CLASSIC!! Thanks for the recommendation Kelt!!! Love the youtube link so i'm ordering through Amazon.
CLASSIC!! Thanks for the recommendation Kelt!!! Love the youtube link so i'm ordering through Amazon.
Renowned Death Hag
as i modestly observed on 11 10, imdb says it is to the funeral business as strangelove is to nuclear war.
MUST SEE!- Death Hag Times
It is a very odd film-it is based on the book by Evelyn Waugh.
I watched it a long time ago and read it. Both are worth watching/reading.
when was this made?can you buy it?
You can indeed buy it. I own a dvd copy and it is worth a look for sure. The book is better though and also available.
Renowned Death Hag
Originally Posted by donetodeath
It's an old [SIZE=4]B&W[/SIZE] movie; made in 1965, and YES it's available to order !
thank's guys!
Well after reading this thread and checking out the clip I thought I had to see this film. Thank God Amazon was sold out of it for weeks (thanks to this thread I'm sure) because I finally rented it and.. UGH! That's about the only funny scene in it. It's just too weird, nonsensical and overlong. It tries but it fails. If they'd done a whole film strictly around Rod Steiger's character and his mom, well then they'd have something.
Maybe you're supposed to be high when watching it?
Senior Death Hag
it's one of my favorites! i even couldn't wait until it was "officially" released on dvd so i bought a bad bootleg copy. unfortunatly it's crap quality. i need to buy a real copy soon. i love it so much! right up there with Harold & Maude in my list of classic films.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity. ~Edvard Munch
I love this movie! One of many dark films from the 60s my dad showed me when I was a teenager.
Was that Liberace in the youtube clip? If so, we did not recognize the queen....
Senior Death Hag
He was also the lead, in a film called Sincerely Yours. I never saw it, but I heard it didn't do that well.
Happy holidays, everybody!
-K.
Renowned Death Hag
SINCERELY YOURS is an absolute howler mainly because the very idea of two relatively street savvy gals like (Peyton Place's) DOROTHY MALONE & JOANNE DRU (onetime wife of JOHN IRELAND & sister of Hollywood Squares' PETER MARSHALL) fighting over the romantic attentions of a marshmallow like LIBERACE is just too fucking funny !
One scene that had me rolling on the floor was when LIBERACE as terribly masculine, and terribly talented pianist Tony (or is that Toni ?) Warrin is shown lamenting which of the two gals (MALONE & DRU) is more his 'cup of tea'. Who you wonder is he talking to over this huge dilemma ? None other than his caring manager Sam played by tough, gruff WILLIAM DEMAREST who is better remembered for having played Uncle Charlie on tv's MY THREE SONS. You can just see DEMAREST wanting to smack little LEE upside his head and exclaim, " Knock it off you ponce ! "DOROTHY MALONE longs for the affections of oh so cultured Tony Warrin (LIBERACE). Wouldn't any gal ?
Maybe they should update this Creature Feature and cast super vain, super absorbed GEORGE MICHAEL as dashing ladies' man Tony Warrin............
" Now, if you all just settle down I'll regale you with my new 3/4 tempo rendition of 'I'M JUST WILD ABOUT THE BOY'..... It's simply heaven ! "
Renowned Death Hag
[/quote]
That movie poster reminds me of this album cover with Billy Tipton - LOL
Non-suspecting straight gals swooning over a Gay man and transgender - LOL!
Last edited by Aries65; 12-24-2007 at 02:41 PM.
I haven't seen that movie in years. It would be good to see again. I've also read the book. One fo the scenes I've always remembered from the film was what Anjanette Comer did. Yikes!
Renowned Death Hag
There used to be a hilarious website full of stills, and a detailed synopsis, years ago, which has since disappeared, run by the bemused husband of a woman who LOVED this movie (hey, there's something for every taste.) One picture depicts Liberace consulting with Demarest--- whilst the LATTER is lounging (chomping his cigar!) in a BUBBLE BATH! There were also sound clips, which were hilarious too--- one of them, IIRC, was Liberace telling his adoring female fans not to touch his "instrument", or something to that effect.
Brief synopsis, besides having to choose between two women (one "nice" and one "not so nice"), the popular pianist is stricken with deafness which obviously threatens his career. In the meantime, he quickly learns how to read lips perfectly, which he uses to help people upon whom he "eavesdrops" (from his apartment balcony, no less!!) in this manner.
I've never seen this, but I suspect I'd prefer his brief role in "The Loved one" any day.
(That much having been said, I did have elderly female relatives who used to love going to his shows when he appeared in Conn. Liberace WAS good at his job.)
BTW, one of the valuable aspects of "The Loved One", is that one gets to see plenty of authentic Hollywood locations, inside and outside, a time capsule from 1965.
Junior Death Hag
I've read some posts here about Liberace and I'm going to respond to most of them in this message. First, I am 47 and saw Liberace live at the Greek theatre in Los Angeles for his 40th anniversary in show business tour. I was in my mid 20's and was so excited as it was the first time I was going to see him live. There were some of his cars in the show and even a small version of the dancing waters! It was...wonderful!
