Bette Midler On Her Divine Nickname: “I began being called The Divine Miss M around 1969, when I made my first appearance at the Continental Baths, a gay bath house located in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel, at Broadway and 74th Street in New York. My best friend, Bill Hennessy, a hairdresser I met on ”˜Fiddler on the Roof,’ called me that for years. It was my first night at the Baths, and before I went on, the owner, Steven Ostrow, stuck his head into the dressing room and asked how I wanted to be introduced. I said, ”˜Just tell them I’m divine!’ And that’s how it started.” (Divine Miss M CD, 2016)
