Gay bathhouse (陣屋)" were built in the 1970s. Singer Bette Midler is well known for getting her start at the famous Continental Baths in New York City in the early 1970s, where she earned the nickname Bathhouse Betty. It was there, accompanied by pianist Barry Manilow (who, like the bathhouse patrons, sometimes wore only a white towel), that she created her stage persona "the Divine Miss M." On getting her start in bathhouses, Midler has remarked: Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [when I got my start singing at the gay bathhouses].
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