Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M

0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains some strong language

0:00:06 > 0:00:09I'm here with Alan Yentob from the Beeb.

0:00:09 > 0:00:10LAUGHTER

0:00:10 > 0:00:11This is my friend Marc,

0:00:11 > 0:00:14he will be underscoring this interview,

0:00:14 > 0:00:15which I think will be a first.

0:00:15 > 0:00:18I don't know of an interview that's ever been underscored.

0:00:18 > 0:00:19I'm sure the BBC has done it all.

0:00:19 > 0:00:23That would be good. Why don't you underscore the entire interview?

0:00:23 > 0:00:25- I don't want to... - Oh, come on, bring me back.

0:00:28 > 0:00:30There's no-one quite like Bette Midler.

0:00:32 > 0:00:33Don't you know who I am?

0:00:34 > 0:00:38Her talents took her from Broadway to pop, and then screen stardom.

0:00:40 > 0:00:41Ta-da!

0:00:41 > 0:00:44An outrageous, captivating entertainer,

0:00:44 > 0:00:46with a soulful voice...

0:00:46 > 0:00:50# God is watching us

0:00:50 > 0:00:54# From a distance... #

0:00:54 > 0:00:56..and a raucous wit.

0:00:56 > 0:00:59My boyfriend Ernie said to me, "Soph, if you could learn to cook,

0:00:59 > 0:01:01"we could fire the chef."

0:01:01 > 0:01:03I said, "Ernie, if you could learn to fuck,

0:01:03 > 0:01:05"we could fire the chauffeur!"

0:01:05 > 0:01:08# Come on to my house, my house... #

0:01:08 > 0:01:12At the age of 72, Bette is about to appear on Broadway in Hello, Dolly!

0:01:18 > 0:01:21When I met her a few years ago, she invited me to spend time with her

0:01:21 > 0:01:25in New York and go back to some of the old haunts that were important

0:01:25 > 0:01:28stepping stones in her career...

0:01:28 > 0:01:30if we can find them.

0:01:30 > 0:01:32That doesn't look right, that doesn't look like it.

0:01:32 > 0:01:33No, that's not it.

0:01:33 > 0:01:36But this... It must have had...

0:01:36 > 0:01:37This must have been the doorway.

0:01:37 > 0:01:40This was the site of a club

0:01:40 > 0:01:43where I did some of my greatest shows.

0:01:43 > 0:01:47# I'm going to give you everything. #

0:01:47 > 0:01:49Inspired by the girl groups of her youth,

0:01:49 > 0:01:54Bette's making a new album with long-time collaborator Marc Shaiman.

0:01:54 > 0:01:55# Mr Sandman... #

0:01:55 > 0:01:58And I'll be sitting in on the sessions.

0:01:58 > 0:02:01He had that show, a smash, a couple of years ago.

0:02:01 > 0:02:03- Hairspray.- Let's not...

0:02:03 > 0:02:07I said Hairspray, goddamn it! OK. Anyway...

0:02:07 > 0:02:11Singer, comedienne, author, dancer,

0:02:11 > 0:02:16producer, actor, activist, mother -

0:02:16 > 0:02:19this is the divine Bette Midler.

0:02:22 > 0:02:26# Bring me a dream

0:02:26 > 0:02:29# Bring us a dream. #

0:02:37 > 0:02:39Is the Bette Midler I'm talking to

0:02:39 > 0:02:41the same Bette Midler who's on stage?

0:02:41 > 0:02:42No.

0:02:42 > 0:02:44SHE LAUGHS

0:02:44 > 0:02:46Thank God.

0:02:46 > 0:02:48I mean, how could you live with that?

0:02:48 > 0:02:51How could you be like that all day long, every day of the week?

0:02:51 > 0:02:54It can be tiring, it can be tiring.

0:02:54 > 0:02:56I'm afraid I have to go back to the beginning.

0:02:56 > 0:02:58Oh, my goodness, the childhood, here it comes.

0:02:58 > 0:03:00- Yeah.- Oops.

0:03:00 > 0:03:01It was an interesting childhood

0:03:01 > 0:03:04because I was in the most beautiful place in the whole world.

0:03:04 > 0:03:06I thought the whole world looked like that - I was in Hawaii.

0:03:06 > 0:03:09# I saw the splendour of the moonlight

0:03:09 > 0:03:12# On Honolulu Bay... #

0:03:12 > 0:03:14Bette's father, Fred, was a painter in the army

0:03:14 > 0:03:17and her mother, Ruth, was a seamstress.

0:03:17 > 0:03:21They moved from New Jersey to Hawaii when Fred was transferred.

0:03:21 > 0:03:23Ruth was an avid movie buff

0:03:23 > 0:03:27and when daughter number three came along in 1945,

0:03:27 > 0:03:29she named her after Bette Davis.

0:03:29 > 0:03:33I grew up in a...in what they would call the projects today.

0:03:33 > 0:03:36But we were not rich, we were not even middle class,

0:03:36 > 0:03:39we were, like, in the bottom strata.

0:03:39 > 0:03:43Growing up in a tropical paradise was colourful,

0:03:43 > 0:03:45but being Jewish with east coast parents,

0:03:45 > 0:03:47Bette didn't quite fit in.

0:03:48 > 0:03:52It was very tough being a Jewish girl in a Samoan neighbourhood.

0:03:52 > 0:03:54Everybody was Asian, there were no other haoles,

0:03:54 > 0:03:57which is the Hawaiian expression for white people.

0:03:57 > 0:04:02So she didn't exactly grow up in the Obama section of Honolulu.

0:04:02 > 0:04:05Do you think that sense of being in a community

0:04:05 > 0:04:07where there were lots of different kinds of people

0:04:07 > 0:04:10was that your kind of curiosity was aroused,

0:04:10 > 0:04:11so you took all that stuff in?

0:04:11 > 0:04:13Oh, absolutely. Yes, I do.

0:04:13 > 0:04:16And I'm grateful for it, I think it's terrific.

0:04:19 > 0:04:22So where did the allure of showbusiness and singing

0:04:22 > 0:04:24and all this come from?

0:04:24 > 0:04:28I think I had some opportunities to sing when I was a very little girl

0:04:28 > 0:04:31and I noticed that a lot of people didn't sing,

0:04:31 > 0:04:35which surprised me cos I was singing louder than anybody.

0:04:35 > 0:04:38Bette entered a talent show aged 11,

0:04:38 > 0:04:41singing the Andrews Sisters' Lullaby On Broadway,

0:04:41 > 0:04:42and she won.

0:04:42 > 0:04:45The song would help define her act for years to come.

0:04:45 > 0:04:47# Till everything gets hazy

0:04:47 > 0:04:50# Hush-a-bye, "I'll buy you this and that"

0:04:50 > 0:04:52# You hear a daddy saying

0:04:52 > 0:04:55# And baby goes home to her flat

0:04:55 > 0:04:58# To sleep all day... #

0:04:58 > 0:05:01I noticed that they liked you if you sang and were funny

0:05:01 > 0:05:03and all those kinds of things, and in high school

0:05:03 > 0:05:06I worked in the library during the summer

0:05:06 > 0:05:08and the librarian didn't pay me,

0:05:08 > 0:05:10she gave us tickets to the community theatre.

0:05:10 > 0:05:13And when I saw those people in their pink tights

0:05:13 > 0:05:17and their lipstick and their rouge and their fake hair, I just...

0:05:17 > 0:05:19I mean, it was all over for me.

0:05:19 > 0:05:21I was, like, completely mesmerised.

0:05:21 > 0:05:22It was just like Pinocchio, you know?

0:05:22 > 0:05:25# Hi-diddly... # It really was!

0:05:25 > 0:05:27And... I mean, I'm now, I've been at it,

0:05:27 > 0:05:32I've been on in pink tights and pink lights for a long time, so...

0:05:32 > 0:05:34I'm a little bit over it!

0:05:34 > 0:05:38But in those days, it was...it was mesmerising.

0:05:39 > 0:05:43Bette decided there and then that showbiz was the career for her,

0:05:43 > 0:05:46but her father hated the idea.

0:05:46 > 0:05:48My mother was a big showbusiness person.

0:05:48 > 0:05:50I mean, she loved it, she was entertained by it,

0:05:50 > 0:05:52she enjoyed it, she was amused by it.

0:05:52 > 0:05:54My father didn't want to have anything to do with it.

0:05:54 > 0:05:56My father was, "Meh..."

0:05:56 > 0:05:58My father was a curmudgeon.

0:05:58 > 0:06:00I think that it's something that she loved,

0:06:00 > 0:06:04I think that she wanted her dad's approval

0:06:04 > 0:06:07and I say that very honestly.

0:06:07 > 0:06:10# It's one for the money, two for the show... #

0:06:10 > 0:06:14Like teenagers everywhere, she immersed herself in music.

0:06:14 > 0:06:16This was the '50s after all

0:06:16 > 0:06:18and rock and roll was everywhere.

0:06:18 > 0:06:19But unlike most teenagers,

0:06:19 > 0:06:22Bette listened to her parents' records, too.

0:06:22 > 0:06:25She loved the girl singers, always, always, always,

0:06:25 > 0:06:27from The Andrews Sisters, The Boswell Sisters on.

0:06:29 > 0:06:33# Crazy people, crazy people

0:06:33 > 0:06:34# Crazy people like me go crazy

0:06:34 > 0:06:36# Over people like you. #

0:06:36 > 0:06:38They were really interesting, the Boswells.

0:06:38 > 0:06:41They were from New Orleans. One girl was the piano player

0:06:41 > 0:06:44and wrote all the arrangements, and they were sensational.

0:06:44 > 0:06:48They're completely forgotten now and I find that so interesting

0:06:48 > 0:06:52that they would have been, you know, complete... Everybody knew them

0:06:52 > 0:06:54and now no-one knows them.

0:06:54 > 0:06:57# It isn't the paddle It's not the canoe... #

0:06:57 > 0:06:59These early girl groups would provide her

0:06:59 > 0:07:01with a lifelong inspiration.

0:07:01 > 0:07:04# It isn't the love dreams that bring joy to you

0:07:04 > 0:07:08# It's the girl... #

0:07:08 > 0:07:12The Boswell Sisters was really the first record my parents ever had

0:07:12 > 0:07:16and, in fact, I recorded that,

0:07:16 > 0:07:20one side of that record, for this album.

0:07:20 > 0:07:23# It isn't the paddle, it's not the canoe

0:07:23 > 0:07:27# It isn't the river or skies that are blue

0:07:27 > 0:07:30# It isn't the love dreams that bring joy to you

0:07:30 > 0:07:33# It's the girl that makes you happy and the girl that makes you blue

0:07:33 > 0:07:36# You often doubt them... #

0:07:36 > 0:07:37Oh, that was so great.

0:07:37 > 0:07:39I've sang it every night of my life.

0:07:39 > 0:07:42So you knew what you wanted to do.

0:07:42 > 0:07:45- I did.- But you weren't quite in the right place for it,

0:07:45 > 0:07:48but I'm kind of interested that this notion that, one year,

0:07:48 > 0:07:50you are in a pineapple factory...

0:07:50 > 0:07:53Please tell me about the pineapple factory.

0:07:53 > 0:07:55I worked - see, people say, "I'm not doing that."

0:07:55 > 0:07:59I worked like a little beaver from the time I was 13,

0:07:59 > 0:08:02but everybody did, that's what you did.

0:08:02 > 0:08:05You once worked, didn't you, when you were in Hawaii,

0:08:05 > 0:08:07in a canning factory, a pineapple canning factory?

0:08:07 > 0:08:09- A pineapple cannery. - What did you do?

0:08:09 > 0:08:12I was the chief chunker! LAUGHTER

0:08:12 > 0:08:14# Pineapple princess

0:08:14 > 0:08:17# He calls me pineapple princess all day... #

0:08:17 > 0:08:19You worked in the pineapple factory,

0:08:19 > 0:08:21it was a dollar and a quarter an hour,

0:08:21 > 0:08:25until you made enough money to do what it is you needed to do.

0:08:31 > 0:08:35# Nowhere to run to, baby... #

0:08:35 > 0:08:38Bette was alone and just shy of 20 years old

0:08:38 > 0:08:40when she left Hawaii in 1965.

0:08:42 > 0:08:44For a young woman with aspirations

0:08:44 > 0:08:46of becoming a serious dramatic actress,

0:08:46 > 0:08:49New York was the place to be.