I used to watch Liberace on TV on all the shows he appeared on and his specials including Batman (that was one of the highest rated Batman shows by the way with Liberace). I took piano lessons at 10 and just really looked up to Liberace and was amazed at the way he played and how much money he made doing it! Anyway, at that live show the audience was from all ages and backgrounds. I have a tape of the Mike Douglas show where Lee was a guest host (1971) and he said that younger audiences were coming to see him (and he played a medley from the musical "Hair"). He said one young person said after his show "Someone so far out, has to be way in!"
Liberace was also a master of promoting himself. In his early days he even had cards made that showed how to pronounce his name. His flashy costume thing started later on in his career. In the 50s he insisted on wearing white tails in front of the orchestra so he wouldn't blend in with everyone else wearing black tuxedos. Well, that was considered a bold move back then and various people put up a fuss about it. Liberace then said he would not do the show unless he wore the white tails. Well, he wore them and then the press asked him what he would wear next. As the story goes, he looked at his sister Angie's gold lame dress and said he would wear a suit made of gold lame. Then it was in his contracts that he would wear flashier outfits. It probably become a rather expensive joke gone out of control in later years, but as he used to say "I may look funny, but it's making me the money!"
Also, during his 50's TV shows, if Liberace just wore a regular suit and toned down his outfits, the show lost ratings and the audience wanted to see him dressed up. So, he did what the fans wanted!
And that bank he cried all the way too? He did buy it and that is where the Liberace Museum is in Las Vegas since about 1978. Yes it is there and they just redid their website www.liberace.org and they have a great gift shop on line with new keyboard tennis shoes (they are spectacular, Model 6 is glittery like jewelry with a small candelabra dangling from the top lace--really! I've worn them out and get comments all the time.), replica jewelry, etc. Liberace really helped a lot of new talent when he was alive and his foundation is still helping many new young artists. When you are in Vegas, there are several main stops along the strip that will pick you up and take you to the Liberace museum in a special Liberace bus for free (but tip the driver). A new addition is on the ride down you are treated to videos of Liberace showing off his cars, houses, and some live shows, etc.
I don't think his music would be considered cheesy and dated now. He always kept up with current music (especially with musicals and movie themes) and would have done so to this day. He even played the overture for "Tommy", then later "Cats".
I went to the 10th anniversary memorial service for Lee in 1997 at Forest Lawn and at that event (unfortunately overshadowed by all the O.J. news at the time) there were many news trucks, etc. It was to advertise the Liberace Foundation and a young scholar winner sang "Ave Maria" right near his tomb. I met his manager, publicist, and other people that worked with him (some now gone). I asked his manager, Seymour Heller, if he smoked much. He said Lee smoked like a chimney. Since Lee had smoked from the early 50s at least, he would have had a lot of damage from smoking alone. My Dad was a heavy smoker for over 40 years and the doctors found he had lung damage. He stopped, so the situation won't get worse, but all that damage doesn't go away. Also, I asked about Lee's shopping. I was told he would shop from Kmart to yard sales!
*****
Liberace died on Alice Cooper's birthday. (I'm a big Alice fan too.) Now about that story Alice tells in his new book about meeting Liberace. I'm sure Alice met Liberace, but Alice kinds of embellishes his stories to make them funnier. Alice's first book is only about 50% true and the rest is we will say embellished with tall tales (and that is according to people that know and work with him). I doubt Lee said "get those dogs out of here". Lee was given and/or adopted many dogs and there is no way he would live with all those dogs if he didn't love them. Also, it is noted in several written sources that it wasn't beneath Lee to make the rounds at his own houses picking up dog poop! As far as going out for a beer, well, that probably happened--Milwaukee and beer of course! Remember in "Wayne's World" where Alice espoused about the history of Milwaukee--hey, that is Lee's hometown!
***
I remember when Liberace passed away and all the news vultures were camped out in front of his house. I didn't mind the fans being there, but I thought it was awful that such a circus was going on. I felt bad for him and his family. Sure, we all heard the rumors at that time and I thought the "watermelon diet" story concocted by his management was worse than just saying nothing! Then after Liberace was layed to rest, the Coroner had problems with the death certificate and took the body back. I was so upset with that whole situation! I was conflicted about it because I'm sure many people that were sick under a doctor's care in those early days of HIV/AIDs simply put "pneumonia" as the cause of death and it was the end of the story. I'm sure Lee's people had good intentions to just quietly have the doctor put down something like that, but because of the rumors and his celebrity, it was awful. I just kept wondering if Lee would ever rest in peace. He didn't want to be known for how he died and who of us would? We have a whole life and should not be known for just how we died.
