Editing Liberace (section)

===Early career===
[[File:LiberaceChristmasCostume.jpg|thumb|upright|Liberace's early-1980s Christmas costume, worn at the [[Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino|Las Vegas Hilton]] and [[Radio City Music Hall]]: Designed by Michael Travis, with fur design by Anna Nateece, the costume was one of many at the [[Liberace Museum]].]]
A participant in a formal classical music competition in 1937, Liberace was praised for his "flair and showmanship".<ref name=pyron46-54>Pyron, 2000, pp. 46–54.</ref> At the end of a traditional classical concert in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1939, Liberace played his first requested encore, the popular comedy song "[[Three Little Fishies]]". He later stated that he played the popular tune in the styles of several different classical composers.<ref name=pyron66>Pyron, 2000, p. 66.</ref> The 20-year-old played with the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] on January 15, 1940, at the [[Pabst Theater]] in Milwaukee, performing [[Liszt]]'s [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Liszt)|Second Piano Concerto]] under the baton of [[Hans Lange (conductor)|Hans Lange]], for which he received strong reviews. He also toured in the Midwest.

From 1942 to 1944, Liberace moved from straight classical performance and reinvented his act to one featuring "pop with a bit of classics" or as he called it "classical music with the boring parts left out". In the early 1940s, he struggled in New York City, but by the mid- and late-1940s, he was performing in night clubs in major cities around the United States and "gained national exposure through his performance contracts with the [[Statler Hotels|Statler]] and [[Radisson]] hotel chains",<ref>James Gilbert Ryan, Leonard C Schlup, ''Historical Dictionary of the 1940s'' (2015), p. 227.</ref> largely abandoning classical music. He changed from a classical pianist to an entertainer and showman, unpredictably and whimsically mixing the serious with light fare, e.g., [[Chopin]] with "[[Home on the Range]]".<ref name=pyron77>Pyron, 2000, p. 77.</ref>

For a while, he played piano along with a [[phonograph]] <!-- record player --> on stage. The gimmick helped gain him attention. He added interaction with the audience—taking requests, talking with the patrons, making jokes, giving lessons to chosen audience members. He began to pay greater attention to such details as staging, lighting and presentation. The transformation to entertainer was driven by Liberace's desire to connect directly with his audiences, and secondarily from the reality of the difficult, top flight competition in the classical piano world.

In 1943, he began to appear in [[Soundies]] (the 1940s precursor to music videos). He recreated two flashy numbers from his nightclub act, the standards "[[Tiger Rag]]" and "[[Twelfth Street Rag]]". In these films, he was billed as Walter Liberace. Both Soundies later were released to the home-movie market by [[Castle Films]]. In 1944, he made his first appearances in Las Vegas, which later became his principal venue.<ref name=pyron90-94/>

He was playing at the best clubs, finally appearing at the [[Plaza Hotel#Persian Room|Persian Room]] in 1945, and ''Variety'' wrote "Liberace looks like a cross between [[Cary Grant]] and [[Robert Alda]]. He has an effective manner, attractive hands which he spotlights properly, and withal, rings the bell in the dramatically lighted, well-presented, showmanly routine. He should snowball into box office." ''The Chicago Times'' was similarly impressed: He "made like Chopin one minute and then turns on a [[Chico Marx]] bit the next."<ref name=pyron90-94>Pyron, 2000, pp. 90–94.</ref>

