The handler spoke with a heavy accent, so I naturally thought I had heard her incorrectly when she gave me the price of Mary Wilson’s autographed photos, when she made her appearance at the Hollywood Show on Saturday, October 9, 2010. Mary Wilson, if you didn’t know, was not only one of the three founding members of The Supremes (along with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard), but the only member to stay for the entire duration of the group from 1959-77. Now you might be guessing that the price was some overblown, outrageous amount, and typically I’d second that emotion – but you’d be wrong.
I had been waiting forever to find a supreme deal such as this (pun totally intended). And forever came today. For the price that she was charging was $10 for a signed photo, which included a free picture with her. And as a bonus, Mary Wilson – who was looking great at age 66. The only unfortunate part of this was that she wasn’t selling any photos of The Supremes, which is the result of there being a wee bit of tension among the members of the group.
She did tell me that she owned the costumes and stage garb of the Supremes, which is typically on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. I asked if she had loaned any of the clothing to the Motown Museum, and we discussed my visit there. She remarked that Motown was “really small, just a bunch of houses” – which I had seen first-hand from my visit.
It was really cool to get the chance to meet this Motown legend, and even more amazing that she was so kind and generous. Some things you never get used to.
Celebrities of the Fall 2010 Hollywood Show will continue…
We used to represent the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We did a showcase at our office of memorabilia and Ms. Wilson came to show off the aforementioned Supremes’ items. She was very, very kind and generous with her time. She is truly a class act.
Aaron
August 8th, 2011