0:08:49 > 0:08:51She was very bright and she did very well in school,

0:08:51 > 0:08:54but I think she had something that she had to get out of her

0:08:54 > 0:08:57and she was never going to accomplish that in Hawaii,

0:08:57 > 0:09:01so I think she had to go someplace where you could do that.

0:09:03 > 0:09:06The need was so great to go and do that,

0:09:06 > 0:09:10do whatever it was that I felt I had the ability to do.

0:09:10 > 0:09:14And it's so interesting because I'm such a coward,

0:09:14 > 0:09:17I am one of the most frightened persons I've ever...

0:09:17 > 0:09:20In my life, I don't know anyone who is as scared as I am,

0:09:20 > 0:09:21and yet I didn't even...

0:09:21 > 0:09:26I never looked back - I got on the plane, I got there,

0:09:26 > 0:09:29I booked myself into a hotel,

0:09:29 > 0:09:33I started going on auditions like I knew what I was doing.

0:09:33 > 0:09:35And I never...

0:09:35 > 0:09:38It never occurred to me that I would get into any trouble.

0:09:38 > 0:09:41I did, but I...I was fearless.

0:09:41 > 0:09:43What kind of trouble did you get into?

0:09:43 > 0:09:44Oh, people always get into trouble -

0:09:44 > 0:09:47- you know, bad boyfriends, all that sort of thing.- Yeah.

0:09:51 > 0:09:53# In the heart of little old New York

0:09:53 > 0:09:55# You'll find a thoroughfare

0:09:55 > 0:09:58# It's the part of little old New York

0:09:58 > 0:10:00# That runs into Times Square... #

0:10:00 > 0:10:04Bette wanted to live right in the middle of the theatre district

0:10:04 > 0:10:08and got a cheap hotel room near 42nd Street, just off Broadway.

0:10:11 > 0:10:1542nd Street was notorious for being a kind of a hotbed for the Beats

0:10:15 > 0:10:20and for people who were, you know, marginalised -

0:10:20 > 0:10:23you know, junkies, winos, poets.

0:10:23 > 0:10:25Weren't you, as a kid,

0:10:25 > 0:10:28weren't you quite attracted to that kind of low rent...?

0:10:28 > 0:10:31Well, who isn't? Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

0:10:31 > 0:10:34The Honolulu of the '50s was always full of sailors hanging out

0:10:34 > 0:10:37in the red light district.

0:10:37 > 0:10:39Bette developed a fascination and an empathy

0:10:39 > 0:10:43for the freaks at the port and for all outsiders

0:10:43 > 0:10:45that would remain with her all her life.

0:10:45 > 0:10:48Yes, I really was fascinated, but I think everyone is to a degree.

0:10:48 > 0:10:50But that was when it was in the margins.

0:10:50 > 0:10:53Now it's mainstream, so there's no more fascination.

0:10:53 > 0:10:54I have no tattoos.

0:10:59 > 0:11:01You went to, I suppose, endless auditions,

0:11:01 > 0:11:02is that what happened?

0:11:02 > 0:11:04I did go to auditions, I didn't have much luck.

0:11:04 > 0:11:08I mean, I had to feel my way. I didn't know about headshots,

0:11:08 > 0:11:12and I didn't know about agents, and I didn't know about...

0:11:12 > 0:11:15I didn't know what the hierarchy of the auditions was,

0:11:15 > 0:11:16I didn't know that certain magazines

0:11:16 > 0:11:19would show you certain kinds of auditions, like porn,

0:11:19 > 0:11:23but they wouldn't show you other kinds of auditions, so I had to learn that.

0:11:23 > 0:11:24It didn't take me long, though.

0:11:24 > 0:11:26It was a very simple business in those days.

0:11:26 > 0:11:30# Sunrise, sunset

0:11:30 > 0:11:33# Sunrise, sunset... #

0:11:36 > 0:11:38After a year of bit parts,

0:11:38 > 0:11:40Bette Midler got her big break

0:11:40 > 0:11:42in 1966, when she landed a role

0:11:42 > 0:11:46in one of the hottest shows in town, Fiddler On The Roof.

0:11:47 > 0:11:50Is it true the casting director thought you weren't Jewish enough?

0:11:50 > 0:11:54No, the casting director thought I was too short and too fat.

0:11:54 > 0:11:55SHE CHUCKLES

0:11:55 > 0:11:57The girl, the oldest daughter,

0:11:57 > 0:11:59was supposed to be tall and lean,

0:11:59 > 0:12:02and I was very little and round.

0:12:02 > 0:12:07And it was interesting because the casting director called me up

0:12:07 > 0:12:09the morning of the audition

0:12:09 > 0:12:11and said, "I don't think you should take this audition

0:12:11 > 0:12:14"because, if Jerry Robbins sees you, he won't even let you in the chorus

0:12:14 > 0:12:16"cos you're the wrong type."

0:12:16 > 0:12:19So I said, "Well, I came to meet him, I just want to see him."

0:12:19 > 0:12:21And I hung up - I've got to take the audition -

0:12:21 > 0:12:23I hung up and, of course, I was in tears

0:12:23 > 0:12:26and then when I got to the audition, I was so distressed

0:12:26 > 0:12:30that during the scene when the character is supposed to cry,

0:12:30 > 0:12:33of course, I let loose floods of tears cos I was so stressed out

0:12:33 > 0:12:34and I got the job!

0:12:34 > 0:12:36And I cried every night for three years!

0:12:36 > 0:12:39# Dear Yente, see that he's gentle

0:12:39 > 0:12:42# Remember, you were also a bride

0:12:42 > 0:12:46# It's not that I'm sentimental

0:12:46 > 0:12:50# It's just that I'm terrified... #

0:12:50 > 0:12:52As the oldest daughter, I was there for about three years

0:12:52 > 0:12:56and that was very stressful, because I couldn't...

0:12:56 > 0:12:58You're supposed to go, you know,

0:12:58 > 0:13:02do the role for a certain amount of time,

0:13:02 > 0:13:05and then you are supposed to move on and, you know, move up.

0:13:05 > 0:13:07And I couldn't seem to move up,

0:13:07 > 0:13:11and I wanted to be, in my heart, a great dramatic actress,

0:13:11 > 0:13:14and I thought that I had the range for it.

0:13:14 > 0:13:16I wanted to be an Anna Magnani, a type like that,

0:13:16 > 0:13:18someone who had got those kinds of roles,

0:13:18 > 0:13:21and that did not come easily.

0:13:21 > 0:13:23And then, in the middle of all this

0:13:23 > 0:13:27was all that excitement about music and rock and roll.

0:13:27 > 0:13:31You just couldn't resist it, it was just wonderful.

0:13:31 > 0:13:33# Hot town, summer in the city

0:13:33 > 0:13:36# Back of my neck getting dirt and gritty... #

0:13:36 > 0:13:38The time Bette was in Fiddler On The Roof

0:13:38 > 0:13:42coincided exactly with the rock explosion of the mid '60s.

0:13:42 > 0:13:45Greenwich Village, just a couple of miles south,

0:13:45 > 0:13:47was the eye of the storm

0:13:47 > 0:13:50and, of course, there was also the Stonewall riots

0:13:50 > 0:13:54that sparked the gay rights movement in 1969

0:13:54 > 0:13:56and Vietnam.

0:13:56 > 0:13:59# I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound

0:13:59 > 0:14:02# Everybody look what's going down... #

0:14:02 > 0:14:05It was a real hotbed of all sorts of things.

0:14:05 > 0:14:07It was all happening on that bus,

0:14:07 > 0:14:11so I got off my bus and I moved over to the other bus.

0:14:11 > 0:14:13So, from Broadway to Greenwich Village.

0:14:13 > 0:14:15Yes, absolutely.

0:14:15 > 0:14:16There was a big party going on

0:14:16 > 0:14:18and I wanted to be part of that party.

0:14:21 > 0:14:27So, in 1969, Bette gave up the idea of making a living in the theatre

0:14:27 > 0:14:31and decided to reinvent herself as a new kind of torch singer.

0:14:31 > 0:14:35Part retro, part utterly contemporary.

0:14:36 > 0:14:40It was back to the bottom of the ladder, doing gigs for free,

0:14:40 > 0:14:44hanging out with the freaks and the music makers.

0:14:44 > 0:14:45You had your intellectuals,

0:14:45 > 0:14:48you had your...

0:14:48 > 0:14:51last vestiges of the Beatniks,

0:14:51 > 0:14:55and you had hippies and you had drag queens

0:14:55 > 0:14:58and you had the burgeoning gay culture

0:14:58 > 0:15:01that was coming out of that whole Stonewall thing.

0:15:01 > 0:15:04You would meet people that you would never have had

0:15:04 > 0:15:05the opportunity to meet.

0:15:05 > 0:15:08These were brand-new situations, people were mixing,

0:15:08 > 0:15:11people who would never have seen each other on the streets

0:15:11 > 0:15:14were suddenly, you know, getting high together and dancing

0:15:14 > 0:15:16and carrying on and exchanging ideas.

0:15:16 > 0:15:18It was quite a time.

0:15:18 > 0:15:20# They said, "Hey, Sugar

0:15:20 > 0:15:22# "Take a walk on the wild side..." #

0:15:24 > 0:15:27Bette took her move into music very seriously.

0:15:27 > 0:15:30She spent hours at the library listening to records

0:15:30 > 0:15:33and soaking up entire decades of musical history.

0:15:34 > 0:15:36I listened to the blues,

0:15:36 > 0:15:40I listened to Bessie Smith, I listened to Aretha.

0:15:40 > 0:15:42I listened to just about everybody.

0:15:42 > 0:15:44I went back and forth and I would go on,

0:15:44 > 0:15:46I would binge listen, you know,

0:15:46 > 0:15:51and I picked up a lot, I picked up a bunch.

0:15:51 > 0:15:53You know, I don't write, I don't write my own material

0:15:53 > 0:15:57and I didn't know a lot of songwriters, so, for me,

0:15:57 > 0:16:01it was hard. I had to freshen everything up all the time.

0:16:01 > 0:16:02And for me, it was hard,

0:16:02 > 0:16:05because I didn't know enough people whose material I could draw on.

0:16:05 > 0:16:08You know, people weren't just sitting down and writing songs for me,

0:16:08 > 0:16:10so it was really up to me to find the material.

0:16:19 > 0:16:21# Drinking again

0:16:26 > 0:16:31# Thinking of when you loved me

0:16:33 > 0:16:37# I'm having a few

0:16:39 > 0:16:42# And wishing... #

0:16:42 > 0:16:46Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Miss Bette Midler!

0:16:46 > 0:16:48CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:16:54 > 0:16:55Fancy a pizza?

0:16:55 > 0:16:59No! No, no wheat. No wheat.

0:16:59 > 0:17:04This pizzeria was once the home of the legendary Improv comedy club.

0:17:04 > 0:17:08In the late '60s and early '70s, it was THE place in Manhattan

0:17:08 > 0:17:12to see future legends like Richard Pryor or Lily Tomlin.

0:17:12 > 0:17:16But to play here, Bette had to adapt her act

0:17:16 > 0:17:18and it was where she learned to mix Broadway,

0:17:18 > 0:17:20the blues and burlesque.

0:17:22 > 0:17:24It was a comedy club and I was one of the very few singers here

0:17:24 > 0:17:27and I realised, you know, these guys are having an awful lot of fun

0:17:27 > 0:17:31and you really did have to entertain, you had to be amusing.

0:17:31 > 0:17:37It was just the best place for her to develop an act because

0:17:37 > 0:17:40it was primarily at that point a comics' room,

0:17:40 > 0:17:42although we did have singers.

0:17:42 > 0:17:47So, she, smart enough to blend in,

0:17:47 > 0:17:49came up with the snappy dialogue.

0:17:49 > 0:17:54Now...now here's a lady who was never blue.

0:17:54 > 0:17:57Her material, maybe.

0:17:57 > 0:18:00She used to say...

0:18:00 > 0:18:04# I believe that everyone in life should have a mission

0:18:04 > 0:18:07# Making people happy is the height of my ambition

0:18:07 > 0:18:13# And when I get them happy, oh, they stay in that condition... #

0:18:13 > 0:18:16I worked it up and I had little impersonations that I do,

0:18:16 > 0:18:18I was taking cues from what other people were doing.

0:18:18 > 0:18:21So was it...? Was this a sort of Sophie Tucker moment...?

0:18:21 > 0:18:22Not really, no, no, no.