Then there was that lawsuit and book by Scott Thorson that just topped it all off. What did Lee do but give out tons of gifts, buckets of money to people, and make so many people happy with his music? What did he do to deserve that? And how backhanded is it to write a book (not even written, Scott claims half of the book was written by the ghost writer and he never saw the manuscript before it hit the press) and praise someone and then complain about them and tell about personal things that no one needed to read! Scott later claimed on the Larry King show that he was never gay and he didn't sue for palimoney. He said his now disbarred lawyer did that for publicity. The lawsuit was for recision of property (getting back property that Scott felt was his that was still in Liberace's possession). This lawsuit was settled because Lee was dying and Scott felt he should just settle. Oh brother, the lawsuit should have never happened, nor the book. It could have been settled out of court without the publicity. When you negotiate, you don't go guns blazing first, lawyers get together and settle things without fuss. And in those days Scott was doing cocaine and who knows what else and was out of control. It seems Scott has finally taken responsibility for his actions and cleaned up instead of continuing to blame his problems on everyone else.
Read the Larry King transcript for yourselves:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...12/lkl.00.html
A more balanced side to the story can be found at www.stevegarey.com/liberace.html (I think it is under "blog"). Just click around on that site and there is a 6-page article about Liberace that I find very informative and balanced and not trashy by someone that knew Lee.
**
Finally, there is a wonderful Liberace tribute show that has played in Southern California and other places in the U.S. by a fantastically talented man named Wayland Pickard with the full approval and support of the Liberace Foundation. Go to www.liberaceconcert.com and see the sample performance trailer. You will be blown away!
The premise of the show is that Liberace has come back from Heaven to do one more show. At one performance, I met a woman that was Liberace's first make up lady from the 50's TV show! She was touched to tears! This is the reaction many people get, especially those that knew and worked with Lee. With the help of prosthetic makeup designed by Academy Award winning make up artist Kevin Haney, and Wayland's superb playing and acting skills, Liberace comes to life during the show! Wayland has Lee's speaking voice down, his singing voice, and all the familiar jokes. As of January 2008, Wayland just finished a 3 week run doing the Liberace show at the Lawrence Welk theater in Escondido and even the director of the foundation came out to see the show.
The show is a wonderful way to celebrate Lee's memory and advertise the foundation and museum. Keep checking that website for future shows--you will not be sorry. It is even worth a trip to see the show! I'll admit as a Liberace fan, I've had tears come to my eyes during the show just because the portrayal is so spot on. I brought a friend to the show that isn't even a Liberace fan and she got choked up during the show--that is how effective a performance it is!
A living tribute show like this is bringing Liberace's legacy to younger fans. If you have never seen Liberace, check out some of the recent DVDs on him. Liberace was a class act and a super nice guy and deserves respect for the showman that he was. Support his museum and foundation and help young artists!
Brenda
Last edited by bmbcali; 01-25-2008 at 11:48 AM.
Liberace was a FABULOUS sister and we only wish we had been able to meet her. As a child we were taken to see a couple of her shows and we left with stars in our eyes. Too bad she died so young from drugs (a.k.a. "AID$")
(stomach-churning thought for the day: It is said that Liberace was a top!)
Nice story Brenda. I loved Libarace. He was a toal entertainer and I miss him so much.
I got the chance to see Liberace live in Vegas when I was in my teens (42 now) and I loved it ...I wanted to go cuz of Batman. A friend got us backstage and I got to meet him and he signed a book I bought before the show ( which my mom, also known as the devil has kept )...he was just charming and funny and I was thrilled! I still have a video of him that I bought shortly after that show and watch it occasionally. He was a wonderful man and a great entertainer!
I always heard that when he was younger he was in love with Sonja Henje, the ice skater...don't know if it's true since he was gay but who knows...
Alice Cooper states in his new book that when him and Liberace hit the town in Las Vegas Liberace was wearing Jeans a white T-shirt and cowboy boots.
Renowned Death Hag
What a cast ! This adaptation of EVELYN WAUGH' satire on the funeral rites of Americans is one of the best black comedies of all time.
" Oh, you don't want to pick that coffin Mr. Barlow; it's not dampness proof ! "-LIBERACE as a very fey funeral director
Hey Gang.................F I N A L L Y .........................................Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting THE LOVED ONE
on MONDAY, MARCH 10th at 5:45p.m. !!!
TCM is showing THE LOVED ONE
MONDAY, MARCH 10th............at 5:45 p.m.
KELT' HOME FOR WAYWARD YOUTH-
Helping Young Men To Turn Around For Over Twenty Years !
Rod Steiger in is the one that creeps me out in that film(and his characters mother)
Renowned Death Hag
STEIGER was an exceptional actor. His portrayal of JUD in OKLAHOMA gave me the creeps.
KELT' HOME FOR WAYWARD YOUTH-
Helping Young Men To Turn Around For Over Twenty Years !
I am so glad to see this thread about Liberace. He may have been campy but he was a superlative performer. I was fortunate to see him twice in concert and they remain the best concerts I have seen. He seems like a nice person and Liberace had the talent to be a concert pianist if he wanted but chose to be a showman.
Renowned Death Hag
Ny great-aunt who loved him thought his name was "Little Archie".
I was going to tell a Liberace joke (not AIDS related) but the love for him is so evident on this thread I wouldn't dare!
Last edited by MagnusDippytack; 04-01-2008 at 08:51 PM. Reason: Extra thought
"Everybody is born, and everybody dies. Being born wasn't so bad , was it?"
Peter the Hermit
Senior Death Hag
Oh, come on! Let's hear it! We're all friends here!
