Quips And Quotes 3

Quips And Quotes

“I’m a VERY opinionated young lady. I have my opinions about things. And mine are the only correct ones. DIG?” (Melody Maker, 1973)

“If you want something done, you’d better do it yourself — or ask another woman to do it.” —Bette Midler

From An Intimate Evening With Bette: “Did you like the TV special?” I did…I was real proud of it. The network was very nice, too. The only thing they asked me not to do was mention drugs. Gee..I didn’t realise drugs were the enemy in television, I thought they were the sponsor…” (Melody Maker, 1978)

On her husband, Martin:  “You know that when I first got married, this guy I knew … was introduced to my husband, he said, “The man who tamed the beast.” And I never forgot that. And indeed, I think it– really it was like that. Because I was a handful. And I’ve learned a lot and I’ve grown a lot and I’ve given up a lot. And it’s been a negotiation, a 30-year negotiation. But it’s been really interesting. I wouldn’t trade him in a fort.” (CBS News, 2014)

On what she’s given up in marriage: “Well, I’ve given up a lot of independence. You know … I make decisions really– well, I can’t say I make them quickly, but I do make decisions. And I do– and I’m quick. I go – I’ll take this, this, this, and this, I’ll do this, this, this, and this. And sometimes people don’t wanna do what you wanna do. So then you, you have to say, “Well, what do you wanna do?” (CBS News, 2014)

On Aging: “Do I like getting older? You know, I fight it tooth and nail, I really do. Oh yeah. I’m in the mirror looking too. And I’m not– I mean, I love life, I do love life. And if this life is the best life, then that’s fine with me.  It’s been a wonderful life.” (CBS News, 2014)

On Retiring:  “I might stop at some point. I’m coming to the end of the line. I have to admit it. When you have more of the road behind you than ahead, it becomes a very focusing thing.  You start thinking about the world. I’ve never been to Africa or South America. I’ve never seen a rhinoceros. I’m not saying that entertainment is a childish thing but, in time, you do grow up. I’ve achieved my childhood dream. Now the dream is just about over. I’m still alive, still vibrant. I’d like to see what other dreams I can come up with.” (2014)

On The Origin Of “All Girls Productions:” “We were there in the conference room, and we were all girls..We kind of liked that name because it had a certain arrogance to it that we felt we needed because we were so brand-new in this game. We really didn’t know how the game worked. Also, we wanted a sense of humor, a little wit. We didn’t want to be just ‘Gigantic Pictures’ or ‘Magnificent Pictures.’ We didn’t want anything abstract. We wanted to let people know who we really were.” (Los Angeles, 1991)

On All The Magazine Articles About Her In 1973:  “All these articles? I ignore them. It just goes in one ear and out the other. Occasionally I keep articles for when I’m 80, by which time my life will have deteriorated to nothing. (New Musical Express 1973)

On Her Music And Shows: “I enjoy music ”“ of just any kind. I can see value in just any musical endeavour, y’know. And my influences stretch way back. I was brought up on 40s music ”“ stuff we had around the house, like the Andrews Sisters, Boswell Sisters, Bing Crosby and all these people. And Patti Page ”“ I have a long history of Patti Page.  Then when rock n’ roll came along, I got in with the roots of rock music ”“ rhythm n’ blues and race music. I’d like to get through all kinds of music in my career. I’d like to present a show that would set people’s heads swimming with all the different styles.” (New Musical Express 1973)

On Her Show Vision:  “Oh, no. I work with tacky sets. Things that are ripped up ”“ German expressionist-like. My personality is a very large one, but it’s very working-class and I’m tied to it in a very affectionate way. When I progress on stage, it’ll be just as working-class girl who’s living out all her fantasies.” (New Musical Express 1973)

On The Decadence Trend In The 70’s: “Oh everyone is obsessed with decadence at the moment, because decadence is the big thing, right? In two years time it will have blown over completely, and we’ll go onto something else. I’m not worried about my relationship with decadence, simply because I transcend it. I’m at once part of it, and not a part of it. For instance, there are some performers who are right there at the centre of it. Oh, not Jagger ”“ definitely not Jagger. He’s a rare bird ”“ he transcends it just like me, though net necessarily in the same way. I don’t know if I have the capacity to have his sort of career. I’m not sure at this point whether I possess that stamina.”  (New Musical Express 1973)

