By the end of 1972, with the release of Bette's first album, "The Divine Miss M," and successful engagements at The Troubadour, The Bitter End and The Boarding House - not to mention her huge New Year's Eve gala at the Philharmonic Hall in New York City to bring in 1973 - people all over were now talking about Bette Midler. Naturally, it was due time for Bette and her entourage to embark on their very first large-scale cross-country tour. 

"The Divine Miss M Tour" (as I've titled it) is a combination of two separate cross-country treks - one in the winter of early '73 and one in the autumn of late '73 - and the Broadway engagement at the Palace Theater in New York City during the month of December. 

Before the tour could begin, however, a major replacement had to be made. After the New Year's Eve show at Philharmonic Hall, Melissa Manchester decided it was time she moved on and pursue her own career.  Left now with only two Harlettes - Merle Miller and Gail Kantor - Bette went on the search for a new third.  She eventually chose a personal friend and fellow singer that she'd known for a few years by the name of Charlotte Crossley, who would end up working for Bette longer than any other Harlette in history and be given the prestigious title of "the oldest living Harlette."  After weeks of exhaustive rehearsals, everybody was finally ready to hit the road.

The winter tour began in Rochester on January 19th and came to a close in San Francisco. It was a grueling thirty-city tour that lasted approximately three months. The tour hit a lot of college towns on the east coast in hopes of attracting younger crowds and even crossed over the border to Toronto to give Canadians a taste of Miss M - which only left them wanting more. 

Like at the Philharmonic Hall show, Bette was often brought out on stage in a sedan chair with draped windows carried by men, or brandishing a whip. Her song repertoire consisted of the standards like "Friends," "Leader of the Pack," "Chapel Of Love" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," along with her Hubba Hubba (swing music from the 40's) classics like "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and "Sha-Boom Sha-Boom." She also performed her well-loved trashy double entendre songs like "Bad Sex," "Fat Stuff," and "Empty Bed Blues," as well as the tear-jerking ballads like "Hello in There," "Am I Blue," and "Superstar." 

Having come from the "Baths" in New York City, and being known as a gay cult icon, the vast majority of her audiences were often homosexual men, who would go wild for her when she'd come to their towns. Many fans would dance in the aisles, come dressed up in outrageous apparel, and would rush the stage to give Bette gifts and tell her how much they adored her. Up until that point gay culture wasn't in the mainstream, but when Bette would come to town, it was often a coming-out party. It became a chance for both the straight and gay worlds to become one, and for the outsiders to become the insiders for a change. It truly helped break down a lot of boundaries. 

One iconic thing about these tours was that each show always included local humour incorporated into the act. Upon arriving in each new town, the Harlettes would often hit the streets and talk to the locals and see what was happening and gather any gossip. They would bring the information to Bruce Vilanch and Bill Hennessy, who would then write one-line jokes to use in that evening's performance. Before show time they would tape the jokes onto a mirror in Bette's dressing room where she'd memorize them. This method was used for every subsequent tour after. 

Some of the most memorial jokes throughout these tours involved Bette trashing other celebrities. Her most notorious jabs were at Karen Carpenter ("I can't believe I'm on the same stage where Karen Carpenter got her drums banged! That woman is so white, she's invisible.") Helen Reddy ("It's a good thing Helen Reddy's singing 'I Am Woman.' Who could tell?") and Richard Nixon ("Did you hear that Dick Nixon bought a copy of Deep Throat? He's seen it ten or twelve times. He wanted to get it down Pat.") 

What also made her shows so personal and one-of-a-kind was the participation that she demanded from the audience. For example, when she did "Do You Love Me / Do You Wanna Dance," she would make the audience sing the "aaah ahhh ahhhh" lead-up with her, and if they were not good enough or if not enough people joined in, she would not continue the song until they got it right. 

In late August, after working on the new album over the summer, Bette and her gang hit the road once more for a thirty-five-city tour, which would eventually lead them up to a three week Broadway engagement at the famed Palace Theater in New York City. Before the tour could get underway though, many more replacements had to be made. Merle Miller and Gail Kantor decided, as Melissa had months prior, that it was time to move on. After holding auditions, Sharon Redd and Robin Grean were eventually chosen to take the helm with Charlotte Crossley. The band also went through a few changes. Frank Vento replaced Dick Frank on guitar and Will Lee replaced Michael Federal on bass. Barry Manilow and Luther Rix remained the only two members of the original ensemble. 

The tour began at the Merriwether Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland on August 24th. Where the winter tour in early '73 hit many college towns and small theatres, this tour visited more auditoriums, concert halls and music festivals, thus bringing in a much larger and wider range of audience members. A lot of new material was incorporated into the show, including "Skylark," "Surabaya Johnny," "Breaking Up Somebody's Home," and her new work of art "In The Mood," which replaced "Chattanooga Choo Choo" as the Hubba Hubba portion of the evening. 

