cumrag27
BSB Addict
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2010
- Posts
- 2,776
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All I know is that I was 6 when I first saw Liberace in 1954 on his top-rated TV show. Like the Ed Sullivan Show of the day, everything came to a halt when either show was on in our house. I was completely fascinated by watching his hands flying up and down the piano keyboard at lightening speed. Liberace was unlike all other pianist because he used his hands for maximum dramatic effect in every piece he played. I can't tell you how much I marveled at his hands. They were so impossibly fast, yet so amazing to watch them in his prime.
Back then, Liberace simply wore a black tux and placed a candelabra on top of his traditional grand piano. He had a persona that was just naturally likeable and made for live TV. He was charismatic and had America eating right out of his hands at the early 1950's. When he spoke or played piano, it seemed as if it was intimately meant for you. His brother George would accompany him on violin combined with the quaint folksy singing voice from Liberace himself. In the 1950's this fit in well with other "family shows" of the day. SIMPLY STATED LIBERACE WAS THE QUINTESSENTIAL SHOWMAN OF THE DAY!
It was an afterthought when he became focused on doing everything in a successively more grand and flamboyant manner. He got trapped into this paradigm, always having to make every performance that much more grand than the one before. This became an obsession, yet it fit in perfectly as a headliner into the Las Vegas mystique of the 1960's. His shows were always sold out as American audiences seemed incapable of getting enough of his music and antics. Before long, audiences expected to be dazzled by his riches, costumes, and diamond rings and this became an integral part of getting their money's worth from his shows. That is when the flamboyant excesses simply took over to the point that he became a parody of himself.
I find his later years of performing to be both embarrassing and disappointing. I saw him once in concert in Little Rock, AR at a civic auditorium around 1964. I came away feeling so very disappointed by his behavior on stage further tarnished by his many off-color jokes he told the audience. Even as a developing gay individual about 15-16 years old, I felt my faith and admiration for him had been squandered. If he only stuck to his music and left off the glitzy over-the-top displays of his success. I never looked at him the same way after that fateful disappointing performance in Little Rock. What I love in him today is limited to the performer/showman I first saw in the 1950's
The HBO film promises to be a tour de force for Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. All I can say is...
Listen closely to his theme song as it is a foreshadowing of things to come,
Sincerely,
Stimpy
Back then, Liberace simply wore a black tux and placed a candelabra on top of his traditional grand piano. He had a persona that was just naturally likeable and made for live TV. He was charismatic and had America eating right out of his hands at the early 1950's. When he spoke or played piano, it seemed as if it was intimately meant for you. His brother George would accompany him on violin combined with the quaint folksy singing voice from Liberace himself. In the 1950's this fit in well with other "family shows" of the day. SIMPLY STATED LIBERACE WAS THE QUINTESSENTIAL SHOWMAN OF THE DAY!
It was an afterthought when he became focused on doing everything in a successively more grand and flamboyant manner. He got trapped into this paradigm, always having to make every performance that much more grand than the one before. This became an obsession, yet it fit in perfectly as a headliner into the Las Vegas mystique of the 1960's. His shows were always sold out as American audiences seemed incapable of getting enough of his music and antics. Before long, audiences expected to be dazzled by his riches, costumes, and diamond rings and this became an integral part of getting their money's worth from his shows. That is when the flamboyant excesses simply took over to the point that he became a parody of himself.
I find his later years of performing to be both embarrassing and disappointing. I saw him once in concert in Little Rock, AR at a civic auditorium around 1964. I came away feeling so very disappointed by his behavior on stage further tarnished by his many off-color jokes he told the audience. Even as a developing gay individual about 15-16 years old, I felt my faith and admiration for him had been squandered. If he only stuck to his music and left off the glitzy over-the-top displays of his success. I never looked at him the same way after that fateful disappointing performance in Little Rock. What I love in him today is limited to the performer/showman I first saw in the 1950's
The HBO film promises to be a tour de force for Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. All I can say is...
Listen closely to his theme song as it is a foreshadowing of things to come,
Sincerely,
Stimpy
He was not a monster to begin with and I his insecurities were not so overwhelming in the total picture.
