Fabulous

on

A photo I took of Liberace in 1983. 
A photo of Liberace in 1983. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A photo of Liberace in 1983 [L].

See the thing is when I first saw Liberace, I was young, a child who  wasn’t yet old enough  to understand that the sight of this man with all of those sequins would be come iconize  a  social identity that I would eventually embrace .

I had not even begun to discover my own sexual identity. Watching the Mike Douglas afternoon talk show with my mom H I would think, " I was at a loss for words, after all Liberace was such a HOMOSEXUAL! Now all of these years later, I can’t imagine how anyone could have attended his shows or even seen Liberace on television and NOT have seen that he was gay. Yes They was intentionally blind to Liberace’s gayness.

For Decades this state of Gay Blindness was the preferred choice for many heterosexuals. I can remember that a person was “rumored” to be a homosexual...”That Way”. Hushed Tones, Secrets and Lies. The original "Don't Ask-Don't Tell."

Yet There was Liberace in all of his bejeweled fabulousness, parading around the stage challenging his audience to scrutinize him.

I didn’t hold any expectations when I watched Behind The Candelabra, for months I had read about the Douglas/Damon team and wondered if Michael would pull off his representation of Liberace.

http://img.poptower.com/pic-108412/behind-the-candelabra.jpg?d=600

Yes He DID, Douglas was triumphant in what is easily an Emmy nomiation worthy performance, simply fabulous in his frilliness and effeminate mannerism. No insult  intended but Douglas was indeed quite the queen and Damon, while less transformative certainly provided a competent and admirable balance as Thorson, who claimed to be bisexual {but as the Liberace/Douglas character said: “That side of you [Thorson] hasn’t made an appearance yet]  {Sic}.

 The first time that you see Douglas as Liberace he is pulling off a spot on re-enactment of the scene where he allegedly first meets Thorson. The Camera zoom in on his performance of The Boogie Woogie 9Below is the Real Liberace performing The Boogie Woogie):


Liberace was all excess, in his style and his sexual appetite.