Talk:Liberace/Archive 1

message: Has anyone read the novel A prayer for owen meany? There's a fairly long reference about Liberace in the book. I thought I'd bring it up, but I don't know exactly what I should say in the mentioning.
love,
99.236.170.52 (talk) 23:35, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Pop culture reference in A Prayer for Owen Meany

message: I grew up in Phila PA.   Every year, they had an 'Easter Day Parade' in center city.  Each year there was a celebrity 'grandmaster' of the parade.   The grandmaster would sit in the back of a convertible limosine and wave at the crowds.  And the grandmaster was responsible for one more thing.   Selecting the 'best dressed' person in the crowd.   Actually, there were many 'best dressed' catagories...best dressed man, woman, child, etc....    In 1963, my parents took me (I was 7) and my 2 year old brother to the parade.   And guess what?   My brother and I were selected as 'best dressed boys' in Philadelphia.   We even got to ride in the back of the convertible limosine!   The next day, there was a picture in the local newspaper (the Bulletin) showing me and my little brother...both seated on the lap of the grandmaster, in the back of the limo!    And to this day, I have a yellowing, newprint photo...of me, and my little brother, sitting on Liberace's lap!
Amazing, and congrats, howis this relevant to the article?  will you be scanning the picture in?Killemall22 (talk) 15:56, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Please begin new discussions at the bottom of the page

message: I have vastly expanded and cleaned up this article. Wyss 3 July 2005 14:51 (UTC)
I have corrected the erroneous date regarding Paderewski and 1950. Jan Ignace Paderewski died in 1941. The story goes that Paderewski casually knew Liberace's mother and as a result of  a visit to them, the one name concept was created.Dr.Dan
Liberace also appeared in an episode of the original Star Trek series "The Squire of Gothos".
No, that was william Campbell, who also played Captain Koloth in "The Trouble with Tribbles". However, the character does seem to be Liberace inspired. --67.175.8.60 20:07, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Cleanup and expansion

message: Should there be a note about how to pronounce his name? It seems obvious to anyone who's ever heard it (most of us, by far) but to those who haven't, it looks like it should be "libber-Ace". I'm not sure exactly what the correct use of the phoentic alphabet (or whatever) is, so I don't want to add "pronounced 'Libber-AH-chee'", but if someone could add the standard format it might be beneficial. Just a thought. -R. fiend 03:12, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I've added both an IPA version as well as a common version.  This should help.  --Snicker|¥°€| 16:15, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pronunciation 

message: Vince Cardell redirects to this article. It was redirected because that article consited of one sentence, but the merge wasn't completed. I don't see exactly where this info would fit into the article, but if someone wants to add it, the full text was "Vince Cardell was a former protige of Liberace, and possibly love companion, due to his high exemplory of public flirting with Vince." It should have a source, which the redirected stub sadly didn't provide. I don't know enough about either man to know whether the merge should be completed or the redirect should be deleted as useless, but hopefully someone else will. --Icarus (Hi!) 03:40, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Vince Cardell 

message: Are you sure that his first name was actually Władziu and not Władysław? [Władziu is a common short for polish name Władysław]. —Preceding unsigned comment added by zahn (talk • contribs) 
I was just going to say something about this when I saw this post. As the user above me had mentioned, in Polish language there is no official name "Władziu". It is one of the short forms, the other being Władek, of Władysław. Perhaps that's how his parents called him when he was a child and it just got stuck to him?  Norum (talk) 00:09, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  First name 

message: I am currently doing a rewrite on the Deborah Gibson article, and understand that Gibson now owns one of Liberace's many mirrored Baldwins.  Is there any information on model and serial number, concerts where used, &c. for the particular piano now at Gibson's Hollywood, California-area residence?  Be sure to include reference data so that I can inline it for the Infobox on the aforementioned rewrite. - B.C.Schmerker 02:55, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Notable instruments now in other hands 

message: I don't really know very much about Liberace; is the recent edit linking him with Andy Kaid but lacking a source legitimate, or is it just some high-schooler adding in his mate's name? -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 19:32, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Andy Kaid

message: He was such a showman - surely there's more pictures showing him in all his glory? Fainites barley 22:12, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  "In all his glory" usually means "naked."  Just what are you after here, dear?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.171.176.1 (talk) 21:03, 27 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: More pictures!