0:18:22 > 0:18:28I was doing a Mae West impersonation, as a matter of fact.

0:18:28 > 0:18:30You know, I met your kind before.

0:18:30 > 0:18:33- Why don't you come up some time? - Well, I...

0:18:33 > 0:18:35Don't be afraid, I won't tell.

0:18:35 > 0:18:38- But... - Come up, I'll tell your fortune.

0:18:38 > 0:18:41And she was adorable, I loved her. I didn't know anything about her

0:18:41 > 0:18:46except that she was hilarious and very sexy, but in the most

0:18:46 > 0:18:47wonderfully funny way.

0:18:47 > 0:18:51And she had in her world a kind of fascination for the underworld,

0:18:51 > 0:18:56the same way that I did, so I really identified with her.

0:18:56 > 0:18:57# Here's the key

0:18:57 > 0:19:00# The room is 503

0:19:00 > 0:19:04# It's not so far to climb

0:19:04 > 0:19:08# Of course you are the spider's invitation to the fly

0:19:08 > 0:19:12# Why don't you come up and see me sometime?

0:19:15 > 0:19:17# Any time... #

0:19:17 > 0:19:19LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

0:19:20 > 0:19:24# The sooner, the better. Oh. #

0:19:24 > 0:19:27When you got your material, who was it...?

0:19:27 > 0:19:29You were doing ballads, weren't you?

0:19:29 > 0:19:31I was a torch singer.

0:19:31 > 0:19:34I was interested in the blues and I was interested in torch songs.

0:19:34 > 0:19:36Did that go down well?

0:19:36 > 0:19:37Actually, surprisingly well

0:19:37 > 0:19:41because I was, you know, highly emotional.

0:19:47 > 0:19:50# It's not the way you smile

0:19:50 > 0:19:52# That touched my heart

0:19:54 > 0:19:57# Sha-la la la-la

0:19:57 > 0:20:02# It's not the way you kiss that tears me apart

0:20:04 > 0:20:06# Oh, oh, oh-oh

0:20:06 > 0:20:11# Many, many, many nights roll by

0:20:11 > 0:20:16# I sit alone at home and I cry... #

0:20:16 > 0:20:18Bette Midler for me, more than anyone,

0:20:18 > 0:20:22has the ability to, in a note, in one note,

0:20:22 > 0:20:27convey more than an emotion, an entire place

0:20:27 > 0:20:29that a person is singing -

0:20:29 > 0:20:32what's happened to this person and what they're singing about.

0:20:32 > 0:20:36# Baby, it's you

0:20:36 > 0:20:41# Baby, it's you. #

0:20:41 > 0:20:44So how do you combine the highly emotional with the extremely funny?

0:20:44 > 0:20:46Oh, I turn on a dime -

0:20:46 > 0:20:48also not very hard to do.

0:20:48 > 0:20:50Well, quite hard to do, actually.

0:20:50 > 0:20:51Not for me, not for me.

0:20:51 > 0:20:55That's your thing, then? Being able to change the mood?

0:20:55 > 0:20:57That was a kind of thing...

0:20:57 > 0:20:59I actually didn't know I had that ability,

0:20:59 > 0:21:02but I learned it in places like this, like the Improv.

0:21:02 > 0:21:04Give a very warm welcome to this gal

0:21:04 > 0:21:06because she is the first great superstar

0:21:06 > 0:21:08at The Continental Baths.

0:21:08 > 0:21:13So what more can you say? Here she is - Bette Midler!

0:21:13 > 0:21:14CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:21:20 > 0:21:22So now, down here..

0:21:22 > 0:21:25Below here in the basement was where the Continental Baths started.

0:21:25 > 0:21:28Is it true that all the men wore white towels?

0:21:28 > 0:21:30They wore white towels, yes, they did.

0:21:30 > 0:21:34'It's very warm in here, it reminds me of Back to Bataan.

0:21:34 > 0:21:37'Do you remember that movie? Oh, it was very steamy.

0:21:37 > 0:21:40'Phew! I can't tell if the air conditioner is on,

0:21:40 > 0:21:42'I hear something - "Ssssssss!"

0:21:42 > 0:21:45'But I'm not sure that's the air conditioner, you know.'

0:21:45 > 0:21:50I mean, you have people sitting in towels watching a show.

0:21:50 > 0:21:52It's very weird. I mean, even the Romans really,

0:21:52 > 0:21:55or maybe not since the Romans.

0:21:55 > 0:21:57Nobody died, let me put it that way.

0:21:57 > 0:22:00No Christians were harmed inside.

0:22:00 > 0:22:02It was gay, gay, gay

0:22:02 > 0:22:07and this was before there was any, like, big gay thing in the States.

0:22:07 > 0:22:08They had like a...

0:22:08 > 0:22:12They were all hiding their light in the closet, as it were.

0:22:12 > 0:22:16And I was so completely obsessed with what I was doing,

0:22:16 > 0:22:17I didn't even notice.

0:22:17 > 0:22:20I mean, I could have been playing an old age home,

0:22:20 > 0:22:24as long as I was... As long as I was killing, I didn't care.

0:22:24 > 0:22:29And is that where the collection of work for the Divine Miss M came,

0:22:29 > 0:22:32- the first album, which was such a spectacular success?- Yes, yes.

0:22:32 > 0:22:35And one of the great things about this venue

0:22:35 > 0:22:39is that I did this material, I had to change this material up

0:22:39 > 0:22:42every single time I worked, so I had to scramble.

0:22:42 > 0:22:45I was always scrambling, but I had enough time

0:22:45 > 0:22:48to learn the songs so well that they became second nature to me

0:22:48 > 0:22:50and, after that, I never had the time.

0:22:50 > 0:22:53And that took me a long time to realise,

0:22:53 > 0:22:56that the rehearsal process was really important to me.

0:22:56 > 0:23:00The actual working in front of a crowd was really, really important

0:23:00 > 0:23:02to my own...what it is that I do.

0:23:03 > 0:23:05# Yo ho

0:23:05 > 0:23:07# Yo ho

0:23:07 > 0:23:09# Boo whoo

0:23:09 > 0:23:11# Boo whoo

0:23:11 > 0:23:13# Boo whoo

0:23:13 > 0:23:15# Boo whoo

0:23:15 > 0:23:18# Pardon me, boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?

0:23:19 > 0:23:22# Track 29, well, you can give me a shine

0:23:22 > 0:23:23# Mmm

0:23:23 > 0:23:27# I can afford to board a Chattanooga Choo Choo

0:23:27 > 0:23:30# I got my fare with just a trifle to spare... #

0:23:30 > 0:23:33I was doing a Broadway show but I would run down,

0:23:33 > 0:23:36I would run up to 72nd Street to the Baths and see her.

0:23:36 > 0:23:39If you were female, your name had to be on the list -

0:23:39 > 0:23:42there was no other way you could get in.

0:23:42 > 0:23:44So there was a lot of men in towels and very steamy,

0:23:44 > 0:23:47and she tore up the joint.

0:23:47 > 0:23:49# Chattanooga Choo Choo

0:23:49 > 0:23:51# Chattanooga Choo Choo

0:23:51 > 0:23:53# Chattanooga Choo Choo

0:23:53 > 0:23:56# Are you good to me? Oh! #

0:23:56 > 0:23:58CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:24:00 > 0:24:04An important guiding light around this time was Bill Hennessy,

0:24:04 > 0:24:07a hairdresser from Fiddler On The Roof.

0:24:07 > 0:24:10He wrote a lot of the bawdy jokes she told at the Baths

0:24:10 > 0:24:14and was an invaluable source of advice in guiding the birth

0:24:14 > 0:24:18of Bette's alter ego, the Divine Miss M.

0:24:18 > 0:24:20Bill Hennessy, the late Bill Hennessy,

0:24:20 > 0:24:24walked her through the tiny little dressing room onto the stage

0:24:24 > 0:24:26and talked her into the Divine Miss M character,

0:24:26 > 0:24:29talked, whispered in her ear and said,

0:24:29 > 0:24:32"And this and this and this." "Uh-huh!"

0:24:32 > 0:24:34That was all, you know, that was all that attitude.

0:24:34 > 0:24:35"Uh-huh."

0:24:35 > 0:24:37Is it true that this is where

0:24:37 > 0:24:39the Divine Miss M came from, the name?

0:24:39 > 0:24:41The name, yes, the first night I worked here,

0:24:41 > 0:24:43the owner knocked on the door

0:24:43 > 0:24:44and he said, "How shall I introduce you?"

0:24:44 > 0:24:47And I said, "Tell them I'm divine."

0:24:47 > 0:24:50And I had always been called Miss M, because my hairdresser

0:24:50 > 0:24:54was one of my best friends, Mr G, Mr Gerard,

0:24:54 > 0:24:55always called me Miss M.

0:24:55 > 0:24:59I called him Mr G, he called me Miss M, so, "Tell them I'm divine!"

0:24:59 > 0:25:02So when he got on the microphone and introduced me, he said,

0:25:02 > 0:25:05"And now ladies and gentlemen, the Divine Miss M."

0:25:05 > 0:25:07And there I was and, from that time on,

0:25:07 > 0:25:09I was always the Divine Miss M.

0:25:09 > 0:25:11Thank God!

0:25:11 > 0:25:12I mean, what serendipity.

0:25:14 > 0:25:18Welcome to another foul evening with the Divine Miss M.

0:25:19 > 0:25:21After many a summer dies a swan,

0:25:21 > 0:25:24but not when they're stuck in a turkey as big as this one.

0:25:24 > 0:25:29The Divine Miss M was what she used to say

0:25:29 > 0:25:32was the last of the truly trashy women.

0:25:32 > 0:25:34Everything you were afraid your little girl would grow up to be,

0:25:34 > 0:25:36and your little boy too.

0:25:36 > 0:25:40I just couldn't stop myself from building layer upon layer

0:25:40 > 0:25:41of this character

0:25:41 > 0:25:43and it was a kind of a throwback character.

0:25:43 > 0:25:46I would look around on 42nd Street, I would see the hookers,

0:25:46 > 0:25:48I would see the drag queens, I would see people in,

0:25:48 > 0:25:52you know, in flaming wigs, I would see people in tight clothes.

0:25:52 > 0:25:54It was a very creative time in the city,

0:25:54 > 0:25:56there was a lot of that going on, I wasn't the only one.

0:25:56 > 0:25:59But I was very observant and I thought, "Ooh, I like that,

0:25:59 > 0:26:02"I like that." I liked the trashiness of that.

0:26:02 > 0:26:06I wanted to show you the good beneath the gaudy.

0:26:06 > 0:26:08The saint beneath all this paint.

0:26:08 > 0:26:11The sweet, pure, winsome little soul

0:26:11 > 0:26:14that lurks beneath this lurid exterior.

0:26:14 > 0:26:18It's kind of an explosion of one facet of her personality

0:26:18 > 0:26:22and it works because it gives her freedom

0:26:22 > 0:26:25and she gets to do what she wants to do on the stage

0:26:25 > 0:26:29and she sets a tone with the audience of "This is...

0:26:29 > 0:26:33"I'm free up here and so you are free out there."

0:26:33 > 0:26:35And I think that was always, at the beginning,

0:26:35 > 0:26:38what attracted people to her and especially gay people.

0:26:38 > 0:26:43# But you got to have friends

0:26:44 > 0:26:47# The feeling's oh so strong

0:26:47 > 0:26:51# You got to have friends

0:26:51 > 0:26:54# Yeah, to make that day last long... #

0:26:54 > 0:26:57This song became the anthem.

0:26:57 > 0:27:01This is the song that galvanised that audience,

0:27:01 > 0:27:03brought them to tears,

0:27:03 > 0:27:06because this was an audience that had been marginalised.

0:27:06 > 0:27:11You know, it wasn't long after the Stonewall incident

0:27:11 > 0:27:15and she recognised them and she said, "I am one of you."

0:27:15 > 0:27:20You know, she was this Jewish girl in an all-Samoan neighbourhood,

0:27:20 > 0:27:23her father didn't get what she did,

0:27:23 > 0:27:30and so for her to shine her great big, loving, compassionate light

0:27:30 > 0:27:32was such a magnificent gesture.

0:27:32 > 0:27:34# Friends

0:27:34 > 0:27:36# Yeah, you got to have friends

0:27:36 > 0:27:39# Friends, friends, friends, friends

0:27:39 > 0:27:42# Oh, friends, you got to have friends

0:27:42 > 0:27:46# Oh, friends

0:27:46 > 0:27:50# Oooh, friends... #

0:27:50 > 0:27:54Bette's piano player in the Baths was the then-unknown Barry Manilow.

