Liz Smith On Bette Midler And Sue Mengers

The Huffington Post
Edie Falco — Her Defining Roles Do Not Define Her — Real, Rare Gems — Angela Cummings — Tom Hanks — Bette Midler
By Liz Smith
Posted: 04/16/2013 10:49 am

”¢ I am being flooded by people coming up to me or calling me saying they have already seen a preview of the one-woman show Bette Midler is doing titled “I’ll Eat You Last.” This is not the divine Ms. Midler doing her usual thing but doing a glimpse into the life of the late Hollywood agent Sue Mengers. I wondered if the great theater public would even know who Sue was these days? But evidently it doesn’t matter who Sue Mengers is/was. It only matters that one of New York’s First Citizens, the one and only Bette Midler,cares to assay some of Sue’s saucy wit and life.

So I am set to see this playlet on April 24 — opening night at the Booth Theater. I bow to no one in admiration for Bette in real and show biz life and for Sue who was a product only Hollywood could have created. (Sue was supremely comic about all who surrounded her and one of her chief talents was to always make you feel like you were a lovable idiot!) So many nice people asked me if they could go with me to see this play that I threw open the invitation and ended up having nine in my opening night party.

Never mind — we nine are going to throw caution to the winds, grab our seats, enjoy ourselves and then go to chow down at the wonderful Barbetta, NYC’s oldest family-owned restaurant, on West 46th street. And that’s on Restaurant Row if you’ve been under a rock.

I guess when Bette gets to La-La Land with this show, a place that seldom made use of her ultra movie acting talents, there’ll be general merriment and dancing on the thruways! And as multi-billionaire David Geffen was Bette’s best friend and Sue’s best friend, they will mount a Statue of Liberty that looks like Bette and Sue out in the Pacific Ocean!

Hollywood has changed a lot since the days when Sue Mengers was queen behind the scenes. But there’ll always be room for the story of dramatic saucy naughty not-always-so nice characters who run everything, especially when they are magical females!