“Actually I see myself as a running commentary on time, because I learnt a few years ago that everything becomes nostalgic, and everything becomes camp.”  (New Musical Express 1973)

On Making The Divine Miss M Album: “I couldn’t really stand on my own two feet during those sessions, I was so nervous and unsure of myself musically. I thought it came out fairly well, but the second one is going to be, uh, the right one.”  (New Musical Express 1973)

“I don’t want just to be considered an entertainer-full-stop. I’m a born performer ”“ I can go out and shake my tits any old time ”“ but a born singer is something else.”  (New Musical Express 1973)

“Everything in this country is about speed, about going faster, having more status, more money And I find that’s not really the way” (1991)

On The Aftermath Of “For The Boys”: “I sulked and cried for so long after ‘For the Boys,’ I didn’t think anybody wanted to see me again. I turned down ‘Sister Act.’ I turned down everything. I stayed home and planted a garden,” (Premiere Magazine, 1993)

On The Aftermath Of “For The Boys”: “Now I’m over it There’s no linear logic in this business, and I was too naive to know it Bottom line? ‘For the Boys’ was my life. I developed it; I raised the money, I produced it I killed myself making a picture for a grown-up audience, only to discover the grown-ups for whom it was made don’t go to movies anymore,… ‘For the Boys’ was doomed, and I took it personally. I gave them my heart, my guts, and my soul, and they didn’t want it Now I’m going to give them what they want (Hocus Pocus).” (Premiere Magazine, 1993)

On The Aftermath Of “For The Boys”:  “The movie business sucks, because most of the pictures are being made by young, callow men with no life experience and no point of view…. I’ve made bad pictures before because I wasn’t selective. … I have my own production company now…. If you worry about yesterday, you sink. Listen, honey, in 10 years people may took back on Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and say. They don’t make ’em like that anymore.’ Life is full of ups and downs. Hon, I wanted to be Esther Williams, but I couldn’t swim.”  (Premiere Magazine, 1993)

What If Hocus Pocus Flops?: “And if “Hocus Pocus’ flops, I’m living proof that one bad movie is not the end Movie musicals may be dead, but baby, thank God I can still get out on a stage and shake my ass.” (Premiere Magazine, 1993)

Bette Midler On “Jinxed”: “It was the worst experience of my entire life, BUT it’s a good picture.” (1983)

Bette Midler On Coping With “Jinxed” Co-Star Ken Wahl: “There is nothing one can do except be, you know, dignified. It’s hard to be dignified when one is covered with mud, but I’ve done the best I could.” (1983)

On Being Compared To Barbra And Liza:  “IT’S FABULOUS for me to be compared with Streisand and Minnellibut it might hurt them a little bit!” (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1977)

On Why Midler Turned Down “The Fortune” With Nicholson And Beatty: “I didn’t want to be the bologna (Italian sausage) in the sandwich.” (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1977)

Bette Midler On “The Rose” Character: “No, it’s not a thinly veiled movie about Janis Joplin. Although there will be drinks, drugs, love and destruction. “She is a composite of all kinds of people trying to survive that decade.”  (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1977)

Bette Midler On “The Rose’s” Decade:  “That period was so full of ideas and energy.” she enthused. “I saw Jimi (Hendrix), Tina Turner, the (Rolling)Stones, Janis) … it was fabulous.”  (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1977)

Bette Midler On The Sixties: “I used to tell people to slow down, but nobody ever listened. The ’70s have been singularly boring.” (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1977)

Bette Midler On Her 1978 World Tour: “I’m an Anglophile – if nothing else,the British have probably the greatest sense of humour of any nation in the world”  (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

Bette Midler On Fretting About Her 1978 World Tour:“Oh well, what can they do to me? Oslo? What can I say. We’ll only be there one night. What can they do in one night … lynch me? I’ll be gone by the time they figure out what to do with me.” And I can’t read the reviews, so what do I care?”  (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

On Bette Midler’s Main Worry About Her 1978 World Tour: “In a lot of these places they don’t speak English and so much of my humour is language. But I’m looking forward to it. I just hope I don’t get constipated.”   (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

Bette Midler On Slang, Particularly Australian Slang: “I’m entranced by it. Some Austra- lians were over here the other day – two girls who were very funny and loose and one man.who was rigid and uptight. Thefellow got angry when the girls started telling me to say things like ‘hooroodigger.’ Apparently the stuff they were telling me was real low-rent. He saidnever call anybody an ocker.”  (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