0:27:54 > 0:27:58It would be the beginning of a long and fruitful musical collaboration.

0:27:59 > 0:28:03She was the most talented woman I'd ever met, I'd ever played for.

0:28:03 > 0:28:07The most, craziest lady that I've ever met in my life either.

0:28:07 > 0:28:10I would guess, if you put crazy and talented together,

0:28:10 > 0:28:11you get a superstar.

0:28:15 > 0:28:18By the summer of 1970, the Improv's Budd Friedman

0:28:18 > 0:28:20was now Bette's manager,

0:28:20 > 0:28:23and despite not even having a record deal,

0:28:23 > 0:28:26there was enough of a buzz around his new client

0:28:26 > 0:28:28to get her an audition on The Tonight Show

0:28:28 > 0:28:30with Johnny Carson.

0:28:30 > 0:28:33In those days, Johnny could make a star overnight.

0:28:33 > 0:28:36He got me an audition for The Tonight Show

0:28:36 > 0:28:40and I was wearing my vintage clothes at the time

0:28:40 > 0:28:44and when I got out of the town car to go to the audition,

0:28:44 > 0:28:46which was at RCA, at Rockefeller Centre,

0:28:46 > 0:28:49my dress ripped right across the back,

0:28:49 > 0:28:51right across my butt.

0:28:51 > 0:28:53And I said, "Oh, my God, Budd, Budd, give me your jacket,

0:28:53 > 0:28:56"my dress has ripped, my ass is hanging out."

0:28:56 > 0:28:59And I said, "Give you my jacket? What about my dignity?

0:28:59 > 0:29:01She says, "What about my ass?!"

0:29:01 > 0:29:06So we found some pins when we got to the Johnny Victor theatre

0:29:06 > 0:29:09and they pinned her up and the rest, as they say, is history.

0:29:09 > 0:29:11SHE SCATS

0:29:11 > 0:29:14The Carson appearance was the first of many

0:29:14 > 0:29:17and Bette Midler soon became one of his regulars.

0:29:17 > 0:29:19# Oh, Chattanooga Choo Choo

0:29:19 > 0:29:21# Oh, Chattanooga Choo Choo

0:29:21 > 0:29:23# Oh, Chattanooga Choo Choo, won't you choo choo me?

0:29:23 > 0:29:25# Chhss chhss chhss chhss

0:29:25 > 0:29:26# Ch ch ch ch ch ch ch

0:29:26 > 0:29:28# Chattanooga Choo Choo

0:29:28 > 0:29:30# Oh, Chattanooga Choo Choo

0:29:30 > 0:29:32# Chattanooga Choo Choo, won't you choo choo me?

0:29:32 > 0:29:34# Home

0:29:34 > 0:29:36# Oh oh oh - ba! #

0:29:36 > 0:29:37CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:29:39 > 0:29:42You know, I said it before, when you were first on the show,

0:29:42 > 0:29:45and I mean it. I said you are going to be something to contend with,

0:29:45 > 0:29:47you're going to be a big star in this business

0:29:47 > 0:29:49because you are unique and you're different.

0:29:49 > 0:29:51CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:29:51 > 0:29:55- You will.- Thank you.- You will.

0:29:55 > 0:29:56I'm going to keep trucking.

0:29:56 > 0:29:59- When it all comes together, it'll happen.- Oh, I can't wait.

0:29:59 > 0:30:01All righty, well...

0:30:01 > 0:30:06Johnny Carson was great to me - he loved me, he supported me,

0:30:06 > 0:30:08he called me back again and again.

0:30:08 > 0:30:10He thought I was hilarious.

0:30:10 > 0:30:14That first Tonight Show appearance put her firmly on the map,

0:30:14 > 0:30:17but Bette's father still didn't approve.

0:30:17 > 0:30:20- He wasn't really interested in what you were up to?- No, he thought it was a terrible idea.

0:30:20 > 0:30:25He thought it was a highway to hell. He just didn't approve of it.

0:30:25 > 0:30:28- So even when... - He was a completely practical man.

0:30:28 > 0:30:31- When you'd done the Johnny Carson show...- He was disinterested.

0:30:31 > 0:30:33He was not interested.

0:30:33 > 0:30:36- He, like... He was not interested. - Was that hurtful?

0:30:36 > 0:30:37- What?- Was it hurtful?

0:30:37 > 0:30:41Very hurtful. It was very hurtful, but I've gotten over it.

0:30:41 > 0:30:44He was what he was. If it hadn't been for him,

0:30:44 > 0:30:48I wouldn't be what I am and I've certainly had a lot of fun.

0:30:48 > 0:30:50I've had a good run.

0:30:50 > 0:30:54I mean, I have a beautiful child, I have a wonderful husband,

0:30:54 > 0:30:57I love what I do, for the most part,

0:30:57 > 0:30:59and it's fine.

0:31:01 > 0:31:04We came to a very nice accommodation at the end.

0:31:05 > 0:31:10Yeah, I gathered that, that you made up, somehow.

0:31:10 > 0:31:12Yes, yes, yes.

0:31:12 > 0:31:14It's good when you do that. It's best to do that.

0:31:19 > 0:31:24Back in 1972, Bette had now outgrown her old manager.

0:31:24 > 0:31:27We had a year's contract, it was up, and she decided...

0:31:27 > 0:31:30She was being bombarded by that time.

0:31:30 > 0:31:31Everyone was after her.

0:31:31 > 0:31:34Aaron Russo took over,

0:31:34 > 0:31:36but very soon he was more than her manager.

0:31:36 > 0:31:39He became her boyfriend.

0:31:39 > 0:31:41# Now it's hey, mambo

0:31:41 > 0:31:42# Mambo Italiano

0:31:42 > 0:31:44# Hey, mambo

0:31:44 > 0:31:46# Mambo Italiano... #

0:31:46 > 0:31:48He was crazy about me, you know.

0:31:48 > 0:31:52He was my boyfriend for a while and then I said, "This is getting...

0:31:52 > 0:31:55"It's too... I can't breathe." You know, and he...

0:31:55 > 0:31:59You know, we broke up and it was hard for him to work with me,

0:31:59 > 0:32:02seeing me with other guys, and it was...

0:32:02 > 0:32:04very stressful.

0:32:04 > 0:32:09He loved her and worshipped her and he wanted to make her a star,

0:32:09 > 0:32:10and he did.

0:32:10 > 0:32:14This awkward situation of ex-boyfriend as manager

0:32:14 > 0:32:16would continue for several years

0:32:16 > 0:32:20and, meanwhile, Bette was becoming a local phenomenon in New York

0:32:20 > 0:32:23and record companies were starting to get interested.

0:32:23 > 0:32:26She had a regular gig and a loyal clientele

0:32:26 > 0:32:29at a club up town, and one night there proved to be

0:32:29 > 0:32:33even more important than a national TV appearance.

0:32:33 > 0:32:35In late 1972,

0:32:35 > 0:32:36I had the opportunity of hearing

0:32:36 > 0:32:40a young lady who was making a lot of noise in a little club

0:32:40 > 0:32:43called Downstairs At The Upstairs.

0:32:43 > 0:32:48- OK.- So this is it, then. This is... - This was the site of a club

0:32:48 > 0:32:50where I did some of my greatest shows.

0:32:50 > 0:32:53It was called the Downstairs At The Upstairs and the Upstairs At The Downstairs.

0:32:53 > 0:32:56When you climbed the stairs, there was the Upstairs At The Downstairs,

0:32:56 > 0:33:00and, of course, on the ground floor was the Downstairs At The Upstairs, where the bar was,

0:33:00 > 0:33:03and I played about there. It was a tiny room.

0:33:03 > 0:33:05And I went in one evening

0:33:05 > 0:33:08and was completely knocked out by Miss Bette Midler.

0:33:08 > 0:33:10This was the big breakthrough, though, this place.

0:33:10 > 0:33:12- It was really huge. - So Ahmet Ertegun...

0:33:12 > 0:33:14And this was the beginning

0:33:14 > 0:33:17of The Divine Miss M album, which...

0:33:17 > 0:33:19Yes, he signed me,

0:33:19 > 0:33:22which was a big thrill for me because I didn't think that would happen,

0:33:22 > 0:33:24and yet, you know, I put it out there and it happened.

0:33:24 > 0:33:27# Do you want to dance?

0:33:27 > 0:33:32# And hold my hand?

0:33:32 > 0:33:37# Tell me you're my lover man... #

0:33:38 > 0:33:40- This...- This is Atlantic Studios.

0:33:40 > 0:33:46This was where Ahmet had his offices and now it's a wig store.

0:33:46 > 0:33:48So The Divine Miss M - you recorded that here?

0:33:48 > 0:33:51I recorded my first album here, The Divine Miss M,

0:33:51 > 0:33:53and I recorded Bette Midler here.

0:33:53 > 0:33:56I made a lot of wonderful music here, as everybody did.

0:33:56 > 0:33:59I mean, Wilson Pickett,

0:33:59 > 0:34:00the Stones,

0:34:00 > 0:34:02Aretha...

0:34:02 > 0:34:08# Lookin' out on the morning rain

0:34:08 > 0:34:12# I used to feel so uninspired... #

0:34:14 > 0:34:17You know, the thing that's so peculiar about us taking this walk

0:34:17 > 0:34:21is that my footprint, the footprint of my life, seems to be disappearing.

0:34:21 > 0:34:23You know, I mean...

0:34:23 > 0:34:26These memories that I have are, you know, all gone.

0:34:26 > 0:34:29When I went back to Honolulu, went back to Hawaii,

0:34:29 > 0:34:33I went to see my old house one year, and my house was, like...

0:34:33 > 0:34:37What was my house, was, like, 200ft below me because they had made

0:34:37 > 0:34:40a freeway right where my house was, so... You see that all the time.

0:34:40 > 0:34:42Didn't they ask your permission?

0:34:42 > 0:34:44No, they never asked. I was so heartbroken,

0:34:44 > 0:34:46but, you know, my husband has a saying,

0:34:46 > 0:34:48"Nothing is permanent."

0:34:48 > 0:34:51MUSIC: Chapel Of Love by Bette Midler

0:34:51 > 0:34:53For her debut album, Bette had brought

0:34:53 > 0:34:58an eclectic mix of old and new songs into the studio.

0:34:58 > 0:35:02# That's when I fell for the leader of the pack... #

0:35:03 > 0:35:09# But old people, they just grow lonesome

0:35:09 > 0:35:12# Waiting for someone to say

0:35:14 > 0:35:17# Hello in there

0:35:18 > 0:35:20# Hello... #

0:35:20 > 0:35:24The men given the tricky task of making it a cohesive whole

0:35:24 > 0:35:29were soul producer Joel Dorn and her friend Barry Manilow.

0:35:29 > 0:35:32And we started to make the record. I made a record with Joel Dorn,

0:35:32 > 0:35:34who had made records with Roberta Flack,

0:35:34 > 0:35:38who I also adored, and we hit the skids really early on,

0:35:38 > 0:35:43and Ahmet came in and Barry Manilow was at odds with the producer.

0:35:43 > 0:35:46It was kind of a stressful time, but...

0:35:46 > 0:35:48- But that combination...- It worked.

0:35:48 > 0:35:52- That combination of Joel and Barry...- Yes, and Ahmet...

0:35:52 > 0:35:54A lot of that first album is live.

0:35:54 > 0:35:59They recorded an entire album and Ahmet listened to the record

0:35:59 > 0:36:03and said, "I don't get from this record what I got."

0:36:04 > 0:36:09And what they finally did was put people in here,

0:36:09 > 0:36:13you know, inside the booth, so she had an audience,

0:36:13 > 0:36:14and they recorded it live.

0:36:14 > 0:36:16# Ooh-hoo

0:36:16 > 0:36:20# Standing at the end of a really long road... #

0:36:20 > 0:36:23To help recreate this atmosphere in the studio,

0:36:23 > 0:36:27Bette brought in her newly formed backing singers from her live show,

0:36:27 > 0:36:29the Harlettes.

0:36:29 > 0:36:32# Oh, friends

0:36:32 > 0:36:36# You got to have friends... #

0:36:36 > 0:36:41I do remember the studio atmosphere being very lively.

0:36:41 > 0:36:43We were all studio singers

0:36:43 > 0:36:45and Barry was a studio singer.