Death Hag Extraordinaire
Fantastic post! As I wrote earlier, the ultimate showman!
I am a sick puppy....woof woof!!!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Carping the living shit out of the Diem. - Me!!
http://www.pinterest.com/neilmpenny
Renowned Death Hag
Liberace Joke Alert: Scroll past this if such a concept is upsetting.
Liberace was magnificent on the piano, but he sucked on the organ.
(rimshot)
"Everybody is born, and everybody dies. Being born wasn't so bad , was it?"
Peter the Hermit
Nobody played the meat flute like Liberace.
I was in Branson last week and there's some show there called Lomascola playing a "$1,000,000 Piano".
Yes he was, and they certainly don't make 'em like him anymore! He is missed.
Senior Death Hag
Don't know much about Liberace really. Obviously I've seen him on TV and always thought he was a bit weird - with a false smile. However, having said this he was an out and out entertainer - and clearly loved what he did. He also clearly liked his fans, who worshipped him.
With regards to being gay, he was in the closet because of the times he lived in. It would not have been acceptable to his public, who basically ignored homosexuality. Even today, only certain entertainers are "out", whilst other remain firmly in the closet.
Regardless of that, sexuality is a private matter, and if someone wants to keep it private it's up to them.
So true and I doubt it will change anytime soon, at least in America anyway. Here people accept the old gay male stereotypes ( into showtunes, clean shaven, skinny, swishy, high pitched voices, "cleaning experts" or whatever ) but they just can't/won't accept a gay man who rather watch a baseball game on ESPN than seeing Cher in concert or who smokes cigars rather than cigarettes. A gay man with a beard? First thing that pops into the minds of many "..he can't be gay !!".
Another reason why stereotypes are so stupid.
I started piano lessons at age 4. To be honest I hated the piano but my mother wanted me to be another Libby.
I loved to hear his play but there was NO way I was ever going to play like him LOL
I got the chance to go to Vegas and see his show. Not only did I see it I got tickets for the next night too. I was totally in awe of him and his playing. He had a beatiful mink coat, never have I seen the likes of that again lol Anyway I sent him a message abut how I loved his show and how my mother wanted me to play like him yadda yadda, and he actually sent me a mesaage back, stupid ass me lost it a few years back when I lost all my pictures. It was in my scrap book, acutally I didn;t lose it the moving company lost my most important thing, the box with all my pics of family and my child hood and all of the stuff I had collected thru the years.
Anyway I think he was a most gracious person and truly loved his audience.
Renowned Death Hag
don we now our gay apparel
i do believe 'sincerely yours' (spoken with slight nasal affectation ala Lee) was a remake of the old thirties movie 'the man who played god' with george arliss and bette davis (her big break). that is, if no one has mentioned this...
pull the string!
I have friends that really like Liberace. However they are conservative-Christian-homophobic-Republicans. I asked them how they
are dealing with him being gay. They said, "well, we watched a movie
and gay wasn't his first choice." I laughed then and I chuckle every time
I think of that.
I watched a DVD from Netflix called "The Legendary Liberace" and it's a pretty good overview of Lee's life. There's a lot of film from his TV show in the early 50's and he really flirted with the camera. He looked straight at the camera, smiled and winked and played with a lot of enthusiasm. It was a brand new medium and it was like he knew exactly what to do.
I liked him and loved the way he kidded around with the audience. Not exactly my kind of music, but he sure knew how to put on a show.
Wladziu Valentino Liberace[1] (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987), better known by only his last name Liberace (pronounced /ˌlɪbəˈrɑːtʃiː/), was a famous American entertainer and pianist of Polish and Italian descent. During the 1950s–1970s (when Elvis Presley and The Beatles were at the height of their popularity), he was the highest paid entertainer in the world
Liberace, known as "Lee" to his friends and "Walter" to family[3], was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, a Milwaukee suburb, to Frances Zuchowska (August 31, 1892 - November 1, 1980), a Pole, and Salvatore ("Sam") Liberace (December 9, 1885 - April 1, 1977), an immigrant from Formia, Italy.[1] He had a twin who died at birth and he was born with a caul, which in his family, as in many societies, was taken as a sign of genius and an exceptional future.[4] Liberace's father was a musician who played the French horn in bands and movie theaters but sometimes had to work as a factory worker or laborer. While his father encouraged music in the family, his mother was not musical and thought music lessons and a record player to be luxuries they couldn't afford, causing angry family disputes.[5] Liberace later stated, "My dad's love and respect for music created in him a deep determination to give as his legacy to the world, a family of musicians dedicated to the advancement of the art".[6]
Liberace began playing the piano at four and while his father took them to concerts to further expose the children to music, he was also a taskmaster demanding high standards from the children in practice and performance. Liberace's prodigious talent was in evidence early. He memorized difficult pieces by age seven. He studied the technique of the famous Polish pianist and later family friend Paderewski and at eight, he met Paderewski backstage at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. "I was intoxicated by the joy I got from the great virtuoso's playing. My dreams were filled with fantasies of following his footsteps…Inspired and fired with ambition, I began to practice with a fervor that made my previous interest in the piano look like neglect."[7]
The Great Depression was hard on the family financially. The early-teenage Liberace also suffered from a speech problem and from the taunts of neighborhood children who mocked his avoidance of sports and his fondness for the piano and for cooking.[8] Liberace focused fiercely on his piano playing and blossomed under the instruction of music teacher Florence Kelly who guided his musical development for ten years. He gained experience playing popular music in theaters, on local radio, for dancing classes, for clubs, and for weddings. He played jazz with a school group called the "Mixers" in 1934, then other groups later. Liberace also performed in cabarets and strip clubs, and even though his parents did not approve, he was earning a tidy living during hard times. For a while he adopted the stage name "Walter Busterkeys".[9] He also showed an interest in draftsmanship, design, and painting, and he became a fastidious dresser and follower of fashion. By now, he already showed the knack of turning his eccentricities into attention-getting virtues and he grew more popular at school, though mostly as an object of comic relief.[10]
Liberace's early- to mid-1980s Christmas costume, worn at the Las Vegas Hilton and Radio City Music Hall. Designed by Michael Travis, with fur design by Anna Nateece, the costume is one of many at the Liberace Museum.
