0:06

Hey, everyone, thanks for pulling up a chair

0:08

today on Table for two. I could not be more

0:10

excited to be here in New York City. It is

0:12

a glorious day, and I could not be more

0:14

excited to be at Via Carota, my favorite

0:16

downtown West Village Italian joint.

0:19

I'm very anxious. This is exciting.

0:26

We are having lunch today with a

0:29

woman whose body of work is absolutely

0:32

stunning. It's immense, it's

0:35

diverse, it spans

0:38

decades. She is an award

0:40

winning super talent,

0:43

and she gives back to

0:45

our city, to our country.

0:48

She has a voice that she is not

0:50

afraid to use. She is

0:53

next level.

0:54

I'm going to have the eggs. That sounds

0:56

great.

0:58

Chappole's I think I think I

1:00

have. I need a little proces, so like maybe to cut

1:03

your to pepe.

1:05

Have some carbs. I'm

1:08

talking about Bette Midler.

1:10

Can you believe that we're having

1:12

lunch.

1:12

With Bette Midler today? So sit

1:14

back and enjoy.

1:16

Grab a glass of rose, grab a salad,

1:19

because today's lunch is really

1:22

extra special. So

1:24

thanks for joining again. I'm Bruce

1:26

Bosi. This is my podcast Table for

1:28

two. I'm really excited we can

1:30

all have lunch today.

1:39

Today, Today, we're here a very

1:42

nice restaurant.

1:43

I love that.

1:43

You love it too, Oh my goodness, I love it.

1:45

I was having lunch with middle

1:48

of the waiter Michael. I believe

1:50

it's like, oh yeah this, yeah,

1:52

She's like, you know, it's like.

1:54

Yeah, I come here all the time. The food is really good.

1:56

What do you like here?

1:57

Well?

1:57

I love the Aaroncini I

1:59

am a real fan of that, and I love all

2:01

the pastas. But the real star for

2:04

me, I'm not a vegetarian, but I'm close to is

2:07

the lettuce salad, which is sensational.

2:09

It's next level.

2:10

It is it really is, it really is.

2:13

It's next level.

2:13

So sometimes they give me a Cafe Correto

2:17

espresso with well you're Italian, you know,

2:19

with Fanny Bronca, and you're just

2:21

like floating through the rest of the day.

2:24

I love that.

2:24

Like when we spoke, you know, first of

2:26

all, receiving an email from you is one of the

2:28

most exciting but one can get.

2:31

And it was like, we're not going to be doing day drinking

2:33

today. It was normally I say

2:36

pull Uprose.

2:38

And I respect that, thank you, But you were

2:40

in New York early what was and

2:43

I happened to think you.

2:44

You know, you came to New York in the late sixties.

2:46

I came in sixty five, sixty five, so mid

2:48

sixties, mid sixties. I was nineteen.

2:51

What was I thinking?

2:52

Well, I mean, I think, what's so amazing about

2:55

that you're that period? To me

2:57

is you came in sixty five and

2:59

you really hit.

3:01

Thirty I did road like.

3:03

I mean, I know you studied at HB. I know

3:05

you studied with Udah Hagen. I know you

3:07

were on Fiddler on the Roof. I know you stayed there. I know

3:10

that, I know it nineteen seventy four.

3:11

You know, my whole, my whole.

3:12

I do see thee Yes, I want what I wanted.

3:15

I mean, I just like I relighted

3:17

it so many times. I wish I had a different story

3:19

to tell you.

3:20

Because.

3:22

Wow, the talent, the

3:25

drive. So what was

3:28

sixty five to eighty

3:31

for you? And like, what was this city

3:33

like for you? Because you were.

3:34

Doing an interesting question, that's

3:37

a really interesting question. First

3:40

of all, it was a much smaller city. It

3:42

was lower. All these high

3:44

rises didn't exist. There were skyscrapers,

3:47

but they were I ventured. I have

3:50

to say. They were kind of human scale. You

3:52

were awed by them, but you weren't like, oh

3:54

my god, what is that you know,

3:56

like you are.

3:57

Now so horrible fifty city street building.

4:00

Yes, anyway, it was human scale,

4:02

and the people were very They

4:05

were speedy, they were bustling, but they weren't

4:07

unfriendly. They were they

4:09

could be kind at times. It was

4:12

it was a very kind of down at heel

4:15

city. It wasn't spruced up, it

4:17

wasn't buff It was very rugged.

