Bette Midler hits, including "In the Mood" and "Lullaby of Broadway". Her self-titled follow-up album was released at the end of 1973. Again, the album was co-produced by Manilow. It reached Billboard's Top 10 and eventually sold close to a million copies in the United States alone. Midler returned to recording with the 1976 and 1977 albums, "Songs for the New Depression" and "Broken Blossom." In 1974, she received a Special Tony Award for her contribution to Broadway, with "Clams on the Half Shell Revue" playing at the Minskoff Theater. From 1975–1978, she also provided the voice of Woody the Spoon on
Bette Midler the PBS educational series "Vegetable Soup." In 1977, Midler's first television special, whose title, "Ol' Red Hair is Back", was a takeoff on Frank Sinatra's "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back", premiered, featuring guest stars Dustin Hoffman and Emmett Kelly. It went on to win the "Emmy Award" for Outstanding Special — Comedy-Variety or Music. Midler made her first motion picture in 1979, starring in the 1960s-era rock and roll tragedy "The Rose", as a drug-addicted rock star modeled after Janis Joplin. That year, she also released her fifth studio album, "Thighs and Whispers." Midler's first foray into disco was a