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.Those whohadn t heard the announcement of Diana s departure on the newslearned of it that night from a stone-faced, tuxedo-clad Sullivan, whoprefaced the girls performance by intoning, with the emotion of a tur-tle, As you know, Diana Ross is continuing her career as a single star.And now, in their last appearance together, here is Diana and theSupremes singing their current number one record, Someday We llBe Together. As he spoke, the instrumental track of the song began playingthere was no way the Sullivan orchestra could have done justice to thestring arrangement and the girls were seen behind him in the cameraangle focusing on Sullivan from stage right, striding onto a set with threecolumns lit with different color lights.Wearing long, robe-like goldlamé and chiffon gowns with flouncy dolman sleeves and chandelier-sized earrings dangling below chin level, they formed a triangular posi-tion, Diana in front; then, as Sullivan finished his intro without aword about Wilson and Birdsong carrying on the Supremes the cam-era switched to a straight-on angle when they began to sing what forthe vast majority of Americans would be their final song together.As such, the performance immediately was heavy on the heart.Di-ana holding a hand-held microphone, sang in just the right subduedvocal shade of the recording, while Mary and Cindy, who had to againlearn a song they hadn t recorded, stood on either side smoothly hittingthe extreme high notes of the chorus with sad smiles on their faces.But, perfect as they were, there seemed to be a chilled air on the set.None of them expressed, or even acted like they had, any real emotion.A small gesture of such, bogus or not a touching of hands, for exam-ple, or a group hug would have put an unforgettable period on thesentence.Instead, with Mary and Cindy stepping back several feet be-hind Diana as they finished, they stood basking in the applause, notlooking at each other.When Sullivan then called over Diana and onlyDiana for a brief good-luck wish (still not meeting her expectations 0306815867_ribowsky:6.125 x 9.25 4/22/09 11:07 AM Page 371THE LAST MILE 371for what should be a proper greeting, even after all this time), Mary andCindy, out of camera range as it left them to follow Diana, cast eachother a glance and trailed off stage.When Diana made her way backstage into the retinue of dozens ofMotown hangers-on, the temperature was no warmer. They were not all hugging together, said Tony Tucker. Nobodywas wishing farewell.You could see that Diana could not be both-ered with Mary and Cindy.She was concentrating on herself. Wilson, still unmelted years later, would explain her lack of feelingwith a diffident shrug: I felt like I d said goodbye already. The wall of separation between the two factions, which struckTucker as tragic, made a sham of the fantasy of that last record.In-deed, for anyone who was around the Supremes crumbling universe, atthat moment someday could only seem very, very far off.Florence Ballard had a secret.Even though she was in dire straits, Flo had begged and borrowedenough money to make sure she would be a part of the Supremes re-quiem.As the Frontier engagement approached and it became clearthat everyone who was anyone at Motown was expected to be there forthe January 14 grand finale, Flo couldn t think of a reason in the worldwhy she shouldn t be among them.Of course, that Gordy and Rosscould have come up with at least a thousand reasons why she shouldn tonly made her more determined to, as she told friends, go there and shake em up. According to Delcina Wilson, another companion of Mary s whohad hung around them as a kind of unofficial photographer and laterbecame a confidante of Ballard s, after Flo made up her mind to crashthe party in Vegas she bought tickets for the January 14 show for herand Tommy through a travel agent as part of a package that includedfirst-class fare and a suite at the Frontier.She had a faux Bill Blass gownmade by a local seamstress, bought a new fashionable wig, and wasready to go.She was even talking about holding forth with the press,saying things about Berry and Diana that would let the air out of thephony gaiety of the festivities.There were people around Motown who would have paid goodmoney just to see Berry s and Diana s faces if Flo was there that night.Might she even pull a David Ruffin and clamber up on the stage to sing 0306815867_ribowsky:6.125 x 9.25 4/22/09 11:07 AM Page 372372 THE SUPREMESwith the Supremes? Would the audience believe it was a planned part ofthe program the only appearance ever of all four Supremes andcheer themselves hoarse? And if any of this happened, would Berry sand Diana s heads explode in stereo?In the end, alas, none of these delectable figments, which no doubtwere in Flo s mind all along particularly the notion of stealing Diana sthunder as divine payback for having stolen hers were not to be, evi-dently because Tommy Chapman chose the time just before they wereto make the trip to confirm the suspicions of many around her.AfterFlo gave him several thousand dollars to pick up her gown, her wig,her furs from storage, and the plane tickets, he didn t come back forfour days.Tellingly, Flo had no worries that he had been hurt; it was just an-other of Tommy s routine disappearing acts.She seemed far more upsetthat without the money she had no way to get to Vegas.When shecalled Delcina to tell her, she said she thought about taking a Grey-hound bus all the way there. Don t you dare, the photographer told her, and offered to wireher $2,000. Forget it, Flo said, her spirits again in the dumps. It wasn t meantto be. Delcina still held out hope.She d kept Flo s secret from Mary, so itwould be a surprise, but now only Mary could have arranged for Floto be there so she explained the situation to her.Thinking Mary would surely help out her old friend and beginmaking calls to get Flo to Vegas, she instead had little reaction.Havinggrown tired of playing the good soldier to bring the Supremes togetheronly to see Flo always ruin it, Mary couldn t be bothered. Well, perhaps everything worked out for the best was all she said.The final show went on without complications.At the midnight per-formance in the Music Hall of the Frontier Hotel making the date ofthe finale technically January 15 the joint was packed
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