19 March 2024

Bette Midler

American singer, actress, activist and comedienne Bette Midler (1945) became known as The Divine Miss M. In her career spanning nearly half a century, she has won multiple film awards and sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. Her most successful songs include 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy' (1972), 'The Rose' (1980), 'From a Distance' (1990) and the number-one hit in the USA, 'The Wind Beneath My Wings' (1989).

Bette Midler in The Rose (1979)
Dutch promotion card by WEA Records. Bette Midler in The Rose (1979).

Bette Midler
American postcard by Fotofolio, no. F514. Photo: Greg Gorman. Caption: Bette Midler, Los Angeles, 1990. Proceeds from the sale of this card benefit the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

Bette Midler
American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY., no. 2319. Photo: Annie Leibovitz. Caption: Bette Midler, New York City, 1979. Proceeds from the sale of this card were donated to AIDS organizations.

Bathhouse Betty


Bette Midler was born in 1945 in Honolulu, Hawaii, where her family was one of the few Jewish families in a mostly Asian neighbourhood. Her parents, Fred Midler, a painter, and Ruth Midler (Schindel), a seamstress, named her after film star Bette Davis. The last syllable of her first name is unpronounced because her mother thought that was how Davis pronounced her name. Her sisters Susan and Judy are named after Susan Hayward and Judy Garland.

Midler was already interested in singing as a teenager. She studied drama at the University of Hawaii and her first film role was as an extra in Hawaii (George Roy Hill, 1966) as a seasick passenger. Midler was also hired for a small speaking role in the film and went to Los Angeles to film these scenes in a studio. Her scenes were cut from the final film. In 1966, she moved to New York, using money from her film work.

Midler studied theatre at HB Studio under Uta Hagen. She landed her first professional onstage role in Tom Eyen's off-off-Broadway plays in 1965, 'Miss Nefertiti Regrets' and 'Cinderella Revisited', a children's play by day and an adult show by night. In the late 1960s, Midler appeared in the musicals 'Fiddler on the Roof' (1966-1970) and 'Salvation' (1969) on Broadway. While Bette played Tzeitel in 'Fiddler on the Roof', her sister Judy visited New York City to see her perform and was tragically struck by a taxi and killed. Midler's career as a singer began in 1970 when she began performing in the Continental Baths, a local gay bathhouse in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel in New York. There she managed to build up a core following, nicknamed 'Bathhouse Betty', and befriended Barry Manilow, who accompanied her on the piano. Midler established herself as an interpreter of mainly songs from the 1940s, including 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, first performed by the Andrews Sisters. Sophie Tucker was also a major influence on her. Her performances quickly became insider tips on the New York scene.

In 1971, Midler starred in the first professional production of the Who's rock opera 'Tommy', with director Richard Pearlman and the Seattle Opera. The 1970s were characterised by successful albums and unusual stage programmes that made her an enfant terrible of American show business. Barry Manilow produced her first album, 'The Divine Miss M', (1972) based on a stage show of the same name and for which she received her first golden record. In 1973, she was honoured with the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Her self-titled follow-up album was released at the end of 1973. Again, the album was co-produced by Manilow. After some minor film work, her starring film debut was as a drug-addicted rock musician in the drama The Rose (Mark Rydell, 1979), loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin. She received two Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination for her sensitive performance and the film's title song, which she sang, became a top ten hit in the United States.

In 1980, the concert film Divine Madness (Michael Ritchie, 1980) was released which featured Midler's stand-up comedy routines, as well as 16 songs. In the same year, Midler successfully published the book 'A View from a Broad', which became a bestseller. After the flop of the comedy Jinxed (Don Siegel, 1982) in which she had a difficult collaboration with the director and her co-star Ken Wahl, her career as a film actress already seemed to come to an end. However, four years later, she got a role opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Nick Nolte in the hilarious comedy Down and Out in Beverly Hills (Paul Mazursky, 1986). The hit film was based on the French play 'Boudu sauvé des eaux' (1919) by René Fauchois. The play was already filmed successfully by Jean Renoir as Boudu sauvé des eaux (1932). Midler's next role as a kidnap victim in the black comedy Ruthless People (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams en Jerry Zucker, 1986) with Danny DeVito as her scoundrel husband was another big hit. It was the start of a successful career in film comedies.

