Liberace

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Liberace shows off his rings (circa 1980).
Liberace shows off his rings (circa 1980).

Wladziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987), better known by the stage name Liberace (IPA pronunciation: [lɪb.əˈɹɑ.tʃiː]), was an American entertainer.

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[edit] Early life and stage name

Liberace, known as “Lee” to his friends, was born in West Allis, Wisconsin to Frances Zuchowski, a Polish American, and Salvatore ("Sam") Liberace, an immigrant from Formia, Italy.[1] He grew up in a musical family. He had a twin who died at birth. He was classically trained as a pianist and gained wide experience playing popular music. Lee followed the advice of famous Polish pianist and family friend[citation needed] Paderewski and billed himself under his last name only. As his classical career developed he found that his whimsical encores, in which he played pop songs and marches, went over better with audiences than his renditions of classical pieces, so he changed his act to "pop with a bit of classics". At other times, he referred to his act as "classical music with the boring parts left out." During the mid and late 1940s he performed in dinner clubs and night clubs in major cities around the United States.

In his early career days he used the stage name Walter Busterkeys.

[edit] Television

He had a network television program in the 1950s which, for a time, had higher ratings than I Love Lucy. His brother George led the program's backing band. He became known for his extravagant costumes, personal charm and self-deprecating wit. His public image became linked with one ever present stage prop, a silver candelabrum perched on his piano. By 1955 he was making $50,000 per week at the Riviera nightclub in Las Vegas and had over 160 official fan clubs with a quarter of a million member fans (who throughout his career were mostly middle-aged women). He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for his contributions to the television industry.

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.

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 season 10 episode hosted by Hulk Hogan and Mr. T), The Tonight Show and the 1984 film Special People.

[edit] Recordings

He released several recordings through Columbia Records (later on Dot and through direct television advertising) and sold over 2,000,000 records in 1953 alone. Liberace's highly colored style of piano playing was characterized by some critics as fluid and lyrical but technically careless.

[edit] Films

In 1943 Liberace appeared in two Soundies (the 1940s precursor to music videos). He re-created two flashy numbers from his nightclub act, "Tiger Rag" and "Twelfth Street Rag."

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 was a commercial and critical failure, which was attributed in part to his having been overexposed on television.

In 1965 he had a small part in the movie When the Boys Meet the Girls starring Connie Francis, essentially playing himself.

In 1966 Liberace received kudos 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.

[edit] Lawsuits

His fame in the US was paralleled for a time in the UK. In 1957 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-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love," a description which did everything it could to imply he was homosexual without saying so. Liberace sued the newspaper for libel, testified in a London court that he was not a homosexual, had never taken part in homosexual acts, and won the suit.

For years Liberace had joked, "I don't mind the bad reviews, but George (his brother and business partner) cries all the way to the bank." The £8,000 ($22,400) damages he received from The Daily Mirror led Liberace to alter this catchphrase to "I cried all the way to the bank!" [1]

In 1982, Liberace's live-in boyfriend of some five years, Scott Thorson, 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.[2] Later in the decade Thorson emerged as a pivotal witness in the prosecution of reputed gangster Eddie Nash in the 1981 quadruple murders of the Wonderland Gang.

[edit] Later career

Liberace Museum, Las Vegas, 2003
Liberace Museum, Las Vegas, 2003

In 1960 Liberace performed at the London Palladium with Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis Jr. (this was the first televised "command performance" for Queen Elizabeth II). His career then went into a slump but he skillfully built it back up by appealing directly to his fan base through live appearances in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Liberace was a favorite subject of tabloid magazines throughout his life and he published an autobiography in 1973. Liberace owned an antique store for some years in Beverly Hills, California. He had a keen interest in cooking, often preparing meals for friends and associates. In addition, he owned 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. The book features recipes "from his seven dining rooms" (of his Hollywood home).

Throughout the 1970s 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. These glitzy shows were a continued success for the next eleven years, helped along by infrequent but flamboyant television appearances and the opening of a promotional museum of his extravagant jewelry and stage costumes in 1979.

