Author Kevin Winker recalls the first time he saw Bette Midler on Johnny Carson. “She reminded me of the girls I was friends with in college – not beautiful, but striking and womanly, with earth mother sensuality that informed everything they did…funny, independent, messy, theatrical…” The book, he writes, is an effort to capture what made Miss M. a singular talent for over 50 years.
Briefly recounted Honolulu childhood as a self-described bookish, “plain, little, fat Jewish kid,” Midler arrived in New York at 19, garnered some Off Off Broadway roles, then replaced an actress as Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof. She first made her name at The Continental Baths, a gay bastion in in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel at 74th and Broadway. In 1971, the 25 year-old, a mass of frizzy hair framing her face, ample breasts swinging pendulously in a flimsy top, good-naturedly dished towel-clad men.
“I was able to take chances on that stage that I could not have taken anywhere else.” (Midler) Mincing in Spring-o-Later shoes (platforms atop an extra long narrow heel), the artist opened her set with “Friends.” Bessie Smith, The Andrews Sisters and Joni Mitchell songs followed.
Over time, she developed the amalgam of Sophie Tucker, Mae West and herself which described a professional persona. The artist was earning $50 a weekend at the Baths, working Friday and Saturday till one a.m. With acceptance and popularity, her act grew raunchier and more Jewish. Characters were created, emotional boundaries pushed. The venue was ground zero for a new kind of comedy/cabaret. Eventually young Barry Manilow would become Midler’s music director expanding her repertoire to ballads. The Baths began to admit straight men and women on selected nights. “Drag camouflaged gender, Bette emphasized it.” (Winkler) She left in 1972.
Publicity Photo 1973 (Public Domain)
Midler released her debut record album. It was a time of rebirth for nightclubs., but representation had bigger plans, beginning with a concert at Carnegie Hall after which Broadway at the Palace cemented her place in the pantheon of exaggerated, tongue in cheek entertainment. When the curtain rose, Miss M. appeared at the top of a giant high-heeled shoe. In Clams on The Half Shell, a giant mollusk opened to reveal her in a parody of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. She sang the camp Dorothy Lamour song, “The Moon of Manakoora.” First Act curtain found the star in the arms of King Kong.
Alan Light from The Divine Intervention tour (This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Fans looked forward to outrageous sets and costumes. The Harlettes were formed to vocally back her up with as much humor as music. Audiences grew more diverse. The Divine Miss Millennium, Kiss My Brass, and The Showgirl Must Go On followed, the last at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas; five shows a week for two years. She had great range, a terrific work ethic and a sense of humor about herself. Divine Intervention opened with Michelangelo’s panting The Creation, doctored to present Midler (her arm and hand) as God. Imagine what the Far Right would do with that now!
After driving Huston away, Rose is an angry, helpless speck on the ground as she makes her final descent. A massive drug overdose and one final, galvanizing performance are all that remain. The Rose. Twentieth Century Fox
There’s a chapter on films. The Rose (In which she played Janis Joplin) precipitated Midler’s first international tour, Divine Madness. “I am now a screen goddess,” she declared, “in the great tradition of Shirley Temple, Liv Ullman and Miss Piggy!” Beaches showed the public the entertainer could act. Bad films are given little space. The artist married in 1984. They have one child.
Self-produced, For the Boys cast James Caan and herself as bickering WWII USO performers with a pendulum swing of romance and plenty of songs. It was an expensive disappointment. Except for needing editing, the film is captivating and evocative in the manner of 1950s Hollywood. The First Wives Club, though it required less of her, was a smash as was Hocus Pocus in which she played a mischievous witch.
Midler hysterically hosted the Academy Awards and played Mama Rose in a lauded television production of Gypsy. She revived Hello, Dolly! to 16 million dollars worth of further accolades and surprised many, splendidly acting infamous agent Sue Mengers in the one woman play, I’ll Eat You Last. Recordings are woven in chronologically as are extensive honors. (These are Cliff notes to her CV.) “Her joyous, colorful assemblage of comedy and song and emotion has proven truly divine…” (Winkler)
Her money-making Disney comedies most ofte featured Midler as a braying wild woman, as in this scene from Ruthless People, 1986, Touchstone.
On Bette Midler covers Bette Midler’s work like wall to wall carpet. It’s a gift for Uber fans. WE like her, but little is personal or revealing.
Film Photos, cover and author image courtesy of Oxford University Press
Book Cover Image: Bette Midler 1971 Photo Kenn Duncan
Opening: Bette Midler in Chicago 2015 (This file is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
On Bette Midler-An Opinionated Guide
Kevin Winkler
Oxford University Press
Our editors love to read and independently recommend these books. As an Amazon Affiliate, Woman Around Town may receive a small commission from the sale of any book. Thank you for supporting Woman Around Town.
