BETTE MIDLER - Marahuana (Continental Bath)

Bette Midler at the Continental Bath New York 1971. Barry Manilow on the Piano.

[@grai]

Most performers at the early stages are terrible no matter how talented they were Bette Midler was just incredible from day one - this is her before she polished her act! She just hit the ground running like the genius she is And THANK GOD somebody thought to FILM this!! THANK GOD!! Its so wondeful to see it

[@Shanaifan1]

I love these old videos ❤

[@hardsmith52]

.......perhaps the most entertaining and valid argument for legalization yet, and long last......a kinder, simpler, gentler time.....nearly forty years ago, back when there were real stars with real talent........this was history in the making. I'm so glad Bette was there then........I'm so glad she remains with us now. She is a pop culture icon...and I'd like to think that she and I could share a bowl someday soon, for medicinal purposes, of course !

[@trinasmi]

I gues I have o b a Bette Mid fan. This clip is really eerie!!!!!

[@shoemia]

Wow! Awesome!

[@marinusvh]

Thank you for sharing!!

[@regenprotec7109]

Exclellent.

[@PeaceLoveSammy]

this is just amazing.

[@jimbonsf]

Bette and Barry are special, gifted talents. We are blessed by their artistry and thankful they got part of their notoriety from gay bathhouses.

[@stevensondavid096]

yeah!

[@mzmiller52]

oh god i wish i got to see her there! she recorded this with a group of guys called "gotham", anyone have any videos or tracks of them. they were around nyc, wash, and raleigh! for a decade or two. please let me know. thanks.

[@Alvin4NY]

@hardsmith52 - I can't imagine anything more fun....

[@andrewd104]

same here. isn't it just grand :-)

[@cobolsaurus]

Geez... THese videos are true documents. Of Bette Midler and Barry Manilow's start but also of what NY's gay social life was in the pre-aids era.

[@Whirrrlpoool]

Love the Streisand imitation at 1:08.

[@lf1234]

This is why underground rocks; when Bette when mainstream she was sanatized, especially once the 1970s were over.

[@SingersLeader]

Right up there with Copacabana! ;-)

[@lou2u]

@lf1234 To be fair though, a LOT of people did things during the 1970s that they tried to forget. For example, poor Bette did Geraldo Rivera.

[@MargotDarby]

Ah yes. This would be the Sony Porta-Pak era. I knew someone who knew her from this venue, and sublet her apartment. Bette appeared on the Tonight Show and said "This AWful boy was living in my apartment and left it a TOTAL mess." Other times, other mores.

[@TygerlillysTunes]

Loved this video! Love Bette and Barry! But learned lots from the comments. Thanks for the mental image of Bette and Geraldo. Eww.. Hope she's got better taste these days!

[@drtpur16]

I'll smoke a joint with you Bette!

[@lou2u]

@lf1234 I know she was upset that Geraldo wrote about having sex with her in his autobiography. She was quoted, "Oh, he was a slimeball! If I had known then that he was going to do this twenty years later, I never would have given him the time of day." I was just making a joke at his expense.

[@carl3french2]

Ditto

[@lf1234]

@lou2u , I don't think she was particuarly ashamed of her very outrageous, edgy persona. Just that the rest of the creampuff, tumbleweeds-for-brains world was not ready for it 100%.