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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For his older brother, see George Liberace.

Liberace
Portrait by Allan Warren, 1969
Born	Władziu Valentino Liberace May 16, 1919 West Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	February 4, 1987 (aged 67) The Cloisters, Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery
Other names	Walter BusterkeysWalter LiberaceLeeThe Glitter ManMr. Showmanship
Occupations	Pianistsingerentertaineractor
Years active	1936–1986
Musical career
Genres	Traditional pop easy listening big band swing jazz boogie-woogie classical
Instruments	Pianovocals
Labels	Columbia Dot

Władziu Valentino Liberace^{[nb 1]} (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer and actor.^[2] He was born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin and enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures and endorsements. At the height of his fame from the 1950s to 1970s, he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world^[3] with established concert residencies in Las Vegas and an international touring schedule. He embraced a lifestyle of flamboyant excess both on and off stage, and never publicly acknowledged his homosexuality.

Early life and education

Władziu Valentino Liberace (known as Lee to his friends and Walter to family)^[4] was born in West Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 16, 1919. His grandfather Valentino Liberace (1836–1909) was a casket maker from Formia in central Italy where his father, musician Salvatore (“Sam”) Liberace (1885–1977), was born.^[5] His mother, Frances Zuchowski (1891–1980)^[5] was born in Menasha, Wisconsin, and was of Polish descent.^[5] Liberace had an identical twin who died at birth.^[6] He had three surviving siblings: a brother George (who was a violinist), a sister Angelina, and younger brother Rudy (Rudolph Valentino Liberace, named after the actor due to his mother’s interest in show business).^[7]

Liberace’s father played the French horn in bands and cinemas, and often worked as a factory worker or laborer. While Sam encouraged music in his family, his wife Frances (despite having been a concert pianist before her marriage)^[7] believed music lessons and a record player to be unaffordable luxuries. This disagreement caused family disputes.^[8] Liberace later said “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.”^[9]

Liberace began playing the piano at the age of four. While Sam took his children to concerts to further expose them to music, he was a taskmaster demanding high standards from the children in both practice and performance. Liberace’s prodigious talent was evident from his early years. By the age of 7, he was capable of memorizing difficult pieces. He studied the technique of the Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski. At the age of eight, he met Paderewski backstage after a concert at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. “I was intoxicated by the joy I got from the great virtuoso’s playing”, Liberace said later. “My dreams were filled with fantasies of following his footsteps…Inspired and fired with ambition, I began to practice with a fervour that made my previous interest in the piano look like neglect.” Paderewski later became a family friend^[10] as well as Liberace’s mentor, to whom the protégé never missed any opportunities to pay tribute.

The Depression was financially hard on the Liberace family. In childhood, Liberace suffered from a speech impediment; as a teen, he was taunted by neighborhood children, who mocked him for his effeminate personality, his avoidance of sports, and his fondness for cooking and the piano.^[11] Liberace concentrated on his piano playing with the help of music teacher Florence Kelly, who oversaw Liberace’s musical development for ten years. He gained experience playing popular music in theaters, on local radio, for dancing classes, clubs and weddings.^[12]

In 1934, he played jazz piano with a school group named The Mixers and later with other groups. Liberace performed in cabarets and strip clubs. Although Sam and Frances did not approve, their son was earning a living during hard times. For a while, Liberace adopted the stage name Walter Busterkeys.^[12] He showed an interest in draftsmanship, design and painting, and he became a fastidious dresser and follower of fashion. By this time, he was displaying a penchant for turning eccentricities into attention-getting practices, and he earned popularity at school despite some making him an object of ridicule.^[13]

Career

Early career

Liberace’s early-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 was one of many at the Liberace Museum.

A participant in a formal classical music competition in 1937, Liberace was praised for his “flair and showmanship”.^[14] At the end of a traditional classical concert in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1939, Liberace played his first requested encore, the popular comedy song “Three Little Fishies“. He later stated that he played the popular tune in the styles of several different classical composers.^[15] The 19-year-old played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on January 15, 1940, at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, performing Liszt‘s Second Piano Concerto under the baton of Hans Lange, for which he received strong reviews. He also toured in the Midwest.

From 1942 to 1944, Liberace moved from straight classical performance and reinvented his act to one featuring “pop with a bit of classics” or as he 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 and “gained national exposure through his performance contracts with the Statler and Radisson hotel chains”,^[16] largely abandoning classical music. He changed from a classical pianist to an entertainer and showman, unpredictably and whimsically mixing the serious with light fare, e.g., Chopin with “Home on the Range“.^[17]

For a while, he played piano along with a phonograph on stage. The gimmick helped gain him attention. He added interaction with the audience—taking requests, talking with the patrons, making jokes, giving lessons to chosen audience members. He 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, top flight competition in the classical piano world.