In a formal classical music competition in 1937, Liberace was praised for his "flair and showmanship".[11] At the end of a traditional classical concert in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1939, Liberace played his first requested encore, "Three Little Fishes", which he played in the style of several the different classical composers.[12] The 21-year-old played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1941, getting strong reviews, and he also toured in the Midwest.
Between 1942 and 1944, Liberace moved away from straight classical performance and reinvented his act to one featuring "pop with a bit of classics" or as he also called it "classical music with the boring parts left out." In the early 1940s, he struggled in New York City but by the mid- and late 1940s, he was performing in night clubs in major cities around the United States, largely abandoning the classical concert goer. He changed from classical pianist to showman, unpredictably and whimsically mixing serious with light fare, Chopin with "Home on the Range."[13] For a while, he played piano along with a phonograph machine on stage. The gimmick helped gain him attention. He also added interaction with the audience—taking requests, talking with the patrons, cracking jokes, giving lessons to chosen audience members—and began to pay greater attention to such details as staging, lighting, and presentation. The transformation to entertainer was driven by Liberace's desire to connect directly with his audiences, and secondarily from the reality of the difficult competition in the classical piano world.
In 1943, he appeared in a couple of Soundies (the 1940s precursor to music videos). He re-created two flashy numbers from his nightclub act, "Tiger Rag" and "Twelfth Street Rag". In these films he was billed as Walter Liberace. Both "Soundies" were later released to the home-movie market by Castle Films. In 1944, he made his first appearances in Las Vegas, which later became his principal performance venue. He was playing at the best clubs, finally appearing at the celebrated Persian Room in 1945, with Variety proclaiming, "Liberace looks like a cross between Cary Grant and Robert Alda. He has an effective manner, attractive hands which he spotlights properly and, withal, rings the bell in the dramatically lighted, well-presented, showmanly routine. He should snowball into box office." The Chicago Times was similarly impressed: He "made like Chopin one minute and then turns on a Chico Marx bit the next."[14]
During this time, Liberace worked tirelessly to refine his act. He added the candelabrum as a signature prop and adopted "Liberace" as his stage name, making a big point in his press releases that it was pronounced "Liber-Ah-chee".[15] He dressed elegantly in white tie and tails to be better seen in large halls. Besides clubs and occasional work as an accompanist and rehearsal pianist, Liberace also played for private parties, including those at the Park Avenue home of millionaire oilman J. Paul Getty. By 1947, he was billing himself as "Liberace—the most amazing piano virtuoso of the present day."[16] He had to have a piano to match his growing presence, so he bought a rare, over-sized, gold-leafed Blüthner Grand, which he hyped up in his press kit as a "priceless piano".[17] (Later, he would perform with an array of extravagant, custom-decorated pianos, some encrusted with sequins and mirrors.) He moved to North Hollywood, California in 1947 and was performing at local clubs, such as Ciro's and Mocambo's, for Hollywood stars such as Rosalind Russell, Clark Gable, Gloria Swanson, and Shirley Temple. He didn't always play to packed rooms, and early on he learned to perform with extra energy to sparser crowds, in order to keep up his own enthusiasm.[18]
Liberace created a very successful publicity machine which helped rocket him to stardom. In 1950, he performed for music-loving President Harry S. Truman in the East room of the White House. Despite his great success in the supper-club circuit, where he was often an intermission act, his huge ambition was to reach even larger audiences as a headliner and a television, movie, and recording star. Liberace began to expand his act and made it more extravagant, with more costumes and a larger supporting cast. His large-scale Las Vegas act became his hallmark, expanding his fan base dramatically, and making him wealthy in short order.
His New York City performance at Madison Square Garden in 1954, which earned him a record $138,000 for one performance, was more successful than the great triumph his idol Paderewski had made twenty years earlier.[19] By 1955, he was making $50,000 per week at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and had over 200 official fan clubs with a quarter of a million member fans.[20] He was making over $1,000,000 per year from public appearances, and millions from television.[19] Liberace was frequently covered by the major magazines and he became a pop culture superstar, and he also became the butt of jokes by other comedians and by the public.
