Bette Midler Read Free

dramatic film debut as a drugged-out rock star-on-a-collision-course in
The Rose
won her an Academy Award nomination in the Best Actress category. Her back-to-back hits
Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People
, and
Outrageous Fortune
made her the biggest movie star at Disney Studios in the mid-’80s. Her tear-jerker film
Beaches
was another huge box-office hit for Midler and a feather in her cap for her own company, All Girls Productions. Her over-the-top turn as a witch in
Hocus Pocus
has become a perennial favorite Halloween-season family film. Her gutsy role in the film
Gypsy
brought Broadway excitement back to both large and small screens around the world, winning more awards and accolades for the diva. Unfortunately, not all of Bette’s movies are financial successes. Some of her best work on the screen is in films that don’t become huge, but are greatly entertaining, like her tour de force as a U.S.O. entertainer in
For the Boys
. Or, simultaneously arguing and shopping with Wood Allen in
Scenes from a Mall
. Or, playing a pair of mismatched twins opposite a Lily Tomlin duo in
Big Business
.
    Bette Midler wasn’t a shrinking violet when it came to launching her career while cementing her wild reputation. She virtually exploded onto the America show business scene in 1972, with her schizophrenically varied repertoire of songs and her acid-tongued humor. Her inexhaustible and outrageous onstage and off-stage performances quickly established her as one of the true music industry originals of the 1970s. Her initial legion of fans found her eclectic singing and her onstage mugging a bizarre combination of the Shangri-Las, Ethel Waters, the Andrews Sisters, Janis Joplin, and Mae West.
    She called herself a “diva,” and she described her singing style as “sleaze with ease.”
Cash Box
magazine called her “a really great star” ( 2 ).
Rolling Stone
called her “One hell of a talent” ( 3 ).
Record World
called her “a superstar of superstars” ( 3 ). The gay population—whom she openly courted—called her their own personal discovery.
Newsweek
called her “the reigning cult figure of New York’s restless underground” ( 4 ). And once in Buffalo someone called the vice squad—and busted her band!
    Throughout the 1970s Bette did everything that she could to attain the kind of stardom that was predicted for her. She set high standards for herself. She stopped at nothing to endear herself to her fans. One night onstage in St. Louis she even flashed her breasts. She “mooned” an audience in Massachusetts and once hatched an elaborate plot to tape rolled marijuana “joints” to the bottom of each audience member’s seat as a midconcert “treat” from “Divine.” Midler caused a scandal in Chicago when she closed her show by announcing to the audience, “I thought you were wonderful. . . . And to this band, I’d like to say one thing: FUCK YOU!” ( 5 ). It seemed there was no end to what she would do for attention. She not only became a star, she became a sensation!

    Prizes, trophies, and awards? Her living-room mantel is littered with nearly every form of gilded statuette imaginable. She won the first of her four Grammy Awards in 1974 as “Best New Artist,” following it up a month later by winning a special Tony Award for her record-breaking three-week run at the Palace Theater on Broadway. In 1975 she set a new Broadway box-office record for first-day ticket sales to her
Clamson the Half-Shell Revue
at the Minskoff Theater. Her 1979 TV special
Ol’ Red Hair Is Back
was awarded an Emmy. In 1980 she received an Academy Award nomination and two Golden Globe Awards for her dramatic film debut in
The Rose
. That same year she was entered into the
Guinness Book of World Records
for autographing 1,500 copies of her best-selling book
A View from a Broad
in a mere six hours. Also in 1980, Bette won her second Grammy Award for her song “The Rose” and a third one for her contribution to