0:36:45 > 0:36:47We all had that...

0:36:47 > 0:36:50We all were familiar with that kind of levity

0:36:50 > 0:36:52and Bette I don't think quite as much

0:36:52 > 0:36:55because she was not familiar with that milieu.

0:36:57 > 0:37:00And thank goodness Atlantic Records said,

0:37:00 > 0:37:04"Gee, that's a really good way to do it," and let her be.

0:37:04 > 0:37:09# And I am all alone... #

0:37:09 > 0:37:13The recording studio was a whole new medium for Bette.

0:37:13 > 0:37:16# ..beside me

0:37:16 > 0:37:19# And my problems have always... #

0:37:19 > 0:37:21Bass drum microphone.

0:37:21 > 0:37:23# ..have all gone... #

0:37:23 > 0:37:25We're having notes. We're going to have notes.

0:37:25 > 0:37:29We're not going to have notes downstairs. You want to come? Good.

0:37:29 > 0:37:31Notes, that's what we do in this...

0:37:31 > 0:37:33We give each other notes.

0:37:33 > 0:37:37"That was terrible! You were the pits on that number."

0:37:37 > 0:37:40Kill 'em? Well, if they don't kill me first.

0:37:40 > 0:37:43The Harlettes were inspired by Bette's love of girl groups.

0:37:43 > 0:37:48She'd always dreamed of having her own and now she had a female chorus.

0:37:48 > 0:37:50Come on, girls.

0:37:52 > 0:37:54But not only were we singing backgrounds for her,

0:37:54 > 0:37:57she really incorporated us into the show.

0:37:57 > 0:38:02Ladies and gentlemen, a rousing hand for the semi-classical Harlettes!

0:38:02 > 0:38:04Ladies!

0:38:04 > 0:38:06We were her Greek chorus.

0:38:06 > 0:38:07We underscored her attitude.

0:38:08 > 0:38:11I'll never forget the first time I found these girls,

0:38:11 > 0:38:14selling their papayas on 42nd Street.

0:38:14 > 0:38:18With the support of Bette's sultry Harlettes, her performances

0:38:18 > 0:38:22became known for their show-stopping dance routines.

0:38:22 > 0:38:24Not only are my girls fine singers and dancers,

0:38:24 > 0:38:26not only are they gorgeous and talented,

0:38:26 > 0:38:27but they also think I'm God!

0:38:27 > 0:38:31It was very hard work, but we laughed.

0:38:31 > 0:38:33We laughed an awful, awful lot.

0:38:33 > 0:38:36# He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way

0:38:36 > 0:38:38# He had a boogie style that no-one else could play

0:38:38 > 0:38:40# He was the top man at his craft

0:38:40 > 0:38:43# But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft

0:38:43 > 0:38:45# He's in the army now a-blowin' Reveille

0:38:45 > 0:38:47# He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B... #

0:38:47 > 0:38:51So, in 1972, while the American charts

0:38:51 > 0:38:55were full of British heavy rockers like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin,

0:38:55 > 0:39:00The Divine Miss M album swam against the tide, hitting the top ten.

0:39:02 > 0:39:07And Bette went on to win Best New Artist at the Grammys.

0:39:07 > 0:39:10Bette Midler owned the second half of the '70s.

0:39:10 > 0:39:15Her second album was also a smash and her increasingly ambitious tours

0:39:15 > 0:39:18were sell-outs up and down the country.

0:39:18 > 0:39:20# ..bugle boy of Company B, yeah, yeah, yeah! #

0:39:20 > 0:39:25She became a regular face on TV and now had her own specials.

0:39:25 > 0:39:27# Ohhhh-klahoma

0:39:27 > 0:39:31# Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

0:39:31 > 0:39:33# And the wavin' wheat

0:39:33 > 0:39:34# Can sure smell sweet

0:39:34 > 0:39:38# When the wind comes right behind the rain

0:39:38 > 0:39:42# Ohhhh-klahoma Every night... #

0:39:42 > 0:39:45Network television was so heavy on censorship

0:39:45 > 0:39:46that they were afraid of her,

0:39:46 > 0:39:49and she'd had a couple of deals to do specials before

0:39:49 > 0:39:50and they all fell through

0:39:50 > 0:39:53because they would say, "Oh, you can't do this and you can't do that

0:39:53 > 0:39:55"and you can't do the other thing."

0:39:55 > 0:39:57We just said, "Ah, to hell with it. Let's just not do it."

0:39:57 > 0:39:59And then this one came along, and they said,

0:39:59 > 0:40:02"Well, you can do some stuff."

0:40:02 > 0:40:06They were, like, being a lit bit leaner.

0:40:06 > 0:40:08# ..Oklahoma! #

0:40:08 > 0:40:10APPLAUSE

0:40:10 > 0:40:12And there's that sequence with Dustin in that...

0:40:12 > 0:40:13How did that come about?

0:40:13 > 0:40:16I think my manger ran into him and said,

0:40:16 > 0:40:19"Would you like to be on Bette's show?" And he said, "Sure."

0:40:19 > 0:40:22And so Dustin came in and they wrote a song together

0:40:22 > 0:40:24and did a number together, and it was pretty great.

0:40:24 > 0:40:26And we won the Emmy for that.

0:40:27 > 0:40:29# Well, how you doing?

0:40:29 > 0:40:32# Gee, you're looking good

0:40:32 > 0:40:37# I heard you moved from the neighbourhood

0:40:37 > 0:40:40# Your mom came by

0:40:40 > 0:40:44# She was singing her blues

0:40:44 > 0:40:47# I'm glad you called

0:40:47 > 0:40:49# I got nothing to do... #

0:40:49 > 0:40:52I was so, so lucky to have him on that show.

0:40:52 > 0:40:53APPLAUSE

0:40:55 > 0:41:00She was mixing with movie stars and then she became one.

0:41:00 > 0:41:01Ladies and gentlemen, The Rose!

0:41:07 > 0:41:10# It's midnight in Memphis

0:41:10 > 0:41:12# And all the boys are out tonight... #

0:41:12 > 0:41:17The Rose was loosely based on the tragic life of Janis Joplin

0:41:17 > 0:41:21and Bette was given the title role of self-destructive singer

0:41:21 > 0:41:23Mary Rose.

0:41:23 > 0:41:25SHE SINGS DRUNKENLY

0:41:31 > 0:41:33Where am I?

0:41:35 > 0:41:39I never know where the fuck I am!

0:41:39 > 0:41:42All these fucking clouds look just alike.

0:41:47 > 0:41:49Welcome to rock and roll.

0:41:49 > 0:41:54- I think The Rose is a quite exceptional film.- Mm-hm.

0:41:54 > 0:41:58What I found amazing was the way you took ownership of those songs,

0:41:58 > 0:42:01which is not really your canon - it's something else.

0:42:01 > 0:42:06It was my wannabe canon. It was my wannabe.

0:42:06 > 0:42:07I always... That's what I wanted to do.

0:42:07 > 0:42:09- I really wanted to do that.- Really?

0:42:09 > 0:42:11But I never got the material.

0:42:11 > 0:42:16# Oh, stay with me, baby

0:42:16 > 0:42:22# Why don't you, why don't you just stay with me, baby? #

0:42:22 > 0:42:23Wow.

0:42:23 > 0:42:27How extraordinary was she in The Rose, and how much pathos

0:42:27 > 0:42:28and how about her singing?

0:42:28 > 0:42:31# Remember

0:42:31 > 0:42:34# You said you always gonna love me... #

0:42:34 > 0:42:37But, you know, she didn't look like the average movie star,

0:42:37 > 0:42:42so it was an unconventional kind of stardom.

0:42:42 > 0:42:46Well, she knew she wasn't the glamorous movie-star-looking

0:42:46 > 0:42:53person and, yes, it concerned her but once she sensed how much

0:42:53 > 0:42:59I appreciated her and how all I wanted was the best for her,

0:42:59 > 0:43:05she surrendered and became the actress that she should be.

0:43:05 > 0:43:10She just fit it, you know - her life reflected

0:43:10 > 0:43:14the circumstances of the picture.

0:43:14 > 0:43:18You know that phone booth scene in The Rose when she calls her parents?

0:43:18 > 0:43:19Daddy?

0:43:21 > 0:43:23Daddy, is that you?

0:43:23 > 0:43:25Hi. Are you on the phone upstairs?

0:43:27 > 0:43:30I think the difficulties she had with her father

0:43:30 > 0:43:35was a significant element in her...

0:43:37 > 0:43:41..being able to access her talent.

0:43:42 > 0:43:43I love you.

0:43:45 > 0:43:46Bye.

0:43:49 > 0:43:52But I sense your own struggles and your own experience

0:43:52 > 0:43:55- are very much in that film. - Very much.

0:43:55 > 0:43:58Not least the relationship with the manager, played by Alan Bates,

0:43:58 > 0:44:01but Aaron Russo - at that time, you were going through

0:44:01 > 0:44:03quite a difficult period with him, weren't you?

0:44:03 > 0:44:06It was tough behind... Backstage, it was very tough.

0:44:06 > 0:44:09And I have to give credit where credit is due.

0:44:09 > 0:44:10If it hadn't been for Aaron,

0:44:10 > 0:44:12that movie never would have been made,

0:44:12 > 0:44:14cos he gave it to me - they gave it to me years before and I said,

0:44:14 > 0:44:17"Don't bring this to me. I don't want this."

0:44:17 > 0:44:20And he was the one who finally brought me around and around,

0:44:20 > 0:44:22and convinced me to do it, so...

0:44:22 > 0:44:26I would like to have some time to myself before I kick off.

0:44:26 > 0:44:28Have you come into an inheritance or something?

0:44:28 > 0:44:31No, man, I just can't dredge up the sincerity any more.

0:44:31 > 0:44:33- Oh, wrong.- No, don't tell me wrong!

0:44:33 > 0:44:36Wrong! I'm fucking running the Green Bay Packers here!

0:44:36 > 0:44:39- I don't care. - OK, OK, you want out, eh? All right.

0:44:39 > 0:44:42Call in the dogs, then. Piss on the fire.

0:44:42 > 0:44:47She had a manager, a thug, kind of a tough guy, you know.

0:44:47 > 0:44:50I remember once, one of the first days of shooting,

0:44:50 > 0:44:52I was with Alan Bates,

0:44:52 > 0:44:55and I was going to shoot a scene with her

0:44:55 > 0:44:58and all of a sudden, I felt an arm on my shoulder.

0:44:58 > 0:45:04It was her manager, this thug, who's since passed away.

0:45:04 > 0:45:06He said, "What are you doing?"

0:45:06 > 0:45:10I said, "Well, I'm going to talk to Bette."

0:45:10 > 0:45:13He says, "No, no, no. You talk to me and I talk to Bette."

0:45:14 > 0:45:16I said, "Oh, really?"

0:45:16 > 0:45:19So I called the police, who were there.

0:45:19 > 0:45:21I said, "I want him out of here.

0:45:21 > 0:45:24"I don't want to see him until we have an answer print."

0:45:26 > 0:45:29The Rose would go on to earn her critical acclaim

0:45:29 > 0:45:32and an Oscar nomination for Best Actress,

0:45:32 > 0:45:35so, in 1978, with the film in the can,

0:45:35 > 0:45:39Bette returned to the more familiar territory of the stage

0:45:39 > 0:45:41with her next big project,

0:45:41 > 0:45:45and it doesn't get much bigger than a world tour.

0:45:45 > 0:45:47# I am the one they call the Big Noise

0:45:47 > 0:45:51# I'm looking fine and feeling sharp

0:45:51 > 0:45:53# I just flew in from Winnetka, don't you know?

0:45:53 > 0:45:56# I'm gonna blow this joint apart... #

0:45:56 > 0:45:58This was a kind of huge endeavour, wasn't it?

0:45:58 > 0:46:02Yeah, yeah, and a lot of things happened.

0:46:02 > 0:46:05We had, you know, fist fights, drunken...

0:46:05 > 0:46:08People setting fires to rooms, all that sort of thing.

0:46:08 > 0:46:10Um, and it was...

0:46:10 > 0:46:12But the shows were great.

0:46:15 > 0:46:18This tour saw a flowering of the characters and routines

0:46:18 > 0:46:22that would come to define Bette Midler for the next 30 years.

0:46:24 > 0:46:27It looked incredibly ambitious, that show.