Music critics were generally harsh in their assessment of his piano playing. Critic Lewis Funke wrote after the Carnegie Hall concert, Liberace's music "must be served with all the available tricks, as loud as possible, as soft as possible, and as sentimental as possible. It's almost all showmanship topped by whipped cream and cherries." Even worse was his lack of reverence and fealty to the great composers. "Liberace recreates—if that is the word—each composition in his own image. When it is too difficult, he simplifies it. When it is too simple, he complicates it". His sloppy technique included "slackness of rhythms, wrong tempos, distorted phrasing, an excess of prettification and sentimentality, a failure to stick to what the composer has written".[21]
Liberace once proudly stated, "I don't give concerts, I put on a show."[22] Unlike the concerts of classical pianists which normally ended with applause and a retreat off-stage, Liberace's shows ended with the public invited on-stage to touch the maestro's clothes, piano, jewelry, and hands. Kisses, handshakes, hugs, and caresses usually followed.[23] A critic summed up his appeal near the end of Liberace's life: "Mr. Showmanship has another more potent, drawing power to his show: the warm and wonderful way he works his audience. Surprisingly enough, behind all the glitz glitter, the corny false modesty and the shy smile, Liberace exudes a love that is returned to him a thousand-fold."[24]
In contrast to his flamboyant stage presence, Liberace was a conservative in his politics and faith, eschewing dissidents and rebels. He believed fervently in capitalism but was also fascinated with royalty, ceremony, and luxury. He loved to hobnob with the "rich and famous", acting as star-struck with presidents and kings as his fans behaved with him. Yet to his fans, he was still one of them, a Midwesterner who had earned his success through hard work—and who invited them to enjoy it with him.[25]
In the next phase of his life, having earned sudden wealth, Liberace spent lavishly—incorporating materialism into his life and his act. He designed and built his first celebrity house in 1953, with a piano theme appearing throughout, including a piano top shaped pool. His dream home with its lavish furnishings, elaborate bath, and antiques all throughout, added to his appeal. Following up on the show business adage "when you're hot, you're hot", he shamelessly leveraged his fame through hundreds of promotional tie-ins with banks, insurance companies, automobile companies, food companies—even morticians. Liberace was considered a perfect pitchman, given his folksy connection with his vast audience of housewives. The sponsors would obligingly send him complimentary products, including his white Cadillac limousine. He reciprocated enthusiastically, "If I am selling tuna fish, I believe in tuna fish."[26] The critics would have a field day with his gimmicky act, his showy but careless piano playing, his non-stop promotions, and his gaudy display of success but he always had the last laugh, as immortally preserved by the famous quotation, first recorded in a letter to a critic, "Thank you for your very amusing review. After reading it, in fact, my brother George and I cried all the way to the bank
In 1956, Liberace had his first international engagement, playing successfully in Havana, Cuba. He followed up with a European tour later that year. 'Always a devout Catholic, Liberace considered his meeting with Pope Pius XII a highlight of his life.[28] In 1960, Liberace performed at the London Palladium with Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis Jr. (this was the first televised "command performance", now known as "The Royal Variety Show" for Queen Elizabeth II).
On July 19, 1957, hours after Liberace gave a deposition in his $25 million libel suit against Confidential magazine, two masked intruders attacked his mother in the garage of Liberace's home in Sherman Oaks. She was beaten and kicked, but her heavy corset may have protected her from being badly injured. Liberace was not informed about the assault until he finished his midnight show at the Moulin Rouge. Guards were hired to watch over Liberace's house and the houses of his two brothers.
Despite successful European tours, his career had in fact been slumping since 1957. But Liberace built it back up by appealing directly to his fan base. Through live appearances in small town supper clubs, and with television and promotional appearances, he began to regain popularity. On November 23, 1963, he suffered renal failure from accidentally inhaling excessive amounts of cleaning fluid and nearly died. Told by doctors that his condition was fatal, he began to give away his possessions but then recovered after a month.[29]
Re-energized, Liberace returned to Las Vegas, and, upping the glamor and glitz, he took on the sobriquet "Mr. Showmanship". As his act swelled with spectacle, he famously stated, "I'm a one-man Disneyland."[30] The costumes became more exotic (ostrich feathers, mink, capes and huge rings), entrances and exits more elaborate (chauffeured onstage in a Rolls-Royce or dropped in on a wire like Peter Pan), choreography more complex (involving chorus girls, cars, and animals), and the novelty acts more varied (jugglers, magicians, hypnotists and puppeteers). He also introduced several especially talented juvenile acts including Australian singer Jamie Redfern and Canadian banjo player Scotty Plummer.[31] Barbra Streisand was his most notable new adult act, early in her career.[32]
Liberace's energy and commercial ambitions took him in many directions. He owned an antiques store in Beverly Hills, California and a restaurant in Las Vegas for many years and even published cookbooks, the most famous of these being Liberace Cooks, with co-author cookbook guru Carol Truax, which included "Liberace Lasagna" and "Liberace Sticky Buns". The book features recipes "from his seven dining rooms" (of his Hollywood home). In addition, he had a line of men's clothing, a motel chain (Liberace Chateau Inns), a shopping mall, and other enterprises.