4:20

It was pretty dirty. Yeah, I mean I

4:22

was there for the minute John Lindsay

4:26

became the mayor. The

4:28

garbage workers went on strike, but I mean

4:30

like the minute

4:32

and bom

4:35

boom, they lowered it, so the garbage

4:37

piled up. Then the subway went

4:39

on strike. Then I mean there

4:42

was like a just a perfect storm of

4:44

horror. And I was here. I

4:47

was nineteen, maybe I was, you

4:49

know, by I turned twenty in December, and

4:51

I just took it like it was this was just normal,

4:54

even though I had never seen anything like it in my life.

4:56

I just said, well, this is the way it is. I don't

4:58

know, I don't know what you're going to So

5:01

I had a couple of jobs. I worked

5:03

at Le Mama I worked in children's

5:05

shows. It was a very rugged

5:08

Like I said, rugged, and it was.

5:11

It was rough.

5:12

It was rough, but it was kind of exciting because

5:15

yeah, it was very it was kind of exciting.

5:17

There was a lot of stuff going on.

5:19

There was a lot of ferment. You know,

5:22

there was Dylan, and there was everything

5:24

that was going on in music

5:26

and the Beatles and the Stones and

5:28

the Andy Warhole was out and

5:32

Edie Sedgwick was here and all the

5:34

Warhole group were downtown. And

5:36

for some reason, he was kind of like a lynch

5:39

pin. I felt that he was a lynch

5:41

pin. I've said for years,

5:43

gee, I'm sorry he's gone, because

5:46

there was something about him that

5:49

drew people like a magnet

5:51

to the city. So there was all this

5:53

sort of wild behavior,

5:56

not just wild behavior, but people

5:58

who are artists, who wanted to be

6:01

to have a career in art, or people who

6:03

had something to say. There was it felt

6:05

like, I don't want to say Berlin in the

6:07

twenties, but maybe.

6:09

I think maybe maybe definitely.

6:12

Yeah, there was a lot of acting out. It

6:14

wasn't It wasn't. You didn't feel unsafe,

6:17

right, you didn't. You never felt

6:19

unsafe. It was some

6:22

of it was shocking. Some of it was

6:25

eyebrow raising, but you never felt

6:27

unsafe. So it was

6:30

fun. I have to say it was fun.

6:31

I think it was.

6:32

It was a lot of fun, especially if

6:34

you were young, because that's what

6:37

that's what it was all about. Those kids

6:39

have come of age.

6:40

You didn't have to be rich.

6:41

You didn't have to be rich exactly. It

6:43

didn't have to be rich as long as you had

6:46

something going on, something

6:48

that was attractive in some way, either

6:50

you had talent, or you look great, or you

6:52

dressed greater. You weren't afraid

6:54

to put yourself out. Yeah, and

6:57

it was that it was for you. For

6:59

for a young person, it was very exciting.

7:00

I mean you could have a dime in your shoe

7:02

for a phone call and a quarter in your pocket

7:04

for a cup of coffee.

7:05

That's exactly right.

7:07

And it was and I

7:09

mean that decade now

7:11

I was nine, ten eleven, but

7:14

it was like see Lea Bruce, Like I

7:17

was out on the streets going to visit my friends and

7:19

doing things. Like you said, it was with

7:22

all the graffiti and all this stuff. It was there's

7:24

an element, but it was it was okay.

7:27

Yeah, well it was people sort

7:30

of making their mark, right, if

7:32

that's what it was. See me, you

7:34

know, see me, see me, see me. I'm

7:36

here too.

7:47

I love asking and I love knowing.

7:50

When you felt

7:52

you were.

7:53

Seen, well, I

7:55

think it was when I felt

7:57

my I was seen was seen or my scene

8:00

well.

8:01

Both because both are very interesting to me.

8:03

So like when you know when someone's like, oh people

8:05

see me for who I am, Like, was there a

8:07

moment that you're like that you experience.

8:10

Something that you're like, oh, okay.