0:46:27 > 0:46:30They're all very ambitious and sometimes they're really awful,

0:46:30 > 0:46:32but I do it anyway because I figure,

0:46:32 > 0:46:35"Hey, they're paying, they want something original,

0:46:35 > 0:46:37"they want something that they've never seen before.

0:46:37 > 0:46:39"Let's try some things."

0:46:39 > 0:46:41One of the goofiest ideas from that time

0:46:41 > 0:46:46is surely Delores De Lago, the singing mermaid.

0:46:46 > 0:46:49You know, one of my favourite characters in literature

0:46:49 > 0:46:51is The Little Mermaid.

0:46:51 > 0:46:54I was actually in Denmark and I saw the statue.

0:46:54 > 0:46:56You know, I went to the harbour to see her,

0:46:56 > 0:46:59and she was just so fabulous and so beautiful,

0:46:59 > 0:47:01and kind of hot in a way.

0:47:01 > 0:47:04She had... The first time I did her, she had no way of getting around -

0:47:04 > 0:47:09she only hopped, and it looked kind of pathetic!

0:47:09 > 0:47:12And then the conversation... "Well, what do we do with her?"

0:47:12 > 0:47:14And then we said, "Well, how does she get around?"

0:47:14 > 0:47:17"Well, put her in a wheelchair. It's the best mode of transportation

0:47:17 > 0:47:20"How else is a mermaid going to get around?"

0:47:20 > 0:47:23And we said, "Well, gee, won't that offend people?"

0:47:23 > 0:47:25And that, of course, was all we had to hear cos we said,

0:47:25 > 0:47:27"Well, yes, but they'd be fools.

0:47:27 > 0:47:30"We're not making fun of anybody - we've got a goddamn mermaid!"

0:47:31 > 0:47:33# Rolling

0:47:33 > 0:47:34# Rolling

0:47:34 > 0:47:37# Rolling on the river

0:47:37 > 0:47:39# Rolling

0:47:39 > 0:47:40# Rolling

0:47:40 > 0:47:42# Rolling on the river... #

0:47:42 > 0:47:47I remember the first day she sat down in that wheelchair,

0:47:47 > 0:47:48and she started to work it

0:47:48 > 0:47:51and it jerked around backwards and forwards.

0:47:51 > 0:47:53She had us rolling all over the floor.

0:47:53 > 0:47:57# With one burning thought

0:47:57 > 0:48:00# With your arms open wide... #

0:48:00 > 0:48:02That tour, she was the only one in the wheelchair.

0:48:02 > 0:48:06Then the next tour, she and the Harlettes were in the wheelchair.

0:48:07 > 0:48:10Delores proved a firm favourite with the public

0:48:10 > 0:48:13and became more extravagant with every show.

0:48:13 > 0:48:16# ..in old New York! #

0:48:16 > 0:48:19I was in... One time, they had cranked my battery up,

0:48:19 > 0:48:22the battery up on my chair, and they didn't tell me,

0:48:22 > 0:48:25and I couldn't get it to stop, and when I finally braked it,

0:48:25 > 0:48:27it flung me out into the audience

0:48:27 > 0:48:30and I landed, fortunately, in an empty seat,

0:48:30 > 0:48:31right in-between the two.

0:48:31 > 0:48:33Right, like this...

0:48:33 > 0:48:34# Delores!

0:48:34 > 0:48:36# Delores!

0:48:36 > 0:48:37# Delores!

0:48:37 > 0:48:39# Delores!

0:48:39 > 0:48:41# D-E-L-O-R-E-S

0:48:41 > 0:48:46# It's Delores! #

0:48:46 > 0:48:50I told them, everybody, "I'm not putting that fishtail on anymore."

0:48:50 > 0:48:52CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:48:52 > 0:48:55Her comedy had to be over the top because she was a woman.

0:48:55 > 0:48:59She needed all the props and all of the exaggeration

0:48:59 > 0:49:03to simply create such a light that people would see her,

0:49:03 > 0:49:08cos she would have otherwise been dismissed.

0:49:08 > 0:49:14Would an evening be complete without a visit from Sophie Tucker?

0:49:14 > 0:49:16I will never forget it, ya know!

0:49:16 > 0:49:18What about Sophie Tucker?

0:49:18 > 0:49:21Well, my friend Bruce Vilanch,

0:49:21 > 0:49:23we used to trade barbs in the backstage,

0:49:23 > 0:49:25and he always did Sophie Tucker,

0:49:25 > 0:49:28not Sophie Tucker, but a character like Sophie Tucker,

0:49:28 > 0:49:31and she told these terrible risque jokes

0:49:31 > 0:49:32and I just picked it up.

0:49:32 > 0:49:34I picked it up from him.

0:49:34 > 0:49:37# Well, the man I love... #

0:49:37 > 0:49:40Sophie Tucker was the American comedic actress

0:49:40 > 0:49:43renowned for delivering risque songs in the 1930s.

0:49:43 > 0:49:47# No-one but the right man

0:49:47 > 0:49:50# Can do me wrong... #

0:49:50 > 0:49:53I had seen Sophie Tucker as a child and I was a huge fan,

0:49:53 > 0:49:57and her rhythms - Sophie Tucker's rhythms were just hilarious

0:49:57 > 0:49:59because everything was very forceful - and so when she told you

0:49:59 > 0:50:02this thing, you knew that she meant it, goddamn it.

0:50:02 > 0:50:05I'll never forget it, ya know. I was terribly drunk the other night.

0:50:05 > 0:50:07I woke up, there was an elephant in my bed.

0:50:07 > 0:50:09I said, "Lord have mercy, I must have been tight last night."

0:50:09 > 0:50:11"Well," said the elephant...

0:50:11 > 0:50:12LAUGHTER

0:50:14 > 0:50:17I think that she did that a lot for shock value, you know.

0:50:17 > 0:50:21I think that... But there was always a cut-off point.

0:50:21 > 0:50:23She pushed, pushed, pushed that envelope

0:50:23 > 0:50:27but it never got into nasty-nasty.

0:50:27 > 0:50:29It was just bawdy.

0:50:29 > 0:50:30# Pretty legs

0:50:30 > 0:50:31# Pretty legs

0:50:31 > 0:50:32# Great big knockers

0:50:32 > 0:50:34# Great big knockers

0:50:34 > 0:50:37# But that's what sells them tickets at the door

0:50:37 > 0:50:38# Yeah, yeah

0:50:38 > 0:50:40# Pretty legs, great big knockers

0:50:40 > 0:50:42# Honey, these are real show stoppers

0:50:42 > 0:50:45# That's what keeps 'em comin' back for more... #

0:50:45 > 0:50:48How did you lose what you say you had at the beginning,

0:50:48 > 0:50:50which is this sort of fearfulness?

0:50:50 > 0:50:52How did you lose it and become...? Gain the confidence?

0:50:52 > 0:50:56I think the stage is where I live - that's my home.

0:50:58 > 0:51:00THEY LAUGH

0:51:00 > 0:51:02I was fearless on the stage.

0:51:02 > 0:51:05I really was fearless, but, I mean, for me to cross the street

0:51:05 > 0:51:07is like, "I can't do it. I can't do it."

0:51:07 > 0:51:09I am just the biggest chicken in the whole world

0:51:09 > 0:51:12until I get on the stage, and then I am in command.

0:51:12 > 0:51:14It really is where I live.

0:51:14 > 0:51:18It's my spiritual home, it's my physical home.

0:51:18 > 0:51:22I understand it, I know it, I face the crowd as if they were just one

0:51:22 > 0:51:26person, as if it were some old friend I hadn't seen in a long time.

0:51:26 > 0:51:27Hi!

0:51:27 > 0:51:29CHEERING

0:51:29 > 0:51:30How ya doin'?

0:51:31 > 0:51:35She's at home on stage and, by that, I mean you're at home with her.

0:51:35 > 0:51:39She is a hostess of a great party and you are a guest

0:51:39 > 0:51:41and she's entertaining you, and she comes out on stage

0:51:41 > 0:51:43and, right away, you're pals.

0:51:43 > 0:51:46I bet you didn't expect me to look...

0:51:46 > 0:51:48quite...

0:51:48 > 0:51:50this...

0:51:50 > 0:51:52fabulous!

0:51:54 > 0:51:55And how did you...?

0:51:55 > 0:51:58I mean, what distinguishes you?

0:51:58 > 0:52:00What made you stand out?

0:52:00 > 0:52:03Partly because you were not afraid to be whoever you wanted to be...

0:52:03 > 0:52:07- Yes.- ..but, secondly, because also you mixed genres.

0:52:07 > 0:52:09- Yes.- You know, so whether musically,

0:52:09 > 0:52:12but also this rap that you had,

0:52:12 > 0:52:13which it really kind of was.

0:52:13 > 0:52:16I think it was all those things, which is maybe three things,

0:52:16 > 0:52:19those things - the mixing of the genres and the talking

0:52:19 > 0:52:21that I did incessantly,

0:52:21 > 0:52:25which was fortunately amusing,

0:52:25 > 0:52:27and the fearlessness, but more than anything

0:52:27 > 0:52:29I think was the emotion.

0:52:29 > 0:52:33More than anything. Over all of that was the fact

0:52:33 > 0:52:36that I made people feel something.

0:52:36 > 0:52:39They weren't sure what it was, but they felt.

0:52:39 > 0:52:45They would come feeling... Getting ready to receive something,

0:52:45 > 0:52:48and when they left they were wired.

0:52:48 > 0:52:50Something had happened to them,

0:52:50 > 0:52:54and that I think is what the main overriding thing is,

0:52:54 > 0:52:56more than anything else.

0:52:56 > 0:52:58# Some say love... #

0:52:58 > 0:53:01This touching ballad won Bette a Grammy

0:53:01 > 0:53:04for Best Female Performance.

0:53:04 > 0:53:09# That drowns the tender reed

0:53:09 > 0:53:12# Some say love

0:53:12 > 0:53:16# It is a razor

0:53:16 > 0:53:22# That leaves your soul to bleed... #

0:53:22 > 0:53:24That's what you want - you want to make sure

0:53:24 > 0:53:31the audience is fed and sated, and, when it's done, they're good.

0:53:31 > 0:53:35They can move on and talk about that performance for the next week

0:53:35 > 0:53:37cos something big happened,

0:53:37 > 0:53:39and that's the truth of Bette's performances.

0:53:39 > 0:53:42She transports the audiences because she insists

0:53:42 > 0:53:45that they come along with her, because she shows up with so much.

0:53:45 > 0:53:49# ..lies the seed

0:53:49 > 0:53:53# That with the sun's love

0:53:53 > 0:53:57# In the spring

0:53:57 > 0:54:05# Becomes the rose. #

0:54:05 > 0:54:07CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:54:10 > 0:54:15Back in 1979, the world tour had ended in triumph,

0:54:15 > 0:54:21but behind the scenes, the situation with Aaron had become untenable.

0:54:21 > 0:54:25And we'd be doing great, and then this person would come into the room

0:54:25 > 0:54:28and all the air would get sucked out of the room,

0:54:28 > 0:54:32and then immediately she would become defensive.

0:54:32 > 0:54:35Unfortunately, we came to a parting of the ways,

0:54:35 > 0:54:38and I had to swim upstream and I had to do it by myself.

0:54:38 > 0:54:41It wasn't easy and it took me years to understand the way,

0:54:41 > 0:54:43how much he had actually done for me.

0:54:43 > 0:54:45# Papa loves mambo

0:54:45 > 0:54:46# Papa loves mambo... #

0:54:46 > 0:54:49Bette was now learning to make her own decisions

0:54:49 > 0:54:53and the first project was her return to film.

0:54:53 > 0:54:54# He goes to

0:54:54 > 0:54:55# He goes to

0:54:55 > 0:54:57# She goes fro

0:54:57 > 0:54:58# She goes fro... #

0:54:58 > 0:55:01Sadly, Jinxed lived up to its title.

0:55:01 > 0:55:04Critics said Bette looked uncomfortable in the role

0:55:04 > 0:55:07and the film bombed at the box office.

0:55:07 > 0:55:10So after that, it was like... We were all very sad for ourselves.

0:55:10 > 0:55:14Was that because, post-Aaron, you may have thought to yourself,

0:55:14 > 0:55:16"I'm going to do what I want to do now"?

0:55:16 > 0:55:18Is that partly it, and somehow...?

0:55:18 > 0:55:20It was partly that and it was partly the fact

0:55:20 > 0:55:22that I didn't understand how long it took.

