''The Bette Midler Show'' is an HBO television special of one of Bette Midler's tours entitled "The Depression Tour," shot at the

Cleveland Music Hall Public Auditorium (also known as Public Hall) is a multi-purpose performing arts, entertainment, sports, and exposition facility located in the civic center district of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The 10,000-capacity main auditorium shares its st ...

during February 1976 and also issued on Midler's album '' Live at Last''. The show features many of Bette's popular songs, such as "

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" is a World War II jump blues song written by Don Raye and Hughie Prince which was introduced by The Andrews Sisters in the Abbott and Costello comedy film, '' Buck Privates'' (1941). The Andrews Sisters' Decca recording r ...

", "Friends", "

In The Mood "In the Mood" is a popular big band-era jazz standard recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. "In the Mood" is based on the composition " Tar Paper Stomp" by Wingy Manone. The first recording under the name "In the Mood" was released by ...

", "Hello In There", and " Lullaby of Broadway" As well as dazzling the audience with her spontaneous wit with her 'Wonderful Sophie Tucker Jokes' and her special 'The Vicki Eydie Show'. The original HBO broadcast ran 134 minutes, including material from both of her Cleveland performances and a 5-minute intermission. When it was released on VHS, Betamax and

CED Videodisc The Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) is an analog video disc playback system developed by RCA, in which video and audio could be played back on a TV set using a special stylus and high-density groove system similar to phonograph records. Fir ...

in 1984 by Embassy Home Video, it was severely shortened to 84-minutes.IMDb Trivia
/ref> Performances of "Birds," "Shiver Me Timbers," the entire "Story of Nanette," a Harlettes-only musical number and countless jokes were removed. The special has never officially been issued on DVD, but bootlegs are rampant and clips from both versions have surfaced on YouTube.

Cast and Personnel

Cast

* Bette Midler – Herself

Harlettes

* Sharon Redd –

Harlettes The Harlettes, also known as The Staggering Harlettes, is a trio of backup singers who support Bette Midler during her live musical performances. The Harlettes' line-up has changed many times since their inception. History Bette Midler's stage ac ...

–

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Ula Hedwig –

–

* Charlotte Crossley –

–

Musicians

*Betsy And The Blowboys – The

Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

*Don York – Keyboards *Lou Volpe –

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

*Richard Trifan – Keyboards * Ira "Buddy" Williams – Drums * Jaroslav Jakubovic – Reeds *Miles Krasner –

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

*Francisco Centeno – Bass *Joseph Mero –

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

and Vibes *Elizabeth Kane – Harp

Personnel

Toni Basil Antonia Christina Basilotta (born September 22, 1943), better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer, choreographer, dancer, actress, and director. Her song "Mickey" topped the charts in the US, Canada and Australia and hit th ...

– Choreographer * Aaron Russo – Producer *

Don York Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON * Don (river), a river in European Russia * Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a ...

– Musical Director *

Bruce Vilanch Bruce Gerald Vilanch (born November 23, 1948) is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a two-time Emmy Award-winner. Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on ''Hollywood Squares'', as a celebrity participan ...

Jerry Blatt – Special Material

Acts

Act I

# ''Friends/Oh My My'' # ''I Sold My Heart To The Junkman'' # ''Birds'' (HBO Version) # ''Comic Relief'' # ''

In the Mood "In the Mood" is a popular big band-era jazz standard recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. "In the Mood" is based on the composition " Tar Paper Stomp" by Wingy Manone. The first recording under the name "In the Mood" was released by ...

'' # '' Hurry on Down'' # '' Shiver me Timbers'' (HBO Version) # ''The Vicki Eydie Show: Around the World, Istanbul, Fiesta in Rio, South Sea's scene, I'm Wishing/One Song,

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" is a song written and composed by Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston for the Walt Disney film ''Cinderella'' (1950). In the song, Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods) encourages her animal friends to ...

, # '' Lullaby of Broadway'' # ''Intermission: You're Moving Out Today''

Act II

# '' Roll Me Through The Rushes'' (The Harlettes) (HBO Version) # ''

Delta Dawn "Delta Dawn" is a song written by musician Larry Collins and country songwriter Alex Harvey (country musician), Alex Harvey. The first notable recording of the song was in 1971 by American singer and actress Bette Middler, Bette Midler for her ...

'' # ''Long John Blues'' # ''Those Wonderful Sophie Tucker Jokes'' # ''The Story of Nanette: Nanette, Alabama Song, Drinking Again, Mr. Rockefeller'', ''Ready to Begin Again'', ''

Do You Wanna Dance? "Do You Want to Dance" is a song written by American singer Bobby Freeman and recorded by him in 1958. It reached number No. 5 on the United States ''Billboard'' Top 100 Sides pop chart and No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart. Cliff Richard ...

(HBO Version) # ''Fried Eggs'' # '' Hello in there'' # ''Finale:

Up the Ladder to the Roof "Up the Ladder to the Roof" is a 1970 hit single recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label. It was the first Supremes single to feature new lead singer Jean Terrell in place of Diana Ross, who officially left the group for a solo career two w ...

, Friends'' ''For further info see

Live at Last (Bette Midler album) ''Live at Last'' is the first live album by American singer Bette Midler, a two-disc set released in 1977, Midler's fourth album release on the Atlantic Records label. The album spawned from her live, recorded performance, "The Depression Tour" in ...

External links

Bette Midler Show information on IMDb

Bette Midler Show on Amazon

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bette Midler Show 1976 films American musical films 1970s musical films Bette Midler video albums 1970s English-language films 1970s American films