In 1943, he began to appear in Soundies (the 1940s precursor to music videos). He recreated two flashy numbers from his nightclub act, the standards “Tiger Rag” and “Twelfth Street Rag“. In these films, he was billed as Walter Liberace. Both Soundies later were released to the home-movie market by Castle Films. In 1944, he made his first appearances in Las Vegas, which later became his principal venue.^[18]

He was playing at the best clubs, finally appearing at the Persian Room in 1945, and Variety wrote “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 the box office.” The Chicago Times was similarly impressed: He “made like Chopin one minute and then turns on a Chico Marx bit the next.”^[18]

During this time, Liberace worked to refine his act. He added the candelabrum as his trademark, inspired by a similar prop in the Chopin biopic A Song to Remember (1945).^[19] He adopted Liberace as his stage name, making a point in press releases that it was pronounced “Liber-Ah-chee”.^[20] He wore white tie and tails for better visibility in large halls. Besides clubs and occasional work as an accompanist and rehearsal pianist, Liberace played for private parties, including ones 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.”^[21]

In 1953, Liberace signed with Louis Snader, a California theater owner and TV producer whose telescriptions—short film clips were used as fillers on local stations across the country. Liberace was replacing Korla Pandit who parted ways with Snader due to a contract dispute. According to Eric Christiansen, the filmmaker who made Pandit’s biopic: “[Liberace] used the same sets and took credit for his staring into the camera and breaking that wall. He felt like Liberace stole his soul.”^[22]

Liberace had to have a piano to match his growing presence, so he bought a rare, oversized, gold-leafed Blüthner Grand, which he hyped up in his press kit as a “priceless piano”.^[23] Later, he performed with an array of extravagant, custom-decorated pianos, some encrusted with rhinestones and mirrors. He moved to the Los Angeles neighborhood of North Hollywood in 1947 and was performing at local clubs, such as Ciro’s and The Mocambo, for stars such as Rosalind Russell, Clark Gable, Gloria Swanson and Shirley Temple. He did not always play to packed rooms, and he learned to perform with extra energy to thinner crowds to maintain his enthusiasm.^[24]

Liberace created a publicity machine that helped to make him a star. Despite his success in the supper-club circuit, where he was often an intermission act, his ambition was to reach 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 and making him wealthy.

His New York City performance at Madison Square Garden in 1954, which earned him a record $138,000 (equivalent to $1,620,000 in 2024) for one performance, was more successful than the great triumph his idol Paderewski had made 20 years earlier.^[25] He was mentioned as a sex symbol in The Chordettes 1954 No. 1 hit “Mr. Sandman“. By 1955, he was making $50,000 per week (equivalent to $586,894 in 2024) at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and had over 200 official fan clubs with 250,000 members.^[26] He was making over $1 million per year from public appearances and millions from television.^[25] Liberace was frequently covered by the major magazines, and he became a pop-culture superstar, but he became the butt of jokes by comedians and the public.

Liberace appeared on the March 8, 1956, episode of the TV quiz program You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx, where he stated that he was the only person in the US registered to vote using only a single name.^[27]

Music critics were generally harsh in their assessment of his piano playing. Critic Lewis Funke wrote after a 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, to said critics, was his apparent lack of reverence and fidelity 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.” They referred to his “sloppy technique” that included “slackness of rhythms, wrong tempos, distorted phrasing, an excess of prettification and sentimentality, a failure to stick to what the composer has written.”^[28]

Liberace once stated “I don’t give concerts. I put on a show.”^[29] Unlike the concerts of classical pianists that normally ended with applause and a retreat off-stage, Liberace’s shows ended with the public invited on-stage to touch his clothes, piano, jewelry and hands. Kisses, handshakes, hugs and caresses usually followed.^[30] A critic summarized 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.”^[31]

Early television work and The Liberace Show

Liberace mostly bypassed radio before trying a television career, thinking radio unsuitable given his act’s dependence on the visual.^[32] Despite his enthusiasm about the possibilities of television, Liberace was disappointed after his early guest appearances on The Kate Smith Show and DuMont‘s Cavalcade of Stars, with Jackie Gleason. Liberace was particularly displeased with the frenetic camera work and his short appearance time. He soon wanted his own show where he could control his presentation as he did with his club shows.^[33]

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.^[34] It led to a summer replacement program for Dinah Shore.

The 15-minute network television program The Liberace Show began on July 1, 1952, but did not lead to a regular network series. Instead, producer-director Duke Goldstone mounted a filmed, half-hour version of Liberace’s local show for syndication in 1953. Each episode was filmed on a studio soundstage, with the grand piano surrounded by tasteful decor, and Liberace always addressing the camera. Canned applause and occasional laughter were added to the soundtracks, simulating a live audience. The widespread exposure of the syndicated series made the pianist more popular and prosperous than ever. His first two years’ earnings from television netted him $7 million, and on future reruns, he earned up to 80% of the profits.^[26] The series yielded 148 episodes; the shows were originally aired weekly, but in later years as the library of episodes built up, TV stations could run them daily as weekday programming. The series was syndicated by Guild Films, under the presidency of Reub Kaufman.

Guild promoted the Liberace show aggressively and shrewdly. Liberace and Columbia Records made a special phonograph record especially for the sponsors: the “A” side was the Brahms lullaby and the “B” was “Dark Eyes”. Each sponsor’s name was printed on the record label and on the record jacket. During a six-month period, Guild Films delivered 50,000 copies of the record to the sponsors, which they in turn gave away as premiums. “The number of Liberace records being processed for that purpose is increasing weekly,” noted Kaufman. “New sponsors are joining the premium promotion with unusual enthusiasm.”^[35]

Liberace learned early 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 used dramatic lighting, split images, costume changes, and exaggerated hand movements to create visual interest. His television performances displayed his enthusiasm and humor.