Bette Midler On Australians: “But from what I know of Australians, their humour is brilliant. I’m looking forward so much to that part of the tour. So much of what I do is low-rent humour.” (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

“I think of myself as a sort of tacky grand-dame. I was calling people ‘dah-ling’ when I was in the sixth grade.”  (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

Bette Midler On Where The Divine Miss M Character Comes From:  “I don’t know where I got it from. I must have seen too many movies or Noel Coward plays. The ‘Divine Miss M’ routine was a trademark for me in the beginning. In ‘The Women’ there was a wonderful character called The Contessa who’s very arch, very grand and very loud. She always says ‘l’amour, l’amour,’ and she runs off with a singing cowboy. That’s where the ‘Divine Miss M’ thing came from.”   (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

Bette Midler On Where She Gets Her Stage Energy: “I was always a speedy little person. “I get it from my mother. She works at the highest level of energy. Sometimes it is tiring. But that’s OK, I don’t mind.”  (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

Bette Midler On Being Serious: “lt’s not hard for me to take things seriously. How I am depends on how I wake up. I think I’m schizo and I have vitamin deficiencies. Chemically, my body isn’t balanced properly so some days I’m very serious and sometimes I’m quite giddy. But I guess, on the whole, you could say I’m quite serious. I like to read, I like to study and I love to learn.”  (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

Bette Midler On Lucille Ball: “I’ve met Lucille Ball, who is absolutely my favourite, she’s what I want to be as an actress – and she’s very serious.”  (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

Bette Midler On Her Favorite Kind Of Humor:  “The Monty Python group – they’re just staggering, they’re so wonderful,” she says a little wistfully. “But I love all comedy. I’m a real fan of slapstick, of language comedy. As long as a comedian gets there, I don’t really care what they do.” (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

Bette Midler On Stand-Up Comedy:  “A lot of girls just don’t like it. lt’s a very hard life being a stand-up comic and most women are not built for it. Most women are just not strong enough,physically or mentally, lt takes a terrible toll out of you – you have to be very pushy, you have to work like a dog. lt’s a very rough life, but if you’re committed to it, it can be rewarding.” (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1978)

Bette Midler On Her Dalmation Dress In Divine Madness: “It goes wild every time a fire engine goes by” (The Canberra Times, 1978)

Bette Midler On Becoming A Movie Star: “lt’s so easy, it’s sooooo easy. You don’t have to get up there for four hours every night and sweat like a pig. They sort of come and get you when they need you. (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1979)

Bette Midler On What She Discovered Making Movies: “I’ve also discovered in doing this film that people really do respect me. In rock-and-roll, if you’re not on the charts every minute of the day, you really feel you’re a failure, and it’s not like that in acting. If you do the scene well and they see the dailies, they’ll come to you and say: ‘You know, that’s a good piece of work you did.’ (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1979)

Bette Midler On Aaron Russo: “Many people think our relationship is unhealthy. As a matter of fact, most of them do. But Aaron thinks I’m the greatest and he did when nobody else did.  I can quarrel with Aaron’s methods. I fight with him all the time. But some of our work has been very good work. We play pretty terrible games, but it’s a good relationship.”  (The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1979)

Getting To Stardom: “DARLING, I WORKED for eight years straight.” says Bette. “Sundays and holidays– every single day – to get to where I was at that point, and I was exhausted. God knows I had no race left. I wanted to go away, and I didn’t want to see anybody for a while. So I went. Now I’m back.” (Los Angeles, 1975)

On The Divine Miss M Character In Songs For The New Depression Tour: “She isn’t anywhere near as bitchy as she once was. She’s much…not calmer, but softer, I think. Not so garish. What I’ve tried to do is turn it into a more theatrical presentation, not so much dropping the character as softening her – the sound of the voice, the mannerisms. “It’s not so much the bitchiness as it is the sound of the voice that drives me so nuts. I can’t stand that voice anymore.” (Los Angeles, 1975)

“I always chatter. I just used to chatter a lot faster. I’m not as young as I once was. You
have to work up lo that kind of hysteria, and I don’t think I ever want to hit that again, because that will kill your body. That’s why I had to take a year off. I was beaten, beaten by all that hysteria.” (Los Angeles, 1975)

On Getting Chatty On Stage: “It may happen again, especially if I take to drink, as most performers do on the road. I try my best lo avoid it, but once you start to drink and or take drugs on the road, then it kind of gets away from you. You do start to get a little manic. And tiredness will do it to you. too. Tiredness will make you very frantic and very edgy and very nervous .” (Los Angeles, 1975)