Also, on July 7, 1973, Bell Records issued Barry Manilow's first LP. The record company had started pressuring Barry to go on a solo tour of his own to promote the album, but not wanting to leave Bette at that time, it was finally agreed that he would open the second half of Bette's show with his own three song set. In his autobiography, "Sweet Life," Barry said, "It was important to me that she be presented perfectly. I wanted the music, the arrangements, the band, the background singers, the whole show to reflect all the effort I had put in for three years. Protecting Bette's music was more important to me than my own project." Barry, however, received his very first standing ovation at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado, for his performance of "Could It Be Magic." Manilow adds: "When I was done, I took my little bow and tried to start Bette's entrance music, but they wouldn't stop applauding. So I got up from the piano again, and they started yelling. And then, through the spotlights, I saw people moving in the audience. I figured they were coming back from the restrooms - but they were giving me a standing ovation. My first."

This tour included a stop in Honolulu, which brought Bette back home to Hawaii for the very first time as the Divine Miss M, where she received a 7-minute standing ovation on the first night and reunited with many of her former classmates on the second. During her stop at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, Bette met Maxine and Patty Andrews, the two surviving members of the Andrews Sisters, and had them join her and the Harlettes on stage to sing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Also during a stop in Detroit, Michigan, two thought-to-be promoters picked up Bette and her ensemble at the airport in a Winnebago, but they were actually Bette fans taking them to their restaurant for a surprise dinner. A food fight broke out when Aaron Russo showed up in a panic thinking they'd been kidnapped, and Bette, trying to defuse the situation, threw a big pie at him. This ultimately led to a traditional food fight every time they were in Detroit. 

As this leg came to a close, everybody started gearing up for the Broadway engagement at The Palace Theatre, which had to be extended from its initial run due to popular demand, and also broke the Guinness record for first-day ticket sales ($148,000 in one day).

The Palace gig ran from December 3rd to the 22nd with a special added show performed on the 23rd for the Actors Fund of America. The opening night performance was filled with celebrities, which left Bette a little unhinged, and the show suffered because of it. However, after her first-night jitters, she hit her stride and would often curse out the first night's audience throughout the remainder of the run. Also during this time, there was a union dispute because Aaron used his own lighting man - who knew the show - instead of hiring a union worker, which was customary on Broadway at the time. As a result, people coming to see Bette had to cross a picket line in order to get through. 

The most memorable and talked about segment from the Palace was the opening of the second act. The Harlettes would open up with an angelic version of "Optimistic Voices" dressed in pink waitress uniforms, then Bette would slide down to the stage on a huge silver shoe and break into "Lullaby of Broadway" with them. They would all then go into a choreographed routine of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," and upon the closing of the song the Harlettes would open their waitress uniforms to reveal American flags. 

Although Bette had little chorography for herself during the shows - she'd just make stuff up on the spot - the Harlettes did, and were fine tuned by chorographer André DeShields. 

The costumes throughout the tours were as memorable as the performances. Bette often appeared in corsets, pink dazzling dresses, vintage old shirts tied together in a knot with dark pants up to her waist, and sexy slips with a heart in the center. She would also drape herself in a boa and wear a flower in her hair, or between her breasts, which soon became a known trademark of her persona at the time. The Harlette's were also known for their costumes, which became more outrageous as the tours progressed. They started out in tasteful Norma Kamali black shoulder dresses during the beginning of the winter tour and ended up scantily clad in slips along side Bette by the time they reached The Palace. The interesting thing to note about the slips were that each one represented a different suit of playing cards - a diamond, a spade, a club, and a heart (which Bette always wore). 

There was an ABC special to follow the Palace engagement, but it never materialized due to Bette's exhaustion and desire to take a break. There were also disagreements between ABC and Bette about what the show would feature. Bette wanted to do a tacky sleazy special like her live show, but ABC wanted her prim and proper, which she wasn't ready for at that time.

In 1974, during the Tony Awards, Johnny Carson presented a special Tony award to Bette for her contribution to the New York stage for her shows at the Palace. Wearing her white slip with a bleeding heart, she ran out on stage grabbing hold of Johnny. During her acceptance speech she urged the viewing audience that they should all go to the theatre, "because it's alive."

"The Divine Miss M Tour" left its impact and went a long way to ensure that Bette Midler was not just "the girl from the tubs," but rather a truly talented, dynamic, spontaneous and sensational performer who would be around for a long time to come. She was well on her way to becoming the legend that she so wanted to be. Although, with the exhausting tour schedules, backstage dramas, and being thrust into the public eye so quickly, Bette soon needed to take a step back and spent more than a year away from the spotlight. It wouldn't be until the spring of 1975 before Bette would hit the boards once again