8:12

I think that. I think it was probably the first

8:14

time I had one of those epiphanies that people who

8:16

work in this arena sometimes

8:19

have when they're they have a

8:22

song or something a piece of art

8:24

that they've made or performed

8:27

where they suddenly have an out

8:29

of body experience and it

8:31

causes other people to

8:34

applaud wildly. So that

8:37

happened to me, not once, but several

8:39

times. Yeah, it did. And I

8:41

suddenly realized after

8:45

fit, when I after I was done

8:47

there and I started working on my own suddenly

8:50

I was my own boss, which is I mean,

8:52

when you're your own book, there's nothing like art,

8:55

there's nothing like me. Yeah, So here

8:57

I was, I was my own boss, and I was

8:59

paying my own rent, and I was doing my own

9:01

thing and people liked it. And

9:03

I think it was the late sixties, like

9:06

sixty eight, sixty nine, right, and then

9:08

it carried through into the seventies. I

9:11

was I did. I was

9:14

a solo act from about sixty

9:17

late sixty eight till about seventy,

9:19

the early seventies, and then

9:21

maybe at nineteen seventy I found Barry

9:23

Manilow. I found or that he was

9:25

given to me, was assigned to me by the Manual

9:27

and the Baths. I think the Baths I would have

9:30

to say in this long career

9:32

that I've had, now that it's been you know, one

9:34

hundred and fifty years.

9:35

I'm still standing.

9:38

Helping John Elton.

9:39

John has it wrong. It's not I'm still

9:42

It's not.

9:42

That I'm.

9:46

Right, And I do have to

9:48

say I do have to say that they were great

9:50

to me. When I got that gig of the Baths,

9:53

it was three hundred dollars for the weekend. This was more

9:55

money than I ever heard of in my life.

9:57

You know, I was working in Fidder for two hundred dollars

10:00

a week for a couple of years, and when I asked

10:02

for a raise, they refused

10:04

me. I asked for a twenty five dollars raise, and they refused

10:06

to give me a twenty five dollars days. Of

10:09

course, I got very bitter. That

10:11

was the beginning of bitter.

10:12

Bey, bitter, bitter

10:15

Betty, Yeah, bitter.

10:17

Yeah,

10:38

thank you for joining us on table for two. Today

10:41

we're having lunch with Bette Midler. By

10:44

the nineteen seventies, bet Star was

10:46

on the rise. She began the decade

10:48

performing in the Continental Baths, a gay

10:51

bath house in the basement of the Ansonia

10:53

Hotel on the Upper West Side, and

10:55

by the end of the decade she had moved

10:57

to Hollywood. Her journey to

10:59

mainstream six US was not as

11:01

smooth as I presumed. In

11:05

the seventies, there was a lot of joy,

11:07

and there was there

11:09

was and you were what was what did you

11:11

notice in that room? Besides the obvious

11:14

of why the men were there, Well,

11:16

it wasn't.

11:16

In the room so much because

11:19

they were. There were unwritten rules

11:21

in the room. So and everyone

11:23

in those days was very sort

11:26

of circumspect. People were very respectful.

11:29

They were very respectful. They this was

11:31

a surprise for them to come and see

11:33

an entertainer in the in their space, and

11:36

they were thrilled, and

11:39

they were especially thrilled with my act because

11:42

I have always sort of catered

11:45

to my crowd. That's

11:47

something that's like show biz one O one. You

11:49

read the room. You have to read the room, and you have

11:51

to sort of tailor your work to the

11:54

room. And it's great, it's

11:56

great fun, but it's a lot of its improvised,

11:58

and a lot of it's written in ahead

12:00

of time, just so that you have some guideposts.

12:04

So they were so happy that I was making jokes

12:06

about them and their situation and their

12:08

life and this and that, and they couldn't have They

12:11

were enchanted, enchanted.

12:14

So I mostly noticed

12:16

that they were enchanted. I

12:18

mostly noticed that because I'm a complete

12:20

narcissist, and so I was thrilled. And

12:23

I never expected it to lead anywhere. I really

12:25

didn't really, No, I didn't expect it to

12:27

lead anywhere. I thought, this is you know, it's a weekend

12:29

gig. I'm going to pay the rent in

12:31

one weekend. Oh my god, Because in those

12:33

days you could live The

12:36

rent was three hundred dollars a month for

12:39

like four rooms, and you were

12:41

living like a king on three hundred dollars

12:44

Can you imagine, can you.

12:46

Imagine it's artist like yourself at

12:48

that age.

12:49

Yes, that's why New York was

12:51

so Yes, it

12:54

was so vibe, vivacious,

12:56

so vibrant because it was cheap.

13:00

The and I remember very well

13:02

when the artists took over, when

13:05

they passed the law that said that artists could live

13:07

in those lofts

13:09

downtown town before so and

13:12

I had a boyfriend who did that. He bought

13:14

he got a loft on Spring Street and it cost

13:16

him, like, I don't know, thirty thousand dollars

13:19

for this gigantic you know,

13:21

fifteen hundred square feet. But there

13:23

was nothing. There was no grocery store, there was

13:25

no there was nothing. There was no bakery,

13:27

there was no butcher, there was nothing, no dry cleaner,

13:30

nothing. And I lived down there

13:32

with him for on and off for a

13:34

few months.