On Touring With Songs For The New Depression Tour: “That’s really my life, really what 1 do best. I haven’t been on the screen yet, and God only knows what I’m going to photograph like, but’I don’t think I could ever give touring up. That’s my life’s work.” (Los Angeles, 1975)

On The Songs For The New Depression Tour: “I’m excited about this show because I’m working again. I’m really working. I’m creating it and making it happen, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out toward the end If it’s as good as I hope it Is by the time I get to the East. I don’t think I’m gonna stop. I may keep it going through the summer and see where I can end up with it.” (Los Angeles, 1975)

“We all worked in the pineapple factory – my two sisters and I. One sister has since passed away. One is home getting a master’s in speech therapy, and my brother is mentally retarded. A hot family, honey. A hot family. They’ve seen me on TV. My father can’t’handle it live. It disturbs him. My mother thinks it’s all wonderful. My father just thinks it’s the pits” (Tom Shales, 1972)

“The only people who are frightened of me are people who feel threatened by anything out of their own nature or every day experience.” (Tom Shales, 1972)

Bette On Playing “The Baths”: “Actually, playing to this … do I dare call this place a house? . . has been the best experience in the world. I mean, you have to be good to keep the guys fascinated. Gawd! The moment I bore them, well, they could go upstairs and … uh … shower?” (Rex Reed, 1972)

“I was an ugly, fat, little Jewish girl who had problems. I was miserable. I kept trying to be like everyone else, but on me, nothing worked. One day I just decided to be myself. So I became this freak who sings in the tubs. Now, I dunno, it’s a whole other world.” (Rex Reed, 1972)

Bette Midler On What The Baths Did For Her: “It encouraged me to explore satire The audience there wouldn’t settle for half-baked. If I’d kept my distance, they’d have lost interest because there were too many other things going on in the building that were more fun.” (New York, 1972)

Bette Midler On What Lead Her To Singing: “I considered myself mainly a comedienne, but one day I heard an early Aretha Franklin record – mostly blues and torch songs. It was dynamite. I really felt I understood the essence of her art and so I was tempted to try it myself-” (New York, 1972)

“I just happen to like a lot of styles. It’s not what you sing that matters. It’s the fact that you love whatever you do that makes you hot.” (New York, 1972)

“The act I really want would be one-half straight singing and the other absolutely insane.” (New York, 1972)

“Look, I’m a tacky lady and I wear what feels comfortable. That’s just the way 1 am.” (Margo Coleman, 1972)

“The lady who does my clothes attracted so much attention when she stepped off the plane in Las Vegas that they arrested her. She was wearing green Wedgies, purple tights, a gray print dress with a huge hibiscus, 270 bracelets and three pairs of earrings. Both ears are tatooed, by the way. She had on orange eyelashes–top and bottom–and a fabulous hat she made herself…there were baby shoes on it, a pipe cleaner doll, tinsel and a bowling trophy. Well. . .she did have some pills with her.” (Margo Coleman, 1972)

“People don’t know what to make of me. I’m more used to being disliked than liked. I always had to fight to make people like me. I wasn’t one of the people other people considered beautiful.” (Margo Coleman, 1972)

On Having Devoted Fans And Acclaim: “1 suppose it has its rewards. Once in a while it feels good, but most of the time I feel awful. It used to be fun…but now it’s work. I’m always tired and I sleep as much as 1 can. Performing is exhausting. Being an adult is really the pits.” (Margo Coleman, 1972)

“After another bunch of years I plan to quit. 1 want to go to Samoa, or Java, where things are simple. Everything about our country frightens me – the things people consider important. They don’t take care of their friends or their world. My one fear is being alone and forgotten when I’m old. I don’t think that could happen in a place like Samoa. I’m really simple and I’m looking for simplicity.” (Margo Coleman, 1972)

On Hocus Pocus: “Oh, I love it. I love it! We made it  before the tidal wave of Halloween happened. Now it’s like huge. It’s huge. Kids, grown-ups, everyone takes part in it. This movie was kind of like the beginning of the wave. We had a great time making it. It was Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker and I and we laughed the whole time ”¦ we just had the best time.”

