Bette Midler to 1969, she played the role of Tzeitel in "Fiddler on the Roof" on Broadway. After "Fiddler", she joined the original cast of "Salvation" in 1969. She began singing in the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the Ansonia Hotel, in the summer of 1970. During this time, she became close to her piano accompanist, Barry Manilow, who produced her first album in 1972, "The Divine Miss M." It was during her time at the Continental Baths that she built up a core following. In the late 1990s, during the release of her album "Bathhouse Betty", Midler commented on her
Bette Midler same year, Midler had a supporting role in "Get Shorty". Her 1997 HBO special "Diva Las Vegas" earned her a third Emmy Award, for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Midler's other 1990s films include "The First Wives Club" (1996). In 1997, Midler, along with her co-stars from "The First Wives Club", Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton, was a recipient of the Women in Film Crystal Award, which honors "outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry." Midler starred in her own