Liberace: He's Far More Important And Influential Than You Think

International Business Times ^ | 05/31/2013 | Palash Ghosh

[SeekAndFind]

A tepid, superficial and unsatisfying movie by HBO has brought the spectacle of Wladziu Valentino Liberace -- better known to the world simply as pianist-showman extraordinaire Liberace – back into America's living rooms and consciousness more than 25 years after his death from AIDS complications.

Liberace led as fascinating and tragic a life as you could imagine, one that deserved a deeper, more comprehensive treatment than what director Steven Soderbergh served up Sunday night.

Aside from the absurdities of casting the very homely Michael Douglas as the superstar pianist (and the 42-year-old Matt Damon as his “teenaged” lover, Scott Thorson), the HBO offering utterly failed to explore just what made Liberace such a compelling and, yes, highly influential, figure in American pop culture history.

[OrangeHoof]

I imagine Liberace had to wrestle between the gay showman that he was and the “good Catholic” he wanted to be.

A lot of the flamboyance and camp was perfect for his time and it didn’t have to be homosexual in nature, just attention-getting. He still allowed middle-aged and elderly women to see him as a “good boy” which is what many gays aspire to - the approval of mother figures.

For any entertainer whose fame is based on living on the edge, the problem is that you have to keep topping yourself. It’s what I call the “Madonna Effect”. Talent got them by for awhile but after that they could only keep their names in the news by being more outrageous than they were the last time.

That eventually catches up with all of them. It’s a curse to have less talent than the appetite that craves fame and fortune.

[jimfree]

Mrs. jimfree visited the Liberace museum in Vegas I believe Wednesday afternoon. She and the others in her group are costume professionals and enthusiasts.

[dalereed]

Just another dead queer, good riddance!!

[Revolting cat!]

The faggotry, the candelabras and costumes were not Wladziu’s biggest sins. It was bringing classical music to the level of a county fair, so that the culturally ignorant can say with a straight face without embarassment that this pretentious hack was a “fantastic musician”.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Back when it was “the love that dare not speak its name.”

Now it’s “the love that won’t shut the F up.” :(

[Bob]

That saying has now morphed into ‘the love that won’t shut up’.

[jocon307]

“I also remember reading somewhere that Andy Warhol was also a devout Catholic.”

I do remember reading that Warhol went to Mass every Sunday, at like St. Patrick’s Cathedral even I think.

One thing that was kind of cool (maybe that’s not exactly the right word) when he died was that his brothers all came to NY from PA (I think) and took his remains home for a simple, family funeral. They were all dressed in black suits and were about as far from Studio 54 as one could be. One of the NY tabloids had some pix. It seemed that he remained very close to his family all through those crazy years. Well, so maybe cool is a good enough word.

[jocon307]

I actually recorded this, I think we’ll watch it tomorrow. Of course I remember Liberace, but not well. I think he’s a little before my time. And my father was a complete classical music devote, so we had no Liberace, no Welk, none of that.