A 'Divine Friendship

SANDY SCHREIER
Special to the Jewish News

Bette Midler and Sandy Schreier share a
friendship that goes back almost a decade.

S

ome of my best friends are
Jewish ... and one of them is
a mermaid!
She's not Ariel ... or Daryl
Hannah ... but the best mermaid of
them all: Delores De Lago, a ballsy,
booby broad with a big mouth, whose
alter ego is The Divine Miss M —
Bette Midler.
When I first met Delores and her
Harlette friends, I was a mere bride
and Handsome Husband accompa-
nied me to see the "babe of the baths"
when she made her first appearance in
Detroit. Bette attracted a strange
crowd of worshippers — young, edgy,
arty kooks, except for cousins Bernie
and Flo Schreier, a generation older
but always ahead of their time.
We all got an earful of Bette's phe-
nomenal talent and, what was most
important to me, an eyeful ... and
then some. Bette's fins were flipping
and her costumes and body parts were
jiggling. If this was your typical Jew
from Hawaii, I was there ... on the
next plane!
My private fan club (I thought that
I was too old for a real one) went on
for years, buying all her records, seeing
every movie and reading the trade
papers to see what outrageousness was
next. Bette was then, and still is, the
naughty child, caught playing in the
closet with her mother's make-up. She
was my idol.
My first up-close and personal mer-
maid sighting took place in Chicago
on one of the city's windiest days. I
dashed from my taxi, almost tripping
over "her scaliness," only to become
tongue-tied (a rarity for me), missing
the chance of a lifetime to say
hello/get an autograph and/or become
a lifelong friend.
Years passed — fertile ones for me
and for Bette as well. I produced four
children and she got her fins wet in
every aspect of show biz. Now, in

Sandy Schreier is a fashion historian
and owner of the largest private collec-
tion of 20th-century couture. She is
the recent author of Hollywood Dressed
& Undressed and is a regular guest on
national radio and television shows.
She lives in the metro Detroit area.

11/12

1999

80

Sandy Schreier, right, on Bette Midler: "Bette was then, and still is, the
naughty child, caught playing in the closet with her mother's make-up.
She was my idol."

addition to her stage shows, her films
were big and then even bigger at the
box office, her records were solid hits
and her fans were multiplying like
rabbits. She even managed marriage
and motherhood.
In the mid-'80s, she married
Martin von Heselberg, a performance
artist. It wasn't your typical Jewish
wedding, but, it was perfect for Miss
M ... in the Las Vegas Wedding
Chapel, officiated by an Elvis imper-
sonator!
A few years later, a baby mermaid
was born and they named her Sophie.
By the '80s, my TV appearances on
The 1 O'clock Movie had begun, and I
was starting to research Hollywood
history for my book Hollywood Dressed
er Undressed. My research gave me an
entree into the lives and closets of
some of Hollywood's greatest stars and

their costume designers, who were
soon consulting with me and even
inviting me to their movie sets.
Finally, the magic moment arrived.
I was summoned to the throne of The
Divine One, to the set of Stella, the
remake of Stella Dallas, Barbara
Stanwyck's big 1930s hit. There she
was ... Bette Midler, Superstar ... con-
gratulating me on my career and say-
ing how thrilled she was to meet me!
Who was she kidding? What a line,
but I fell for it.
Besides her acting, Bette was a
fanatic about every aspect of her char-
acter's appearance: hair, make-up, cos-
tumes and, in the case of Stella, the
aging process. Later, I learned that
Bette's love of fashion was far from
superficial. Her mother's talent in this
field was inherited, and Bette enjoyed
sewing clothes for young Sophie, who

now dresses like a hip teenager and is
fascinated with the world of fashion
and design.
Bette didn't waste a moment asking
to see my collection of French couture
and American fashion, and I was
quick to accept ... not knowing what
her reaction would be or which pieces
she would find the most interesting.
When the actual "show and tell"
happened, she examined each object
thoroughly, with reverence, and also
with the educated eye that I would
expect from an expert.
I vlas surprised that Bette had never
been to a couture auction. When we
attended one in New York, she was as
excited as a kid in a candy store and,
because she was incognito, the fash-
ionistas in attendance didn't ask for
autographs and chit-chat, allowing her
to concentrate on the bidding.
The highlight of that afternoon was
the sale of Marian Anderson's couture
gowns, worn on stage and off by the
late African-American opera star. The
bidding was sluggish until Bette
jumped in, rescuing the gowns from
future oblivion, otherwise known as
used clothing stores. She later gave
every one of the gowns to the
Museum of the City of New York for
its extraordinary Theatre Collection.
But Miss M, the environmentalist,
has bid farewell to couture and
minaudieres and hello to overalls and
shovels. To date, The Queen of
Garbage has cleaned up the highways
in L.A. and turned her attention to
The Big (and now shinier) Apple. In
addition to fund-raisings, such as her
"Hulaween" parties and the First Wives
Club benefits, she's put her money
where her mouth is. And so, you ask,
what about Detroit, Bette?
While having dinner at the
Whitney some years ago, Bette
quizzed co-owner John McCarthy
about ways to beautify the desolate
inner city and bring it back to its for-
mer splendor. Would she be surprised
... trees, Comerica Park and the New
Center area are great improvements.
But taking a tour will have to wait for
Bette's next visit. Her one-nighter at
the Palace this evening will certainly
take precedence.
Months of preparation have gone
into "The Divine Miss Millennium
Tour." Bette's spectacular stage show