But they're only imitation...

Memory Lane for those of my generation. How did we know that Marie Osmond's song was prophetic? Mormon Prophets turned out to be only imitations, like their imitation love for the rank-and-file church members.

+1,000,000

Actually, it's Anita Bryant's song from the late '50s, the orange juice spokesman and that '77 morality blowback thing in Dade County, Florida. Marie Osmond did country music cover versions of Anita Bryant's "Paper Roses" and "My Little Corner of the World"

Thank you, snagglepuss! When I first read the post, I thought "Marie Osmond? WHAT??" You are right. It was Anita Bryant who engraved that song into our memories back in the 50s.

Go away little girl

Anita Bryant was 2nd runner up (meaning she was #3) for Miss America, 1958, I think. She got a recording contract with a new indie label, Carlton Records, and did standards and teen pop (think early Connie Francis). Carlton Records was started by some major label A&R (producer) guy who hated rock 'n roll, so everything on the label for the few years it was in operation was 1958 era your-parents white pop music. One ballad rocker stands out on the label otherwise, Jack Scott. Anita took her Carlton masters with her in 1961 to Columbia Records and did vocalist orchestra pop from 1961-1965 getting some drag-the-bottom singles' hits. Her period album cover photos are establishment white chick G-rated cheesecake, but the music is very boring '50s pop. Beatles pretty much wiped out her music career.

I'm aware that Anita Bryant sang Paper Roses first. But in 1973 as a teen, I knew only of Marie Osmond singing it.Anita Bryant was the Florida Orange Juice singer to me back then. I thought that she was an "oldie", out of date.

I began my study of Mormonism several months before I learned that the Osmonds were Mormons. Was I ecstatic! I pointed this out to my friends, so they wouldn't think I was so weird for being interested in Mormonism. I bonded to Marie's Paper Roses song more than ever, because it reminded me of the Mormonism that I thought was going to "rescue" me from my miserable life. Little did I know how how much like "Paper Roses" Mormonism really was!

Ah yes...... the First Presidency.... Who love members so much they never want to hear from them.

So Christ-like....Not

When Anita's husband and her filed for divorce because he had an affair, that was a big scandal for the times we lived in of that day.

She became a public persona more than she was a wife and mother apparently, according to a bio I read long ago.

Same could be said for Marie Osmond. I don't believe Anita was as caught up in plastic surgery as Marie became obsessed with. If you look at pictures of Marie as a young woman she looks nothing like the Marie we see today as an entertainment personality. Just about every feature on her face and physique has been altered by cosmetic procedures. For her perfection is a pseudo science. Her self-esteem is equated to her outward appearance, which in psychological terms is called pseudo esteem. That's the plight of many Mormon women of her era. She has set a new bar for them as in you can't have enough or too much done for appearances sake.

When I think of years back, the 1st Presidency actually said things that encouraged young women to become obsessed with their looks. they stressed appearances and cosmetics, for the sake of attracting a young man to take you to the temple as soon as possible, so you can hurry up and produce lots of babies for the Kingdom before your childbearing years are over.

Many churches encourage people to NOT marry too young, to get your education and be prepared before bringing babies into the world. Make sure your guy likes you for your uniqueness, not merely for cosmetic appearances. Some churches even discourage women from wearing make-up. Or non-humble dressing. Humility is one of the greatest virtues stressed in the New Testament.

Marie Osmond probably felt that she had to do all of that cosmetic surgery in order to compete with all of the other female celebrities. she didn't want to be elbowed out of the way as a has-been. Too bad the other Mormon women felt that they had to follow her example.

An insert in today's Seattle Times is the Spry Living magazine with Marie Osmond on the cover.

I won't have recognized her if her name was there.

http://reviewtimes.com/themencode-pdf-viewer-sc//?view=ZmlsZT1odHRwOi8vcmV2aWV3dGltZXMuY29tL3dwLWNvbnRlbnQvdXBsb2Fkcy8yMDE4LzAzL1NwcnktTGl2aW5nLUNvdXJpZXItTWFyLTIwMThpLnBkZiZzZXR0aW5ncz0xMTExMTExMTEmbGFuZz1lbi1VUw==#page=&zoom=auto&pagemode=

She did not look like that in my 70's memories. I prefer natural looks, though I do understand about getting anti-wrinkle treatments.Coloring gray hair is okay, but to me she looked better with her original darker shade.