Bette Midler
American postcard by Coral-Lee, Rancho Cordova, CA, no. Personality # 70, 1981, no. SC17643. Photo: Douglas Kirkland / Contact.

Bette Midler
American promotion card by Warner Bros. Records Inc. for the album 'Bathhouse Betty' (1998). Photo: Diego Uchitel. Caption: It's her world. You're just soaking in it.

Tear-jerker


During the 1980s and 1990s, Bette Midler starred in such comedies as Outrageous Fortune (Arthur Hiller, 1987), Big Business (Jim Abrahams, 1988) with Lily Tomlin as sets of identical twins mismatched at birth, and Scene from a Mall (Paul Mazursky, 1991) with Woody Allen. She also continued to record albums and expanded her repertoire to include pop, rock, musicals, jazz, chanson and disco.

In 1989, the single 'Wind Beneath My Wings' from the soundtrack of the tear-jerker Beaches (Garry Marshall, 1988) with Barbara Hershey, reached number one in the US charts and was named Single of the Year at the 1990 Grammy Awards. The following year, Midler received another Grammy for her version of 'From a Distance'. She received an Oscar nomination for her role in the WWII drama For the Boys (Mark Rydell, 1991) with James Caan. She also appeared in the comedies Hocus Pocus (Kenny Ortega, 1993) which achieved cult status over the years, and The First Wives Club (Hugh Wilson, 1996) in which she made a dynamic trio with Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn. The First Wives Club grossed over $100 million at the box office and was her biggest hit.

On television, she had supporting roles in The Simpsons, Seinfeld and The Nanny, where she played herself. She also had her own sitcom called Bette (2000-2001), where she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Following a reported long-standing feud with Barry Manilow, the two joined forces after many years in 2003 to record 'Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook'. The album was an instant success and was nominated for a Grammy the following year. Throughout 2003 and 2004, Midler toured the United States in her show, 'Kiss My Brass', to sell-out audiences.

A disappointment was the glossy remake The Stepford Wives (Frank Oz, 2004) with Nicole Kidman. Midler joined forces again with Manilow for another tribute album, 'Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook' (2005). It was again a hit and nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2008, Midler signed a contract with Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for a residency, 'Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On', which ended in 2010. In 2010, Midler voiced the character Kitty Galore in the animated film Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (Brad Peyton, 2010) with Chris O'Donnell. The film was a success, grossing $112 million worldwide. Midler was one of the producers of the Broadway production of the musical 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert', which opened in February 2011.

From March 2017 to January 2018, Midler was seen for the first time in a leading role on Broadway in a revival of the musical 'Hello, Dolly!'. She received several awards for her performance, including the Tony Award in 2017. In 2019, she popped up in the final episodes of the first season of The Politician, where she played the campaign manager Hadassah Gold. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for this guest role. In the second season, her role was upgraded to a lead role. In the cinema, she appeared again as Winnie Sanderson in Hocus Pocus 2 (Anne Fletcher, 2022) with Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy and the comedy-drama Sitting in Bars with Cake (Trish Sie, 2023). Since 1984, Bette Midler has been married to the actor Martin von Haselberg and they have a daughter, Sophie von Haselberg (1986). Apart from selling 15 million albums worldwide, Bette Midler won four Grammy awards, four Golden Globes, one Tony Award, and three Emmy Awards.

Bette Midler
American postcard by Fotofolio, N.Y., N.Y., no. GG7. Photo: Greg Gorman. Caption: Bette Midler, Los Angeles, 1984. Proceeds from the sale of this card The American Foundation for Aids Research.

