“Why don't I just step out and slip into something more spectacular?”
“I had to dare a little bit. Who am I kidding - I had to dare a lot. Dont wear one ring, wear five or six. People ask how I can play with all those rings, and I reply, Very well, thank you.”
“I don't give concerts, I put on a show.”
“Nobody will believe in you unless you believe in yourself.”
Darlings! We have a centenary to celebrate - and a very important one indeed, to those of us who are aficionados of, and do not struggle to find a definition of, CAMP.
The living embodiment of "the lie that tells the truth", Mr Władziu Valentino Liberace was born/crafted/fabricated one hundred years ago in the backwoods of Wisconsin to an unassuming Italian-Polish family. His talent as a pianist was clear as a child, but these skills were far eclipsed by the time young Lee discovered the dressing-up box!
And the rest, of course, is history...
The ultimate "WTF" moment
Despite the charade of his denial of his sexuality, the man created his own legend and fortune out of sequins, marabou and oleaginous charm. He worked hard to earn his nickname "Mr Showmanship". For decades he flicked a diamond-encrusted finger at critics, self-proclaimed "moral guardians" and the media - and for all that and more, we salute him...
Nobody did it better.
The Liberace Foundation website.
OMB, that newspaper clipping is only 4 months older than FABULOUS MOI!
ReplyDeleteyou mean to tell me liberace was GAY? who knew! (wink) it's just a damn shame he couldn't live his life openly.
He was "the biggest thing to hit American womanhood since Rudolph Valentino". Apparently. Jx
DeleteThat's just how I picture you in the bath dear.
ReplyDeleteMine's a better wig.
DeleteBesides, this is more my style... Jx
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QfGrXOxZoaI
ReplyDelete🎥 The Ghost of Liberace (Sparks) Audio claimed by Merlin 1st of ...
That video's mute. The copyright owner has obviously complained. Jx
DeleteRon Mael doesn't strike me as someone you want to piss off
ReplyDeleteSo true. Jx
DeleteAlthough if he's reading this I'm sure he's lovely and has the most normal and healthy relationship with his brother imaginable.https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00054xh
ReplyDeleteBBC Radio 4 Extra - A Handful of Keys - Liberace
It blows my mind how all those nice old ladies saw him as ‘eccentric’ he was as gay as a goos and couldn’t be campier... he could play that piano, though.
ReplyDeleteIt happened all over again with Barry Manilow, and again (to a degree) with Boy George. There is obviously a certain breed of "lady" whose denial of the truth is overpowering, even in the face of the evidence... Jx
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