BETTE Midler’s “Kiss My Brass” Madison Square Garden concert was a sell
out. Bang-it-to-me-Bette is a killer pro onstage. Lines like: “So they
found Saddam in that dirty filthy smelly stinky ratty hole. It was like
the ‘D’ train.” AND, “That kind of life is tough on personal grooming.
His looks were shot to s- – -.”
Barry Slotnick, in the Sunday night audience, reminisced about her early
days: “In 1970 I was the lawyer for Steve Ostrow who owned the
Continental Baths in Brooklyn where she started. Her tiny room had a
toilet inside it which she’d use whenever she needed it, no matter who
was around or what was happening. One day she was demanding a $50 a week
raise. Ostrow wouldn’t give it so I told her no. She kept
screaming. I found a way around it. She hated her piano player. A kid
there named Barry Manilow wanted to get on the show so, instead, I told
her we’d give her this Manilow kid as her accompanist and she could dump
the guy she hated. She went for it.
“Later when she and Barry busted up he came to me and cried, ‘How will I
now make a living?’ ”
Barry Manilow. Now a big name. Bette Midler. Now a big name. Barry
Slotnick. Now a big name. What a difference a lousy little 34 years
makes.
