A Winning Bette

Bette Midler’s new compilation album, Jackpot! The Best Bette, is a mad pu-pu platter of songs that have taken the pop icon from her born-in-a-bathhouse beginnings in the 1970s through her sticky-sweet Disney movie comedies (and, yes, Beaches), all the way to her current gig as a reigning deity — alongside fellow queens Cher and Elton John — on pop culture’s Mount Olympus, a.k.a. Las Vegas.

If ever a diva were fully formed by gay culture, it’s the Divine Miss M. But Midler became a crossover megastar because she appeals to both the mom-and-pop showbiz establishment and the nightlife revelers. Want to see for yourself? Enter here to win two tickets for her big The Showgirl Must Go On extravaganza at The Colosseum in Vegas, plus a two-night stay at Caesars Palace.

Jackpot! is a winner, too — with a songlist that careens from rock classics (“Beast of Burden”) to Americana (“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”) and schmaltzy, mass-appeal fare (“The Rose,” “Wind Beneath My Wings”). High-class and lowbrow, Midler aces it all.

Jackpot! The Best Bette will be available September 23 from Rhino Records.

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