13:34

I mean, I have to say, like, you hit it at

13:37

what I think is the sexiest.

13:39

Time to have hit it.

13:40

You were young, you were talented,

13:43

You have the gig at the bath house.

13:45

You know, it's it was the

13:48

moment.

13:49

To it absolutely was.

14:01

There's no one like you, bet and

14:03

there really isn't. There's nobody that

14:06

has the body of work and the ability

14:09

of talent that I had ever

14:11

experienced, and the effect

14:14

that not only you've had on me listening

14:17

to your music, seeing your shows, seeing

14:20

your movies. So the

14:22

seventies ago, when there's a little

14:24

small world, you're nineteen seventy nine The

14:26

Rose Right, Mark

14:29

Roydell, whose grandson is my son

14:31

in law coincidentally, Yeah, married

14:33

Brian's daughter Billy. Oh that's

14:36

crazy.

14:37

You know, it's just weird.

14:38

And for those listening Mark Roydell directed,

14:41

you know that in The Rose Right, you

14:43

give this performance that's I mean.

14:45

I remember being in the movie theater.

14:47

I was, you know, probably just about

14:50

to be fourteen fifty.

14:51

I mean it was like, so

14:53

here you are, you win a Golden

14:55

globe, You're you're you're in the seventies

14:57

in this like incredible way, and you've had

15:00

all this, you know, the characters,

15:02

you developed, all the rite, and

15:04

then you do something that's crazy.

15:08

Which part which one? Which time was?

15:10

I So, I mean you go to Hollywood

15:12

and become a huge movie store, comedic

15:14

movie store, and own Disney.

15:16

I mean right, Well, it wasn't

15:18

exactly as easy as all that. Okay, I had a big

15:20

hit with Rows, and then I had a bunch of duds,

15:24

and they're not very forgiving out there. But

15:27

I was on my uppers. I mean I had

15:29

I couldn't get arrested. I had two pictures. I

15:31

had the Divine Madness, which is

15:33

a very odd picture we made

15:35

in the we made in Pasadena during a

15:37

hurricane. And I

15:40

had jinxed With, which was hideous, hideous,

15:43

horrible, and the

15:45

director and I didn't see eye to eye on anything.

15:48

It's raining, No it isn't. I mean, it was

15:50

like that. So I was kind

15:52

of untouchable. But unbeknownst

15:54

to me, there were a number of other untouchables

15:56

out there too. One of them was Nick Noldy and the

15:59

other one was Richard drive This And so

16:01

Mike Eisner, in his wisdom, he had

16:03

just taken over the Disney Studios

16:05

and he had we wanted an adult imprint,

16:08

so he created Touchstone. That

16:11

he created touchdowne in his first picture was

16:13

was down and out in Beverly Hills, and he wanted

16:15

the cheapest names

16:18

he could get, and

16:20

that was yours, yours truly and those

16:22

two other windings. So

16:26

so we start we we

16:28

we made that picture.

16:29

And we had a lot of fun and it was a great picture.

16:31

We had a lot of.

16:32

Fun

16:42

that then begins a series

16:44

of movies that begins a whole

16:46

decade that's tremendous

16:49

for you.

16:49

What was that decade?

16:50

That was?

16:50

What was Who was bed like?

16:52

In that? Happy? Really

16:54

really happy? Because

16:58

when I started, I came to be an actress.

17:00

I came to New York to be an actress or an actor,

17:02

whatever you want to say. And I wasn't

17:04

really very clear

17:07

about what it meant. I

17:09

wasn't clear. I just had a kind of a fuzzy,

17:12

muzzy vision of

17:14

myself in a cloud of

17:16

glory. You know. I didn't really know

17:18

what it meant. I didn't know what the work was. I hadn't

17:21

had much training, in fact, almost none,

17:25

but I had this, like I said, I

17:27

had this light that I and that I kept walking

17:29

to. So when I got there and when I

17:32

wound up at Disney, which and no one was more surprised

17:34

than I was, really, I mean, I was so shocked

17:37

because my act was anything

17:40

but family friendly. I mean

17:42

I was dumbfounded. Oh you want me, But

17:44

I wasn't about to say no because it

17:46

was in a way my vision

17:49

kind of changed. I didn't I loved singing,

17:51

and I loved performing live. But I

17:53

think for the for the idea of

17:56

permanence, that you want your work to

17:58

live on there washing like film, there's

18:01

nothing there is. Yeah, So I switched

18:04

quick, switched over, switched gears and said

18:06

I'm here now, So this is what I'm going to

18:08

do. And then Decade was fantastic.