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Liberace's live shows were major box office attractions in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Hilton and Lake Tahoe where he would earn $300,000 a week. He maintained homes in both places.
Always kind to animals and children, Liberace incorporated them into his shows and helped talented youth through his Liberace Foundation, whose good works still continue.
[edit]
Television
Unlike Jack Benny, Liberace mostly bypassed radio before trying a television career, thinking radio unsuitable given his act's dependency on the visual.[33] Despite his enthusiasm about the possibilities of television, Liberace was disappointed after his early guest appearances on The Kate Smith Show and the Cavalcade of Stars. He was particularly unhappy with the frenetic camera work and his short appearance time. He soon wanted his own show where he could control his presentation as fully as he did in his club shows.[34] His first show on local television in Los Angeles was a smash hit, earning the highest ratings of any local show, which he parlayed into a sold out appearance at the Hollywood Bowl.[35] That led to a summer replacement television show in place of Dinah Shore.
The fifteen minute network television program, The Liberace Show, began on July 1, 1952, but did not lead to a regular network series. Instead producer Duke Goldstone mounted a filmed version of Liberace's local show performed before a live audience for syndication in 1955, and sold it to scores of local stations. The widespread exposure of the syndicated Liberace series made the pianist more popular and prosperous than ever. His first two years earnings from television netted him $7,000,000 and on future re-runs he earned up to 80% of the profits.[20]
Liberace learned early on to add "schmaltz" to his television show and to cater to the tastes of the mass audience by joking and chatting to the camera, as if performing in the viewer's own living room. He also used dramatic lighting, split images, costume changes, and exaggerated hand movements to create visual interest. His television performances featured enthusiasm and humor.
Liberace also employed "ritualistic domesticity", used by such early TV greats as Jack Benny and Lucille Ball.[36] His brother George often appeared as guest violinist and orchestra director, and his mother was usually in the front row of the audience, with brother Rudy and sister Angelina often mentioned to lend an air of "family". Liberace began each show in the same way, then mixed production numbers with chat, and signed off each broadcast softly singing "I'll Be Seeing You". His musical selections were broad, including classics, show tunes, film melodies, Latin rhythms, ethnic songs, and boogie-woogie.[37]
The show was so popular with his mostly female television audience that he drew over thirty million viewers at any one time and received ten thousand fan letters per week.[38] His show was also one of the first to be shown on UK commercial television in the 1950s, where it was broadcast on Sunday afternoons by Lew Grade's Associated TeleVision. This exposure gave Liberace a dedicated following in the UK. Homosexual men also found him appealing. Elton John stated that Liberace was his hero and was the first gay person he had ever seen on television (but see the section on alleged homosexuality below).[39]
Liberace also made significant appearances on other shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, the Edward R. Murrow program Person to Person and on the shows of Jack Benny and Red Skelton where he often parodied his own persona. A new Liberace Show premiered in 1958, featuring a less flamboyant, less glamorous persona, but it failed in six months, as his popularity began slumping.[40] Liberace received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for his contributions to the television industry. Liberace continued on television as a frequent and welcomed guest on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar in the 1960s, with memorable exchanges with Zsa Zsa Gabor and Muhammad Ali, and later with Johnny Carson. In 1966, he appeared in two highly-rated episodes of the U.S. television series Batman. During the 1970s, his appearances included guest roles on episodes of Here's Lucy and Kojak. In a cameo on The Monkees he appeared at an avant-garde art gallery as himself, gleefully smashing a grand piano with a sledgehammer as Mike Nesmith looked on and cringed in mock agony.
Liberace was also the guest star in an episode of The Muppet Show. His performances included a "Concerto for the Birds" and an amusing rendition of "Chopsticks". In the 1980s, he guest starred on television shows such as Saturday Night Live (on a 10th-season episode hosted by Hulk Hogan and Mr. T), and the 1984 film Special People.
Recordings
The huge success of Liberace's syndicated television show was the main impetus behind his record sales. From 1947 to 1951, he produced about 10 disks. By 1954, it jumped to nearly 70.[41] He released several recordings through Columbia Records including Liberace by Candlelight (later on Dot and through direct television advertising) and sold over 400,000 albums by mid-1954. His most popular single was "Ave Maria", selling over 300,000 copies.[42] From 1955 on, his recordings and sales declined steadily.
His albums included standards of the time, such as Hello Dolly, but also included his own versions of works from Chopin and other classical greats. In his life he received 6 gold records. As successful as his recording career was, however, it never reached the level of popularity of his live shows.
Films & TV
Even before his arrival in Hollywood in 1947, Liberace wanted to add acting to his list of accomplishments. His exposure to the Hollywood crowd through his club performances led to his first movie appearance in 1950 in South Sea Sinners, a South Pacific potboiler, in which he played "a Hoagy Carmichael sort of character with long hair".[43] Liberace also appeared as a guest star in two compilation features for RKO Radio Pictures. Footlight Varieties was an imitation-vaudeville hour released in 1951 and a little-known sequel, Merry Mirthquakes (1953), featured Liberace as master of ceremonies.
