Bette Midler

Who?

Oh yeah, that chick who used to play the baths with Barry Manilow back in the day.

Wasn't she in a couple of movies?

Didn't she play Rachel's trashy cousin on a couple episodes of Friends?

I think she adopted part of the freeway I used to drive all the time.

Is that a polite way to say she lives in a tent in the bushes behind the rest stop tearoom?

LIES! You just hush, R6, I would never repeat that vile rumor.

I heard it was in a copse of trees off to one side more than in those bushes around the back.

I'm sure OP chose a horrible song to showcase her talent on purpose as well. Those lower register gymnastics are interminable and she sounds obnoxious just in general.

She's been totally forgotten by those, like OP, with dementia - people who've forgotten poor Bette's name along with their own, their friends' names, what they had for breakfast, where their keys are...

And so on.

Love that song OP.

If we're gonna go down the obscure Bette tracks path, here she is with The Manhattan Transfer.

R11 she's off key in many of those lines. Yikes!!!

I know she's a big gay ally, and that's appreciated, but I still never understood how she was so popular for so long.

Big personality. Amusing in movies. Women liked her too, not just gays.

My soft-Trump parents were in New York, and I took them to see Hello Dolly. I could barely stand to be in the same rook with them, but that was almost three hours of bliss we shared. It made for a great day.

Midler said that she wanted the show to help relieve people from the tough times we were going through. I was never a big fan of Midler or the show. But I will always be grateful to her for making that day possible.

I first became aware of her from her Divine Madness concert film. Then I discovered her earlier Live at Last album. I thought she was hilarious and heartbreaking. Her voice isn't technically perfect but I'd much rather listen to her than, say, Streisand or Dion – I admire their technical prowess but Bette makes me feel something.

FnF.

Shesh one of my bessht freinsh!

Yes, Bette sure does love the gays. What would we do without her?

My favorite of hers.

Deleted from Divine Madness.

r15: "My soft-Trump parents were in New York, and I took them to see Hello Dolly. I could barely stand to be in the same rook with them"

We could barely stand to be there with you. Especially since you "let us" pay for the tickets, dinner afterwards, and then your uber back to your apartment. Also, it's "room" - not "rook".

In my experience, most of the people who like Trump do so because they are quite naive (regardless of age) and deluded about him. They actually think he's a good guy who cares about them while also being "a little rough around the edges." I can't understand that level of self-deception, but it doesn't make them evil.

Now, if R15's parents explicitly like Trump because "he'll put those Blacks and Beaners in their place," that's something else again.

She was funny and an underdog for quite a long time...then she became a monster.

Yikes, r21, this is a little personal since my dad has since passed away and my mom now has dementia. I actually spent a small fortune on the tickets, and was pretty proud of that. Sorry that my typo so offended you.

She's a fat hypocrite

I saw her in the Continental Baths half a century ago when I could wear a towel. I saw her 40-something years ago in a tux (Carnegie Hall?) on New Year's Eve. I have been to Swingos Celebrity Motor Lodge in Cleveland. We had seats in the "Smug Mutha" section in Vegas. God we're old now, but she and I were both young then. Maybe as a consequence, I've loved her ever since my far off youth.

Bruce Vilanch writes a lot of her stuff. She's coming from a good place onstage, anyway. And her response to Geraldo Rivera's claim of romance was a classic: "He stuffs a bottle of poppers up my nose, bends me over a toilet, and calls that a romance?"

I recently watched Ruthless People. So funny! Still holds up.

"When you can't afford Streisand, you hire the more economical Bette Midler."

r28, if you want a concert, get Streisand. If you want a show, hire Bette Midler.

I absolutely loved her Touchstone Pictures days in the late '80s.

She is NOT forgotten! Sistahs!

Ruthless People is still hilarious. It was the one time in her career that Bette Midler stopped trying to be likable and just let her inner raging bitch fly.

R13 Maybe you had to see her live? She was fabulous, trashy, and fun. A kick in the ass. Loved her then, love her now.

You have to look really hard for fake nudes of her online. That’s probably the biggest surprise for me.

Even Queen Elizabeth has them in spades and they’re easily found.

I never even fucking wanted her to be my beast of burden.

Christ.

WTF? She's definitely not forgotten. She's in legend territory. Straight folks and gay folks love her.

I waited for her car to leave from the back of a concert venue after a show many years ago. When it came down the drive and got close, I started waving. She rolled her window halfway down, and gave me a thumbs up!