18:10

We had a we have the first all

18:12

female.

18:13

Production company you did.

18:15

We did it was called All Girl Productions.

18:17

And because we were all girls, and our

18:19

motto was we hold a grudge. That's

18:24

bond. That was Bonnie Bruckheimer, my partner.

18:26

That was, Yeah, I love we hold a grudge

18:28

excellently.

18:29

Did you find because now you're.

18:30

Oh, there was made your blow

18:33

back.

18:33

I was going to say, you are

18:36

now at a time where women are

18:38

not actresses, are not getting

18:40

paid properly. Your movies

18:42

might be like, were you in a

18:45

very misogynistic time?

18:46

I think in the world, were

18:49

you in it?

18:50

I didn't feel it. I didn't feel it.

18:52

I had never felt it my whole life. Really,

18:55

I had never felt it. I had never felt It's

18:57

only now that I realized that

19:00

funny. I mean, I always sort of watched

19:02

it, but I never really judged

19:04

it as like this gigantic, monolithic

19:07

case of misogyny. I never really

19:10

judged it. I just thought, oh, that's the way the world

19:12

is. I didn't think it could be changed.

19:14

It's just the way it was. So

19:18

then I realized there was a whole bunch of people saying

19:20

we're going to change this. That

19:22

was a real eye opener.

19:24

Yeah, that's the twenty twenty now

19:27

of looking back, which

19:29

isn't isn't it interesting? I mean, you

19:31

find yourself now looking back on the

19:34

twenty twenty of life. Is there

19:36

anything that you're like, the clarity

19:38

that you know, you go, oh wow,

19:41

I didn't see that at the time, or I didn't

19:43

know to feel that, or maybe I

19:45

wouldn't have done that.

19:47

Oh incessantly. You mean, do I have any

19:49

regrets? I regret everything,

19:52

every moment of my life. Regrets.

19:55

I have a few. I have so many

19:57

regrets. But I have to

19:59

say say, even

20:02

though I have regrets, I

20:05

I also give myself the opportunity

20:07

every now and again to look back and be proud,

20:10

you know, to say, but you know, it was

20:12

big, it was a big thing, and now I'm

20:14

sort of outside of it because

20:17

I'm a woman of a certain age, and

20:19

I feel like a lot of it is behind

20:21

me, because when you get to be seventy seven, a

20:23

lot that you have more in back of you than you have in

20:25

front of you, and a lot of times you don't.

20:28

You never lift your head to

20:30

see it. You never stop to smell the rose.

20:32

As corny as it sounds, you're just so

20:34

busy plotting ahead that you

20:36

don't really know what's going on

20:38

around you. And it's only when you stop and

20:41

assess the damage or the success

20:44

that you realize what you went through. And

20:46

I started to do my archive forgive me

20:48

for oh really, yes, I'm putting my

20:51

archive together. I mean, I know that sounds much

20:53

fancier than it really is. I'm putting

20:55

all.

20:55

My It's very important.

20:57

It is kind of important because and

20:59

I got horrorly depressed. I

21:01

got horribly depressed. I really did.

21:04

I almost had a nervous breakdown over it

21:06

because I had to look back and I had to so anyone

21:09

who's listening who knew me, then I really

21:11

apologize. I mean it. You

21:13

know who you are, I mean you really?

21:16

Yeah. Because I had letters, I had old

21:18

love letters, I had I had checks,

21:20

I had bills, I had scripts

21:23

I had, I mean, and it was, like I said,

21:26

it was a lot. It was a big life, and it

21:28

was a lot of people that I

21:30

met that I

21:32

that passed in my vision that I didn't

21:34

notice turned out to be wonderful people

21:36

that I ignored. And I just I

21:39

did some things wrong. I did a lot right, but I

21:41

did a lot wrong. So I got

21:43

really depressed. I did well.

21:45

I mean, I think you have to be careful to not

21:47

be too hard.

21:48

Yes, exactly, And that is a real that's

21:51

something that everyone should learn. That's

21:54

bred in the bone. If your family

21:56

was hard on you, you're going to be hard on your

21:58

cells.

21:59

The archive thing, so is the intention

22:01

to sort of just put it all together

22:03

and just you know, keep it in the family.