He was at the height of his career in 1955 when he starred in the Warner Brothers feature Sincerely Yours with Dorothy Malone, playing 31 songs. The film (about a concert pianist who loses his hearing) was a commercial and critical failure, which was attributed in part to his having been overexposed on television. The film later became successful as a staple of movie programming on television in the late '50s and early '60s.
In 1965, he had a small part in the movie When the Boys Meet the Girls starring Connie Francis, essentially playing himself. He received kudos in 1966 for his brief role as a casket salesman in the film adaptation of The Loved One, Evelyn Waugh's satire of the funeral business and movie industry in Southern California. It was the only film Liberace made in which he did not play the piano.
In 1966, Liberace also appeared in the highly popular 1960s TV show Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward, playing a dual role as evil pianist Chandell and his gangster-like twin Harry in the episodes "The Devil's Fingers" and "The Dead Ringers".
In 1970, Liberace appeared on an episode of "Here's Lucy," in which Craig (Desi Arnaz Jr.) borrows a candelabra for a high school club initiation.
Lawsuits and alleged homosexuality
Liberace's fame in the U.S. was matched for a time in the UK. In 1956, an article in The Daily Mirror by veteran columnist Cassandra (William Connor) mentioned that Liberace was "...the summit of sex--the pinnacle of masculine, feminine, and neuter. Everything that he, she, and it can ever want... a deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love," a description which did everything it could to imply he was homosexual without actually saying so. Liberace sued[44] the newspaper for libel, testifying in a London court that he was not a homosexual, and had never taken part in homosexual acts. He won the suit, partly on the basis of the term fruit-flavoured, which was held to impute homosexuality. The £8,000 ($22,400) damages he received from The Daily Mirror led Liberace to repeat his catchphrase. "I cried all the way to the bank!"[45] The catchphrase inspired the title of Crying All The Way To The Bank, a detailed report of the trial based on transcripts, court reports and interviews, by the former Daily Mirror journalist Revel Barker.
He fought and settled a similar case in the United States against Confidential. Rumors and gossip magazines frequently alleged behavior that strongly implied that he was a homosexual. A typical issue of Confidential in 1957 shouted, "Why Liberace's Theme Song Should Be 'Mad About the Boy!'"[46]
In 1982, Scott Thorson, Liberace's 24 year old bodyguard, driver, and alleged live-in boyfriend of some five years, sued the pianist for $113 million in palimony after an acrimonious split-up. Liberace continued to publicly deny that he was homosexual. In 1984, most of Thorson's claim was dismissed although he received a $95,000 settlement.[47] Later in the decade Thorson emerged as a pivotal witness in the prosecution of reputed gangster Eddie Nash in the 1981 quadruple murder of the Wonderland Gang.
Confusion over Liberace's true sexuality was further muddled in the public's mind by his public friendships and romantic links with actress Joanne Rio (whom he claimed he nearly married), skater Sonja Henie, aging Hollywood icon Mae West, and famous transsexual Christine Jorgenson.[48] Many publicity releases and women's magazine articles attempted to counter the gay rumors by portraying Liberace as "the perfect all-around man any woman would be thrilled to be with…He's so considerate on dates... He never forgets the little things that women love…He makes you feel that when you are with him, well, you really are with him." Another article was entitled "Mature Women Are Best: TV's Top Pianist Reveals What Kind of Woman He'd Marry"
Death and final act
Liberace's final stage performance was at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City on November 2, 1986. His final television appearance was on Christmas Day that same year on the Oprah Winfrey Show TV talk show. He died at the age of 67 on February 4, 1987 at his winter home in Palm Springs, California due to complications from AIDS. His obvious weight loss in the months prior to his death was attributed to a "watermelon diet" by his longtime and steadfast manager Seymour Heller. He had been in ill health since 1985 with other health problems including emphysema from his daily smoking off-stage, as well as heart and liver troubles. How and when he became HIV-positive was not made public. He is entombed in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
There's a scene in SINCERELY YOURS where Lee does some incredible 'boogie woogie' piano playing. He then stops and asks would they like to hear it twice as fast? He does it and it's fucking incredible. Knocks anything Jerry Lee did into the dust. Anyone who says he couldnt play is a moron.
True my friend, true. Most impressive.
Renowned Death Hag
I LOVE this clip of Elvis and Liberace backstage in Las Vegas (1956). You can almost hear Elvis thinking, "what a fruit!" LOL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd6E-ZPWtio
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]peek-a-boo!!
Lol, poor Elvis. I don't think he quite knows what to think!
Is the middle guy Liberace's brother I wonder? He looks familiar.
Renowned Death Hag
Yes, that was George.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]peek-a-boo!!
Thanks
Just been listening to the wonderful Liberace narrating 'Twas the night before Christmas'.
Most enjoyable. Almost as good as the Perry Como version. Anybody else heard Liberace's version?
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