Liberace 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, with his mother, his brother Rudy, and his sister Angelina often mentioned to lend a “family” atmosphere. 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“, which he made his theme song. His musical selections were broad, including classics, show tunes, film melodies, Latin rhythms, ethnic songs, and boogie-woogie.^[37]

The show was immensely popular with his mostly female television audience. He drew over 30 million viewers at any one time and received 10,000 fan letters per week.^[38] His show was one of the early ones to be shown on British 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 United Kingdom. Gay men found him appealing. Darden Asbury Pyron wrote “Liberace was the first gay person Elton John had ever seen on television; he became his hero.”^[39]

On June 3, 1956, Liberace appeared as the “mystery guest” on What’s My Line? where the overwhelming reaction by fans (as he was signing in) tipped off the blindfolded panel to the mega-star power of the unknown guest. Within one minute of the start of questioning, the panel had found that the guest was a musician. Panelist Arlene Francis said: “I can’t think of anybody that would get screams like that, in a band, except Liberace”.

After The Liberace Show

In 1956, Liberace had his first international engagement, playing successfully in Havana, Cuba. He followed with a European tour later that year. Always a devout Catholic, Liberace considered his meeting with Pope Pius XII a highlight of his life.^[40] In 1960, Liberace performed at the London Palladium with Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis Jr. (it was the first televised “command performance“, now known as the Royal Variety Performance, 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, California. 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 nightclub. 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 rebuilt it 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 22, 1963, he suffered kidney failure, reportedly from accidentally inhaling excessive amounts of dry cleaning fumes from his newly cleaned costumes in a dressing room, and he nearly died. He later said that what saved him from more injury was being woken by his entourage to the news that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Told by doctors that his condition was fatal, he began to spend his entire fortune by buying extravagant gifts of furs, jewels, and even a house for friends, but then recovered after a month.^[41]

Re-energized, Liberace returned to Las Vegas, and increasing the glamour and glitz, he took on the sobriquet Mr. Showmanship.^[42] As his act swelled with spectacle, he famously stated “I’m a one-man Disneyland.”^[43] 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 talented novelty acts. Juvenile acts included Australian singer Jamie Redfern and Canadian banjo player Scotty Plummer.^[44] Barbra Streisand was the most notable new adult act he introduced, appearing with him early in her career.^[45]

Liberace’s energy and commercial ambitions took him in many directions. He owned an antique shop in Beverly Hills, California, and a restaurant in Las Vegas for many years. He even published cookbooks; the most famous of which was Liberace Cooks, co-authored by 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).

Liberace’s live shows during the 1970s and 1980s remained major box-office attractions at the Las Vegas Hilton and Lake Tahoe, where he earned $300,000 per week.

Later television work

Liberace made significant appearances on other shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, Edward R. Murrow‘s Person to Person as well as on the shows of Jack Benny and Red Skelton, on which he often parodied his own persona. A new Liberace Show premiered on ABC’s daytime schedule in 1958, featuring a less flamboyant, less glamorous persona, but it failed in six months as his popularity began slumping.^[46]

Liberace received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for his contributions to the television industry. He continued to appear 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.

He was Red Skelton‘s 1969 CBS summer replacement with his own variety hour, taped in London. Skelton and Lew Grade’s production companies co-produced this program. 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.

In the Batman television series in 1966 with Adam West and Burt Ward, Liberace played a dual role as concert pianist Chandell and his gangster-like twin Harry, who was extorting Chandell into a life of crime as Fingers, in the episodes “The Devil’s Fingers” and “The Dead Ringers”. The episodes of this two-part story were the highest-rated of all the show’s episodes.^[47]

His subsequent television appearances included episodes of Here’s Lucy (1970), Kojak and The Muppet Show (both 1978), all as himself. His performances in the last of these included a “Concerto for the Birds”, “Misty”, “Has Anybody Seen My Gal”, and a rendition of “Chopsticks“. Television specials were made from Liberace’s show at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1978-1979, which were broadcast on CBS.

In the 1980s, he guest-starred on television shows such as Saturday Night Live (on a tenth-season episode hosted by Hulk Hogan and Mr. T) as well as the 1984 film Special People. In 1985, he appeared at the first WrestleMania as the guest timekeeper for the main event.^[48]

Films

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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 Universal’s South Sea Sinner (1950), a tropical island drama starring MacDonald Carey and Shelley Winters, in which he was billed as “a Hoagy Carmichael sort of character with long hair”.^[49] Liberace appeared as a guest star in two compilation features for RKO Radio Pictures. Footlight Varieties (1951) is an imitation-vaudeville hour and the little-known sequel Merry Mirthquakes (1953) featured Liberace as master of ceremonies.

