcoholism, she died at 32. She tried for a solo career, but never made it. After that, Wilson says, Ballard's life went downhill. Gordy eventually did change the name of the group to Diana Ross and the Supremes.īallard left the group in 1967. "That kind of material the Supremes were singing, that voice was not necessarily best suited for that kind of material."Įddie Holland says Gordy never told them what to write or which singers to use. "She had a much more 'soul' kind of voice than Diana Ross," says Gerald Early, who wrote a book about Motown called One Nation Under a Groove. The song puts Ballard's soulful voice on display, but also shows she might not have had the right quality to help the Supremes cross over to a white audience. and that had a lot to do with the success of those records."īerry Gordy did use Ballard as lead singer on a song he wrote in the early days of the Supremes, called "Buttered Popcorn." ![]() "Diana's voice is extremely unique and very sensuous. "Brian and Lamont and I knew that Diana Ross would be the lead singer," Holland says. "Florence was never a lead singer, per se," he says. ![]() Wilson says Ballard "was sort of overlooked within the group in terms of being the main singer, so therefore her talents were never really used."Įddie Holland - who with his brother Brian and Lamont Dozier wrote most of the Supremes' biggest hits - says Ballard was never pushed out of a lead singer role. Mary Wilson, one of the other original Supremes, grew up in the Detroit projects with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard. " Many believe Ballard is the prototype for the character Effie.Īs the lead singer for the Dreams, Effie is replaced by the thinner, prettier Deena, who bears a close resemblance to Diana Ross in clothes, makeup and accessories. Hudson dedicated her Golden Globe to "a lady who never really got a fair chance, Florence Ballard. Jennifer Hudson, who plays Effie White in the movie, won a Golden Globe for her performance (and is nominated for an Oscar in a supporting role). But how much of the saga of show-biz betrayal is real and how much is fiction? The plot draws quite a bit from the story of Motown Records, its founder Berry Gordy Jr., and the Supremes. The movie Dreamgirls tells the story of the rise of a small black record label and the ups and downs of its star girl group. Jennifer Hudson is winning plaudits as "Effie White" in Dreamgirls, but Motown veterans say the film's historical veracity.
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