0:55:22 > 0:55:25There were writers to deal with and then the studio said,

0:55:25 > 0:55:27"This is not good enough - you need another draft."

0:55:27 > 0:55:30Then you'd have another draft, then the writer would quit,

0:55:30 > 0:55:33then you'd have to get another writer, and people just got mad.

0:55:33 > 0:55:34You don't love me anymore, do you?

0:55:34 > 0:55:36- I'm sick and tired of being your dishrag!- Yeah?

0:55:36 > 0:55:40- And I'm going to get even!- Yeah? That's a threat?- That's a threat!

0:55:40 > 0:55:43But I threw myself into the deep end, and that's when the doubt

0:55:43 > 0:55:46started to creep in because, all of a sudden,

0:55:46 > 0:55:49these things were happening to me that I didn't understand

0:55:49 > 0:55:50and I made a lot of mistakes,

0:55:50 > 0:55:55especially in those first three years, that left big scars.

0:55:58 > 0:56:01After Jinxed, the early '80s were difficult.

0:56:01 > 0:56:04The movie had given Bette Midler a bad name

0:56:04 > 0:56:07and the film offers dried up.

0:56:07 > 0:56:13Moving on a few years, you meet Harry, I know,

0:56:13 > 0:56:14and you get married,

0:56:14 > 0:56:18and somehow I sense it changed your whole life.

0:56:18 > 0:56:21Yes, it did. It refocused me.

0:56:21 > 0:56:26I saw another door to walk through and I walked through it.

0:56:26 > 0:56:29Fearlessly, I might add, because I married my husband after six weeks

0:56:29 > 0:56:32and we're still married. But it was time, you know?

0:56:32 > 0:56:36It was time. Everything was shifting and it was time.

0:56:38 > 0:56:41Now Bette's personal life was working

0:56:41 > 0:56:45and then she was offered a film that would revitalise her career.

0:56:48 > 0:56:53She discovered she could do screen comedy and do it well.

0:56:53 > 0:56:55And, in fact, Paul Mazursky was the one who lifted me

0:56:55 > 0:57:00from the Slough of Despond and put me in Down And Out In Beverly Hills.

0:57:00 > 0:57:02SHE SCREAMS

0:57:02 > 0:57:04- What happened to the poor guy? - He's in the hot tub.

0:57:04 > 0:57:05He's still here?!

0:57:05 > 0:57:09I had a big hit with that and then Disney... Touchstone,

0:57:09 > 0:57:13the adult arm of Disney... I had a good long run with them.

0:57:13 > 0:57:16So after a series of hits in the late '80s,

0:57:16 > 0:57:20Bette Midler was again a bankable commodity in Hollywood

0:57:20 > 0:57:23and soon had the clout to form her own company,

0:57:23 > 0:57:25All Girl Productions.

0:57:25 > 0:57:30# Oh, the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof... #

0:57:30 > 0:57:34The result was the most successful film of her entire career.

0:57:34 > 0:57:36# And your shoes get so hot

0:57:36 > 0:57:41# You wish your tired feet were fire-proof... #

0:57:41 > 0:57:44It was even your Girls company who made that movie, of course.

0:57:44 > 0:57:47- Yes, that was All Girls - All Girls.- All Girls...

0:57:47 > 0:57:49Our motto, "We hold a grudge."

0:57:49 > 0:57:52Bonnie Bruckheimer said that, I didn't say that.

0:57:52 > 0:57:55- She was your collaborator? - She was my collaborator.

0:57:55 > 0:57:59She was a producer in our company and that was the first thing we did.

0:57:59 > 0:58:03Female stars learn very soon,

0:58:03 > 0:58:04when you become a star,

0:58:04 > 0:58:07you learn that you want to take control of your life

0:58:07 > 0:58:15and it's not unusual for them to be the initiator of projects.

0:58:15 > 0:58:19We were All Girls because we didn't want to take any guff.

0:58:19 > 0:58:21You can be an honorary girl,

0:58:21 > 0:58:26we'll listen, but we're going to make the decisions.

0:58:26 > 0:58:31# Under the boardwalk

0:58:31 > 0:58:34# Down by the sea... #

0:58:34 > 0:58:37Iris Rainer Dart wrote the original book

0:58:37 > 0:58:39about two friends who met on the beach

0:58:39 > 0:58:43and the story was developed with Bette the singer in mind.

0:58:45 > 0:58:47I was the inspiration for Iris to write that character,

0:58:47 > 0:58:50which was great because you always hope that if you have

0:58:50 > 0:58:54a personality that's a strong public personality, you always imagine,

0:58:54 > 0:58:58like in the old days, that they would write something for... Like Mae.

0:58:58 > 0:59:01She wrote her own stuff because she tailor-made it to herself,

0:59:01 > 0:59:03to her own abilities.

0:59:03 > 0:59:06And so Iris basically did that for me, and I was really glad.

0:59:06 > 0:59:10It roamed between, obviously, an area which could allow

0:59:10 > 0:59:12- sentimentality to creep in...- Yes.

0:59:12 > 0:59:14..and yet there was quite a lot of edge in it as well.

0:59:14 > 0:59:16Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

0:59:16 > 0:59:21For a commercial film, it had a certain amount of bite.

0:59:23 > 0:59:26- What the hell is going on here? - Would you please lower your voice?

0:59:26 > 0:59:28No, I won't. I want to know what's eating you. You have been

0:59:28 > 0:59:30a total bitch ever since you came to New York.

0:59:30 > 0:59:31I could say the same thing about you.

0:59:31 > 0:59:33I've simply been reacting to you.

0:59:33 > 0:59:35You know, give her a great role

0:59:35 > 0:59:38and she'll explode right in front of your eyes.

0:59:38 > 0:59:41You can be confident that that's going to happen

0:59:41 > 0:59:44cos she's got the equipment.

0:59:44 > 0:59:51# It must have been cold there in my shadow

0:59:51 > 0:59:56# To never have sunlight on your face... #

0:59:56 > 1:00:01And, of course, Beaches gave Bette her best ever selling song.

1:00:01 > 1:00:03# You were content to let me shine

1:00:03 > 1:00:06# That's your way

1:00:06 > 1:00:12# You always walked a step behind... #

1:00:12 > 1:00:15But she would kill a ballad, honey. She'd wear you down.

1:00:15 > 1:00:19You'd wonder what happened. It's time for drinks.

1:00:19 > 1:00:20It's time for major libation!

1:00:23 > 1:00:30# Did you ever know that you're my hero?

1:00:30 > 1:00:37# You're everything I would like to be... #

1:00:37 > 1:00:40But remember the time you brought me Wind Beneath My Wings?

1:00:40 > 1:00:44And I said, "I'm not singing that song. Are you kidding?"

1:00:44 > 1:00:45And he said to me,

1:00:45 > 1:00:47"If you don't sing that song, I'll never speak to you again."

1:00:47 > 1:00:50# ..high against the sky... #

1:00:50 > 1:00:53Beaches, with its theme of friendships lost,

1:00:53 > 1:00:55touched a nerve around the world

1:00:55 > 1:00:58and now Bette began to lose her friends,

1:00:58 > 1:01:02and her most loyal fans, when AIDS took hold in America.

1:01:02 > 1:01:08# ..the wind beneath my wings. #

1:01:10 > 1:01:14To see all those aspirations, suddenly gay liberation happens

1:01:14 > 1:01:18- and then, somehow, something terrible follows it.- Yes.

1:01:18 > 1:01:22I did my share. I did my part. I did what I had to do.

1:01:22 > 1:01:24I buried a lot of people.

1:01:25 > 1:01:33# I had some friends but they're gone

1:01:33 > 1:01:37# Somethin' came and took them away

1:01:38 > 1:01:43# And from the dusk till the dawn

1:01:46 > 1:01:52# Here is where I stay... #

1:01:52 > 1:01:55I fundraised and I did...

1:01:55 > 1:01:56I did the best I could.

1:01:56 > 1:01:59It was pretty wrenching. It was a pretty wrenching time.

1:02:02 > 1:02:06Then, in 1992, there was another goodbye.

1:02:06 > 1:02:11Johnny Carson was retiring and all of America was watching.

1:02:11 > 1:02:15His last show, that Johnny did, at the end of his career,

1:02:15 > 1:02:16he had Bette on.

1:02:16 > 1:02:19Ah, gee, Mr Carson.

1:02:19 > 1:02:21I don't want to bother you, it's just that when I heard

1:02:21 > 1:02:24that you were leaving, well, it kind of broke my heart.

1:02:24 > 1:02:27I mean, I can't tell you how many nights I've laid in bed,

1:02:27 > 1:02:29watching you, thinking to myself,

1:02:29 > 1:02:32"Should I change the colour of my toenail polish?"

1:02:32 > 1:02:33She said, you know,

1:02:33 > 1:02:36"They asked me to be the last guest. What should I sing?"

1:02:36 > 1:02:39So I was thinking about it, and I remember I was in the shower,

1:02:39 > 1:02:42and I thought, "One For My Baby, One For The Road."

1:02:42 > 1:02:44I mean, I just knew. Bingo!

1:02:44 > 1:02:48Light bulb! I called her, still dripping wet.

1:02:48 > 1:02:51I said, "I got it - One For My Baby, One For The Road."

1:02:51 > 1:02:53And for the next three weeks, it was nothing but,

1:02:53 > 1:02:55"I can't sing this song. I don't want to sing this song.

1:02:55 > 1:02:58"I'll sound horrible on this song. I don't have the chops to sing this song."

1:02:58 > 1:03:02I was like, "Bette, please, just trust me on this one."

1:03:02 > 1:03:05# We're drinking, my friend

1:03:05 > 1:03:14# To the end of a sweet episode

1:03:14 > 1:03:18# Make it one for my baby

1:03:18 > 1:03:23# And one more for the road... #

1:03:23 > 1:03:25I was in the back with my wife

1:03:25 > 1:03:29and I was just crying, I was just sobbing.

1:03:29 > 1:03:34# So drop another nickel in the machine... #

1:03:34 > 1:03:38So then they found that incredible angle that they'd never done,

1:03:38 > 1:03:40where you could see her sing and him watching,

1:03:40 > 1:03:43and I'm getting chills just thinking about it now.

1:03:43 > 1:03:46# For all of the years

1:03:46 > 1:03:50# For the laughs, for the tears

1:03:50 > 1:03:57# For the class that you showed

1:03:59 > 1:04:04# Make it one for my baby

1:04:04 > 1:04:11# And one more for the road. #

1:04:13 > 1:04:15It was amazing to experience

1:04:15 > 1:04:17and I tried not to get it...

1:04:17 > 1:04:18allow it to overwhelm me,

1:04:18 > 1:04:23because it could have very easily, but I was really honoured.

1:04:24 > 1:04:26Now that Bette had conquered Hollywood,

1:04:26 > 1:04:28she returned to New York

1:04:28 > 1:04:32and decided to give something back to the city she loved.

1:04:32 > 1:04:36In 1995, she founded the New York Restoration Project -

1:04:36 > 1:04:39an organisation dedicated to raising funds

1:04:39 > 1:04:42to regenerate disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

1:04:42 > 1:04:44# I'm beautiful I'm beautiful

1:04:44 > 1:04:47# I'm beautiful, damn it... #

1:04:47 > 1:04:49We've built parks, we've renovated parks,

1:04:49 > 1:04:51we've built a boathouse,

1:04:51 > 1:04:54the first boathouse on the Harlem River in over 100 years

1:04:54 > 1:04:56for community rowing.

1:04:56 > 1:05:00We teach, we educate, we own 52 community gardens.

1:05:00 > 1:05:02I'm really big into community gardens.

1:05:02 > 1:05:04It's great, a great programme.

1:05:04 > 1:05:07So is it true when you came back to New York from LA

1:05:07 > 1:05:09and you saw people dropping litter

1:05:09 > 1:05:11- and you looked at the place... - Oh, my God, I flip out.

1:05:11 > 1:05:13- You flipped out?- I flip out

1:05:13 > 1:05:15because, you know, we only have one planet.

1:05:17 > 1:05:21You've always been someone very engaged with the world

1:05:21 > 1:05:24and the things that you think matter.

1:05:24 > 1:05:28I actually became engaged with the world after I had my daughter.

1:05:28 > 1:05:31Really, that's when I sat up and said, "Well, my daughter's here,

1:05:31 > 1:05:35"can we spruce this up a little bit? Can we fix this?"