[edit] Death

Liberace's final stage performance was at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on November 2, 1986. He died of complications related to AIDS at the age of 67 on February 4, 1987 at his winter house in Palm Springs, California. 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. But 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 exactly when he contracted AIDS will probably never be determined, as Liberace vehemently denied that he had AIDS or that he was homosexual. He is interred in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

The Liberace Museum in Las Vegas contains many of his stage costumes, cars, jewelry, and lavishly-decorated pianos, along with numerous citations for philanthropic acts.

[edit] Publications

1. Autobiographies

  • Liberace: An Autobiography, by Liberace. Putnam and Co. Ltd, New York, 1973. (hardcover)
  • The Things I Love, by Liberace with Tony Palmer (editor). Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1976 (hardcover)
  • The Wonderful Private World of Liberace, by Liberace and Michael Segell. Harper and Row, New York, 1986 (hardcover)

2. Biographies

  • The Liberace Story, by Chester Whitehorn (editor). Screen Publications Inc, New York, 1955 (softcover - #4 in the Candid Profile series)
  • Liberace: On Stage and Off, by Anthony Monahan. GRT Music Productions, Sunnyvale California, 1976 (hardcover)
  • Liberace: The True Story, by Bob Thomas. St. Martins Press, New York, 1987 (hardcover)
  • Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace, by Scott Thorson with Alex Thorleifson. E.P. Dutton, New York, 1988. (hardcover)
  • Liberace: A Bio-Bibliography, by Jocelyn Faris. Greenwood Press, Westport CT, 1995
  • Liberace: An American Boy, by Darden Asbury Pyron. University of Chicago Press, 2000, (hardcover)
  • Liberace (Lives of Notable Gay Men and Lesbians), by Ray Mungo and Martin B. Duberman. Chelsea House Publications

3. Cooking

4. Poetry

  • The Ghost of Liberace - New Writing Scotland 11 (an anthology), A.L Kennedy (editor) and Hamish Whyte (editor), Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 1993. (paperback)
  • Why My Mother Likes Liberace: a Musical Selection, by Diane Wakoski. (Comparing poetry to music: 13 poems by Wakoski, with line drawings of pianos by Rebecca Gaver). Sun / Gemini Press, Tucson, Arizona, 1985.

5. Compilations

6. Music books

  • Liberace Deluxe Big Note Song Book, Shattinger International Music, New York, 1977 (Spirax paperback).
  • Liberace by Candlelight – Piano Music of Liberace, Edwin H. Morris & Co. (paperback)
  • Liberace Popular Standards, New York: Charles Hansen Music & Books

