Who knew Liberace rocked? (video)

My husband and I got to see Liberace in Vegas in 1980. I wasn’t thrilled–I was in my late 20s and he was someone my PARENTS liked. Well, talk about not prejudging–he was, amazingly, entertaining. Well, why else would he have his very own show in Vegas? He was funny, outrageous, the costumes and stage effects were, probably, more spectacular than Cher’s, and so talented! He came out on stage in a Rolls-Royce and his “chauffeur” was dressed in black leather hot pants, tie, no shirt, limo driver’s hat–a hot, studly young man. As unacceptable as it was, at any time of his life, to be “out”–he was as “out” as a person could be without shouting it from the rooftops. And nobody cared.

My impression of him in the 1950′s was that he certainly had the ability to be a great pianist but his shtick was to embellish everything with an almost obscene amount of flash. I’m talking about his technique, not his clothes, makeup and candelabra. To be perfectly honest, I always thought of Liberace as a terrible pianist and still do. He was a showman, like P. T. Barnum was a showman, but his piano playing was gross. I thought he was a disgrace to the piano. That’s just my opinion. My mother adored him and wouldn’t miss any of his weekly TV shows. She was hooked on Liberace and Lawrence Welk, with the Lovely Lennon Sisters. Liberace had his brother George on the violin as a sidekick.

He made a ton of money, that’s for sure. Remember when he paraded his then-16- (or was it supposed to be 17?)year-old boyfriend Scott out on stage in that tight-fitting, baby blue drum major’s uniform with the chauffeur’s cap? He introduced him to the audience on stage has his new driver. I said to myself at the time, Oh. My. God!!! You had to see it to believe it. It was so obvious what was going on there that I couldn’t believe all the little old blue-haired ladies wouldn’t pass out.

Yes, I’m old enough to remember everything that happened in the 1950′s and most of what happened in the 1940′s. Remember when Confidential magazine first came out with all their gossipy articles about the sex lives and extra-marital escapades of certain stars? That was back when Rock Hudson’s agent forced him to hurry up and marry the agent’s secretary in an attempt to cover up his sexual orientation, which Confidential threatened to expose, but they were bribed to kill the story in return for other “assistance” in the future. I remember when I was shocked that they outed Van Johnson, reporting on an alleged hotel episode, or attempted episode, between Van Johnson and a certain other male star who wasn’t receptive to Van Johnson’s attention. They outed a lot of stars but most of them were either over-the-hill or never all that big in the first place. The studios protected the big stars back then, and besides, the Mafia was a big influence on Hollywood and Vegas when I was young, and you didn’t mess with them.

These are interesting comments. There is another aspect to judgments about his talent. In the past and even today a number of people who consider themselves knowledgeable about music disparage his abilities. They complain that he was not a “serious” musician and that his talents were insignificant in comparison to “true” virtuosos such as Horowitz or Cziffra as well as real jazz greats such as At Tatum and Fats Waller. Well, it is true that those classical giants could play the classics better than Liberace. But they were better than most anyone in the world. Yes, Erroll Garner played Misty, which he wrote, better than Liberace. Gershwin, Oscar Levant, and Earl Wild played Gershwin better. Tatum and Waller played jazz better. But Liberace played a huge range of music extremely well. Many who criticized his musicality did not even know how to play themselves. Liberace began playing at age 4. The great Paderewski discovered him and encouraged his career. I think he had a debut performance with the Chicago Symphony at age 14. When these people diss Liberace I sometimes say “Well, how old were you when you debuted at a world class symphony? ” He probably could have been one of the better, if not one of the very top, classical pianists had he continued in that direction. And he probably could have been an excellent jazz pianist (not as good as Art Tatum…but who was?) if he had chosen jazz. But he was excellent at classics, jazz, Latin, romantic pop, ragtime, boogie woogie and all sorts of other styles. Few could top him in any one style but I cannot think of anyone who displayed such versatility at such a high level. Well, maybe Leonard Bernstein was as versatile but he was a very different type of entertainer. When you have to pull up names like Leonard Bernstein, Horowitz, and Art Tatum to try to find someone better, you know you are dealing with someone who is, in his own way, a musical genius.

He did have a little secret, though. He had most of the weignt removed from his piano keys so they were very easy to push down, almost to the point that if you blew on one a note would sound. That’s how he got so much velocity.

I’m not yet 40, but I always knew Liberace was a virtuoso. Funny thing is, back in the 80′s, I didn’t really understand the concept of homosexuality, and Liberace, along with his flamboyance, fit in pretty well with the androgyny of the time. I figured the outlandish outfits where the attempts of an old guy trying to fit in with the younger New Wave musicians.

One of my favorite performances was one he did on Carson with a crystal piano. Say what you will about Liberace, but the brother had flair!

The real question is: Who didn’t know?