Talk:Liberace
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[edit] please begin new discussions at the bottom of the page
I grew up in Phila PA. Every year, they had an 'Easter Day Parade' in center city. Each year there was a celebrity 'grandmaster' of the parade. The grandmaster would sit in the back of a convertible limosine and wave at the crowds. And the grandmaster was responsible for one more thing. Selecting the 'best dressed' person in the crowd. Actually, there were many 'best dressed' catagories...best dressed man, woman, child, etc.... In 1963, my parents took me (I was 7) and my 2 year old brother to the parade. And guess what? My brother and I were selected as 'best dressed boys' in Philadelphia. We even got to ride in the back of the convertible limosine! The next day, there was a picture in the local newspaper (the Bulletin) showing me and my little brother...both seated on the lap of the grandmaster, in the back of the limo! And to this day, I have a yellowing, newprint photo...of me, and my little brother, sitting on Liberace's lap!
One part of this article doesn't make sense to me. How did he commit perjury? what did he lie about? Thanks
Hey did you guys see what someone did?? Changed a bunch of stuff to make it seem like Liberace was still alive. Pretty funny! haha
[edit] Cleanup and expansion
I have vastly expanded and cleaned up this article. Wyss 3 July 2005 14:51 (UTC)
I have corrected the erroneous date regarding Paderewski and 1950. Jan Ignace Paderewski died in 1941. The story goes that Paderewski casually knew Liberace's mother and as a result of a visit to them, the one name concept was created.Dr.Dan
Liberace also appeared in an episode of the original Star Trek series "The Squire of Gothos".
No, that was william Campbell, who also played Captain Koloth in "The Trouble with Tribbles". However, the character does seem to be Liberace inspired. --67.175.8.60 20:07, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Pronunciation
Should there be a note about how to pronounce his name? It seems obvious to anyone who's ever heard it (most of us, by far) but to those who haven't, it looks like it should be "libber-Ace". I'm not sure exactly what the correct use of the phoentic alphabet (or whatever) is, so I don't want to add "pronounced 'Libber-AH-chee'", but if someone could add the standard format it might be beneficial. Just a thought. -R. fiend 03:12, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
I thougt that the name shoud be pronounced differently until I heard a song called "Mr.Sandman" ("and lots of wavy hair like Liberace")
[edit] Pronunciation
I've added a phonetic spelling according to the IPA guidelines, I think it's a good idea, if you can read the phonetic alphabet ofcourse!
What do you mean Liberace was gay. Take that back.
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- LOL. 66.108.4.183 14:32, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
I'm not sure if you saved the change you made because the pronunciation at the start of the article still looks super weird to me. Who could ever even begin to pronounce whatever those characters are!! Maybe my computer is making them look look that????Joschus 16:12, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
- I've added both an IPA version as well as a common version. This should help. --Snicker|¥°€| 16:15, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] wasn't he gay
i always thought that his sexuality was well established. Joeyramoney 16:38, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
- You are correct Joeyramoney. This article is overstating the case that he never admited his sexuality. In his 60 Minutes interview he quite clearly stated that he had to sue over his alleged homosexuality in the 1950's or his career would have been over, but, by the time of this interview, the public was more accepting. His A&E biography also confirms it. Oh well no use getting in an edit war over someting so obvious. MarnetteD | Talk 20:59, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
- It was an open secret. Everyone in his social circle knew but didn't talk about it much and meanwhile he denied it in public until the day he died. Incredibly, many of his middle-aged and older (female) fans in the American heartland, even during the 1980s, thought he was straight and admired him for the love he expressed for his mother.
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- Its important to maintain a NPOV though, just because we "know" something to be true, we cant put it here unless we can prove it to be true through references to sources that can not be disputed. I do feel that a section about the questioning of his sexuality would be a more than NPOV thing to have since pretending that no one questions his sexuality would not be NPOV at all. ""(i forget how to sign things)
[edit] Vince Cardell
Vince Cardell redirects to this article. It was redirected because that article consited of one sentence, but the merge wasn't completed. I don't see exactly where this info would fit into the article, but if someone wants to add it, the full text was "Vince Cardell was a former protige of Liberace, and possibly love companion, due to his high exemplory of public flirting with Vince." It should have a source, which the redirected stub sadly didn't provide. I don't know enough about either man to know whether the merge should be completed or the redirect should be deleted as useless, but hopefully someone else will. --Icarus (Hi!) 03:40, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Competence as pianist
I would like some info on how competent he was as a pianist. I have heard he was very good, lousy and everything in between. 68.9.173.186 15:50, 31 August 2006 (UTC)Tommy
- His competence and talents were more as an entertainer than as a pianist (which the article's first paragraph reflects). Without all the associated showmanship, considerable personal charisma, audience rapport, comedic flair and flashy costumes, his moderately talented piano playing might be best described as "fast and sloppy." His record sales plummeted after his TV show was cancelled and by the late 1960s (I believe) he had no recording contract and his records were being sold now and then by direct advertising on late night TV. He later thrived in Las Vegas because of his many gifts as a reliable showman and entertainer, not as a pianist.
Yes, I agree with the above (anonymous) reply, however one must also remember that Liberace was very good at certain styles of playing and in some cases better than anyone else. For example, he played octave trills and ornaments superbly, and his arpeggios were the best in the business. In addition, he also wrote most of his own piano arrangements, which is a talent and an art in itself. The orchestrations were usually done by someone else (George Liberace at first, then Gordon Robertson and later Bo Ayars). If one listens to the earlier recordings, in particular the 78 rpm discs of Chopin and Liszt and the recordings from the 1950's of the Cornish Rhapsody and Dream of Olwen, you can hear a high degree of talent in his playing. One other album which really shows off his talent as a pianist is Piano Song Book of Movie Themes, recorded late 1950's. He became lazier as time moved on and opted for easier arrangements of pop tunes to please his Las Vegas audiences. Money, money, money! In my opinion, he was never in the league of the "greats" in the classical repertoire, but then again, they couldn't do what he did either. I will draft something that reflects these ideas and include in the article at some stage soon - just need to be careful that it is not "an opinion" as opposed to fact, which is a bit of a grey area in cases like this. Musicmaker 13:00, 7 October 2006 (UTC)
- The following is original research and not suitable for citation in the article so I'm putting it here only as a discussion point. I met him several times, was photographed with him, heard him play, heard lots of his recordings. He was intelligent, very professional, a highly talented comedian and skilled entertainer dripping with personal charm, charisma and genuine social ability. As a piano player he was moderately talented and sloppy with an ear for melody and a keen sense for working any audience. Lee had loads of talent, clearly knew his strengths and weaknesses, made a big impact on American popular culture and influenced many pop artists, including Elvis Presley. Although he began his career as a pianist, his talents didn't lead him into many concert halls or appearances with the CSO or BP, but early on into nightclubs, then television and finally Las Vegas. He isn't remembered as a pianist but as an entertainer and early mass media celebrity.