On Hocus Pocus: “Well I’m not disappointed anymore! Because y’know, I got my box-office grosses (for ‘Hocus Pocus’) today and I’m just swimming along. Yes! I have a new hit! I don’t have to think about ‘For the Boys’anymore. So there!”

Bette Midler On Her 2015 Hulaween Costume: “It’s Gilligan’s Island meets Doctor Moreau, so you can see it’s a hybrid. It’s half couture and half recycling material, and I plan to emit no emissions tonight, so that’s how it goes!” (WWD, 2015)

“I remember one girl came out as Waterfront Woman – you know, from the Josef von Sternberg movies, all in shadows except the face? His women were so mysterious, always getting on boats or disappearing on docks into the fog. Oh I just fell in love with those images. I saw that show and I just went out shopping the next day. At the end of two weeks I was Waterfront Woman. I remember the first dress I bought – it was red velvet floor length, cost me $5. (Toronto Star, 1973)

On Women’s Liberation: “People don’t have dreams anymore.  I identify with HUMAN liberation. I’ve never been too badly off as far as my own liberation is concerned. But I’d like all kinds of people to be a little happier.  I don’t know that women’s lib is the answer.  Sexual liberation is crap, bullshit. What’s important is the freedom to have the kind of job you want, to do whatever you want regardless of what age or race or sex you are.  Freedom to have your dreams come true. Freedom to have dreams period. That’s what it’s really about.” (Edwardsville, 1973)

Mayor de Blasio On Bette Midler At Millionth Tree Planting: “Bette Midler has been alleged to be divine. When government gets something done two years ahead of schedule, it must have involved divine intervention. So that proves that you are divine.” (2015)

Bette Midler On Los Angeles And Aging: “L.A. gets a bad rap sometimes. Many of the best things come out of L.A. — sensitivity to different groups, awareness of our environment, and empowering women. Well, there’s the emphasis on the physical side. THAT’s a problem in L.A., especially — that’s why I moved out. Beauty, youth — we all want it. We hunger for it. I admit it. Me too. It’s a powerful enemy to any of us who plan to live past our youth, but we still pamper it, stroke it and keep it alive.” (1995)

“ I want to be around forever; but if I have to go, it won’t be without a battle.”

Bette To An Audience Member During A Concert: “Are you yawning my dear? Then why don’t you pick up your tits and go home.” (1976)

Bette Midler On How She Got The Name Bathhouse Betty: “I was in my house down in Orange County. I was all by myself, and I was nervouse because I don’t like to be alone. It’s kind of scary. Somebody knocked on the door and it was a fan. He started shrieking ‘Bathhouse Betty, Bathhouse Betty!’ And I thought ‘Oh God, how mortifying’ It was pretty scary and I said ‘I’m going to call the cops, I’m going to call the cops’ and he ran away.  But he left me with ‘Bathhouse Betty’ and how could I forget that? He was giving me homage to my days playing the bathhouses” (The Hour - Sep 4, 1998)

Bette Midler On The Album Bathhouse Betty: “People said to me ‘That last record (Bette Of Roses) was good, but it only had one kind of music on it. We waited for all the different kinds of music, and it was only one kind of music.’ And I said ‘You missed all that?’ because I thought people got tired of all that, and they said ‘We wanted something funny, we wanted something upbeat, we wanted something only you do.'”  (The Hour - Sep 4, 1998)

Bette Midler On The Song I’m Beautiful: “It’s a very upbeat message. because it says something. It’s about being done in, beaten up your whole life and finally standing up for yourself and saying, ‘I count! I exist.’ I got a little misty-eyed myself the first time I heard it. It’s very sweet and funny.” (The Hour - Sep 4, 1998)

Bette Midler On The Song Lullaby In Blue: “It’s a very moving situation. I never heard a pop song about a person giving their child up and is missing the child. The first time I heard that song, I burst into tears. I had to pull over to the side of the road.” (The Hour - Sep 4, 1998)

On Moving From Atlantic Records To Warner Brothers: “A thousand blessings on Mo Ostin’s house. He’s a sweet, sweet man. I was at Atlantic forever. I was their poster girl. I tried to renegotiate my deal, but Atlantic head, Ahmet Ertegun said ‘This is too much for me. I can’t afford it. If you can get this somewhere else, go somewhere else.'” (The Hour - Sep 4, 1998)

On Moving From Atlantic Records To Warner Brothers: “And I went to Warner Brothers next door. And then Ahmet got mad, and that’s how it works. I love my Atlantic family, but it was time to move on. I kept my relationship with Arif Mardin obviously, and I’m still very close to Ahmet.” (The Hour - Sep 4, 1998)

