Words Tom Stichbury
Bette Midler had plenty of snap, cackle and pop as one of our favourite cinematic crones, Winifred Sanderson, in cult hit Hocus Pocus. “You know I’ve always wanted a child. And now I think I’ll have one… on toast,” she sneered. The film has been casting a spell over fans since its release in 1993, and more than two decades later the Divine Miss M proved fittingly bewitching over the course of a sweet and sassy interview. She even cackled once or twice. It was a kid-friendly chat, too, with no mention of any tot-based snacks.
Bidding aloha to her childhood home of Hawaii, Midler became a singing sensation on the New York gay scene in the 1970s, performing in the Big Apple’s be-there-or-be-square bathhouse, The Continental, in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel.