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I have a confession. I am a Bette Midler fan. I have all her cds (many of them I originally had on cassette tape.) I have seen all her movies, including Jinxed. This weekend I was able to see her latest film, Isn't She Great.
I know Isn't She Great, isn't doing too great. My local theater has only one showing per evening, and its only in its second week of release. The movie is filled with great actors, Nathan Lane and Stockard Channing are probably on my top ten list of current actors. But I think the actors were my problems, for some reason I kept seeing these characters as Bette Midler, Nathan Lane, and Stockard Channing. Mind you, I have seen plenty of movies with Bette Midler and I have believed in the character she plays. I have no problem believing that Nathan Lane is Ernie Smuntz in Mouse Hunt or that Stockard Channing is the president's wife in West Wing.
Then it occurred to me. If you weren't born until the 1960's, you have an idea who Jacqueline Susann, but you might not know where she fits in American literary history or in the whole sexual revolution. The movie just kind of assumes you know the climate of the times, and the character development is really there because I think it assumes the viewer knows of characters like Jacqueline Susann and Irving. The problem is we don't.
I minored in women's studies, and have actually done a ton of graduate work in American women's history. I watched the movie and I couldn't figure out what year Valley of the Dolls was published. I figured it out at the end because their is a shot of Jacqueline Susann's dates, 1918 - 1974. Earlier in the movie we were told that she lived for 10 more years. So I figure Valley was published around 1963 or 1964. I spent a lot of time during the movie figuring out the year by looking at the costumes. I can remember my mother wearing some funky stuff like that and having those same type of hairstyles, and I probably don't have a lot of memories before 1969.
I felt bad as I drove home. I worked for Playboy Enterprises for several years, so I was a bit familiar with literature and the sexual revolution. I had read Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer, and Simone de Beauvoiur. I had read what was considered scandalous fiction such as The Group by Mary McCarthy. As a youngster, I had accidentally read one of Judy Blume's adult titles. Somewhere along the line I never read Valley of the Dolls. As I browser the web, I really can't find a web site dedicated to Jacqueline Susann. Its hard to believe that her book is an all-time best seller, and there isn't a web site about her. Well, I will add Valley of the Dolls to my reading list.
As for the movie, Isn't She Great. The performances are great. Bette, Nathan Lane, Stockard Channing, and David Hyde Pierce are good. Unfortunately, the viewer is just plopped into the story, and very little character development occurs. Some of the critics have pointed out that the movie can't make up its mind whether it should be serious or campy. I think it leans toward the serious side, because I know it could have been far more campy than it is. Next up for Bette is Drowning Mona, a movie with Danny DeVito.
Feb. 8, 2000
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