Bette Midler in The Rose (1979)
French postcard by Lost Films for the re-issue in 2015 of The Rose. Photo: Vilmos Zsigmond / 20th Century Fox / Lost Films Distribution. Bette Midler in The Rose (Mark Rydell, 1979).

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.

18 March 2024

Photo by Steve Schapiro

American photographer Steve Schapiro (1934-2022) photographed key moments of the civil rights movement in the US such as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom or the Selma to Montgomery marches. He is also known for his portraits of celebrities and film stills, most importantly from The Godfather (1972) and Taxi Driver (1976). In Hollywood, he worked on more than 200 films.

Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (1968)
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 186/70. Photo: Steve Schapiro / Columbia. Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (William Wyler, 1968).

Al Pacino and Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972)
British postcard by Star-Graphics, no. S 91. Photo: Steve Schapiro. Al Pacino and Marlon Brando in The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972).

Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
Italian postcard by Edizioni Beatrice D'Este, no. 20 162. Photo: Steve Schapiro. Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976).

Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver (1976)
British postcard by Music & Movie Stars Ltd. Publishers, no. MMS 036. Photo: Steve Schapiro. Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976).

Burt Reynolds
American postcard by Coral-Lee, Rancho Cordova, CA, no. Personality #81, SC176971063. Photo: Steve Schapiro / Sygma. Burt Reynolds.

Photojournalist and real activist


Stephen Albert Schapiro was born during the Great Depression, in 1934 in Brooklyn and grew up in the Bronx. His parents were David Schapiro, a stationery store owner in Rockefeller Center and Esther (Sperling) Schapiro who worked at her husband's stationery store.

Steve discovered photography at Summer Camp at the age of nine and continued to take pictures as he grew up. One of his role models was the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. He sought to emulate his style as he roamed the streets of New York. Schapiro attended Stuyvesant High School and Amherst College, from where he later transferred to Bard College. He graduated from there in 1955 with a degree in literature.

In 1960, Schapiro took lessons with W. Eugene Smith, an influential photographer during the Second World War. Smith taught him how to develop his own views of the world and photography. Schapiro even embedded with Smith for a time in his Manhattan loft. He learned how to make prints and picked up some tricks of the trade, like showing two points of interest in a portrait, which Smith told him would make the viewer’s eye go back and forth and thereby hold the viewer’s attention. Schapiro's work reflects the influence of his teacher.

In 1961 Schapiro began working as a freelance photographer. His photos were published in Life, Look, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, Time and Paris Match. Schapiro photographed jazz pianist Bill Evans, artist Andy Warhol, writer Samuel Beckett, heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali, actresses Barbra Streisand and Mia Farrow and musician David Bowie, among others.

The political, cultural and social changes of the 1960s in the United States were an inspiration for Schapiro. He accompanied Robert F. Kennedy during his presidential campaign. He captured key moments of the civil rights movement such as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom or the Selma to Montgomery marches. For Life, he documented the scene of the assassination of Martin Luther King in Memphis in 1968. Schapiro not only worked in photojournalism and documentation but also became a real activist. This is, for instance, visible in his way of documenting the hard lives of immigrant workers from Arkansas he dealt with in 1961.

Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972)
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 136-183. Photo: Steve Schapiro / The Ludlow Collection. Marlon Brando and Cat in The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972).

Al Pacino in The Godfather (1972)
British postcard by Star-Graphics, no. S 89. Photo: Steve Schapiro. Al Pacino in The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972).

Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
Belgian promotion card Taschenhen Gallery for the exhibition 'Taxi Driver - Unseen Photographs from Scorsese's Masterpiece'. Photo: Steve Schapiro. Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976).

Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
Canadian postcard by Canadian Postcard, no. A-5. Photo: Steve Schapiro. Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976).

Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
Vintage postcard. Photo: Steve Schapiro. Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976).

