Rolling Stone, March 18, 1971

[Partridge]

I was wondering why I was holding on to this old folded tabloid issue of Rolling Stone. But yes, there it was, an article about Linda Ronstadt. That's why.

[fabtastique]

Interesting that there was talk of her moving into acting so early in her career …

[PoP80]

Maybe they were thinking of Linda for "The Flying Nun??" I'm also impressed with her interest in the environment even back then. They mention her Spanish ancestry, but nothing about being Mexican (only her "SEX" appeal). 

[sliderocker]

Jul 11, 2023 7:54:19 GMT -5 PoP80 said:

Maybe they were thinking of Linda for "The Flying Nun??" I'm also impressed with her interest in the environment even back then. They mention her Spanish ancestry, but nothing about being Mexican (only her "SEX" appeal). 

The Flying Nun was in production 1967-1970, something Screen Gems came up with to keep Sally Field busy while they still had her under contract. Still, I could've seen Linda making appearances from time to time as Sally's sister who wasn't a nun but who wanted to be a singer and wanted her sister to leave the order and join her. Well, that would've been my script if I had been writing back then and had been old enough to sign contracts.

I know Screen Gems had two music pilots planned for 1970, one for singers-songwriters-musicians Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart and another pilot that got so far as being made but didn't get good ratings when it was aired. Boyce and Hart split in 1970 and I believe their pilot was then given to Bobby Sherman and Wes Stern as a composer (Sherman) and lyricist (Stern) and which did appear as the short lived TV series Getting Together.

The other pilot, which may have been intended for Linda, had the long title Bobbie Jo and The Big Apple Good Time Band, about the travels and misadventures of a country-rock band. Season Hubley starred as Bobbie Jo and to be honest, I don't remember her co-stars. I don't know if Linda was offered the script, took one look at it and high tailed it out the back door. Hubley and none of the actors did any of the singing, their voices were dubbed in. Screen Gems got on wanting as many musical comedies as they could get though the music wasn't as good as it could've been and the comedy was lamer than the music.

It would've been fun to have seen Linda in some movies and TV shows, if she had only tried. And I get it she had decided that wasn't for her. However, it was all the more reason it would've been good for her as she could've been doing lightweight movies which could've given her more money during the times when she was the opening act and not getting that much money from the headliners. Also, just imagine if she appeared in a musical movie about the time when she was 24, it was a hit and the soundtrack album was also a hit.

Like I've always said, Linda should've been huge from the moment Different Drum was a hit. Her career should've took off circa 1967-68 and only gone up with hit singles and albums in the years between 1968 and 1974-75, and continued after that.

[MokyWI]

I am glad Linda never went in that direction with career. She is a singer and one of the very best. The only thing I wished for from her was more years singing. That’s all I would have changed, but look at all she has given us just by example of how she handles her condition. THAT alone is right up there with the music.

[sliderocker]

Jul 13, 2023 16:10:07 GMT -5 MokyWI said:

I am glad Linda never went in that direction with career. She is a singer and one of the very best. The only thing I wished for from her was more years singing. That’s all I would have changed, but look at all she has given us just by example of how she handles her condition. THAT alone is right up there with the music.

Given Linda's career wasn't the greatest between Different Drum and Long, Long Time and up to You're No Good and Heart Like a Wheel, appearing and acting in a movie with Linda singing three or four songs could've been a jump start to the periods when her career appeared to be going nowhere. Linda wasn't getting the push she needed from Capitol that she could've relied on just her music alone.

She did the talk show circuit and the various variety shows she was on, but outside of Linda's core fan base, viewers didn't seem to care for her appearances on Johnny Carson or Dick Cavett or Merv Griffin or Mike Douglas or any of the other talk shows she may have been on or the variety shows she was on. And those shows were needed back then to help spark the music buying public into buying her records.

Radio wasn't always friendly to the artists or the songs the fans liked. Those shows were needed to help push the artists and the songs. But, there were fans who were hostile to artists appearing on TV to promote their music. Some of the artists, like Linda herself, were also hostile to "doing TV" to promote the music. I never understood the hostility; to me, it was just another format to promote the music. Sure, it wasn't high fidelity but neither was AM radio for that matter, which dominated FM radio in the early 70s. Few fans bothered "going upstairs" to check out FM until the mid to late 70s.

It only takes one look at how poorly Linda's 45s did (excluding Different Drum and Long, Long Time) to realize that the TV shows she appeared in didn't spark the music to the degree it should have. Linda was all over the place performing (She's A) Very Lovely Woman in 1971, yet it did poorly in the charts. A song placement in a movie or Linda appearing in and performing the song in a movie may have helped. I don't know, but Linda had photogenic looks that were camera friendly and I can't help but believe Linda could've been among the musical artists who made the leap successfully to the movies. And since movies wasn't for her, that still shouldn't have precluded her from appearing in a few B movies every now and then. If nothing more than to promote her music which deserved better.

[eddiejinnj]

I think, unfortunately, she was asked to do the themes for shows/movies that just weren't that good, imo. I hate to be negative but even the Sally Field movie, "Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring" just was very weird to me even for the times. eddiejinnj

[erik]

Linda's attitude towards television may have had to do with some of the, how shall we say, "restrictions" she was put under, in terms of appearance. She was always very non-conformist, especially during that particular period; and if anyone wants proof, one can look at the brief conflict she had with June Carter Cash over appearing on June's husband's TV show without panties (of course, this was Nashville in 1969). Of course, she made a lot of appearances on TV variety shows well into 1972 because it was the thing to do, even if she thought the whole thing frivolous.

As to her not being able to sell records, well, that, in my opinion, is a bit stickier. Capitol, like most big record labels of the time, had very compartmentalized ideas of artists and genres, rightly or wrongly; but what they had in Linda was an artist who simply couldn't be so compartmentalized. Her music tended to lean significantly in a country direction, but it was not really what you'd call "mainstream" (read: Nashville); and at least at that particular point in time, her audience hadn't quite caught up yet to her approach to country, which was, to use my description, left-of-center. I think Capitol really tried their damnedest to promote Linda, but she, by her own admission, didn't make it easy, either on them or, of course, on herself. I don't think anyone is really to blame for that situation

As for movies--well, doing one movie where she did a couple of songs might have worked. But even if such a film had been successful, I don't think it could have lasted without Linda being in danger of falling into the same trap that Elvis fell into in the 1960's. Eventually, of course, Linda did make film appearances, as herself in F.M., and as Mabel in The Pirates Of Penzance; but both were singing roles.

Could she have appeared in movies in serious roles? If she wanted to, yes. With her Arizona upbringing, I don't think anyone would have been surprised to see her in a Western, especially if such a film had been made out in her neck of the woods near Tucson, like so many had been. As for directors who would have worked well with her--well, I think Steven Spielberg comes to mind.

Linda did deserve to be a big star right from the outset, it's true. But there were a lot of moving parts in this, some Linda controlled, others that she didn't; and they didn't all line up the way she wanted them to, at least not at that exact time. Eventually, of course, they did; and the rest, as they say, is history.

[Dianna]

I'm guessing, back then .. the "politically correct," term for, "Mexican," was "Spanish-Indian?" lol

[eddiejinnj]

Do we know if she was Living with John B. at the time of this article. Chronologically. it would seem right, no? eddiejinnj