In 1955, Liberace was at the height of his career when tapped by Warner Bros. for his first starring movie Sincerely Yours (1955), a remake of The Man Who Played God (1932), as a concert pianist who turns his efforts toward helping others when his career is cut short by deafness. In April 1955, Modern Screen magazine claimed Doris Day had been most often mentioned as Liberace’s leading lady, “but it is doubtful that Doris will play the role. Liberace’s name alone will pack theatres and generous Liberace would like to give a newcomer a break.” (Joanne Dru, an established movie actress, was the leading lady.) When Sincerely Yours was released in November, the studio mounted an ad and poster campaign with Liberace’s name in huge, eccentric, building-block letters above and much larger than the title. “Fabulously yours in his first starring motion picture!” was a tag line. The other players and staff were smallish at the bottom. The film was a critical and commercial failure because Liberace proved unable to translate his eccentric on-stage persona to that of a movie leading man. Warner quickly issued a pressbook ad supplement with new “Starring” billing below the title, in equal plain letters: “Liberace, Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone“. TCM’s Robert Osborne recalls a dramatic demotion: When Sincerely Yours played first run at the Orpheum in Seattle, the billing was altered even more: Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone, and Alex Nicol above the title (with big head shots of all three) and below the title in much smaller letters: “with Liberace at the piano”. Originally, Sincerely Yours was meant to be the first of a two-picture movie contract, but it proved a massive box-office flop. The studio then bought back the contract, effectively paying Liberace not to make a second movie.

The experience left Liberace so shaken that he largely abandoned his movie aspirations. He made two more big-screen appearances, but only in cameo roles. These were When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965), starring Connie Francis, where Liberace essentially played himself. He received kudos for his brief appearance as a casket salesman in The Loved One (1965), based on Evelyn Waugh‘s satire of the funeral business and movie industry in Southern California.

Recordings

The massive success of Liberace’s syndicated television show was the main impetus behind his record sales. From 1947 to 1951, he recorded 10 discs. By 1954, it jumped to nearly 70.^[50] 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 1954. His most popular single was “Ave Maria”, selling over 300,000 copies.^[51] His theme song was “I’ll Be Seeing You“, which he would customarily sing rather than play on any of his various pianos.

His albums included pop standards of the time, such as “Hello, Dolly!” and included his interpretations of the classical piano repertoire such as Chopin and Liszt, but many fans of classical music widely criticized them (as well as Liberace’s skills as a pianist in general) for being “pure fluff with minimal musicianship”. In his life, he received six gold records.

Final appearances

Liberace’s final stage performance was at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on November 2, 1986;^[52] it was his 18th show over a tour of 21 days (from October 16), and the concert series grossed just over $2.5 million at the theater box office.^[53] His final television appearance was on Christmas Day that same year on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which had actually been videotaped in Chicago over one month earlier.^[54]

Personal life

Liberace was conservative in his political and religious beliefs. He believed fervently in capitalism, and he was fascinated with royalty, ceremony and luxury. He loved to socialize and was fascinated by the rich and famous. However, he still presented himself to his fans as one of them, a Midwesterner who had earned his success through hard work, and who invited them to enjoy it with him.^[55]

In the later years of his life, having earned sudden wealth, Liberace spent lavishly, displaying extravagant materialism in his life and his act. In 1953, he designed and built his first celebrity house in Sherman Oaks, California, on Valley Vista Blvd., located in the San Fernando Valley. The house featured a piano theme throughout, including a piano-shaped swimming pool that remains today. His dream home, with its lavish furnishings, elaborate bath and antiques, added to his image. He maintained a public image through hundreds of promotional tie-ins with banks, insurance companies, automobile companies, food companies, and even morticians. Liberace was an experienced pitchman and relied on the support of his vast audience of housewives. Sponsors sent him complimentary products, including his white Cadillac limousine, and he reciprocated enthusiastically: “If I am selling tuna fish, I believe in tuna fish.”^[56] Liberace became bald in his middle-age years and was so insecure about his hair loss that he began wearing elaborate hairpieces and refused to let himself be seen without his toupee both in public and in private, even sleeping with them on.^[57]

Others criticized his proficient but flashy piano playing, his non-stop promotions, and his gaudy display of success. Outwardly, he remained undeterred, once sending a letter to a critic that stated “Thank you for your very amusing review. After reading it, in fact, my brother George and I laughed all the way to the bank.”^[58] He responded similarly to subsequent poor reviews, famously modifying it to “I cried all the way to the bank.”^[59] In an appearance on The Tonight Show some years later, Liberace retold the anecdote to Johnny Carson and finished by saying “I don’t cry all the way to the bank any more—I bought the bank!”

Lawsuits and allegations of homosexuality

Further information: Liberace v Daily Mirror

Liberace’s fame in the United States was matched for a time in the United Kingdom. In 1956, an article in the Daily Mirror by columnist Cassandra (William Connor)^[60] described Liberace 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”.^[61]

Liberace sent a telegram that read: “What you said hurt me very much. I cried all the way to the bank.”^[59] He sued the newspaper for libel,^[62] testifying in a London court that he was not homosexual and that he had never taken part in homosexual acts. He was represented in court by Gilbert Beyfus, one of the great barristers of the period.^[63] Liberace won the suit, partly on the basis of Connor’s use of the derogatory expression “fruit-flavoured”. The case partly hinged on whether Connor knew that “fruit” was American slang implying that an individual is a homosexual.^[64] After a three-week civil trial, a jury ruled in Liberace’s favor on June 16, 1959, and awarded him £8,000 in damages (around $22,400 at the time and equivalent to £235,000 in 2023), which led Liberace to repeat the catchphrase to reporters: “I cried all the way to the bank!”^[65] Liberace’s popularization of the phrase inspired the title Crying All the Way to the Bank, for a detailed report of the trial based on transcripts, court reports and interviews, by the former Daily Mirror journalist Revel Barker.