[edit] References in popular culture

  • Entertainers inspired by him include Little Richard (who called himself "the bronze Liberace"), James Brown (who also cited Gorgeous George as a stage influence), and Elton John, whose costumes early in his career often included feathers and furs as Liberace's sometimes did.
  • The movie Shine, which portrays pianist David Helfgott, features a scene in which Helfgott is sarcastically invited to "Sock it to us, Liberace".
  • Liberace is mentioned in the song "California Love" by Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur. Dr. Dre says, "Diamonds shinin, lookin like I robbed Liberace".
  • That 70's Show (TV series): In episode 4-10, "Red and Stacey," Hyde compares Eric to Liberace ("He's as soft as Liberace at the Playboy Mansion.")
  • Home Improvement (TV series): Tim Taylor smells potpourri in the garage and remarks to his wife "This is the garage, not the Liberace museum!"
  • Friends (TV series): Chandler sarcastically mocks Joey's purchase and gift of a golden "friendship bracelet", calling it an "eyesore from the Liberace House of Crap"
  • Roseanne (TV series): In episode 6-12, "White Trash Christmas," Dan incorporates a cardboard cutout of Liberace into his outdoor Christmas decorations, to which Roseanne retorts, "Because there was no room at the Desert Inn."
  • Several Looney Tunes cartoons (and other theatrical cartoons) have either caricatured Liberace or used his catchphrase, "I wish my brother George was here."
  • One episode of Reno 911! has two of the police officers guarding a lucite piano supposedly once owned by Liberace. In that episode, the piano is a player piano that is supernaturally capable of granting wishes.
  • The Futurama episode "Less Than Hero" (in which Fry, Leela, and Bender become superheroes), Leela mentions an audio version of an exhibition at a museum called "The Treasures of Liberace's Tomb."
  • Season One, Episode 15 of CSI, "Table Stakes", visits the Liberace Museum to retrieve some DNA from a headdress worn by one of the dancers for a show of his.
  • On the South Park episode "Chinpokomon", after the South Park kids are shown the fake commercial for Alabama Man (a Ken doll/action figure who goes bowling, chews tobacco, drinks beer, and beats up his wife), Kyle refers to the toy as "Liberace gay."
  • In Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise comic book (issue 72), one of the main characters (Katchoo) says, about not buying a ring with rubies, "They had one with rubies but I thought... y'know... Liberace."
  • In the movie Goonies, the lead female ("Andy") is trying to play an organ made of bones. "I'm not Liberace you know!" when criticized for making a (almost fatal) mistake.
  • In the song "Chocolate Cake" from Crowded House, they sing "Can I buy another slice of real estate; Liberace must be laughing in his grave; Can I have another piece of Chocolate cake."
  • In an I Love Lucy episode, Ricky Ricardo wants his business manager to create more publicity for himself, so Ricky Ricardo's business manager promises that he can make Ricky popular, and that he can turn him into a "Cuban Liberace". Ricky responds, "I don't want to go that far."
  • In another I Love Lucy episode, Ricky Ricardo is miffed after a terrible night when lights go out all over the neighborhood, forcing those in attendance at his nightclub to go the venue across the street. How did they succeed without electricity? "Liberace was playing there. He does his shows by candlelight."
  • In the book A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving both Harriet Wheelwright's and Owen Meany's favorite TV show is Liberace's. On news of his death, the narrator speculates as to what would have been Owen's reaction to Liberace's manager's assertion that his recent weight loss was not due to AIDS but to a watermelon-only diet: "Who would have believed it possible? Liberace! Killed by watermelons!".
  • Also, Liberace is often used as a slang term when referring to the Yahoo Online Game "Literati", which is a "Scrabble" clone.
  • In an episode of The Golden Girls, commenting on the heavy rainstorm outside, Dorothy says: "Boy, it is really coming down." Rose naively asks, "What's coming down?" to which Dorothy replies, "The Liberace marquee at Caesar's Palace . . . rain, Rose, rain!"
  • British talk radio host Nick Abbot often opens his radio show on London's LBC 97.3 with the introduction of Boogie Woogie.
  • In the episode "Cky Challenge" of Viva La Bam, Ryan Dunn says to Bam Margera: "Why are you wearing a purple jacket Liberace?". Bam replies: "I like Liberace".
  • In the song "Live And Die For Hip Hop" performed by KRIS KROSS there is a part when it goes: "and niggas around my way call me little Liberace".
  • In one of the original 39 episodes of The Honeymooners, Alice pressures Ralph to buy a television set, declaring "I wanna look at Liberace!"
  • Mentioned in Nip Tuck, Christian comments on the interior design choices of Dawn Budge, that it looks like "Liberace took a dump in here"
  • In the episode "The Road Trip to Harvard" in Gilmore Girls, the extreme floral decor of a hotel room caused Lorelai to say, "I think this is the only room in the universe that would've made Liberace say, 'Whoa. Step back. No one's that gay.'"
  • An article in Mad Magazine depicting celebrities in their own comic strips included "Lovely Liberace." He is on the telephone to his dry cleaner, who has delivered the wrong color sequinned suit. He says, "I simply must have the black sequins [not the green sequins] ...I'm going to a funeral!"
  • Trivial Pursuit had a question in which Liberace was the answer to "What famous pianist always ended his concerts by offering to introduce the audience to his brother George?"
  • In the film Epic Movie Edward is walking through a cupboard full of furry coats and says " Who lives in here, Liberace?".

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ http://www.wargs.com/other/liberace.html

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../l/i/b/Liberace.html"