From Kiss My Brass: “How are you? I’m fabulous! And don;t I look it! Even I don’t know how I do it? (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Jan 10, 2004)

From Kiss My Brass: “I’m running for Queen Of The World! I’m not sure I can handle it, but I’m sure I couldn’t screw it up any more than the pinheads who are running it now.”
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Jan 10, 2004)

Bette Midler On Putting Sophie In Experience The Divine: “I put her in “Ukulele Lady,” She sits and plunks her ukulele and sings a song and has a pretty wonderful time.  She loves slapping that make-up on. We call it going to  ‘burlesque camp.’ She loves the trappings, the feather boas, the makeup and the hairdos. She loves the costumes and the sets. She’s a great kid and she’s been a great sport.” (The Hour - Aug 16, 1994)

Bette Midler On Experience The Divine: “I still look fabulous! I was very heavy when I went into last year’s rehearsals for the show, but I guess the rehearsals were so long and arduous that the weight just dropped off of me. And through a combination of the shows and the treadmill workouts and yoga, I kept it off. This isn’t the easiest job in the world, but I’m in pretty good shape.”  (The Hour - Aug 16, 1994)

Bette Midler On Songs She Loves But Would Never Sing: “There’s so many songs that I love that I know I will never sing. I love all of Bob Dylan and I don’t think I’ve ever sung a Bob Dylan song (she’s sung several). There’s plenty of Joni Mitchell (she’s sung several). There’s plenty of Prince. There’s plenty of Carole King (she’s sung several). There’s plenty of Oasis.” (The Free Lance-Star - Nov 8, 2004)

Bette Midler On Looking For Inspiration: “You’re always looking for inspiration when your interests flag and you think maybe it’s me. If you take it a step at a time — a lot of it has to do with depression and despair. Where you think your party is.  Where you think your country is. Where you think your world is.” (The Free Lance-Star - Nov 8, 2004)

Bette Midler On Looking For Inspiration: “You have to remember that there are beautiful things coming out of individuals in the world and a lot of it is artists. You have to search those things out.” (The Free Lance-Star - Nov 8, 2004)

Bette Midler On Her Full, Rich Social Life After The Rose: “I feel sexy these days. No problems there. I feel good. I don’t know how pretty I am, honey, but I feel sexxxxy!” (Lakeland Ledger - Dec 26, 1979)

Bette Midler On Coming Into Her Own: “I kept trying to be like everyone else, but on me, nothing worked. One day I just decided to be myself, so I became this freak who sang in the tubs.” (Lakeland Ledger - Dec 26, 1979)

Bette Midler On The Rock Critics: “The writers thought I had no skill. That was one of the things that made me so angry. The bad would torture me so that all the good in the world couldn’t make up for it. The press used to beat the shit out of me. It used to drive me mad, just mad. I would hole up in a room and not see people for a long, long time. I wasn’t aware that it came with the territory and now I don’t read any of it.” (Lakeland Ledger - Dec 26, 1979)

Do You Think You’ll Wind Up Burnt Out Like The Rose?: “I don’t do drugs a lot now. I think I’ll become a junkie when I’m eighty. Until then, it’s all very counterproductive. I don’t undergo therapy, either. But Mark Rydell wants to buy me a shrink. Or at least give me ten free lessons. He thinks I could use them.” (Lakeland Ledger - Dec 26, 1979)

Why Don’t You Sing The Theme Song For Big Business Or For Your Other Movies?: “It’s too much trouble. Typically, they only give you two to three hours to do the song. And if it’s not any good, you’re stuck with it forever. Like nuclear waste.” (Daily News - Jun 1, 1988)

Bette Midler On Being Disney’s Biggest Star Since Minnie Mouse: “I’m thrilled! I don’t know how Minnie feels about it, but we haven’t had lunch yet.” (Daily News - Jun 1, 1988)

Are You Surprised You Found A Home At Disney? “Ironic, ain’t it? But I loved Disney’s view of the world, even though it was a narrow one. It did a service, yet a disservice, too. Let’s face it: If Walt Disney were alive today, they wouldn’t let me in the front gate of the studio.” (Daily News - Jun 1, 1988)

