Outshining the mere mortals with whom he shares the day such as Hazel O'Connor, Tamara de Lempicka, Pierce Brosnan, Judy Finnigan, Yvonne Craig, Henry Fonda, Debra Winger, Jonathan Richman, Tori Spelling, Woody Herman, Olga Korbut, Robert Fripp, Janet Jackson - and even Christian Lacroix, sweetie - it would have been Liberace's birthday today!
By way of a celebration (and in the interest of recycling, of course!), here's a post I did way back in 2009...
...[In June 1959] the sparkling multi-million-selling entertainer Liberace sued the Daily Mirror for libel (and won!). Gossip columnist Cassandra (William Connor) had described him as:
"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... this superb piece of calculating candy floss... the biggest sentimental vomit of all time... a preposterous clown."Absurd, of course! After all, this is the same "devout Catholic" Liberace who outsold Elvis, broke all the records for ticket sales at Madison Square Gardens and in Vegas, and was "almost married" to the silver screen formation skater Sonja Henie - how could he be gay?
The rest, as they say, is history. In 1982, his former lover Scott Thorson sued for "palimoney" (and was paid off to the tune of $95k!), and (amid a sickening media frenzy at the time) eventually "Mr. Showmanship" died of complications from AIDS in 1987.
But let us not dwell on that when we can have the man himself. Enjoy yourweekendSunday with a bit of sparkle!
The book Crying All the Way to the Bank: Liberace V Cassandra, which gives all the gory details of the fabulous libel trial, was published in June 2009.
And why not visit The Liberace Museum?
Of course, a lot of water has passed under the bridge since 2009 - not least with the success of the infamous TV movie (based upon Scott Thorson's memoir) Behind the Candelabra, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, in 2013; and the physical home of the Liberace Museum closed in October 2010 (although the collection survives and the link in my post above is till active).
Regardless, the world of camp would have been a lot less sequinned and twinkly without Władziu Valentino Liberace (16th May 1919 – 4th February 1987). All hail.
More Liberace here, here, here, here, and of course (on his centenary) here.
I started watching the first video (up to the bit where Liberace arrives at the Hilton), but it was rather underwhelming - that could be me getting ready to pop to the shops for a packet of humbugs and a bottle of gin. All rather ordinary and hum-drum. I don't know how he made it as far as he did?
ReplyDelete(But really, was the word "fabulous" invented to describe Liberace?)
I know - he could have dressed-up a bit for the cameras... Jx
DeleteIt's strange... I never found Liberace to be feminine in the slightest. His excess was very male... everything bigger, more colorful, more powerful than those he saw as rivals - Elvis and females in general. He would have undoubtedly been a staunch Republican. He was not a generous man, rather selfish. His drive was very male and that is why I found him to be something of a bore. Now... Neil Sedaka, on the other hand...
ReplyDeleteLiberace was born into a Polish-American Catholic family in Wisconsin, so it's hardly surprising he was such a secretive, conservative character underneath the sequins. He knew his greatest victory was, however, to win over the very MidWest from which he tried to escape [he sold out concerts all across the States from coast to coast] - and he wasn't going to rock the boat and lose all that adoration by coming out or supporting causes dear to the hearts of the "liberal elite" yet abhorrent to the Bible Belt... Jx
DeleteOn my blog list Liberace looks like a rare and exotic bloom, I watched a programme about Phyllis Diller the other night. I just thought I would share that with you.
ReplyDeleteA "rare and exotic bloom" is about right for him, methinks. He and Phyllis were great friends, by all accounts. They probably had the same plastic surgeon. Jx
DeleteHe wasn't too shabby on the old joanna, was he?
ReplyDeleteHe sent me a Christmas card once.
For all the diversionary tactics of the campery, the outfits, the chintz and the gilding, Liberace was actually a classically-trained virtuoso pianist. He just made shedloads more money than any of his more "serious" rivals...
DeleteA Xmas card from Liberace?! I foresee a show'n'tell coming on, dear Dinah! Jx
He sent Dinah a Christmas card??!!! Yes, I agree, we need a show and tell!
ReplyDeleteSx
It's piqued my interest! Jx
DeleteHe's marmite, isn't he? He was a great entertainer. My kids saw him on the Muppet show and my son's only comment was "he must be very rich." (My son's favourite guest was Alice Cooper and my daughter's was Elton John.)
ReplyDeleteI knew him as a child from the Sparks song, and from the episode of Star Trek people think he's in but he isn't.
He was in Batman, but no - not Star Trek... jx
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