Liberace sued and settled a similar case in the United States against Confidential. Rumors and gossip magazines frequently implied that Liberace was homosexual throughout his career, which he continued to vehemently deny. A typical issue of Confidential in 1957 stated “Why Liberace’s Theme Song Should Be ‘Mad About the Boy!'”^[66]

In 1982, Scott Thorson, Liberace’s 22-year-old former chauffeur and alleged live-in lover of five years, sued the pianist for $113 million in palimony after he was dismissed by Liberace.^[67] Liberace continued to deny that he was homosexual, and during court depositions in 1984, he insisted that Thorson was never his lover. The case was settled out of court in 1986, and Thorson received a $95,000 cash settlement plus three cars and three pet dogs worth another $20,000.^[67] Thorson stated after Liberace’s death that he settled because he knew that Liberace was dying and that he had intended to sue based on conversion of property rather than palimony. He later attested that Liberace was a “boring guy” in his private life and mostly preferred to spend his free time cooking, decorating, and playing with his dogs and that he never played the piano outside of his public performances. Thorson said “He (Liberace) had several decorated, ornamental pianos in the various rooms of his house, but he never played them.”^[68]

Because Liberace never publicly acknowledged that he was gay, knowledge of his true sexuality was muddled by stories of his friendships and romantic links with women.^[69] He further obscured his sexuality in articles such as “Mature Women Are Best: TV’s Top Pianist Reveals What Kind of Woman He’d Marry”.^[70]

In a 2011 interview, actress and close friend Betty White confirmed that Liberace was indeed gay and that she often was used as a “beard” by his managers to counter public rumors of the musician’s homosexuality.^[71]

Illness and death

Liberace was secretly diagnosed HIV positive in August 1985 by his private physician in Las Vegas. Aside from his long-term manager Seymour Heller and a few family members and associates, Liberace kept his terminal illness a secret until the day he died and did not seek medical treatment. Scott Thorson remarked that he was not aware that Liberace had any health issues and up until one year before his death that “he was in overall excellent shape for his age; barrel-chested and powerfully built.”^[68]

In August 1986, during one of his last interviews, with the TV news program Good Morning America, Liberace hinted of his failing health when he said “How can you enjoy life if you don’t have your health?” He was hospitalized for pneumonia from January 23 to 27, 1987, at the Palm Springs county hospital.

Liberace died in the late morning of February 4, 1987, at The Cloisters, his home in Palm Springs, California at age 67.^[72] He had a Catholic priest administer the last rites to him the day before his death.^[73] A memorial service was held at St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church.^[74]

At the time of Liberace’s death, his press agent said he had died from a combination of pernicious anemia, emphysema and heart disease.^[75]^[76] Liberace’s physician, Ronald Daniels, said he had died of heart failure caused by subacute encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease.^[77]^[78] The Riverside County coroner performed an autopsy and determined that Liberace’s cause of death was cytomegalovirus pneumonia, a frequent cause of death in people with AIDS.^[78]^[79] The coroner also determined that, at the time of his death, Liberace was HIV-positive, had pulmonary heart disease, and calcification of a heart valve.^[77] The coroner said that Liberace’s doctor had deliberately claimed a false cause of death because heart failure is never caused by encephalopathy.^[80] Author Darden Asbury Pyron wrote that Liberace had been HIV-positive and symptomatic from 1985 until his death.^[81]

Cary James Wyman, his personal assistant and alleged lover, had HIV and later died in May 1995 at age 34.^{[citation needed]}

Liberace’s body is entombed along with his mother and brother at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.^[82]^[83] In 1994, the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him.^[84]

Awards

Liberace was recognized during his career with two Emmy Awards, six gold albums, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[85]^[86]

Closure of Liberace Museum and Tivoli Gardens Restaurant

In October 2010, the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas closed after 31 years of being open to the public. In June 2011, Liberace’s Tivoli Gardens Restaurant, then operated by Carluccio’s, closed its location next to the museum and relocated elsewhere.^[87] According to Liberace Foundation President Jack Rappaport, the museum had been in negotiations with money interests on the Las Vegas strip to relocate the museum but were unsuccessful. The Liberace Foundation, which provides college scholarships to up-and-coming performers, continued to function.^[88]

In January 2013, the Liberace Foundation announced plans to move the museum to downtown Las Vegas, with a targeted opening date of 2014.^[89] In 2014, however, Liberace Foundation chairman Jonathan Warren announced that the deal for the new museum had failed.^[90]

As of April 7, 2016, Liberace’s cars are on display, as well as a piano and several costumes, at the Liberace Garage, located in Las Vegas.^[91]

