Bette Midler transcript

MICHAEL EISNER:
Well Bette, I am thrilled that you're here on my show, mainly because you saved my career once. (LAUGHTER) And I'm looking forward-- to again. Actually, and then we'll start talking about it-- when I went to Disney in '84-- the first person that called me was an agent saying, "You've been trying to be in business with Bette Midler for 20 years. How would you like to do Down and Out in Beverly Hills? I came to Disney. It was the first movie that Disney made under Touchstone in the new era, first R-rated movie that Disney had ever made of that actress who had been involved in many-- projects, some of which were controversial. And that and five movies later kind of turned the momentum of a dormant Disney around. So, I wanted to talk about that and all the rest of it. But going to Disney for you after having done, you know, Clams on the Half Shell, and working in New York. Was that strange?

BETTE MIDLER:
I was very-- I was terrified. And I couldn't understand what they would see-- why they wanted me. I'm thinking-- because I'd grown up with, you know, Bambi and-- and Cinderella. And I-- I was terrified-- I was so--

MICHAEL EISNER:
You are Cinderella.

BETTE MIDLER:
Well, thank you very much-- I was-- I was stunned that they would want me. And I-- I couldn't figure out what was going on over at the studio, that they would suddenly make this big turn from family viewing--

MICHAEL EISNER:
Please.

BETTE MIDLER:
--for-- excuse me, you-- well "they" meaning "them."

MICHAEL EISNER:
Them. I read the scripts. And actually, it was the first Desperate Housewife we ever read. And you playing a Beverly Hills, quasi-desperate housewife--

BETTE MIDLER:
Yes.

MICHAEL EISNER:
--with Nick Nolte, directed by Paul Mazursky--

BETTE MIDLER:
Yes.

MICHAEL EISNER:
--sounded fantastic.

BETTE MIDLER:
Well, it came at just the right time for me, because I had had-- big success with The Rose. And-- I never got another job. I never got another phone call. The studio eventually called me back and said, "Well, we'll make a-- we'll do--" this was during the time of Jinxed, my second picture. I lost my manager-- or excuse me, I excused my manager.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Aaron Russo?

BETTE MIDLER:
I left my manager, the famous Aaron Russo, who was a real-- I-- I have to say, a real light n my life. He was a very exciting person to-- to be in business with.

MICHAEL EISNER:
He recently ran for Governor--

BETTE MIDLER:
He--

MICHAEL EISNER:
--of Nevada.

BETTE MIDLER:
--yes. He was-- he's a fearless kinda guy.

MICHAEL EISNER:
He's got a documentary out-- about to come out, about how you don't have to pay your axes.

BETTE MIDLER:
(LAUGHS) That sounds right.

MICHAEL EISNER:
I've seen it.

BETTE MIDLER:
I've been in-- I was in a lot of-- very exciting police chases with him.

MICHAEL EISNER:
Do you know he's very--

BETTE MIDLER:
Those were great days.

MICHAEL EISNER:
--you know he'd say he was gonna kill me?

BETTE MIDLER:
I-- you know, I-- I heard rumblings of that. What's that story?

MICHAEL EISNER:
We go back about 30 years or 20 years. When I was in New York at ABC, a man comes into my office and says-- "There's a woman singing in the bathhouses in New York who ABC has to make a deal with." I-- he said, "Will you have a meeting?" I said, "Great." What I didn't know was the manager of this up-and-coming actress, Bette Midler, and I shouldn't be talking here, but now (LAUGHTER) you are interviewing me, but whatever.

So, I had a-- I had an apartment for rent in a building I owned. And Aaron Russo came and saw it. And I rented it to him. And that night, I lay in bed with my wife, 'cause I asked him as he left what he did for a living, and he said he managed rock groups. And my wife and I discussed it and we decided it was a mistake. And I called him the next day and I said to him, "Mr. Russo, I've decided against it. I can't do it."

He said, "Please. I beg you, let me come back again." He had this beautiful little blonde wife who was so sweet. And they came back. And they loved the wood-burning fireplace. And I rented it to him again. That night I went back to bed with my wife. We discussed (LAUGHTER) that he-- that he had rock groups. We said it was a mistake. I called him the next day and said, "I'm sorry, I can't do it."

And he said, obviously kidding, "I'm gonna kill you." So, now it's two years later. We have a meeting about Bette Midler, this actress in a-- in-- in-- in the baths. And halfway through the meeting, he points to me and he says, "You're the one." (LAUGHTER) And I said, "Yes, I am." And he got up and walked away. And everybody else in the room said, "What was that all about?" And then I could never make a deal with you.

BETTE MIDLER:
I never-- I never worked for you. Never--

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