Capturing key moments of modern American history


With the sharp decline in circulation figures for magazines such as Life and Look, the demand for high-quality photo essays fell from the end of the 1960s. Steve Schapiro moved to Los Angeles, where he photographed promotional material for film studios, artwork for record sleeves and portraits of well-known Hollywood stars, among other things. Having taken photos of Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, 1969), among them also a famous one of Dustin Hoffman, he was hired as a photographer by Paramount Pictures.

He photographed on the set of the mafia epic The Godfather (1972) by Francis Ford Coppola with a cast including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall. One of his photographs is of "Marlon Brando and the Cat". Rob Sharp in The Independent: "A man in his early fifties is dressed in black tie. He is lit from above, which throws his features into an intimidating scowl. The picture is completed – rather incongruously – by a young cat in his arms."

Schapiro was also present at the film set of Chinatown (1974) by Roman Polanski. His role involved being as unobtrusive as possible while the actors worked. As such, very little of what he produced was posed for. In 1974, he also shot the cover for the debut issue of People magazine: a portrait of Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (Jack Clayton, 1974).

Two years later, Schapiro was – by request of Robert De Niro – hired as a photographer on the set of Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver (1976). The chilling film situated in New York in the angry climate of the post-Vietnam era, became a milestone and DeNiro’s portrait of a trigger-happy psychopath with a mohawk is one of the greatest performances of the 1970s. As the special photographer on the set, Schapiro captured the film’s most intense and violent moments from behind the scenes.

During his career of six decades, Schapiro captured key moments of modern American history with his photos that also reflect his own social and human awareness. In 2022, he died from pancreatic cancer at his home in Chicago, at the age of 87. Schapiro was married three times. His first two marriages ended in divorce. He was survived by his wife Maura Smith, two sons, Theophilus Donoghue and Adam Schapiro; two daughters, Elle Harvey and Taylor Schapiro; and four grandchildren. Another son, Teddy Schapiro, died in 2014.

Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
French postcard in the Collection Cinema Couleur by Editions La Malibran, Paris, no. MC 33, 1990. Photo: Steve Schapiro. Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976).

Jodie Foster and Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 530. Jodie Foster and Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976).

Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 531. Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976).

Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 532. Harvey Keitel and Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976).

Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (1977)
British postcard by Palm Pictures, no. C 20. Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976).

Sources: Katharine Q. Seelye (New York Times), Rob Sharp (The Independent), Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.

17 March 2024

Patricia Ellis

Patricia Ellis (1915-1970) was an American film actress of the 1930s. Barely a teenager, she came to films in 1932, playing a variety of ingenues opposite such Warner Bros. contractees as James Cagney, Dick Powell, George Arliss, Paul Muni and Joe E. Brown. Most of her post-Warners roles were unremarkable, though she demonstrated that she could carry a picture when she starred in the innocuous Republic musical Rhythm in the Clouds (1937), and proved a worthy foil to Laurel and Hardy in Block-Heads (1938). Patricia Ellis retired from films in 1941 to marry a Kansas City business executive.

Patricia Ellis
British postcard by Art Photo. Photo: Warner Bros / Vitaphone Pictures.

Patricia Ellis
British Real Photograph postcard, no. 79. Photo: Warner Bros / Vitaphone Pictures.

The Queen of B pictures at Warner Brothers


Patricia Ellis was born Patricia Gene O'Brien in 1915 (sources differ about her age) in Birmingham, Michigan. Ellis was the oldest of four children born to Eugene Gladstone O'Brien, a Detroit insurance salesman, and Florence Calkins. Her parents divorced in 1929. She was later known as Patricia Leftwich after her step-father, Alexander Leftwich, an actor and New York producer of musical shows.

Her childhood activities included singing and dancing, and she learned French and German. A 1932 newspaper article said, "Since she was able to walk, Patricia has been familiar with the world of the theatre, accompanying her father constantly to rehearsals and performances."

Also in 1932, another newspaper reported, "She understudied all her father's leading women in the last few years, assisted him with lighting and costuming and knows stage production, too." Ellis attended Brantwood Hall School and Gardner School for Girls and began her stage career after leaving school. She took classes in studio facilities while pursuing her acting career.

