Bette Midler On The Rose: “It goes along with the martyrs. All the martyrs from Billie Holiday to Judy Garland. to Janis Joplin–have pretty much the same story. Â Those stories never grow old. People never tire of them. I don’t know if it’s something in the public conciousness or it’s just people looking for a good cry. People are fascinated by the rise and fall of these public personalities. But their story is not my story. I try to be relentlessly jolly. I want to survive. There are so many things to do in this business. I want to be able to do them all.” (The Milwaukee Journal Dec 2, 1979) – Bette Midler
