Bette Midler (53 page)

By the end of
First Wives Club
, the trio of Diane, Goldie, and Bette are triumphant in their plot for revenge against their ex-husbands. All dressed in white, the trio erupts into a self-empowering version of the song “You Don’t Own Me.”
The First Wives Club
was the biggest hit film in Bette’s entire film career, grossing more than $100 million dollars at the box office. When she staged a concert called
Diva Las Vegas
the following year, Midler sang of her screen success in this movie “I’m in a hit, a big fucking hit BABY!”
(Courtesy of Andy Schwartz for Paramount Pictures / MJB Photo Archives)

Dennis Farina plays Bette’s ex-husband in
That Old Feeling
. When they meet again at the wedding of their daughter, they begin arguing, but their altercation somehow rekindles their once-hot lust for each other.
(Courtesy of Takashi Seida for Universal Pictures / MJB Photo Archives)

In the 2000 film
Isn’t She Great
, Bette Midler played
Valley of the Dolls
author Jacqueline Susann, with Nathan Lane as her husband Irving Mansfield.
(Courtesy of Photofest)

Miss M took a big gamble in 2000 when she starred in her own network TV series,
Bette
—and lost. Milder and her co-stars (left to right): James Dreyfus, Joanna Gleason, Lindsay Lohan, and Kevin Dunn.
(Courtesy of Photofest)

In the year 2000 Midler was the star of her own weekly television series, starred in two films (
Drowning Mona
and
Isn’t She Great)
, and released her eighteenth album, entitled
Bette
. To quote the multi-million-selling, award-winning diva herself: “I’m beautiful—DAMN IT!”
(Courtesy of Greg Gorman for Warner Brothers Records / MJB Photo Archives)

While most of his famous clients have their own trademark “look,” Bruce has his own as well. He is never seen in public without being dressed in a T-shirt—one tackier than the next. For formal occasions, Vilanch simply puts a sport coat on over the tacky T-shirt. This amusing documentary is loosely in the vein of “a day in the live of . . .” and it follows Vilanch from his abode, and his wall of T-shirts, to on-camera encounters with his famed clients.

“For years, I never said a word that Bruce didn’t charge me for,” claims Midler (
171
). As she explains the evolution of her work with him, “Bruce hitched himself to my wagon.” According to her, she met him when she was at Mr. Kelly’s in Chicago and instantly said to him, “You got any lines?” He has been writing gag lines for her ever since. It was Bruce who originally introduced Bette to the “blue” comedy of Sophie Tucker and Belle Barth. Tucker and Barth were both grand dames who would tell a filthy joke on stage with flair. Thanks to Vilanch, her “Soph” character was a fusion of these ladies’ scandalous acts.

Apparently, Vilanch has been putting words in Midler’s mouth ever since. She says on camera here: “Bruce was the first man to put something in my mouth that actually made us both money!”

Explaining the key to Vilanch’s talent, Bette says, “He has a great sense of who people are, what their images are in the public.”

To demonstrate the point, Bette is seen in various film clips, reciting Vilanch-written gags. From
Diva Las Vegas
, she is seen telling jokes onstage that Vilanch penned for her. She was shown on the final episode of
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
, making jokes about people watching the program while having sex in front of the TV. She is also seen singing “Dear Mr. Carson” to Johnny to the tune of “Dear Mr. Gable.”

There is some great old footage included in
Get Bruce
, which shows Bette in a grainy black and white film at Mr. Kelly’s in Chicago, where she first encountered Vilanch in the early ’70s.

In addition to Midler’s appearance, her musical director Marc Shaiman
is also a part of the documentary, shown working with Bruce on a special musical number. Finally, Bette is seen and heard serenading Vilanch with the song “I Could Write a Book.”

Get Bruce
, in its limited theatrical run, received great reviews from media insiders. “Fascinating . . . As much an insight into the celebs as it is into this funnyman himself!” said
Entertainment Weekly
. “Some choice scenes . . . how can the movie miss?” wrote
Movieline
. “[A] likable documentary . . . Mr. Vilanch effuses the good-natured canniness of an all-knowing cherub” was the
New York Times’
assessment. And
USA Today
found it “Engagingly funny!” (
98
).

During 1999, one of Bette’s most publicized projects had nothing to do with movies or music. It had to do with trash: the kind that once choked the streets and parks of New York City. Ever since moving back to Manhattan in 1994, Midler had been working with the New York Restoration Project to clean up America’s greatest city.

According to her, when she first moved back to New York, she couldn’t believe the mess she witnessed there. All of her memories of the city seemed to be littered with trash, strewn about like confetti. “Oh, my God! Look what’s on the side of the road! Did a garbage truck explode?!” she exclaimed (
1
).

Cleaning up a couple of miles of freeway in Los Angeles was one thing, but cleaning up New York City was quite another. However, she felt that she was up for the challenge. “Garbage is my field of expertise. It’s shallow, but I’m more interested than most,” she says. “I do love the planet. When I look around, and I see all the things that have managed to begin and end their lives on this planet, I just know there’s a God. There has to be. It couldn’t be this beautiful without one” (
1
).

According to her, one of Bette’s main inspirations in the realm of charity workwas Eugene Lang, a successful businessman. In 1981, when he went to see his old East Harlem elementary school, he pledged a college scholarship to any student who was there that day and who successfully graduated from high school.

According to Bette, “It made me think, ‘Wow, one person can make a difference. Here was a guy who didn’t just give money. He established a whole network of people to help people” (
172
).

Bette took to the phones. One of the first people she called was Jan Wenner, the publisher of
Rolling Stone
magazine and a long-time friend. He volunteered office space to Bette for her clean up New York campaign. From there, she started calling more of her friends and acquaintances.
She recalls, “It would take a whole day working myself up to make these phone calls. A lot of times, I’d end up talking to their secretaries. They’d say, ‘Is that really you?’ But then their bosses wouldn’t call me back” (
172
).

Suddenly, abandoned cars, hypodermic-needle-filled parks, and garbage-littered streets became Midler’s cause. When she successfully helped to raise money to purchase abandoned lots of property and subsequently turned them into clean and refurbished city parks and gardens, the ball slowly began to roll.

Says Midler, “None of us expected the outpouring of love and gratitude over this gesture. I didn’t realize how much emotion had been invested in these gardens. It made me think there’s more to be done. I’d like to do more. We would like to begin a community garden movement. We’re not exactly sure how” (
172
). After years of talking trash on stage, Bette Midler was now cleaning up New York City trash as her newfound charitable cause.

According to the diva, in the 1990s she made a switch in causes, from AIDS charities to her famed clean-up campaigns. With regard to her switch in focus, she explained, “All my friends died. I did my part and then I moved on. I wanted to get into an area where there was absolutely nobody” (
173
). That opened the door to her now famous work with the New York City Preservation Society.

What a divine century the 1900s had been for Bette Midler. And the 1990s had been a great decade for her—more awards, more musical hits, the biggest across-the-board hit film of her career. What was she going to do for an encore? Well, if anyone could come up with one, it was Bette. She was about to blast herself into the 2000s the only way she knew how: explosively divine!