Saturday 9

Baby Love (1964)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) When this song was popular, the Supremes were known for their elaborate hairstyles, make up and full-length gowns. When was the last time you got dressed up? I can't remember.  I look like shit in pretty much anything I wear and after going to 60 shows a year, a night at the theater doesn't seem like a "dress up" occasion any more.  I did wear my beautiful tailored Chinese jacket to a Chinese New Year tea last weekend, though.

2) "The girls," as they were known to the engineers and executives at Motown Records, were Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross. They began singing together when they were high school classmates. Are you still in touch with any friends from your high school days? Three.  Joyce, Anne and Margie.  Joyce and I are Facebook friends and may touch bases briefly once or twice through the year.  All three of us exchange Christmas cards.  I haven't seen Anne and Margie in decades.  I saw Joyce about 30 years ago when we met for lunch.  I also stay in touch with my "Big Sister" (when I was a freshman).  We talk on the phone about once a month, but haven't seen each other in about 20 years, though she lives just about an hour to an hour and a half from me.

3) Mary Wilson was born in Mississippi and her family moved a great deal before settling in Detroit, where she fatefully met Florence and Diana. Were you uprooted often when you were a child? Or did you spend your school years in the same neighborhood?
My parents moved into a flat on the edge of North Beach in San Francisco when my mother was pregnant with me.  I moved out when I was 18.  They moved out about eight years later.

4) The Supremes began as a quartet called the Primettes. In addition to Mary, Flo and Diana, there was Betty McGlown. In 1960, Betty left the group to get married and was replaced by Barbara Martin. In 1962, Barbara left the group to have a baby. They quit trying to replace the fourth voice, soldiered on as a trio, and made pop history. Have you ever found yourself in a position similar to Betty's or Barbara's, where you had to make a difficult decision and choose between your personal life and your career?
Well, I loved my job as private secretary to a physics professor at UC Berkeley, and left shortly before Jeri was born.  It wasn't a difficult decision, though.  I never intended to be a career secretary, and only wanted to be a mother.  I do occasionally still miss that job.

5) Thinking of babies and "baby love," is anyone in your life expecting a baby in 2018?
Not that I know of.

6) With twelve #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, The Supremes remain America's most commercially successfully recording group, and this song (along with "Stop! In the Name of Love") is one of the most popular karaoke songs. If we handed you the mic this morning and absolutely insisted you perform, what song would you choose (any song, any genre)?
Good lord...you are masochistic, aren't you?  Any song, any genre?  How about Stan Freberg's "Take an Indian to lunch this week" ?

7) Original group member Florence Ballard left the group in 1967. She died of cardiac arrest in 1976 at the age of 32. Since February is National Heart Month, it seems appropriate to ask: Is anyone in your life battling heart disease? 
No, thank goodness.

8) Florence Ballard's brother, Hank, wrote Chubby Checker's famous dance song, "The Twist." When did you last dance?
Tom's wedding in 2003.  I am not a dancer, though my mother still asks me all the time if Walt and I are going dancing tonight.  I finally told her it's difficult to do with a cane, but of course she doesn't remember that.

9) Random question: Close your eyes and visualize the most beautiful place you've ever been. Now describe it to us.
Wow.  That's difficult.  I have seen so many beautiful places in my life.  I think it would have to be the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.  Whenever I think of beautiful places, my mind always goes to somewhere with an ocean view.  These huge cliffs and that crashing surf underneath took my breath away.  The memory of it still does.