a ROSE by any other name-- "BETTE:"

Devine Miss M...
from "fiddler on the roof"
(i was too young.)
to labrea tar pits
with you and the harlots
i saw you first at the contentinential baths then Carnegie hall.
i still have the ticket & program

"'magic works everyone.'"
---"no more nipples..."

you are a bawdy babe,
"'and here's johnny...'" one of your mentors.

a trip to france...
no barry and "clams on the half shell review"
an nbc prime time special
"old red hair is back..."
---"do you want to dance?"
(and, yes and i did!)

"the rose"
"jinxed"
(another tour where i saw you in kansas city, missouri.)
best selling children's book.

then the candle light chapel in las vegas with tony then
39 yr career sudden bleak again...

"down in out in beverly hills" 1984
"ruthless people" 1986
---"i've been kid knapped by kmart!"

then a seriously ill father for you family came first.

"outragious fortunes"
-a 3 movie deal with disney and all girl production company was formed.

SOFIE: november 6th 1986
---"you gotta wear a wig, wig, wig..."

"big business"
"beaches"
---"wind beneath my wings,"
(an anthum for my life with ricky. it took our relationship 1.5 years to dend because of that song. every time i started to pack he played that song... and today it still makes me cry. as well as does "from a distance," even more today isn't god watching us!)
"for the boys"
(another hard cry as my da died in viet nam. the movie that the gods watched and loved--- but common masses seem to miss completely.)

---sang to mr. carson, "one for my baby."
more sweet happy tears for the world. and the emmy you best deserved.

---"i put a spell on you" (and you did in "hocus pocus."

mommy ROSE -- in "gypsy"" (i saved for months to get a nose bleed just to see you. thanks the gods for opra glasses and more happy tears and a weekend at the Y!)

"the first wife's club'

"deva las vegas" the biggest stage production of you career.
---"dreams...
--- i have learned my lesson well
----bed of roses i believed
----my life would be..."

your sitcom--- 16 episodes. (i cherrish each one.)

A CLEAN WORLD: cleaning up new york creating parks in the inner city. (i can just imagine you running down the street to pick up a discarded piece of litter caught in the wind...)


9/11/02 and the tribute you sang again "the wind beneath my wings... new york"
also that year a tribute: "Rosemary Clooney Songbook"

"kiss my brass"
(i never thought not to worship you, my deva.)
---"do you want to dance?"
(yes, i, still, want to dance with you baby---)

"stepford wives"

---"oh so long ago and so far away..." bette dreamed to become a legend and so she is as long as she breath she will be-- (and long after as well.) warm loving and funny...

(then she found me my observations from the biography channel's 12 may 2007 tribute to bette middler, "the leader of the pack.")