message: I just watch a clip of Liberace with Jack Benny and it seemed that Liberace was wearing a pretty obvious hairpiece. Is this a documented fact, or did he have "odd" hair? Apepper (talk) 18:44, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wig? 

message: 1) In Death, it mentions, the "recently aired" Oprah Winfrey. I don't know this, but surely a date would be better. 2) Also, in popular culture, there is quite a famous reference in Futurama (references to the "Treasure of Liberace's Tomb" exhibition). Probably interesting as says more about how he is perceived than about who he is, but I dunno if others agree about this.Hrcolyer (talk) 17:36, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I fixed the Oprah bit. I won't put the Futurama cite in because I don't know anything about it and I'm not intrigued enough to look it up. Binksternet (talk) 17:58, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Couple of things 

message: The author(s) of this article clearly respect Liberace and think he was a highly talented individual.  That's fine, but this is not the place for subjective praise.  Phrases like "his considerable talents" and "showed off his acting talents" aren't exactly objective.  Minaker (talk) 11:14, 30 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with you, and welcome you to dig in and correct some of the prose. I reverted your neutrality tag as there is no ongoing edit war between disagreeing editors... the problems with this article are immediately addressable and have more to do with tone and style. Binksternet (talk) 17:42, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

text: Fantastic work on the article. Many thanks. Binksternet (talk) 00:06, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lots of subjectivity here 

message: I changed the "later life" section to "After the TV show, then saw the next section was titled "Television". These were in the wrong order. From square one most of the center section of the article has facts in the wrong/illogical order. --98.232.180.37 (talk) 06:32, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for fixing that. Binksternet (talk) 16:04, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: ''Later life'' section?

message: Is this known from any available source ? That he was a Catholic and once meet pope Pius XII it´s a fact, but to call him a "devout" Catholic implies more then that. Also probably the fact that he never came out as to do with his religion.213.13.240.184 (talk) 17:22, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Devout Catholic ?

message: Most musician pages have their musical style in the template at the top, but this page lacks that. --Daniel Draco (talk) 23:13, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Musical Style? 

message: I changed the statement that Elton John had called Liberace gay, using the exact words of the Pyron biography instead. 
This means that it is Pyron rather that Elton John who is our source for Liberace being gay. --Uncle Ed (talk) 23:46, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Elton John and "gay" quote

message: I live in West Allis and I feel like I have a very stong connection to him...If anyone could help me out that would be great :)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.207.58.131 (talk) 13:40, 10 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Perhaps you will get closer if you find the 1920 census report listing for the Liberace family dwelling. Binksternet (talk) 15:25, 10 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Throwing this out into the universe...what was the address of the house Liberace grew up in? 

message: I believe that someone removed my recent insertion. That might be justified. In case it's not justified here's the addition that was removed, for readers of this "discussion" page to consider:
His iconic status was immortalized in the last verse of The Chordettes' 1954 chart-topping pop song Mr. Sandman. The "dream" man was to have "...lots of wavy hair like Liberace."
I believe that this data point makes the impact that Liberace had more vivid for those who don't know of him. And for those who do, it reminds them what an icon he really was.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Grygiu (talk • contribs) 09:18, 14 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Keep it in the article. It would be in a "In popular culture" type section. --RThompson82 (talk) 04:50, 24 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Mr. Sandman," a significant data point? 

