“I met Bette [Midler] in a club in Chicago called Mr. Kelly [in 1971] after she had appeared on Broadway in Fiddler on the Roof, and I hadn’t seen anything quite like her. She was wearing capri pants and an open blouse with no bra, which at the time was a political statement, but for Bette was an act of terrorism. She came in from the kitchen and sang Shaboom and knives and forks dropped all over the place. From that moment I was hooked.” – Comic writer Bruce Vilanch, March 2003
