The Rose or Why Does This Movie Start with a Flashback?

We hope you're ready to let us pepper your ragoût with a special episode that opens and closes with talk of Bette but spends the middle talking about the 2003 Best Picture Chicago. We have survived editing mishaps and background animal noise (Rosie's jangling tags and rapid panting are special guest stars throughout!) to bring this to you, so please join us on a journey that starts with some listener mail and more of Bette's bad tweets, then we'll time travel to the 1970s to imagine a version of Chicago starring Bette and Cher. After that we'll visit the 2000s to reminisce about dual layer dvds. We'll bring you back to today, but not before a brief sojourn to the 2010s for a conspiracy involving Meryl Streep.

SHOW NOTES

Reminder - Angela Bassett did the thing!

Angela's Honorary Oscar

Miss Otis Regrets

New York Restoration Project

Divanation - RIP

The Greatest Night in Pop

Chita Rivera (1933-2024)

The Shriner's Ballet from Bye Bye Birdie

Not Starring dot com 

Texas Guinan

Bette and Cher looking like Roxie and Velma

Barbara Harris

Liza in Chicago on Broadway

All That Jazz (1979)

The 1926 silent movie version of Chicago, until recently thought to be lost. It has a slighlty different ending from the stage version 

Roxie Hart (1942)

Deidre Goodwin on You Might Know Her From

Big Jim Colosimo

The trailer for the movie musical with the faux "Keep your paws off my lawyer" line

Women got the right to vote in 1920

Highlights from the 1992 Long Beach production starring Bebe Neuwirth and Juliet Prowse

Lipstick on Roxie's teeth and other flubs

Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon doing the Hot Honey Rag on The Mike Douglas Show

The Revival Choreography

Sara Ramirez

The bonkers "Donna Murphy did Meryl Streep's singing in Into the Woods" theory

Donna Murphy herself debunking it

Use JustWatch to find where Chicago (and anything else!) is streaming

We're back and BETTE-R than ever! Bradley and Sean returned from their hiatus and they're ready to talk about their lives, including which one of them had Covid, whose car was dying at the time of recording (and is now dead - RIP).  They eventually get around to talking about Bette Midler's first picture for Touchstone, Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Plus there's a letter from Bettecetera's Number 1 Fan Nathan, and there's even a brand new theme song.  Have a Merry Christmas if you celebrate, and a happy year to all!

SHOW NOTES

Upppbeat.io

"It’s just going to take one thing, one thing, Nay, and you know, if you’re in a hit film … then everything changes"

Blooudhaus

Do I Sound Gay?

Fan Page for the Late, Great Mike the Dog (aka Matisse)

Our long awaited season finale is finally here! Join us as we take a detour from Bette’s career to check in with her daughter Sophie von Haselberg and her recent feature film Give Me Pity!  

After this episode we’re taking a short hiatus, but don’t worry! We will be back very soon!

If you haven't already, please make sure to leave us a review and/or a 5-star rating wherever you get your podcasts.

SHOW NOTES

Cannons

Sitting in Bars with Cake

Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Megan Mullally Start Shooting Latest “Golden Girls” Type Movie

R.I.P., Houston Dyer

Give Me Pity - Official Trailer

Makin’ It (Shout out to my brother Rodney, whose rendition of the Makin' It theme song is featured in this episode)

Grace Zabriskie

(also here)

We are just using "flop" collioqually, calm down! We are the real flops!

This episode is a mess, but in true Bettecetera fashion, we've double downed on it and it's now an integral part of our schtick.  Come for the terrible Penny Marshall imperssion, stay for the refrain of Sean's cat in the background! 

 SHOW NOTES

The Saga of Baby Divine

Celebrity "Read" Posters of the 80s and 90s

Freckleface Strawberry

The Indefatigable Stepp Sisters

De Tour (Boston 1983)

"No Frills" TV special 

Art or Bust

Bootleg Betty 

Bette Midler Greeting Cards!