Who?

^^ wasn’t she in [italic]Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom[/italic] ?

Yeah I never thought much of the old sow after her remarks about Gay marriage on Larry King

R40 she said nothing anti gay. Was entirely fucking sensible.

The OP pic looked like Nancy Spungen at first glance.

[quote] I know she's a big gay ally, and that's appreciated, but I still never understood how she was so popular for so long.

Many reasons but primarily because she is one of the greatest showman in popular music. Bette is an electrifying live performer, she brings all of her talents to the stage. I have seen her a few times starting in1993 and she is truly incredible, easily earns the title of "legend."

She looks like Courtney Love and Nancy Spungeon had a butt baby.

Her real gift is comedy. She's absolutely wonderful both on stage and on screen in comedic roles. She's not so good in dramatic moments.

Her voice is mostly pretty good, but she has trouble staying on key.

Her film with Woody Allen, Scenes From a Mall, is one of my guilty favorites. She runs the gamut of emotions and plays off Allen perfectly.

My favorite movie of hers is Outrageous Fortune.

My favorite recorded song of hers is Do You Wanna Dance?

Bette was never talented. She can’t sing. She talks sings.

The bathhouses made her, and Disney removed the Mae West from her, and now she is just an old Jewish mother who had a career.

If For the Boys had been released in 1992, she would have hands down won the oscar that year.

The Rose was phenomenal, but Sally had the awards on lockdown that year.

[quote]r48 = She can’t sing. She talks sings.

Sure, Jan.

Yeah, I still can’t believe that, R19. And I watched that live! I couldn’t believe it - I couldn’t even watch that clip all the way through, it hurts so much. Bette Midler - OF ALL PEOPLE! - throwing the gays under the bus. I’ve never felt the same way about her. I admire her artistry, in the ‘70s, but I don’t have a lot of affection for her. Bette Midler pretending she didn’t know what a gay bathhouse was! Such bullshit.

Has she ever atoned for this?

Is she supposed to be sexy in that photo, OP?

[quote]R50 “The Rose” was phenomenal, but Sally had the awards on lockdown that year.

It’s hard to argue with Ms. Kirkland’s artistry.

She really wrecked her voice early on. If you listen to The Divine Miss M she actually has a lot of power and soul in her voice, especially on Delta Dawn.

The rest of her career she sounds hoarse and like she has a cold. She has a couple of passable notes in the middle and just croaks out the rest.

At one time she could sing. But not for long. She had to become more of a stylist because she wrecked her voice.

Bette wasn't a Sally.

The first 20 minutes of For The Boys is brilliant.

The rest is treacle.

She's one of the last performers who has a connection to the old time "show-biz" aesthetic.

[quote] Yeah, I still can’t believe that, [R19]. And I watched that live! I couldn’t believe it - I couldn’t even watch that clip all the way through, it hurts so much. Bette Midler - OF ALL PEOPLE! - throwing the gays under the bus. I’ve never felt the same way about her. I admire her artistry, in the ‘70s, but I don’t have a lot of affection for her. Bette Midler pretending she didn’t know what a gay bathhouse was! Such bullshit.

I never understood the outcry over those comments. She clearly stated that gays should have all the rights that everyone else has. She is an ally. Her personal commentary on the mating habits of gay men and women reflect a straight person's view of homosexual life. My parents (now deceased), siblings and straight friends have difficulty understanding that homosexuality is not just about sex. I cannot hold Bette Midler to a different standard of propriety than my own family.

Also, I truly believe that as a 24 year old naif in late 60s New York, she had no idea that naked men would be butt-f*cking while she was singing "Superstar."

Loved her rendition of Chattanooga Choo Choo at The Continental!

R15 I’m with you on this. Having a loved one with dementia makes me both wince and be angry with such casual use of the term. It’s no different from the sixth graders use of “retarded”: both words actually have legitimate medical/neurological meaning, but it takes a shallow and mean-spirited person to weaponize them.

I have Bette's recording of the Rosemary Clooney Songbook, and I think her voice and interpretive skills are phenomenal.

Her comedy album, "Mud Will Be Flung" is hysterical, especially when she talks about Madonna:

"Like a virgin...touched for the very first time. For the very first time TODAY! The only thing that girl will ever do like a virgin is have a baby in a stable."

Here's the whole album: