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NEW
YORK NEW YORK
A "DIVINE" RETURN: It may have taken "The Divine Miss
M," BETTE MIDLER, a couple of years to do it - but do it she did . .
. and in grand style. Of course we're referring to BETTE's long
anticipated return to live performances in Fun City at the Copacabana.
There she stood - in tight, black toreador pants and a lobster red corset
which would make even the likes of MAE WEST cringe in embarrassment - glad
to be back home after months and months "on the road." The last
time BETTE set foot on a New York stage to entertain New Yorkers had been
over two years ago - at the Palace in '75 - so everyone was brimming with
excitement and anticipation. And THE DIVINE MISS M was determined not to
let the crowd down - even if the recently resurrected Copacabana
nightclub's tacky, tacky
interior just did that. Fans paid $25 a seat to be crowded like
sardines into poker chip-size tables where bottles of wine going at $20 a
clip were "featured." For headier tastes, there was a rather
limp champagne going at 60 bucks a bottle. It was freezing outside, but
since conditions were sooo cramped inside the Copacabana, everyone inside
felt positively wilted by the time BETTE took command of the stage. But
everyone there on opening night - including the always-caustic REX REED
who has dubbed BETTE "The Divine Miss Mildew" - had to agree
BETTE was indeed worth the wait: "Welcome to Close Encounters of the Worst
Kind!" BETTE snapped for openers - and instantly had the crowd
right in her ample lap, "You fools," she roared, referring to
the expensive tab and tacky condition at the Copacabcina,
"they bought Manhattan for less money than it cost all of you
to see me!" But no one walked away feeling "shortchanged"
- not by a long shot. BETTE belted out all of her hits including her
"unique" re-working of Leader of the Pack, of course -
and saved her best one-liner for last. "New York," she sighed in
tribute to the city that originally "discovered" her, "is
the only city in the world that actually takes Women's Wear
Daily seriously!"
It was a "divine" evening that had all New Yorkers
talking for many evenings after. As the lady herself finally said,
"You've paid your money to see a good show – and I better do just
that . . . or else ED KOCH will close down this dump!!”
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What's
behind the Paul Simon-Bette Midler feud?
The Divine Miss M and Rhymin' Simon fell out over one of his songs,
"Gone At Last," which she recorded with him. When the record was
released, Phoebe Snow was the female lead, not Bette. "To this day I
don't exactly know what happened," Bette says. "One day the
record came out but I wasn't on it .
. . I was very hurt." Simon says simply: "I changed the
concept with Phoebe and tried a gospel approach because she was perfect
for it. Bette and I have no plans to do any more work together."
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BETTE
MIDLER: TV'S "TASTY" TIDBIT?
"The Divine Miss M" on prime time television? In fact, Miss
Midler recently quipped: "A future on TV? Who'd want a future on TV?;
Television is a medium that eats you alive. You can't keep turning out
good material week after week! Another special, maybe. . ." But, she
added, her first love is the stage. "It's' my basic skill, like
typing. I can always go back to it."
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BUXOM
BETTE...
French TV audiences were treated to quite a show when Bette Midler
appeared on the Patrick Juvet program there, backed by her group, The Harlettes.
Whatever Bette's singing here, you can bet it probably doesn't need
translation.
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