22:06

No, No, I'm going to give it to someone. I haven't

22:08

really figured out someone who can

22:10

either you know you and if there's anybody

22:13

who wants to write books or whatever, they'll have access

22:15

to all that. The truth is

22:17

now I'm thinking, oh maybe not the

22:20

truth is it was I was, you

22:23

know, it was swamping me. There's

22:25

so much of it, and I just

22:27

wanted to get get it out of my

22:29

vision, out of my line. At my Sightline.

22:31

Was it all storage or someplace it's.

22:33

Been in storage. Yeah, it's been in storage for years.

22:36

So it's you know, it's like a cloud hanging

22:38

over your head.

22:39

It's like when you want to clean a cloud.

22:41

You know, downsizing, baby, downsizing.

22:44

It's freedom.

22:45

It's freedom sort of, yes, but

22:47

first you have to before you give it all away,

22:49

you have to go through it.

22:50

Yeah.

22:50

It's like when you lay all your clothes down and then you don't want

22:52

to do it anymore, right, and it just sits in your closet.

22:57

I don't want to do this anymore.

22:58

Because someone just put it away.

23:03

I think it's you're you're giving the world a gift.

23:22

Welcome back to Table for two.

23:24

Bett is, of course an acclaimed actress

23:27

and singer, but she is also

23:29

a prolific philanthropist. Every

23:31

Halloween, she throws a star studded benefit

23:33

called Hulloween to raise money for

23:35

her New York Restoration project. The

23:38

ny RP restores and preserves green

23:40

spaces around New York City. I'm

23:42

honored to be a part of the event this year,

23:45

and I'm curious why Halloween,

23:48

What was the moment because

23:50

not a lot of people have you

23:53

have.

23:53

This anal retentive quality.

23:55

Well, no, it's the I'm

23:58

tired of seeing something, I'm gonna do

24:00

something about it. Most people just drive

24:03

on the highway and see the garbage bag.

24:05

I can keep going. What was that

24:07

moment and the journey

24:10

to get you here?

24:11

And me being a green god in Halloween,

24:15

which I'm excited about.

24:16

I wish it was. I wish

24:18

it could make it less, make it more fanciful

24:21

or more elaborate than it is. It was really simply

24:24

people really are sleepwalking. People

24:27

do sleepwalk. And I've always prided

24:29

myself on the fact that I'm alert, I'm awake, I'm

24:31

awake, and when I see something

24:34

going on that I don't like, it's not

24:36

just me, it's everybody around me

24:38

that's that's being blighted

24:40

by the blight. So I just I decided

24:43

I had to do something about it, and I did, and

24:45

I think it's great. The one thing that I'm

24:47

really really proud of in my environmental

24:51

career is the fact that I raised awareness

24:54

at a time when nobody, very

24:57

few or very few people were saying this

24:59

is all we can't do this. Yeah,

25:02

and now it's everywhere and everyone is aware

25:04

of it. But I don't see I see movement.

25:06

Like last night I saw PBS a

25:08

story about fisherman's

25:11

gear that goes missing in the sea.

25:14

These lobster traps that are now made of steel.

25:16

They used to be made of wood and plastic

25:18

ropes that used to be made of sizal that

25:21

would disintegrate. Now they don't,

25:23

and they trap wildlife in them. And you

25:25

see these pictures of these little birds

25:28

you know who tour trapped in these cages.

25:30

It's just it's devastating. It's devastating.

25:33

But I wanted to do

25:35

something about it. So I set

25:37

my mind to it. And I had a great partner

25:39

in those days, a guy named Joe

25:42

Popello, and he was

25:44

just he was a little fireball and a little

25:46

fireplug, wouldn't take no for an answer.

25:48

Knew everybody in the city, and we

25:50

started on this journey together and

25:53

it's still going strong thirty years later.

25:55

Yeah.

26:07

So how did Halloween become the

26:10

holiday to have

26:12

this huge benefit and to raise you

26:14

know, awareness and money and

26:16

make the change.

26:17

Well, it was a couple of things. So it

26:20

was a couple of things. I once

26:22

played a witch and this was

26:24

a very popular character that I played, and

26:28

it seemed to fit. And I also

26:31

was encouraged by the board that I

26:33

got together for this nonprofit

26:36

to do a to do an event, and

26:38

I had never done an event. I

26:40

had never done a party. I'd never I mean,

26:42

I'm like such a homebody. I don't do anything.