message: Whether Liberace was gay or not is a matter of indifference to me; however, reading through the article and the discussion I find myself confused not only on the point of his sexuality, but also about the alleged standards that the Wiki community is trying to maintain.  I submit that the latter point should be of more concern to the community than the former.
Section #5 of this discussion ("Wasn't he gay?") strongly argues that the article's rather awkward and excessive dancing around the issue is necessary because  a) Liberace consistently denied that he was homosexual, and  b) no suitable (arguable) third-party source has indicated that he was homosexual.
Yet Section #11 ("Gay") asserts that the Liberace article is of interest to the Wiki LGBT project.
This is a blatant contradiction.  If it is maintained (as in section 5) that there is insufficient definitive information available to at least strongly suggest that Liberace was gay, then how can the article be of any possible interest to the LGBT project (section 11)?  Conversely, if the article -is- of interest to the LGBT project, does that not imply that sufficient information is available to make a convincing case for Liberace's homosexuality?  And if so, should that not be reflected in the article?
If Liberace had lived his life in isolation, showing little interest in personal companionship of any kind, he may have been one of those rare people who had little interest in sex /per se/, and it might be appropriate to classify him, like Edward Gorey, as "asexual".  Unlike Gorey, however, Liberace was very much a social creature, he -did- live with companions, and one of those companions took him to court in a -palimony- suit, and was paid-off with a significant sum.
A frivolous gold-digging lawsuit?  Sure, it's possible.  And it's also possible that Michael Jackson really wasn't a pedophile, and that OJ Simpson is really going to find the "real murderer," someday.
Possible, but not very likely.
So, bottom line, either the article needs to be considerably less circumspect about Liberace's sexuality, or else there really isn't any good reason for it to be a part of the LGBT project.
Unless, of course, consistency across articles for a topic isn't of any serious concern to Wiki-ites.  In which case the usefulness of Wikipedia will have just dropped another couple of notches.
My $0.02.  Carry on, ladies & gents, carry on.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.206.161.97 (talk) 11:36, 27 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Gay Confusion 

message: When I was a child in the 1950's, all the kids in the neighborhood loved to sing:  “Born on a piano top in Tennessee, The greenest piano that you ever did see.  They taught him a note, When he was only three, And that's why they call him .... Liberace .... Davy, Davy Crockett, born on the wild frontier.”  D.Crockett of course was played by F.Parker, as was D.Boone a decade later.  [Special:Contributions/68.39.61.32|68.39.61.32]] (talk) 21:29, 15 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Born on a piano top in Tennessee 

message: Is there a reason Liberace was not drafted into the army during the Second World War?
Musicwriter (talk) 03:57, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: A childhood leg injury made him fail the physical. Binksternet (talk) 15:48, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: WWII days

message: I well remember this case and living in London at the time. The British tacitly both believed and accepted that Liberace was a homosexual. The jokes at the time all seem to have had Liberace as the the butt and the sympathy lay with Connor who it was hoped would win the case. The whole matter certainly seems to have done wonders for the circulation of the "Daily Mirror".  — Preceding unsigned comment added by AT Kunene (talk • contribs) 09:53, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Connor vs Liberace 

message: Shouldn't this article mention his star?
Casmeli (talk) 04:07, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Definitely.  Do you have referenced information on it? Winkelvi (talk) 04:13, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hollywood Walk of Fame 

message: Added two article tags because of some concerns I have about how this article has evolved recently.  There seems to be an awful lot of sourcing from one book, and short of editors buying the book being used as a reference, I see a problem in being able to verify those references.  Also, the Early Career section has seriously ballooned.  To the point of where when I look at it in total I think it's too long and overly detailed for me to want to read.  That in mind, that section is going to have to be cut way down.  It very possibly has taken the article to a size that might not be within allowable total word-limits.  I don't want the editor or editors who have contributed to that section to get upset, so rather than going in an starting to chop away, I'll give it a few days and see if those who've already contributed to that section would like to start paring it down.  Discussion here about the tags and everything else I've mentioned is welcomed, of course. -- Winkelvi ● ✉ ✓  22:09, 13 June 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: I have the Pyron book, and it is the by far the best most comprehensive, well researched and written book published on Liberace to date. Pyron's references are deep and extensive. I do think this article is a horrow show in writing terms at the moment, though. I don't share your concerns over the length, a rich life as his provides much scope for improvement. Gareth E Kegg (talk) 22:32, 13 June 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tags 

message: I think his inclusion in Nina Simone's 'My baby just cares for me' belongs in this article but maybe in the miscellaneous section.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shamrockawakening (talk • contribs) 19:13, 8 December 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it is unimportant trivia, that the biography is not here to serve as a collection bin for every time Liberace is mentioned on TV, in film, and in song lyrics. Binksternet (talk) 19:21, 8 December 2013 (UTC)

text: Please see Wikipedia:Handling trivia. There's also a guideline for Miscellaneous sections: WP:TRIVIA. These two pages talk about trivial information and whether it can be included. The second link is about how a section of trivia or miscellany is not such a great idea. The emphasis in the first page is on discovering whether the trivial fact is important to the topic, which in this case is Liberace's life and career. I hold that passing mentions of Liberace should not be in the article unless they are demonstrably important. Binksternet (talk) 19:32, 8 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nina Simone ref