On Bette Midler : an opinionated guide

On Bette Midler An opinionated guide

Kevin Winkler

Book - 2024

"Bette Midler today is a beloved legacy star, best known for her comic witch in Disney's Hocus Pocus and its 2022 sequel and for sentimental, anthemic ballads like "Wind Beneath My Wings." She's initiated green space projects in New York City and tussled with Donald Trump on Twitter. Her profile is that of an articulate, civic-minded matron enjoying thoroughly mainstream stardom. But more than fifty years earlier she emerged from the steam of the subterranean Continental Baths as the Divine Miss M, her bawdy, campy, fearless alter ego created in front of an audience of towel-clad gay men who came to the baths seeking not just sex, but a sense of community and safety from an often harrowing outside world. The Divine ...Miss M coalesced gay, as well as Jewish, feminist, and show business sensibilities into an outrageously funny and emotionally compelling persona that travelled with surprising ease from the cultural margins to the entertainment mainstream. Her embrace by mom-and-pop audiences, rock fans and critics, and the guardians of middle-of-the-road show business demonstrates just how deeply the tastes and sensibilities of her original audience has been absorbed into popular culture. Fittingly for a book about a multi-platform artist, On Bette Midler: An Opinionated Guide examines Midler's impact across media, with chapters on the soaring highs (and occasional cringe-worthy lows) of her stage work, movies, recordings, and television appearances, and considers her influence as an environmental activist and social media presence"--

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Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor New Shelf 781.66092/Midler (NEW SHELF) Checked In
Subjects
Midler, Bette.
Singers > United States > Biography.
Motion picture actors and actresses > United States > Biography.
Biographies.
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York, NY : Oxford University Press [2024]
Language
English
Main Author
Kevin Winkler (author)
Physical Description
xxvii, 201 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 22 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780197668320
  • Preface and Acknowledgments
  • "Any Day Now …": A Bette Midler Chronology
  • Introduction: The Birth of the Divine
  • 1. "And Me, I Was Your Hostess!": Bette Midler's Theater
  • 2. "Some Say Love …": Bette Midler's Recordings
  • 3. "I'll Show You a Pair of Golden Globes!": Bette Midler's Television
  • 4. "I've Been Kidnapped by Kmart!": Bette Midler's Movies
  • Notes
  • "Now Write This Down!": A Selected Bibliography
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

Bette Midler is the ultimate outsider. As a Jewish female born and raised in Hawaii, she was such an iconoclast among the Samoans, Filipinos, and Chinese in her Hawaiian school (she felt "different" and "not as good as the rest") she tried passing for Portuguese ("Portuguese were accepted. Jews were not.") A bookish teenager, she survived by being a clown. When she moved to New York, she instantly felt at home. Initially, she found fame in the gay-men-only bathhouses of the early 1970s, developing a persona: the brash but vulnerable Divine Miss M. She later attained mainstream success with pop hits ("Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "From a Distance," "Wind beneath My Wings"), in movies (The Rose, Beaches, First Wives' Club), and on Broadway (a revival of Hello, Dolly!) As the title indicates, Winkler is, indeed, an opinionated fan, but he also happens to be a first-rate writer, running through the highlights of her sui generis career with astute and entertaining observations and commentary. Complete with a detailed chronology and bibliography, this is an illuminating tribute to the always divine Midler.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

A "gay camp sensibility" has helped make Bette Midler a "singular talent across media for more than fifty years," according to this effusive biography from library curator Winkler (Everything Is Choreography). Finding her voice in 1970s "song-and-comedy" performances at gay bathhouses, Midler developed a comic style that mixed bawdy humor, unabashed camp (her fashion style was "trash with flash"), and the "outsider's perspective" she gleaned as an "unattractive Jewish girl from Hawaii" who'd failed to find success in mainstream show biz. Winkler covers Midler's years on Broadway, her television and film roles, and her somewhat rockier transition to recording music, a medium that could obscure her onstage flair (in the 1975 album Songs for the New Depression, for example, Midler's vocals are sanded down into "a smooth pop-singer sound," Winkler writes, as if she's trying to rid her voice "of its distinctive edge"). Though he tends to gush over the star--breathless analyses of her stage work abound; even a ragged-voiced nightclub performance is characterized as "transcendent art"--Winkler dutifully accounts for such missteps as the failed 2000 sitcom Bette and takes stock of the unevenness of her oeuvre, which he attributes partly to Hollywood's casting biases. Winkler's blend of dishy backstage detail, over-the-top adoration, and solid criticism befit his larger-than-life subject. Midler's fans will find plenty to sink their teeth into. (Apr.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

After arriving in New York City by way of Hawaii in 1965, Bette Midler got her start performing in experimental theater productions and bathhouses. She became known for her campy "Divine Miss M" stage persona and found many of her fans in the gay community throughout the 1970s. Her career has since spanned nearly 60 years on stage, with studio albums, television, and film included in her body of work. Still, her road to stardom is sometimes lesser known to younger generations who recognize her primarily from film roles such as Hocus Pocus. Winkler (Everything Is Choreography: The Musical Theatre of Tommy Tune) illuminates Midler's story from his perspective as a longtime fan. The preface clarifies that this book does not contain interviews with Midler or with people who worked with her, as a traditional biography would, but Winkler's well-researched and organized guide provides all the facts with plenty of juicy tidbits sprinkled in. Notes for each chapter and a selected bibliography are included. VERDICT A fascinating and personal portrait of a singular performer. Winkler succeeds at capturing Midler's distinctive and memorable personality, which is somehow equal parts bawdy showgirl and sensitive chanteuse.--Claire Sewell

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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