26:44

I just go home, I read a book, I had some

26:47

pasta, I watched TV, I go to bed.

26:49

I don't think people really realize what

26:52

an introvert and what I

26:54

think kind of shy

26:57

person that you are. And I've gotten

26:59

to know you very casually, and we've been in the same

27:01

room. But it's the energy

27:04

and it's so interesting because of

27:06

the two yes and you were and

27:08

that you love to read, which I know about. And Brian

27:11

and I were talking about you last night and he was thinking, you're

27:13

best. Very She's a

27:15

huge reader, she's very smart,

27:17

she's very shocky.

27:18

She's an introvert. People don't realize

27:21

it's true.

27:22

I had I'm an introvert and

27:24

my big parties are the ones that I throw on

27:26

the stage. That's the other me.

27:28

And I love her. I love her,

27:31

but I couldn't be her off stage. She is an

27:33

exhausting I just can't

27:36

do this day and night. So

27:38

I have those outlets where I'm

27:40

completely out to lunch, and then

27:42

I have my real life where i'm you know,

27:44

I'm just like a regular person. And when

27:47

I say regular, I mean I just do what everybody

27:50

does. I love to cook, I love to eat,

27:52

I love to put her around the house. I love

27:54

to you know, clean out my closet.

27:56

Blah blah. Everybody says the same thing. Anyway.

27:59

So I played a witch, and

28:02

that was a very popular characteris It

28:04

wasn't popular when it first came out, but it

28:07

got a cult following, and somehow or

28:09

other it became a gigantic hit many

28:11

many years late after its release. So

28:14

people loved and I said, oh that's good. And I

28:16

and I wanted to do an event. And I had had

28:18

all these books on ballroom

28:21

balls, the artist ball, the

28:23

drag ball, this ball. I

28:26

mean, I had no idea that people

28:28

were such party givers because I never went

28:30

to any of those. So I put

28:32

my thinking cap on and I came out out

28:34

with Halloween. And you know who said

28:36

huloween? Mick Jones

28:40

from Foreigner said, oh, you should

28:42

call it. I wanted him to be the first act. He

28:45

said, oh, you should call it Hulloween. And I

28:47

said, I'm gonna that.

28:49

It's great.

28:50

Isn't that great?

28:51

It's really great.

28:52

I mean, I know you're not going to give anything up

28:54

about what you're gonna wear.

28:56

No, no, no, no no. I would never give him

28:58

anything. What are you gonna war?

29:00

What is?

29:00

It's a kind of a fractured fairy tales? Yes,

29:03

so it's give me an exact fairy

29:05

tales and dead time stories so

29:07

you you can think of all the great fairy

29:10

tales use you know,

29:12

the great figures in literature with

29:16

of course, with knives, stabs or bullet holes

29:18

or you know, bleeding out out of your

29:20

ears.

29:20

Yeah, right, Okay.

29:22

So I ran and said, Zach posing two nights

29:24

ago and I was like, well, I have a question for you. He goes, don't

29:26

ask me to create a halloween. It's

29:29

like you read in my mind. And I said, Zach,

29:32

I'm not, I know, maybe like a concept.

29:34

He's like, concepts. I love, I could do

29:36

concepts. How he

29:39

knew that? That's where I was going to

29:41

go. I mean, like the gumption

29:43

on me, like who do I think I am?

29:46

That is hilarious. The fact that he

29:48

knew what you were going to say before you said crazy.

29:51

I started to laugh. And I know that Jordan Roff

29:53

is involved and he's going to be judging him.

29:55

I know one's going to kill it like that.

29:57

I'm afraid judge.

29:59

I mean honest, I'm.

30:01

If I were an attendee, I would

30:03

be nervous about Jordan because he really

30:06

does kill it.

30:06

He goes all out, all out.

30:15

I've had such a wonderful time today talking

30:17

to bet about her many accomplishments and

30:19

her life in New York City. She

30:21

has made a lane for herself and found

30:23

so much success over the years. Before

30:26

we go, I want to know to someone

30:28

who seems so fearless, ever

30:31

get nervous as

30:34

we sort of wrap up our lunch together and God,

30:36

this it was really.

30:38

Such a dull. Oh my gosh, I can sit across

30:40

from you all for the rest of my life. You're

30:42

so sweet and so beautiful.

30:44

Oh my gosh, thank you.

30:46

Welcome.

30:47

Was there a moment ever in

30:49

your performing career that

30:51

you were scared that

30:54

you were about to go and

30:56

do something that you were like, oh wow,

30:58

I'm really.

