The Dream Girls of Sparkle

Question: With Dreamgirls about to open, I keep thinking I saw a poster a long time ago for a movie about the same thing: Three African American young ladies who want to be singers. I know Dreamgirls was a play, but I didn't see it - was there an earlier movie version? Rex

FlickChick: There's never been another adaptation of Dreamgirls - in fact, the saga of its convoluted journey from stage to screen is almost as dramatic as its Supremes-inspired narrative.

But I think you're thinking of Sparkle. Released in 1976 but set in 1958, it starred Irene Cara, still four years away from her breakthrough performance in Fame, as 15-year-old Sparkle Williams, the youngest of three Harlem-raised sisters. The eldest, Sister ( Lonette McKee) is the beauty of the family, and middle sister Dolores ( Dwan Smith) is a budding black-power activist; all sing their hearts out in church every week with their mother ( whose character name, coincidentally, is Effie), who supports them by working as a maid. Ambitious neighborhood pianist (a pre- Miami Vice Philip Michael Thomas) encourages them to form a group, and success at an amateur night contest starts them on the road to fame, drug addiction, abusive relationships and bitter disillusionment. Like Dreamgirls, Sparkle was clearly inspired by '60s girl groups like The Supremes, but it's a drama with music rather than a flashy musical.

The songs were composed by Curtis Mayfield, and while Cara, McKee and Smith performed their own numbers in the film, on the soundtrack album all the songs were sung by Aretha Franklin. In 1990, En Vogue had a hit with Sparkle's "Giving Him Something He Can Feel."

There are persistent rumors of a remake with Whitney Houston producing; they quieted down for a while after the 2001 death of Aaliyah, who was attached to play Irene Cara's part. But the buzz has started up again, apparently both because of Dreamgirls and because Raven Symone has shown interest in the project.