Bette Midler On Reducing Her Extravagant Dimensions: “Slimming down for the great public, you know. They don’t like them robust. Besides, I looked like a house. I didn’t care for the way I looked. I couldn’t get into any of my clothes, plus I saw how I looked on the Great Tube.  It was terrifying. I finally had enough. I lost 15 to 20 pounds.” (Eugene Register-Guard - Nov 19, 1977)

On Returning To Her First Love Which Is Acting: “Acting is what I’ve always done. I started in the theater. I thought I would be a great dramatic actress. I was 16 when I started and I always expected to be some kind of leading lady. But when I got to New York, I tell you, leading ladies don’t look like me. It was kind of hard to get those jobs because there were established people to contend with.” (Eugene Register-Guard - Nov 19, 1977)

On What She Might Do After The Rose: “I might do an opera, who knows? I think I’d like to do some version of “Salome,” a rock and roll version of Salome. I saw a real serious version of it the other day on some cheesy channel. It was sensational. This woman, this Salome, was great. She had the head of John The Baptist on a plate, flinging it about. It was amazing.” (Eugene Register-Guard - Nov 19, 1977)

On What She’d Really Like To Do After The Rose: “I really want to do a technicolor musical comedy – a great big, old fashioned musical comedy. The kind they don’t seem to know how to make anymore. I see them on TV and I still go to the theaters that still show them. They drive me mad – they’re so full of light and color and sound and people acting happy. (Eugene Register-Guard - Nov 19, 1977)

On Her Association With Campiness: “It didn’t hurt me. I don’t think anything can hurt you, except maybe being a Communist.” (Eugene Register-Guard - Nov 19, 1977)

On Her Funny Lady Image: “I’ll keep that. I think it’s important. I love to laugh. I need it. If I don’t laugh at least once a day, I’m a dead chicken. It’s good for people to laugh at themselves and laugh at what’s going on around them. Otherwise, you might just as well throw in the big cookie.”  (Eugene Register-Guard - Nov 19, 1977)

On The Elections: “I haven’t left my house in days. I watch the news channels incessantly. All the news stories are about the election.; all the commercials are for Viagra and Cialis. Election – erection – election – erection…either way we’re getting fucked.” (KMB, 2004)

Bette Midler On Composting: “My whole life had been spent waiting for an epiphany, a manifestation of God’s presence, the kind of transcendent, magical experience that lets you see your place in the big picture. And that is what I had with my first compost heap.”
(Doylestown Intelligencer, May 9, 1996)

Bette Midler On Composting: “I love compost and believe in it with every fiber (so to speak) of my being. I believe that composting can save, not the entire world, but a good portion of it.”  (Doylestown Intelligencer, May 9, 1996)

Bette Midler: “Human nature is something to rise above.” (Taos News,  May 15, 1997)

Bette Midler On Women’s Liberation: “The trouble is people don’t have dreams anymore.  I identify with HUMAN liberation,” she says. “I’ve never been too badly off as far as my own liberation is concerned. But I’d like all kinds of people to be a little happier.” (In Concert, August 29, 1973)

Bette Midler On Women’s Liberation:  “I don’t know that women’s lib is the answer. Sexual liberation is crap, bullshit. What’s important is the freedom to have the kind of job you want, to do whatever you want regardless of what age or race or sex you are.  Freedom to have your dreams come true. Freedom to have dreams period. That’s what it’s really about.” (In Concert, August 29, 1973)

Bette Midler On The Show Biz Establishment: “When I decided that I didn’t want to look the way they wanted me to, that I would look exactly the opposite and do it just the opposite of the way they were telling me to do it … that’s when the success started happening,”  (In Concert, August 29, 1973)

Bette Midler On The Show Biz Establishment: “I was trying to get jobs in the theater, but I just didn’t fit into the mold. I can show you reams of pictures of myself I used to have in my portfolio. All these girls do it, come from far and near, truss themselves up, push themselves out, get their hair cut and dyed – thousands of dollars spent trying to push themselves into that mold. I made myself so sad because I couldn’t fit,” until she let go of that particular dream. Recognized in herself “a nice person, a whole person, an individual.” (In Concert, August 29, 1973)

Bette Midler On What’s Next For The Divine Miss M:  “Next? Sanitation commissioner of New York City. Honey, it’s fill-thy, she grins into the camera. They need me.  And can’t you just see those shiny garbage trucks – eyes closed, hands spread, she clearly can – “all saying ‘The Divine Miss M’?” (In Concert, August 29, 1973)