Not Sweating the Small Stuff

Liberace (1919-1987) - Too Much Of A Good Thing ... Is Wonderful!!!

For reasons not completely apparent at the time, I watched some old footage of Liberace this morning.

As you probably know, he was a child prodigy who, as a young man, toured the Mid-West of the States as a classical pianist.

He began working in Las Vagas in 1944, playing the Persian Room from 1945 on. And then expanded into television in the 1950s, with his repertoire of classical music ...

... mixed with modern styles - Latin, boogie woogie and whatever ...

Noel Coward said of criticisms of Marlene Dietrich's more hard-edged and brassy performances of the 1960s that the singer had simply and astutely read the shift in the times and changed her performances accordingly. And so avoided becoming a creaky museum piece.

And I think Liberace had a somewhat similar insight - realizing that he couldn't just do the tux and candelabra thing, straight, as he moved into the 1960's and beyond. That he had to take the show somewhere new. And so he took the direct route to the highest 'camp' - a Carmen Miranda of the piano! Coming out in every sense but name. For anyone with eyes and a brain of course. I don't think he was in any way doing this for gay liberation but I admire him being his gay self (and a bit more!) in the most public way - rather than shrinking into the darkest corners of the closet as so many well-known performers did at the time. Liberace seemed to say 'I'm like this and here with you'.

Watching snippets of TV shows posted on YouTube, I was amazed how extraordinarily funny Liberace could be. His self-deprecation and subtle innuendo (with the imperceptibly raised eyebrow) - all with F A B timing - are perfectly illustrated in this clip ...

... which had me rolling with laughter - WITH rather than AT him.