Mister D: An Interview (Radio) For Her “Down Under” Tour…Many thanks to Alisha for going to the trouble of transcribing this…the way I type, this would have taken me DAYS!!!!
I italicized some parts about the movies to emphasize that certain projects you hear about sometimes just don’t come true due to many reasons…, ie, “In The Pink.” Notice how she does not name any projects…doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it also shows it might not…
Tuesday 15th March, 5pm-5.10pm.
Ernie: My next guest I am just so thrilled to have the opportunity talk to. After following the world of show business for so many years it still astounds me how some performers can go out on stage and stand there for two or three hours and keep an audience enthralled. My next guest is just like that. One of the greatest performers in the world, and it is an ABSOLUTE pleasure to be speaking with Bette Midler, so, hi there Bette.
Bette: (very sweetly) Hi there Ernie.
Ernie: And looking forward to seeing you come out to Australia. You haven’t been here for a long time have you?
Bette: A long, long time, 26 years.
Ernie: 26 is it?!?!
Bette: Yes…..
Ernie: Gee, what happened to all those years? (starts laughing)
Bette: My God, I wish I could get them back.
Ernie: Yeah, do you really?
Bette: Well, you know it’s kinda a blur…..
Ernie: Yeah…
Bette: Yeah, it’s a bit of a blur. I did a lot of work, I made a lot of movies, I had a daughter, I got married…not in that order.
Ernie: Yeah
Bette: I tried to do my part for the environment. You know….
Ernie: Yeah.
Bette: I keep…I was very, very busy, but I’m really glad, looking forward to it. I hope there are not too many changes; I hope the food is the same…
Ernie: Yeah the food is…
Bette: I hope the people are the same.
Ernie: Yeah the foods the same, we have beautiful wines. Do you like a glass of wine?
Bette: (cheekily) I certainly do!
Ernie: Yeah, we have some lovely wines out here. Yeah.
Bette: I hear that. We have them from time to time.
Ernie: Yeah. Now you’ve done so much in your life haven’t you? I mean you’re only a youngen too now and you’ve packed in about 100 years of entertainment haven’t you?
Bette: It feels like it.
Ernie: Yeah. I think…my very favorite, what’s your favorite movie that you ever made?
Bette: Well I have a bunch of them. There are some that I like; there are some parts that I like. I love the part I did in Hocus Pocus, but it’s not that great a movie, and I love Beaches, I loved First Wives Club, a lot and I loved The Rose because that was my first one it’s always great you know, when it’s the first one.
Ernie: What’s it like, a performer, a stage performer and then all of a sudden you’re in the movies. Is it very different from how you work on stage when you’re in movies?
Bette: Very, very different because on the stage I’m in charge of everything and it’s my vision and my idea’s and my choice of music and my choice of hires, you know who I’m going to have on the stage with me. In a film you don’t really have those kinds of says and you’re really a subject to what the director wants. And the problem that I find with making pictures is that they don’t often tell you what they want. They tell you what they don’t want, but they don’t tell you how to get to what it is that they do want. And I find that mostly stage directors can help you with that but movie directors aren’t really so concerned with it, they often figure they can fix it in post, so…
Ernie: Is making a movie sometimes boring, I mean you have to spend so much time doing a shot and then waiting around for something to happen.
Bette: You know it’s not, I’m never bored because I’m always doing something in the trailer or I’m always talking to someone who is on the set but uh, it’s so fragmented, you do it such small pieces that if you don’t pay close attention it can get away from you because if you don’t remember what you did yesterday that comes forty pages ahead of what you’re doing today, you know what I’m saying, it’s a very different process. It keeps you on your toes though. I always found that uh, I was very good in some and not very good in others, mostly depending on who I was working with.
Ernie: I think one of your best films is, and I think that is the best film that I have ever seen is For the Boys, I LOVED that!
Bette: Oh, I’m so glad! I liked that movie too and I thought it had a real shot. Uh, we got a little stuck in the marketing when the picture was done and we liked it all so well, they couldn’t agree on how to market it and I think they pretty much dropped the ball and it sank like a stone which was too bad because everyone worked really hard on it.
Ernie: You we’re nominated for an award for that weren’t you, for an Academy?
Bette: I was…
Ernie: Yeah…
Bette: I was…
Ernie: I just loved that movie because I have been in the business all my life too and to see you, the two of you, you and James Caan together, you know, it was so true, it was a really good story, good story.
Bette: Thank you, I thought so too.
Ernie: So, have you got any movies coming up? I mean nearly every movie you have been in has been a great success. Are there any more in the pipeline?
Bette: …….well I did The Stepford Wives with Nicole Kidman, as you probably know…
Ernie: Yes, I’ve seen that one…
Bette: We had a very interesting time making that, and I felt great because I made a friend. She’s adorable and I would work with her again in a New York minute. (Ernie starts laughing) And I have some things…sort of…I never like to talk about them because then people say to you well what happened to that one?
Ernie: Yeah…
Bette: You know, and unfortunately they, don’t often come true.
Ernie: Yeah…
Bette: So I don’t talk about them
Ernie: That was a great thing you just said then, a ‘New York Minute.’ What’s a ‘New York Minute’?
Bette: Uh,
Ernie: I’ve, I’ve never heard that expression.
Bette: You’ve never….oh you have!!
Ernie: No I haven’t, truly.
Bette: Oh you have! You have! Oh, a ‘New York Minute’ is only twenty seconds!
Ernie: (starts laughing) Oh well that’s very New York isn’t it?!
Bette: (laughs too) Oh I guess so.
Ernie: Ah, so you’re gearing yourself up for the tour. When you come out on tour I suppose, do you go into a fitness regime or anything like that before you take….
Bette: Oh my God it’s the worst…I live like a monk!
Ernie: (laughs) What, early nights, that sort of thing?
Bette: Well…the treadmill, and no booze and no drugs and singing and singing and rehearsing and trying to fit into the costumes and shrieking and oh, it’s really tough!
Ernie: (laughing loudly) Well it’s like an athlete isn’t it? You know you’re getting yourself ready for like, you know The Olympic Games or something like that. That’s the same thing you’re doing.
Bette: Absolutely!
Ernie: Did you come with the title ‘Kiss My Brass.’
Bette: I sure did!
Ernie: Yeah, (chuckles) it’s ah…
Bette: And I came up with the REAL title, ‘Kiss My Brass…DOWN UNDER!
Ernie: (laughs hysterically) I like that….I…I can imagine that you’re going to be using that on you’re tour, are you?
Bette: We are. (laughing)
Ernie: Well it’s a big show. I mean you’ve got Brisbane and you’ve got Sydney and of course Melbourne where we are at the moment. Two nights in Melbourne, Monday the 18th and Thursday the 21st at the Rod Laver Arena. A show that a lot, a lot of people here in Victoria are looking forward to because you know, you’ve always sort of held a very soft spot with Australians I think. We relate to Bette Midler very much because you’ve get a similar sense of humor to our humor down here.
Bette: I am SO flattered that you say that….
Ernie: Yeah…
Bette: That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.
Ernie: It’s very true….
Bette: Thanks…
Ernie: And I am really looking forward to meeting you when you come down Bette and I thank you for your time, I know you’re a busy lady. So have a good trip down here and I look forward to seeing you when you come.
Bette: Great, I look forward to it too!
Ernie: Thanks Bette….Miss Bette Midler.
Bette: Thanks.
