Salina Journal
Singer has an eager following
August 6, 1972
Bette Midler, who rose to fame on the Johnny Carson show and who appeared with him in Las Vegas as the opening act, has a cult following.
A dozen or so of these young men appear at her openings wearing T-shirts with her face painted on them and a slogan which reads “The Divine Miss M,” which is what she likes to call herself.
When she opened at the Bergen Mall theater in Paramus, N.J., not far from where she grew up in Paterson, her entourage was there. Several of the T-shirt wearers wore shoulder pads and one wore a feather over his ear, besides.
Miss M was late getting started, poked fun at her suburban surroundings, and told her audience it was tough if they didn’t understand what she was doing.
