The Supremes

"All those here who turned in their King Lear tickets to get in here please go see King Lear and get outta here," the A and R man announced. Not one of the thousands of teenie rockers packed into Brandeis's Shapiro Athletic Center was about to leave, and for the next hour-and-a half they sat through a series of flop warm-up acts waiting to get a look at the three super Supremes. Finally at the half, with the gym's scoreboard reading "visitors zero," they came, Diana, Mary, and Flo.

When the girls were singing their hits, giving the fans what they came to hear, carefully breathing those "baby-babies" into the hushed gym, everything was so fine. Unfortunately, that was not all the time. The Supremes' opener was "Put on a Happy Face," a swinger of a show-time that made them sound like the McGuire Sisters in an Ed Sullivan Show production number. Diana Ress's version of "Make Someone Happy" was pleasant to listen to her strong husky voice sounded exactly like Nancy Wilson's, which was exactly not what her rock 'n' roll fans had almost trampled each other to death at the gate to hear.

The voluptuous Misses Wilson and Ballard contented themselves with the gymnastics and their allotted number of "babies" and "oooos," while skinny Miss Ross clutched the travelling mike and knifed her voice through the brassy guitars, the drums, and even the happy steady clapping of the audience. The Supremes are Diana's group. With a sharp, clear voice and an even better stage presence, she would be the center of attention by herself or with a 200-voice chorus.

One of the non-Supreme songs the girls tried almost worked. It was "Somewhere," and Diana's throaty lyric quieted the crowd to a whisper, but then she succumbed to a long, Shangri-la-like spoken dialogue concerning trees, birds, and other embarrassing items. The audience succumbed to a titter.

But when they sang "Where Did Our Love Go" everything was forgiven in one gigantic scream and the kids in the top row of the bleachers got up and danced. And we headed straight for the juke box in Tommy's Lunch to hear them all again.