1st MTV Video Music Awards

Bette Midler shares pic from her 1984 wedding that had been lost for decades

Mud WILL Be Flung Tonight

"Beast of Burden" video

20/20 Interview (ft Aaron Russo)

Bluesky is under fire for allowing usernames with racial slurs

Tracy Nelson is alive and well, but has survived three(3!) different cancers!

If you're already feeling like you've been jinxed, wait until you watch this movie!

Come for the Bette banter, stay for the talk of West Virginia hot dogs, Rip Torn vs Rip Taylor, and the Barbi Twins!

 SHOW NOTES

West Virginia did indeed succeed from Virginia

We're probably 5 or so episiodes away from this movie, but here's the Jupiter Hollow song from Big Business!

Bette sings the wig song she and Sophie made up (from the BCC Chat Show Wogan, with guest host Joanna Lumley)

Wiseguy

Ken Wahl

Rip Taylor

The Barbi Twins

With deepest apologies for the delay, Bettecetera is back with our first Quickie!  We'll have a full-length episode next month, but we wanted to pop into your feeds to say hello and to share a new segment called Bettesterpiece Theatre!  

SHOW NOTES

Bette talks to Variety

Bettecetera is back and ready to party like it's 1979 standing in for 1969. Bradley and Sean discuss Bette's first picture, The Rose, a loose retelling of the life of Janis Joplin  

This episode was chaotic and stressful, but we think we've managed to finesse it into something delightful for your lisetning pleasure.

SHOW NOTES

Check out the incredible artwork of Norn Cutson, the artist behind the new Bettecetera logo

Sarah Jessica Parker IS The Rose!

Bette Midler by lol Ace Collins at our beloved archive dot org!

The Rose - a novelization by Leonore Fleischer

Akvavit/Aquavit

The Highland Fling (R.I.P.)

Bette as The Rose in concert (audio) - 1978

Bradley and Sean are back and they have already broken their format!  To coincide with the holiday season, this episode focuses of Bette's 2006 Holiday Album, Cool Yule.  This episode goes sideways halfway through and we've left that in for your enjoyment!  Have a happy holiday season and a happy new year and we'll be back next month with The Rose!

SHOW NOTES

Rosie (aka Miss Rose, aka Jingle Bella)

Bette Midler - Cool Yule

Barbra Streisand - A Christmas Album

Aimee Mann - One More Drifter in the Snow

Vanessa Williams - Star Bright

Aldi Chocolate Croissant

Live at Last - Uncut (archive.org)

Emmanuel Lewis - Still Alive!

Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas

A Diva's Christmas Carol

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Woman strikes Lindsay Lohan live on Instagram during ‘attempted kidnapping’

Pilk!

Sean's Twitter

Bradley's Twitter

BetteCetera's Twitter

In our premiere, we cover the years 1945-1978 in the long and storied life of the Divine Miss M herself, Bette Midler. Sean is stunned to discover that Bette Midler is from Hawaii, Bradley and Sean both confess to buying unlicensed fan merch and get hung up on house painting, Bradley debunks his own personal conspiracy theory before going full circle on it, and Sean shares his love of Superstar and show notes. 

SHOW NOTES

Bette Midler: Outrageously Divine by Mark Bego

Bette Midler: Still Divine by Mark Bego

The Divine Bette Midler by James Spada

Streisand: Her Life by James Spada 

Bradley's TikTok recreation of his favorite anecdote from the above book.

Hawaii (she's in the second row on the left!)

2nd Hawaii Clip

Bette performing "Matchmaker" from Fiddler on the Roof on the 1968 Tonys Broadcast

The Thorn

Bette at the Continental Baths

Barry Manilow - She's a Star (it was on his THIRD album!)

Easier Said Than Done - The Essex

"Miss Karen" presents Bette her Best New Artist Grammy

Rolling Stone - The Gold Lamé Dream of Bette Midler

Remember My Forgotten Man (The David Frost Show)

The controversial Strangers in the Night

Marihauna

Ol’ Red Hair is Back

The Bette Midler Show (Live at Last)

Monty!

The Mixed Reviews Podcast