1:05:35 > 1:05:37That's because I got the sense

1:05:37 > 1:05:39that it wasn't the world that I had grown up in,

1:05:39 > 1:05:42which was a really sunny and bright and beautiful world.

1:05:42 > 1:05:46So coming to, sort of, the recent present,

1:05:46 > 1:05:49- to take on Vegas...- Mm-hm.

1:05:49 > 1:05:50That's quite something.

1:05:50 > 1:05:52The biggest stage you could possibly take on,

1:05:52 > 1:05:55night after night, doing it for two years.

1:05:55 > 1:05:58I took it on because I wanted to see what that was like.

1:05:58 > 1:06:01I knew everybody else was doing it and I wanted to do it, too.

1:06:01 > 1:06:03You know, I'm very competitive that way, "I want to do that!"

1:06:03 > 1:06:06So I did it and I was like, "Why is everyone doing this?

1:06:06 > 1:06:10"This is so hard!" You know? It's so hard!

1:06:10 > 1:06:13So I don't think I'll be doing that again.

1:06:13 > 1:06:15Even though I had some wonderful, memorable evenings,

1:06:15 > 1:06:17I don't think I'm going to do that again.

1:06:17 > 1:06:20I think that was the toughest thing I ever did.

1:06:25 > 1:06:27# Here I am, no need to search

1:06:27 > 1:06:30# Up here on my feathered perch

1:06:30 > 1:06:32# Sweating like a whore in church

1:06:32 > 1:06:35# Boy, it's hot in here. #

1:06:35 > 1:06:39Running back and forth, singing live for two hours and dancing -

1:06:39 > 1:06:41everything she does is extremely physical

1:06:41 > 1:06:43and she works at it,

1:06:43 > 1:06:47whether it's at the treadmill or gymnasium, vocalising.

1:06:47 > 1:06:50I mean, she can vocalise on the treadmill.

1:06:50 > 1:06:52# Cos you know I'm on a mission of seduction

1:06:52 > 1:06:54# I confess

1:06:54 > 1:06:58# As the room gets hotter, we'll be wearing even less

1:06:58 > 1:06:59# All the doors are bolted

1:06:59 > 1:07:02# You might be here till dawn

1:07:02 > 1:07:04# You can't stop the showgirl

1:07:04 > 1:07:06# You can't stop the showgirl

1:07:06 > 1:07:08# You can't stop the showgirl

1:07:08 > 1:07:12# The showgirl must go on. #

1:07:16 > 1:07:19I get the impression that although it seems effortless on stage,

1:07:19 > 1:07:23the amount of preparation you put into things...

1:07:23 > 1:07:25You question things all the time,

1:07:25 > 1:07:29so that must be quite consuming offstage.

1:07:29 > 1:07:32You know, it is, it really is.

1:07:32 > 1:07:33You can have natural gifts,

1:07:33 > 1:07:38but you do have to hone them and keep them in shape.

1:07:38 > 1:07:41An actor, a singer, a dancer -

1:07:41 > 1:07:43these kinds of gifts are really ephemeral.

1:07:43 > 1:07:45They're like muscles and, if you don't keep them up,

1:07:45 > 1:07:48they will atrophy, they'll disappear.

1:07:48 > 1:07:53So the artist is, you know, often off by themselves,

1:07:53 > 1:07:56taking care of their instrument.

1:07:56 > 1:07:59And it's not something that people often talk about,

1:07:59 > 1:08:01because it's not particularly glamorous.

1:08:01 > 1:08:05It's the grunt work, but you really do have to keep it up.

1:08:05 > 1:08:08Over the years, voices will darken,

1:08:08 > 1:08:09you can't hit the high notes,

1:08:09 > 1:08:11you drank too much last night, your face is puffy,

1:08:11 > 1:08:13you can't do the step.

1:08:13 > 1:08:15I mean, it's all a package.

1:08:15 > 1:08:19You never let them see you sweat, that old thing.

1:08:19 > 1:08:21You do your work, what you need to do,

1:08:21 > 1:08:25so that what you present to them is glorious.

1:08:25 > 1:08:28To me, it has to be excellent, it just has to be.

1:08:35 > 1:08:37Holy Moley, I tell you,

1:08:37 > 1:08:39when I'm creating a number for her...

1:08:40 > 1:08:43Don't tell her I told you this!

1:08:43 > 1:08:46..I have to finish the number completely.

1:08:46 > 1:08:48It needs to be spick and span.

1:08:48 > 1:08:51If the girls aren't cleaned up or something

1:08:51 > 1:08:53isn't quite still finished, she throws it out.

1:08:53 > 1:08:57But she is involved in every morsel.

1:08:57 > 1:08:59Morsel!

1:08:59 > 1:09:02# Do you wanna dance

1:09:02 > 1:09:06# Under the moonlight?

1:09:06 > 1:09:08# Hug me, baby, kiss me

1:09:08 > 1:09:12# Kiss me all through the night

1:09:12 > 1:09:15# Oh, baby, baby, baby, baby

1:09:15 > 1:09:17# Baby, tell me, tell me

1:09:17 > 1:09:19# Do you wanna

1:09:19 > 1:09:20# Do you wanna dance?

1:09:20 > 1:09:22# Do you wanna, do you wanna?

1:09:22 > 1:09:24# Oh... #

1:09:24 > 1:09:27- It was a long stretch, so big... - Two years?

1:09:27 > 1:09:30It was two years and it was so big - I couldn't take it any more.

1:09:30 > 1:09:32I really had to lie down.

1:09:32 > 1:09:34And I decided, "You know what? I need to strip this down."

1:09:34 > 1:09:37He always used to say, "What are you doing that for?"

1:09:37 > 1:09:39Yeah, me and my partner Scott, we always used to say,

1:09:39 > 1:09:43"Bette, a stool, a microphone and a spotlight...

1:09:43 > 1:09:46- "and an orchestra." But that's all you need.- I didn't have that.

1:09:46 > 1:09:49I always find it odd how Bette wants to give the audience a big show.

1:09:49 > 1:09:52- Yeah...well, they pay. - It's a great thing to respect.

1:09:52 > 1:09:55On the other hand, she's the last person on earth

1:09:55 > 1:09:57who needs anything but just the microphone.

1:09:57 > 1:09:58Well, that's nice of you.

1:10:01 > 1:10:03Bette's new album, It's The Girls,

1:10:03 > 1:10:07is dedicated to all those girl groups she grew up with.

1:10:07 > 1:10:09# Mr Sandman

1:10:09 > 1:10:12# Bring me a dream... #

1:10:12 > 1:10:16It's a recurring theme that has influenced her stage performances,

1:10:16 > 1:10:17her Hollywood career,

1:10:17 > 1:10:20and of course her music, for over 50 years -

1:10:20 > 1:10:23girl power.

1:10:23 > 1:10:26# Mr Sandman

1:10:26 > 1:10:28# I'm so alone

1:10:28 > 1:10:31# Don't have nobody to call my own... #

1:10:31 > 1:10:33This was a magical experience,

1:10:33 > 1:10:35this last record that I made with Marc,

1:10:35 > 1:10:37which is a girl groups record,

1:10:37 > 1:10:43and it's funny because that music is really the basis of my life.

1:10:43 > 1:10:47It's where you started, listening to The Andrews Sisters.

1:10:47 > 1:10:49The Boswell Sisters,

1:10:49 > 1:10:51The Supremes, The Marvelettes,

1:10:51 > 1:10:53you know, The Exciters.

1:10:53 > 1:10:56All those groups that were my age,

1:10:56 > 1:10:59you know, at the time that they were most popular.

1:10:59 > 1:11:02- # Mr Sandman... #- Yes?

1:11:02 > 1:11:04# Bring me a dream

1:11:04 > 1:11:07# Give him a pair of eyes with a come hither gleam... #

1:11:07 > 1:11:10Harmony is something that is so infectious

1:11:10 > 1:11:12and so inspirational, I think.

1:11:12 > 1:11:16I mean, solo voices are beautiful, but when they sing in harmony,

1:11:16 > 1:11:18it's like that chord, that chord!

1:11:18 > 1:11:20It's otherworldly and I've always loved it,

1:11:20 > 1:11:22and I've always been a slave to it.

1:11:22 > 1:11:26So, I mean, I picked the best songs we could find that suited me.

1:11:26 > 1:11:29# Shooby-dooby dooby-dooby doo-wa-ah

1:11:29 > 1:11:32# Shooby-dooby dooby-dooby doo-wa-ah

1:11:32 > 1:11:35# One fine day

1:11:35 > 1:11:38# You'll look at me

1:11:38 > 1:11:41# And you will know our love was

1:11:41 > 1:11:44- # Meant to be - Shooby-dooby dooby-dooby doo-wa-ah

1:11:44 > 1:11:46# One fine day

1:11:46 > 1:11:49# You're gonna want me for your girl

1:11:49 > 1:11:52# Shooby-dooby dooby-dooby doo-wa-ah

1:11:52 > 1:11:55- # Shooby-dooby dooby-dooby doo-wa-ah - Oh, yeah... #

1:11:55 > 1:11:58We have shorthand now, we've known each other for so long,

1:11:58 > 1:12:00and I have total trust in him.

1:12:00 > 1:12:02There's a certain kind of music that, if I want that,

1:12:02 > 1:12:05I go to him because he always delivers on that.

1:12:05 > 1:12:07He has a big heart, his heart is always in his chords

1:12:07 > 1:12:09and he's a terrific accompanist.

1:12:09 > 1:12:10He's also a great arranger.

1:12:10 > 1:12:13- I mean, he hears my... - Are you recording this?!

1:12:13 > 1:12:16He hears me breathe and a lot of people don't hear you breathe.

1:12:16 > 1:12:18You know, they're listening to something else.

1:12:18 > 1:12:20So he's been great.

1:12:20 > 1:12:22# Tell him that you're never gonna leave him

1:12:22 > 1:12:25# Tell him that you're always gonna love him

1:12:25 > 1:12:27# Tell him, tell him, tell him

1:12:27 > 1:12:29# Tell him right now... #

1:12:29 > 1:12:31And this record was really a lot of fun because all this music

1:12:31 > 1:12:33on this record is familiar.

1:12:33 > 1:12:36His idea of taking something that is familiar

1:12:36 > 1:12:39and turning it into something that is unfamiliar and brand-new is...

1:12:39 > 1:12:41We have the same sensibilities, so that's a great thing.

1:12:41 > 1:12:44- I learned that from listening to Bette Midler records.- Sure.

1:12:44 > 1:12:47Se here you are, we're a perfect team.

1:12:47 > 1:12:51# I know something about love

1:12:51 > 1:12:52# You've gotta show it

1:12:52 > 1:12:56# And make him see the moon up above

1:12:56 > 1:12:58# Go out and get him... #

1:12:58 > 1:13:01- The album's coming out very shortly.- Mm-hm.

1:13:01 > 1:13:03What's in your horizons?

1:13:03 > 1:13:06I'm going to put the album out and we're going to see what happens,

1:13:06 > 1:13:10and I think I'll probably take it on the road a little bit.

1:13:10 > 1:13:13I'd like to take it on the road in not the gigantic way.

1:13:13 > 1:13:16Or if I do take it on the road in a gigantic way,

1:13:16 > 1:13:19to be able to mix and match some theatres and some smaller rooms

1:13:19 > 1:13:20with the big rooms...

1:13:20 > 1:13:23only because I kind of miss that...

1:13:23 > 1:13:26because I do see the horizon looming up before me.

1:13:26 > 1:13:27What's looming up?

1:13:27 > 1:13:30Well, I... I may...

1:13:30 > 1:13:32Ugh!

1:13:32 > 1:13:34Ugh! It!

1:13:34 > 1:13:36It's coming and I know it's coming!

1:13:36 > 1:13:41And it's almost as if I almost would like to experience the world

1:13:41 > 1:13:42in a different way,

1:13:42 > 1:13:47not from the inside of a limo, not from a stage,

1:13:47 > 1:13:52but the way people experience the world.

1:13:52 > 1:13:54I want to see it.

1:13:54 > 1:13:55I want to be in it.

1:13:56 > 1:13:58Oh, God!

1:13:59 > 1:14:01Yes, well, that's what she said.

1:14:01 > 1:14:04Turns out Bette couldn't resist.

1:14:04 > 1:14:09Her Broadway run in Hello, Dolly! starts tomorrow night,

1:14:09 > 1:14:11so it seems the Divine Miss M

1:14:11 > 1:14:15will be experiencing life from the stage a little longer.