Depiction in media

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The 1952 Academy Award-winning MGM Tom and Jerry cartoon Johann Mouse has Tom channelling Liberace in the final scenes at the Imperial Palace, including a giant candelabra and a smiling direct take into the camera, breaking the fourth wall.
The 1955 Warner Bros. cartoon Hyde and Hare has Bugs Bunny playing piano as a Liberace-like character and, saying, “I wish my brother George was here.”
In the 1957 Warner Bros. cartoon Three Little Bops, the piano-playing pig imitates Liberace, saying, “I wish my brother George was here.”
Also in 1957, Billy Barty parodied Liberace on an episode of The Spike Jones Show by playing “I’m in the Mood for Love” on a miniature piano bedecked with tiny candelabra that spouted milk.
In 1971, Disney theme park attraction The Country Bear Jamboree referenced Liberace. During the opening of the show, a bear named Gomer plays the piano. Melvin, a mounted moose head on the wall, comments “Hey! He’s a regular lee-burr-ay-chee!”, mispronouncing Liberace’s name. Max, a mounted deer head, responds, “and he plays good, too!” This reference to Liberace lasted until 2012, when the show was shortened significantly.
In 1981, Canadian sketch comedy series SCTV aired two skits with Dave Thomas playing Liberace. In the first, Liberace was a guest on The Merv Griffin Show. In the second, a Christmas episode, Liberace performs “Good King Wenceslas”.
On October 2, 1988, a television film titled Liberace aired on ABC, starring Andrew Robinson as Liberace, Rue McClanahan as his mother Frances Liberace, John Rubinstein and Maris Valainis as Scott Thorson; the film had the distinct advantage of using Liberace’s musical arrangements and recordings, and some of his costumes and jewelry, but it was evasive about his sexuality.
On October 9, 1988, Liberace: Behind the Music, was aired on CBS.^[92] Victor Garber played Liberace, and Saul Rubinek played Seymour Heller, his manager (and a major consultant to the film). Maureen Stapleton played his mother Frances and Michael Dolan appeared as Scott Thorson. This film used some of Liberace’s stage furnishings, and it was candid about his homosexuality.
In The Ren & Stimpy Show episode “Sammy and Me” from 1996, Liberace is parodied in the form of a piano-playing cockroach named Liberoache. He is seen playing piano for Sammy Mantis Jr. (a parody of Sammy Davis Jr.) who sings his trademark song “The Mantid Man“. After they’re finished, Liberoache reveals his desire for Sammy Mantis to bite his head off (possibly a reference to Liberace’s homosexuality), to which Sammy obliges after peer pressure from fans.
Liberace: Live from Heaven, a play imagining the entertainer’s heavenly “trial” following death, began on stage in early 2010. The show featured the voices of Bobby Crush as Liberace, Stephen Fry as Saint Peter, and Victoria Wood as God.
Behind the Candelabra, a film adaptation of Scott Thorson’s autobiography, debuted on HBO in May 2013.^[93]^[94]^[95] Michael Douglas stars as Liberace, with Matt Damon playing Thorson, in a story centered on the relationship the two shared and its aftermath. His mother Frances was played by Debbie Reynolds, who knew Liberace as a friend during his lifetime.
Also in 2013, Bill Murray appeared dressed as Liberace for the 20th anniversary of The Late Show with David Letterman.
The Jim Gaffigan Show, in 2016, licensed the likeness of Liberace as well as the use of a costume made for the HBO film Behind the Candelabra, from the Liberace Foundation, for an episode of the series which featured Michael Ian Black as Liberace.^[96]
Mozart in the Jungle, an Amazon series, licensed the likeness of Liberace as well as the use of a costume made for the HBO film Behind the Candelabra for appearances of Liberace in two episodes of season 4 of the show in 2018, according to Liberace Foundation chairman Jonathan Warren.
Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff, an app-based video game from Tinyco which is produced in cooperation with the writers of Family Guy licensed the likeness and voice of Liberace from the Liberace Foundation for his appearance as a game character in 2017, according to Liberace Foundation chairman Jonathan Warren.
Fred Armisen has portrayed Liberace in several Saturday Night Live sketches, most notably in “Vincent Price‘s Holiday Special” sketches.
Blade Runner 2049, the 2017 sequel to the 1982 cult classic Blade Runner (both produced by Ridley Scott), licensed the likeness and music of Liberace for an appearance in the film which takes place in a dystopian Las Vegas, alongside fellow icons Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe.^[97]
Non-binary artist Dorian Electra plays a personal interpretation of Liberace in the music video “Flamboyant” (2019).

Legacy

At the time of his death Liberace was said to be worth around $110 million and to have bequeathed $88 million to the Liberace Foundation.^[98] The story was perpetuated by the officers of the Liberace Foundation often and as late as 2013. Only in 2015 did Liberace Foundation chairman Jonathan Warren reveal in a lecture at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas that these figures were all part of the showmanship of Liberace, and that the real figures were closer to one tenth of those amounts.^{[citation needed]}

The Liberace Foundation saw the sunset of its in-house endowment fund in 2011. University endowment funds provided by it continue to offer scholarships annually. The original Liberace museum closed its doors in 2010, citing the recession and an outdated, outmoded facility.

In November 2013, a dozen of Liberace’s famous costumes, together with one of his stage cars and a piano went on display for a six-week period at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas in an exhibition titled “Too Much of a Good Thing Is Wonderful”, Liberace’s unofficial motto, and an often-used one-liner from his act. The exhibition was extended by seven months.^{[citation needed]}

Selected discography

Studio albums

Liberace at the Piano (1952)

Publications

Autobiographies

Liberace: An Autobiography, by Liberace. Putnam and Co. Ltd, New York, 1973 ISBN 978-0399112294 (hardcover)
The Things I Love, by Liberace with Tony Palmer (editor). Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1976 ISBN 978-0448127187 (hardcover)
The Wonderful Private World of Liberace, by Liberace and Michael Segell. Harper and Row, New York, 1986 ISBN 978-0060154813 (hardcover)

