Introducing a new instrument!

Pilgrim · January 08, 2020, 10:10:57 AM

Liberace, in the early 50's, and a nice piece of product placement. Dang, those guys could play!!

And if you ever wondered where Country Joe McDonald got the riff for his "'Fish' Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag," it will all be clear to you....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=41&v=d9ai9Hen63c&feature=emb_logo

And the source for this tune...Muskrat Ramble.

Dave W · January 08, 2020, 11:14:34 AM

It's electronic!

Nice find. Liberace had a syndicated TV show in the early to mid 50s, it was very popular. This could have been from that.

The violinist is his brother George Liberace, who is sadly forgotten today.

uwe · January 08, 2020, 03:16:37 PM

I really liked lovely Liberace. He was totally OTT in his sleazy campiness, schmaltzy pizzazz & utter glibness, but there was a heart underneath. And a heck of a piano player with a devotion to any kind of music. Michael Douglas did a great portrait of him.

Dave W · January 08, 2020, 10:18:30 PM

Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, 1969, Bob Einstein as Officer Judy.

uwe · January 09, 2020, 11:03:19 AM

I can't believe they had him blow up a pink balloon.

Subtlety is obviously not an American trait, but then Liberace wasn't much about subtlety either.

Dave W · January 09, 2020, 11:34:01 PM

Quote from: uwe on January 09, 2020, 11:03:19 AM
I can't believe they had him blow up a pink balloon. Subtlety is obviously not an American trait, but then Liberace wasn't much about subtlety either.

No, he wasn't subtle. And yet, for many years (earlier) he portrayed himself as straight and looking for the right woman, or at least allowed himself to be portrayed that way in the celebrity press.

In the mid-50s he sued the Daily Mirror for libel after a columnist reviewed his performance in the UK and strongly suggested that he was a homosexual, which was probably still illegal back then. IIRC the columnist said he was mincing and fruit flavored, among other epithets. It went to trial, he denied under oath that he was homosexual, and he won the case.

uwe · January 10, 2020, 04:50:31 AM

All good that those times are behind us.

Dave W · January 10, 2020, 07:09:47 PM

Turns out there's a wikipedia page about the suit (I should have known). The columnist described Liberace as ""...the summit of sex - the pinnacle of masculine, feminine and neuter. Everything that he, she and it can ever want... a deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love." Even in 1956, that would have been way over the line in any US paper. Maybe not in a British tabloid.

Liberace also had a run-in with cartoonist Al Capp in the 50s, although it wasn't about his sexuality. Capp's Li'l Abner comic parodied a number of politicians and celebrities over the years. Most of them took it in stride. Not Liberace. Capp introduced a character named Loverboynik, a narcissistic pianist who closely resembled Liberace. When Liberace threatened to sue for libel, Capp said he would testify in court that there was no comparison because Loverboynik was a much better pianist. No suit was filed.

uwe · January 10, 2020, 09:19:40 PM

I'm afraid that even if I were gay, Liberace wouldn't have been my type. Bit too baroque. And I dread cosmetic surgery in any case.

That biopic did not portray him as a saint, but as a man with - understandably so - some baggage.