Liberace Who? The Vegas Museum To A Legend Closes
THE Liberace Museum, tucked into a strip mall of East Tropicana Avenue two and half miles from the Las Vegas Strip, will close on October 17th, after 31 years in business, writes Anorak’s Man in LA.
The announcement came on Friday, the week in which a performer known as Prince Poppycock moved to the America’s Got Talent finals after performing in a red-white and blue shortpants outfit that was surely a tribute to Liberace’s star-spangled hotpants, and the month in which Michael Douglas, who is set to portray the flamboyant showman in a biopic directed by Steven Soderburgh, began treatment for throat cancer.
From Tabloid Baby, Chapter 38:
“…The papers would say it last snowed in Las Vegas in 1990. Wayne and I were in town for that last storm. We’d just arrived to shoot ‘Vegas Week’ material for A Current Affair. That was when Wayne got Maureen to dress up as a showgirl and I shot a piece on the Liberace Museum that we promoted as the discovery of the little known ‘Mrs. Liberace.’ The story was true. She was his sister-in-law.”
Jeffrey Koep, chairman of the Liberace Foundation board of directors, says:
“When this started 30-some years ago, Lee was still a name. Keeping that brand alive has been very difficult. When Liberace passed away, no one really did what they did with the Presley estate. If you turn on XM Radio, you’re going to see a Sinatra station, you’ll see an Elvis station. When you look at Liberace, his music is well-played, interpreted by a real talent. But it isn’t kept alive the way Elvis or Sinatra’s is.”
Remember when Liberace was huge?
Female impersonator Danny La Rue, left, backstage at the Piccadilly Theatre with Angela Lansbury and Liberace, shattering his image by sporting a beard. He grew the beard during a holiday but shaves it off for a dress rehearsal of his new stage show opening at the Prince of Wales Theatre.7376354
Posted: 13th, September 2010 | In: Music Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