Biographies

Crying All the Way to the Bank by Revel Barker (Famous Trials) 2009 ISBN 978-0955823879
The Liberace Story by Chester Whitehorn (editor), Screen Publications Inc, New York, 1955 (softcover – No. 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. Martin’s 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 Connecticut, 1995
Liberace: An American Boy by Darden Asbury Pyron, University of Chicago Press, 2000, (hardcover) Read an excerpt.
Liberace (Lives of Notable Gay Men and Lesbians) by Ray Mungo and Martin B. Duberman, Chelsea House Publications

Cooking

Liberace Cooks by Carol Truax, Doubleday, New York, 1970 (hardcover)
Cookbook of the Stars, Motion Picture Mothers, Hollywood, 1970
Joy of Liberace: Retro Recipes from America’s Kitchiest Kitchen by Michael Feder and Karan Feder, Angel City Press, 2007 (hardcover)
Delicious Recipes from Liberace’s #1 Cook by Gladys Luckie

Compilations

The First Time: 28 Celebrities Tell About Their First Sexual Experiences by Karl Fleming and Anne Taylor Fleming, Berkley Medallion, 1976 (paperback)
Liberace Christmas Music: A Guide to Cassettes, Compact Discs, Music Scores, Piano Rolls, and Sound Recordings by Karl B. Johnson, John Carlson Press
The Liberace Collection, auction catalogue, jointly produced by Butterfield & Butterfield and Christie’s, Los Angeles Convention Centre, 1988
Liberace: Your Personal Fashion Consultant by Michael Feder and Karan Feder, Abrams Image, 2007 (paperback)
“Liberace Extravaganza!” by costume designers Connie Furr Soloman and Jan Jewett, HarperCollins, 2013 (hardcover)

Notes

English: /ˈvwɑːdʒuː ˌvælənˈtiːnoʊ ˌlɪbəˈrɑːtʃi/ VWAH-joo VAL-ən-TEE-noh LIB-ə-RAH-chee,^[1] Polish: [ˈvwad͡ʑu], Italian: [valenˈtiːno libeˈraːtʃe].

