December 1 - Bette Midler

Photo courtesy of twitter.com

On this day, in 1945, Bette Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was named after another famous entertainer, Bette Davis, although she pronounces their shared name with only one syllable instead of two. Voted "Most Dramatic" of her senior class in high school (shocking, I know), Bette would go on to study drama at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She only lasted three semesters before dropping out to try to make some money.

In the mid Sixties, Bette made her film debut in an uncredited (but still paid) role of a seasick extra in a movie titled, appropriately enough, Hawaii. Using the money she earned from that experience, she moved to New York City. Her first paid stage roles came in off-off-Broadway productions by Tom Eyens (Tony Award winner for writing the book for Dreamgirls). In 1966, Bette made her Broadway debut as Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof. After three years of Matchmaker, Matchmaker, she joined the original cast of the rock musical Salvation, playing alongside Barry Bostwick (whose big break was of course as Brad in the Rocky Horror Picture Show).

Image copyright Disney

In 1970, Bette made a pivotal career move as she joined a long list of first class entertainers and began performing at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse at the Ansonia Hotel. She not only became close to her pianist there, one Barry Manilow, but she earned one of her nicknames, Bathhouse Betty, and perfected another, the Divine Miss M. The latter nickname would be the title of her debut album in 1972 (produced by Barry) and the former would be the title of an album released in 1998, long after the Continental Baths would close its doors. The Divine Miss M would go Platinum and earn Bette a 1973 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Not bad for her first time out. Her second album, Bette Midler, would also be produced by Barry and would also reach the Billboard Top 10. The remainder of the Seventies would see two more albums, a three year stint as the voice of a wooden spoon on PBS's Vegetable Soup and an Emmy winning television special, Ol' Red Hair is Back. Bette ended the decade with a disco album that flopped and her first starring role on the big screen in The Rose, which didn't. She nabbed an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win for that. Her single version of the film's title song went Gold and won her another Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance.

Image copyright Disney

For the beginning of the Eighties, Bette released a concert film, Divine Madness, that was relatively successful and a comedy, Jinxed!, which was not and caused her to concentrate on the singing side of her career for several years. She released two more albums and performed for the famous "We Are the World" recording and for Live Aid, both of which benefited famine victims in Africa.

Image copyright Disney

In 1985, Bette joined the Disney family when she signed a multi-picture deal with Touchstone Pictures. Starting with Down and Out in Beverly Hills, with Nick Nolte and Richard Dreyfuss, she began a string of successful comedic turns. She followed this with Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune (earning a Golden Globe nomination) and Big Business. Bette was cast in 1988's Oliver and Company as the voice of the spoiled pooch, Georgette. One of her biggest hits (in spite of generally negative reviews) came that same year in a decidedly more dramatic role: C.C. Bloom in Beaches. The soundtrack for Beaches became Bette's biggest selling record, featured her biggest selling single, Wind Beneath My Wings, and won her a third Grammy Award for Album of the Year. She then appeared in Touchstone's Stella and Scenes From a Mall with Woody Allen. In 1993, Bette starred with Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy in the now-cult classic, Hocus Pocus. She was also part of the original Back Lot Tours at the Disney-MGM Studios. A short film staring Bette, titled The Lottery, was used to demonstrate and explain everything that goes into making a movie, with set pieces and props available for viewing. It's also has the distinction of being the first film to be entirely shot at the park.

Photo courtesy of variety.com

Since her days under the Disney umbrella, Bette has continued to appear in movies as varied as What Women Want and the remake of The Stepford Wives. She's released several more albums including tributes to Rosemary Clooney and Peggy Lee. In February of 2008, she opened in her own Vegas show at Caesar's Palace that ran for nearly two years. In 2012, the Songwriter's Hall of Fame awarded her the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement award. Bette returned to Broadway after an absence of over 30 years for 2013's I'll Eat You Last. The show was such a success, it moved to Los Angles for another run after the Broadway version closed. Starting in March of 2017, she continued on Broadway, reviving the role of Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly, snagging a Tony Award in the process.

After 25 albums, 20 concert tours, three Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards and a fair number of controversies along the way, the Divine Miss M shows no signs of slowing down. Will she ever be in a sequel to Hocus Pocus? Will she find the energy for another go at Broadway? Will she release a tribute album to... herself? Only time will tell.