Ellis appeared with Chamberlain Browns stock company. Given a film test, while appearing on stage in New York City, Ellis was put under contract by Warner Bros. In 1932, she had two small parts, both uncredited, in the crime dramas Three on a Match (Mervyn LeRoy, 1932) with Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak and Bette Davis, and Central Park (John G. Adolfi, 1932), also starring Blondell. That same year, she was chosen as WAMPAS Baby Star, alongside 13 other girls considered to have potential such as Ginger Rogers and Mary Carlisle. Ellis was the youngest.

Her first credited role was in The King's Vacation (John G. Adolfi, 1933), starring George Arliss. After that film, her career took off, with her starring mostly in lower-budget B-movies but still working steadily. Ellis called herself "the Queen of B pictures at Warner Brothers".

Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis in Elmer, the Great (1933)
British postcard by Film Weekly, London. Photo: First national. Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis in Elmer, the Great (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933).

Jack Hulbert and Patricia Ellis in Paradise for Two
British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P 241. Photo: London Films. Jack Hulbert and Patricia Ellis in Paradise for Two/Gaiety Girls (Thornton Freeland, 1937).

Starring alongside some of Hollywood's biggest names


Patricia Ellis had roles in eight films in 1933, co-starring that year with James Cagney in Picture Snatcher (Lloyd Bacon, 1933), and in another seven in 1934. Within a few years, she had worked her way up from juvenile supporting roles to second leads.

She started 1935 off with A Night at the Ritz (William C. McGann, 1935), in which she had the lead female role, opposite William Gargan. She starred in seven films that year and another seven in 1936. Most of her roles were in comedy films, along with some mysteries and crime dramas, and by 1936 she was playing the female lead in almost all her films.

Starring alongside some of Hollywood's biggest names, including James Cagney, Ricardo Cortez, and Bela Lugosi, Ellis's career was at its peak by 1937. That year, she demonstrated that she could carry a picture when she starred in the innocuous Republic musical Rhythm in the Clouds (John H. Auer, 1937). In Great Britain, Patricia appeared in the comedy The Gaiety Girls/Paradise for two (Thornton Freeland, 1937) with Jack Hulbert and a young Googie Withers. She proved a worthy foil to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Block-Heads (John G. Blystone, 1938), and, against type, played a femme fatale in Fugitive at Large (Lewis D. Collins, 1939).

She starred in five films in 1937, then only three in 1938, and finally just two in 1939. After her work in film ended, Ellis ventured into music saying, "I was just getting into a rut in Hollywood. ... I want to start a new career -- singing." She made a soundie in 1941. A review in the trade publication Billboard commented: "Miss Ellis isn't bad on voice and excels (sic) on appearance. Men will pay attention to her." In 1941, she and Blue Barron and his Orchestra were headliners, along with Henny Youngman, at Hamid's Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey and appeared on Broadway in 'Louisiana Purchase', a musical comedy.

Patricia Ellis retired in 1939 leaving Hollywood behind and in 1941, she married George Thomas O'Malley, future president of Protection Securities Systems in Kansas City, Missouri. She settled into private life, raising her family in Kansas City. The O'Malleys had one daughter. Ellis remained married to O'Malley for the remainder of her life, dying of cancer in 1970, in Kansas City. George O'Malley died thirty years later, in 2000.

Patricia Ellis
Italian postcard, series no. 24. Photo: Warner Bros., Italy. Patricia Ellis in The Picture Snatcher (Lloyd Bacon, 1933). The Italian release title was Dinamita doppia.

Patricia Ellis in Paradise for Two (1937)
British postcard in the Colorgraph Series, London, no. C 294. Photo: London Films. Patricia Ellis in Paradise for Two/Gaiety Girls (Thornton Freeland, 1937). Caption: A Hand-coloured Real Photograph.

Sources: I.S.Mowis (IMDb), AllMovieWikipedia and IMDb.