References

“Liberace interview”. Good Afternoon (Interview). Interviewed by Mavis Nicholson. Thames Television (via YouTube). Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
88 notes pour piano solo, Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Neva Editions, 2015, p. 163. ISBN 978-2-3505-5192-0
Barker, 2009, p. 367.
Barker, 2009, p. 12.
“Ancestry of Liberace”. wargs.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2007.
King, Susan (May 24, 2013). “‘Behind the Candelabra’: Fun facts about the legendary Liberace”. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
The Daily Telegraph Third Book of Obituaries: Entertainers, ed. Hugh Massingberd, Pan Books, 1998 (Macmillan, 1997), p. 5
Pyron, 2000, p. 12.
Pyron, 2000, p. 17.
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James Gilbert Ryan, Leonard C Schlup, Historical Dictionary of the 1940s (2015), p. 227.
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Kart, Larry (February 5, 1987). “Liberace, 67, Pianist Turned One-man Musical Circus'”. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
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Bradner, Liesl. “How a Black Man From Missouri Transformed Himself Into the Indian Liberace”. New Republic. Archived from the original on October 21, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
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You Bet Your Life #55-24 Liberace; Groucho sings “I Love a Piano” (Secret word ‘House’, Mar 8, 1956). November 6, 2013. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021 – via YouTube.
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Reub Kaufman, “Adding Premiums to Spot Film Shows”, Broadcasting/Telecasting, Nov. 9, 1953, p. 92.
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Pyron, 2000, figure 25
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Koch, Ed; Manning, Mary; Toplikar, Dave (May 15, 2008). “Showtime: How Sin City evolved into ‘The Entertainment Capital of the World'”. Las Vegas Sun. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
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Eisner, Joel (1987). The Official Batman Batbook. London: Titan Books. pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-907610-97-8.
“WrestleMania I: Celebrities”. wwe.com. March 31, 1985. Archived from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
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“Live Appearances”. Liberace Foundation and Museum. 2009. Archived from the original on September 14, 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
Barron, James (February 5, 1987). “Liberace, Flamboyant Pianist, Is Dead”. The New York Times.
Pyron, 2000, p. 401.
Pyron, 2000, p. 7.
Pyron, 2000, pp. 165–67.
Kron, Joan (May 9, 2013). “The Real Story of Liberace’s Plastic Surgery”. Allure. Archived from the original on September 8, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
Pyron, 2000, p. 168. “Thank you for your very amusing review. After reading it, in fact, my brother George and I laughed all the way to the bank.”
Smith, Chrysti M. (2006). Verbivore’s Feast: Second Course: More Word & Phrase Origins. Farcountry Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-1560374046. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
“Yearn-Strength Five“, Daily Mirror, London, September 26, 1956, p. 6.
“High Court Of Justice; Queen’s Bench Division, “I Don’t Care What My Readers Think”, Liberace V. Daily Mirror Newspapers Ltd”. The Times. London. June 12, 1959. p. 16. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2009. They all say that this deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love has had the biggest reception and impact on London since Charlie Chaplin arrived at the same station, Waterloo, on September 12, 1921.
Barker, 2009.
“Liberace Battles Writer’s “Smears””. The News-Palladium. Benton Harbor, Michigan. June 8, 1959. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
Hodgkinson, Liz (May 25, 2009) “Dispatches: Publishing: Libel show stopper”, The Guardian, Manchester
“Cry all the way to the bank”. World Wide Words. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
Pyron, 2000, p. 211.
Liberace had last laugh on critics by ‘crying all the way to the bank’ Archived September 2, 2024, at the Wayback Machine The Pittsburgh Press, February 5, 1987
CNN LARRY KING LIVE: Interview With Scott Thorson Archived January 14, 2018, at the Wayback Machine CNN, August 12, 2002
Kelly, Jon (April 16, 2013). “What Liberace reveals about the march of gay rights”. BBC News. Archived from the original on September 2, 2024. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
Pyron, 2000, p. 210.
“Betty White Interview”. The Joy Behar Show. May 3, 2011. HLN. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2018 – via YouTube.
Nelson, Harry (February 10, 1987). “Liberace Died Of Pneumonia Caused by AIDS”. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 2, 2024. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
“‘Mr Showman’ Liberace Dies Archived January 19, 2023, at the Wayback Machine“. Herald Express. February 5, 1987. p. 1.
“1000 Crowd Final Service for Liberace”. Los Angeles Times. February 13, 1987.
Mattern, Hal (February 5, 1987). “Final curtain for Phoenix favorite Archived September 2, 2024, at the Wayback Machine“. The Arizona Republic. p. ESPN F1, F2.
“Liberace dies, 67 Archived January 19, 2023, at the Wayback Machine“. Burton Mail. February 5, 1987. p. 2.
Nelson, Harry (February 10, 1987). “Liberace Died of Pneumonia Caused by AIDS, Coroner in Riverside Says Archived January 19, 2023, at the Wayback Machine“. Los Angeles Times. P. II/1.
“Liberace AIDS confirmed“. The Pittsburgh Press. February 10, 1987.
Coroner Cites AIDS in Liberace Death Archived October 26, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times, February 10, 1987
“AIDS ruled cause of Liberace’s death Archived September 2, 2024, at the Wayback Machine“. Associated Press. The Tennessean. p. 6.
Pyron, 2000, p. 369. “Although he was both HIV positive and symptomatic when he signed the publishing contract with Harper and Row in 1985…”
Petrucelli, Alan (September 29, 2009). Morbid Curiosity: The Disturbing Demises of the Famous and Infamous. Penguin. ISBN 978-1101140499. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
Never, Johns (June 20, 2009). “Forest Lawn Cemetery – Liberace Tomb 01”. flickr.com. Archived from the original on September 2, 2024. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
“Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated” (PDF). Archived from the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
Robinson, Leslie (August 23, 1992). “Puttin’ on the glitz: Museum showcases Liberace’s stuff“. Philadelphia Inqurirer. p. R1, R10.
Thornton, Diane S. (January 28, 1996). “Liberace’s legacy: He’s still drawing fans Archived September 2, 2024, at the Wayback Machine“. The San Francisco Examiner. p. T3.
Tell the USPS to Recognize Liberace with a Stamp! (July 7, 2011). “Liberace’s Tivoli Gardens Restaurant Now Closed « Tell the USPS to Recognize Liberace with a Stamp!”. Liberacedeservesastamp.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
Welch, Chris (October 16, 2010) Show’s over for Liberace Museum in Vegas Archived September 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine CNN
Katsilometes, John (January 28, 2013) Liberace Museum is planning a move downtown — to Neonopolis. Las Vegas Sun
Liberace Museum Back From the Dead? Archived December 10, 2023, at the Wayback Machine. outtraveler.com
Townsend Rodgers, Lissa (April 6, 2016). “Liberace Garage Showcases Mr. Showmanship’s Rides”. VegasSeven. Archived from the original on April 23, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
See Liberace: Behind The Music Archived January 7, 2023, at the Wayback Machine; IMDb.
“Behind the Candelabra: The Secret Life of Liberace”. Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2011. Archived from the original on October 15, 2011.
Thompson, Arienne (October 11, 2011). “Douglas, Damon starring in HBO’s Liberace biopic”. USA Today. Archived from the original on May 11, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
“BEHIND THE CANDELABRA; The Book, The Movie”. EarlyWord. March 20, 2013. Archived from the original on May 29, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
“Jim Gaffigan Shows That ‘The Gaffigan Show’ Is Truly a Family Affair”. Tumbler. Retrieved March 17, 2018.^{[permanent dead link]}
Collin, Robbie (October 8, 2017). “Blade Runner 2049 review: the most spectacular, profound blockbuster of our time”. The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
“Remembering Liberace”. Larry King Live. August 7, 2001. CNN. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021.

Bibliography

Pyron, Darden Asbury (2000). Liberace: An American Boy. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-68669-1.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liberace.

Liberace at IMDb
Liberace Foundation
Liberace video footage after winning the case against the Daily Mirror
Excerpts from Cassandra’s column
Transcript of CNN interview with Scott Thorson about his time with Liberace
Yesterday’s News: June 18, 1959: Liberace wins libel suit
Greatest Songs^{[permanent dead link]} DVD review and history of Liberace’s syndicated television series.
Liberace Museum to Close
Pathe News Liberace Film Collection
FBI Records: The Vault – Liberace at fbi.gov
Collection of materials relating to Liberace. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Liberace recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

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56thst.com

Articles, books and commentary by Joel Snell

LIBERACE

Contents

Liberace

Early life and education