New York Blade
News . October 23, 1998
Rhinestone Cowboy
Liberace's Legacy
Shines
Brighter Than Ever
By Ernie Glam
Move over, Rue Paul. The original Queen
of all media - Liberace - has risen from the
dead.
Even though he's been dead for 11 years, Liberace is enjoying a revival on television, radio and even the Internet. A taste of all thing s Vegas, especially the resort's '60's lounge-lizard era, has already revived the careers of his contemporaries Mel Torme and Tony Bennett. And now, the desert's most gilded lily is getting his second look. And it's not just old-timers remembering their favorite rhinestone cowboy; Liberace is gaining a hip young audience, too.
So far the renewed interest in the entertainer has produced the pop music compilation Lounging With Lee, a special episode of television's The E! true Hollywood Story, and a new video collection of the pianist's television specials, The Liberace Box Set.
The Liberace revival isn't being driven by his old fans, but by new admirers, says Sandra Harris, executive director of Las Vegas' Liberace Museum. She thinks Las Vegas' expanding popularity as an adult entertainment Mecca and the museum's status as that city's third-most popular tourist destination has exponentially multiplied the number of younger people who have visited the museum.
"There's still a huge old fan base," she says, "but a new group of younger people fascinated by the flamboyance are coming."
Flamboyance - an understatement in the face of the pianist's legendary ostentatious presentation - seems to be the key to his new popularity.
"I like that he was so outwardly flamboyant for someone who was so closeted. The costumes, the cars, the horribly decorated homes," says Bob, 39, systems operator of Bob's World Of Liberace (www.bobsliberace.com). Bob set up his web site last December, and while he was averaging only 10 hits a day in the beginning, his total recently hit 300. The manhattanite has collected the entertainer's costumes for the past six years and freely admits that "his image and interaction with the audience are more interesting than the music."
This summer's Lounging With Lee (Hip-O) disc illustrates why new fans prefer Liberace's minks to his music. The 15-track collection of mostly instrumental '60s and '70s pop and rock standards favors compositions by John Lennon/Paul McCartney and Neil Diamond. Although performed with Liberace's tremendous virtuosity, the album will likely remind most younger listeners of the sappy Muzak they heard spending childhood afternoons in dentists' waiting rooms.
Not that the CD lacks "priceless" moments. A cover of Neil Diamond's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," set to a saccharin orchestral arrangement, brims with unintentional humor and subtexts. The awful spoken-word delivery catapults the song into kitsch paradise, while the lyrics raise issues about whom Liberace is addressing. Given Scott Thorson's early-'80s palimony suit and subsequent tell-all book, and Liberace's apparent taste for younger men, this ode to unrequited love is a triumph of subconscious self-revelation.
While Lounging With Lee suffers from anemic covers, Rhino Video's Liberace Box Set, due in stores this week, dredges up some of Liberace's worst television appearances: Liberace Live With the London Philharmonic, Liberace Valentine's Day Special, and Leapin' Lizards, It's Liberace. Naturally, there are second-tier guest stars (Sandy Duncan, Lola Falana), a thousand costume changes, show-and-tell, and abridged-for-TV masterworks by Chopin and Gershwin, none of which bring any credit to the variety TV format. In fact, this badly edited spectacle might have sounded the genre's death knell. Throughout the ordeals, however, Liberace maintains his irrepressible attitude, even during an embarrassing solo tap number. It's then that he elegantly sums up his motto: "I'm not good, but I've got guts."
Liberace''s willingness to go to embarrassing extremes strikes some as pathetic. Both the E! network's recently aired True Hollywood Story and Rhino's box set demonstrate how Liberace groveled for audience approval. "Do you like my outfits? My rings?" These questions were always asked. The joke was on him, but it doesn't sit well with some viewers.
"I tried to watch the Liberace special, but it was too creepy," says Village Voice columnist Guy Trebay. "There's something about him - the concept of the humiliated fag - that just turns me off."
Gay shame may forever taint some peoples appreciation of Liberace's legacy, but it's his triumphs, however tacky, that captivate most gay and straight fans. Jamie James, Liberace's publicist for over 20 years, is thrilled that younger audiences are gaining an appreciation for his old friend. James knows exactly what the appeal is - and even he doesn't pretend it's the music.
"Younger people are captivated by this man who walked around with all these rings and rhinestones," he explains. With some prodding, he admits that the public's prurient curiosity might be another major factor. "Of course, his sexuality is still of interest."
Text and images presented without
permission,
but I don't think they will mind too much.