31:00

Scared, like step on the stage.

31:03

Oh of course you seem so.

31:05

There are sometimes when you're next level

31:08

strong. Well you know that, someone

31:11

said to me recently, in fact, you over

31:13

prepare. And I realized

31:16

that the reason I overprepare is

31:18

because that gives me confidence. If

31:21

I'm not prepared. The only the times that I'm most

31:23

terrified are when I'm not prepared. When

31:25

I don't, I'm not really sure about

31:28

what I'm going to say, or what I'm going to do, or what

31:30

I'm going to sing. But if I'm if I'm rehearsed, if

31:32

i'm if I'm up for it. You know, if I'm

31:34

ready, then I'm i zum. It's

31:36

like a rocket going off. So that's fantastic.

31:39

But I do, I do, I do

31:41

get terrified. I don't have that kind

31:43

of crippling stage fright that has dogged

31:46

a couple of friends, some friends of mine. But

31:48

I yet. But I think that might be a function

31:50

of agent. Might be around the corner. Who knows. But

31:54

anything can happen one

31:57

day at a time, one foot in front of the time, starts

31:59

with one step. I know all the mantras.

32:01

Anyway, this has been so great. I'm

32:04

so I have to say, I just have to give

32:06

a plug for my organization. We are n y r P and

32:09

Bruce Boxy is our Green

32:11

God this year, and Clive Davis

32:13

is one of our honorees, and Christina

32:16

Blakeslee is our other. We have some honorees

32:18

and we have Chloe she's going to be singing yes,

32:21

And Dion Warwick is going to sing. Clive

32:23

Davis is our one of our honorees and

32:25

she is going to sing two songs.

32:28

Yes.

32:28

And she's divine and he's divine.

32:30

And everybody everybody's designed

32:33

divine design and.

32:34

You have design, everyone's

32:37

designed Miles Frost.

32:38

I do have Miles Frost. Yes, that's very

32:41

proud of super Yes, he is.

32:43

It's going to be a super fun I think.

32:44

It's going to be a great night. I will probably I may come

32:46

as Rapunzel, but I don't know. I

32:49

may come as Lady Godiva. Oh and that's

32:51

something you really want to see.

32:52

Yes, it is.

32:54

It will come as Eve.

32:55

You know.

32:55

There's some of them have been so much

32:58

fun. You know, Michael Gores and Lancephere were are

33:00

costume judges. They're not here this year, so Jordan Roth

33:02

is taking over. And they went used to go all out.

33:05

They did. They went all out, and we

33:07

have had some of the

33:09

most hilarious and fantastic

33:12

entertainers. We had Stevie Wonder, we had

33:14

Elton John, we had Stevie Nicks, we had

33:16

Sheryl Crow. I mean huge, huge, choog

33:18

choog chooge. All people who really

33:20

want to make you know, want to give us a hand, give

33:22

the environment a hand. So it's been great.

33:24

I think people as we wrap, what

33:26

you're doing is again building

33:29

and maintaining community parks gardens

33:32

like thousands of them. You know

33:34

you're doing something so incredible.

33:37

But if I can end on one note, that is

33:40

your body of work, your immense

33:44

talent, the joy and what you've

33:46

given to the

33:48

world, you know, in our

33:50

lifetime.

33:52

Thank you.

33:53

And it could bring me

33:55

to tears because I've sat in dark

33:57

movie theaters, I've sat in state and

34:00

I've been the recipient of your

34:03

passion, and thank you.

34:05

Thank you, and thank you for joining me today.

34:08

Wonderful and I'll.

34:09

See you on October twenty seventh.

34:11

October twenty seven, Thanks.

34:13

Everyone for pulling up a chair.

34:16

Table for Two with Bruce Bosie is produced

34:18

by iHeart Radio seven three seven

34:21

Park and Air Rail. Our executive

34:23

producers are Bruce Bosi and Nathan

34:25

King. Table for two is researched and written

34:27

by Bridget arsenalt Our sound

34:29

engineers are Paul Bowman and Alyssa

34:32

Midcalf. Table for two's LA production

34:34

team is Danielle Romo and Lorraine

34:37

Verrez.

34:38

Our music supervisor is Randall poster.

34:40

Our talent booking is by James Sarkin.

34:42

Special thanks to Amy Sugarman, Uni

34:45

Cher, Kevin Yuvane, Bobby Bauer,

34:47

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34:50

Rita Sodi, and the team at Via Cororoda

34:52

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