Bette Midler & Olivia Newton-John On Videos

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Source Material: L.A. Times & Daily Beast
Bette Midler & Olivia Newton-John On Video Together
By Mister D
8-13-2022

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One of the most memorable character entrances in a movie was when Olivia Newton-John sashays into the carnival as “Bad Sandy” in Grease. Sophisticated movie lovers may bristle. The morally righteous will protest the lesson the scene teaches: Change who you are and eliminate all your values to appease a man, and you’ll be happy, too. Boo hoo and a rat’s ass to you. I loved it, and I don’t care. It was one of the most fun movie musicals of all time. There’s a reason it made such an impression and has become so lasting. And only a star with the magnetism of Newton-John could have pulled that off. After Grease, Olivia’s music went bad girl, and she put out two rock/pop albums to show you she could handle a little raunchier material which was the material I liked the most (Mister D – Bette Midler & Olivia Newton-John On Videos

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Bette Midler & Olivia Newton-John On Videos:
Bette Midler, Olivia Newton-John, and Meryl Streep Sing “What A Wonderful World

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Bette Midler & Olivia Newton-John On Videos: This video is from a 1990 benefit for the organization Mothers and Others for a Livable Planet. Newton-John is part of the supergroup of Bette Midler, Cher (who did not come to rehearsal and lost her solo spot), Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Lily Tomlin performing “What a Wonderful World“. Bette Midler is standing beside Olivia, and they get to sing a small part together. Lily Tomlin was also there, but she probably opted out of singing. Marc Shaiman was on keyboards, and I was right about the big-voiced background singers being Darlene Love, and of course, I saw one of our favorite and beloved former Harlettes, the beautiful Charo Crossley – Fortier. And I still remember hearing Olivia’s shimmering voice hitting the high notes at the end.

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Bette Midler & Olivia Newton-John On Videos
Friends Of The Environment Complete 1990

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Review Of ‘Friends Of The Environment’ From The L.A. Times By Chris Willman

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Goldie sings! And Meryl too, a little bit, though you were probably expecting that after the big musical finale of “Postcards From the Edge.”

Hawn and Streep spoke some, too, at Thursday night’s all-star benefit at the Greek, though not very much specifically about Proposition 128, the upcoming “Big Green” state initiative for which the show was ostensibly set to raise money and local awareness.

Since the evening was also being taped for airing Wednesday at 10 p.m. on ABC as a pro-environmentalism special, where it will be shorn of any specific references to the California ballot contest, the tone of the show was less akin to a political pep rally and more along the general lines of “The Earth Day Special–Part II.”

Among the sponsoring “Mothers and Others for a Livable Planet” were Bette Midler, Cher, Olivia Newton-John, Lily Tomlin, Streep and Hawn, with Robin Williams as the sole “other” on the lineup.

It was a better night for comedy than music, with Williams’ typically out-of-hand 20-minute rant–aimed at Hussein, Helms, Souter and right-to-lifers–the obvious highlight of a middle-of-the-road affair. About five-eighths of it was suitable for TV.

One of Williams’ impressions was of an ABC editor frantically at work, and the comedian kept fretting, with some palpability, about how the 7-year-old staring at him from the front row was throwing him off on the more risque portion of his act. “You’re going to go through puberty tonight, Tommy,” he promised.

The unintentional comedy of Cher’s final number was nearly as impressive. Though she carried herself with some dignity for most of her five-song set, the chuckles started coming during “Fire Down Below” when the diva was joined by seven chain-wearing dancers who gyrated, mostly unchoreographed, to what sounded like an uproarious parody of a metal guitar solo. Cher fared better earlier with “Many Rivers to Cross,” a soulful song that doesn’t lose its charm turned into a showy pop ballad.

Midler and Newton-John were big draws because they rarely grace a concert stage anymore. Newton-John allowed that it had been eight years.

Midler, who brought a band, came off best in her old racy “Soph” persona with “Pretty Legs and Great Big Knockers,” but got the big applause for her ballads. Newton-John inevitably looked a little silly singing to accompaniment tapes–especially on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from her lullaby album. TV’s older demo’ll love it, though.

Equally mawkish, Hawn recited poetry (“I think that I shall never see . . . “) and crooned the Muppets’ “It’s Not Easy Being Green” in a somewhat more assured alto than you’d expect (but hold the record contract).

Streep followed with a good, earnest speech about environmentalism 10 years ago versus now–it’ll be remembered far better than her McCartney/Grammy one–and then was joined by the entire company for “What a Wonderful World,” to which she and Hawn both bravely contributed verses. It’s not easy being a green singer.

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Bette Midler & Olivia Newton-John On Videos
Bette TV Series – Episode 14 – The Invisible Mom – 2000 (Guest Star: Olivia Newton-John)

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Bette TV Series – Episode 14 – The Invisible Mom – 2000 (Guest Star: Olivia Newton-John)

Bette finds a letter in the recycling bin, and shows up at Rose’s school as a volunteer mom on the same day Olivia Newton-John is helping out. Olivia spends the day avoiding Bette since (unknown to Bette) Olivia’s held a grudge ever since Bette locked her up while she was supposed to be at an audition for “Grease.” After fending off the head of the school, who’s trying to solicit a screenplay, Bette notices that Rose got her belly button pierced, much to her mother’s dismay. Meanwhile, Connie shows up to get some promotional CDs autographed and winds up spending the day in the girls’ bathroom doling out advice to the adolescents. Olivia Newton-John’s real-life daughter, Chloe, plays her daughter.

Aired Wednesday 8:00 PM Feb 07, 2001, on CBS

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