[[File:Liberace and O'hara - 1957.jpg|thumb|Liberace with actress [[Maureen O'Hara]] during a court hearing in 1957]]
During this time, Liberace worked to refine his act. He added the [[candelabrum]] as his trademark, inspired by a similar prop in the Chopin biopic ''[[A Song to Remember]]'' (1945).<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/02/05/liberace-67-pianist-turned-one-man-musical-circus/ | title=Liberace, 67, Pianist Turned One-man Musical Circus' | newspaper=Chicago Tribune | date=February 5, 1987 | access-date=January 7, 2014 | author=Kart, Larry | archive-date=January 7, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107102102/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-02-05/news/8701090850_1_wladziu-valentino-liberace-pianist-circus | url-status=live }}</ref> He adopted Liberace as his stage name, making a point in press releases that it was pronounced "Liber-Ah-chee".<ref name=pyron96>Pyron, 2000, p. 96.</ref> He wore [[white tie and tails]] for better visibility in large halls. Besides clubs and occasional work as an accompanist and rehearsal pianist, Liberace played for private parties, including ones at the [[Park Avenue]] home of millionaire oilman [[J.&nbsp;Paul Getty]]. By 1947, he was billing himself as "Liberace—the most amazing piano virtuoso of the present day."<ref name=pyron79>Pyron, 2000, p. 79.</ref>

In 1953, Liberace signed with Louis Snader, a California theater owner and TV producer whose telescriptions—short film clips used as fillers on local stations across the country. Liberace was replacing [[Korla Pandit]] who parted ways with Snader due to a contract dispute. According to Eric Christiansen, the filmmaker who made Pandit's biopic: "[Liberace] used the same sets and took credit for his staring into the camera and breaking that wall. He felt like Liberace stole his soul."<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Bradner |first1=Liesl |title=How a Black Man From Missouri Transformed Himself Into the Indian Liberace |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/122797/how-black-man-missouri-transformed-indian-liberace |magazine=New Republic |access-date=June 28, 2024 |archive-date=October 21, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151021235350/http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122797/how-black-man-missouri-transformed-indian-liberace |url-status=live }}</ref>

Liberace had to have a piano to match his growing presence, so he bought a rare, oversized, gold-leafed [[Blüthner]] Grand, which he hyped up in his press kit as a "priceless piano".<ref name=pyron115>Pyron, 2000, p. 115.</ref> Later, he performed with an array of extravagant, custom-decorated pianos, some encrusted with [[rhinestone]]s and mirrors. He moved to the Los Angeles neighborhood of North Hollywood in 1947 and was performing at local clubs, such as [[Ciro's]] and [[Mocambo (nightclub)|The Mocambo]], for stars such as [[Rosalind Russell]], [[Clark Gable]], [[Gloria Swanson]] and [[Shirley Temple]]. He did not always play to packed rooms, and he learned to perform with extra energy to thinner crowds to maintain his enthusiasm.<ref name=pyron139>Pyron, 2000, p. 139.</ref>

Liberace created a publicity machine that helped to make him a star. Despite his success in the supper-club circuit, where he was often an intermission act, his ambition was to reach larger audiences as a headliner and a television, movie and recording star. Liberace began to expand his act and made it more extravagant, with more costumes and a larger supporting cast. His large-scale Las Vegas act became his hallmark, expanding his fan base and making him wealthy.

His New York City performance at [[Madison Square Garden (1925)|Madison Square Garden]] in 1954, which earned him a record $138,000 ({{Inflation|US|138000|1954|r=-4|fmt=eq}}) for one performance, was more successful than the great triumph his idol Paderewski had made 20 years earlier.<ref name=pyron161>Pyron, 2000, p. 161.</ref> He was mentioned as a sex symbol in [[The Chordettes]] 1954 No. 1 hit "[[Mr. Sandman]]". By 1955, he was making $50,000 per week ({{Inflation|US|50,000|1955|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) at the [[Riviera Hotel and Casino]] in Las Vegas and had over 200 official fan clubs with 250,000 members.<ref name=pyron162>Pyron, 2000, p. 162.</ref> He was making over $1&nbsp;million per year from public appearances and millions from television.<ref name=pyron161/> Liberace was frequently covered by the major magazines, and he became a pop-culture superstar, but he became the butt of jokes by comedians and the public.
[[File:Elvis and liberace.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Liberace with [[Elvis Presley]] in 1956]]
Liberace appeared on the March 8, 1956, episode of the TV quiz program ''[[You Bet Your Life]]'', hosted by [[Groucho Marx]], where he stated that he was the only person in the US registered to vote using only a single name.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAnrzg2aI3U&index=31&list=PLHaioNpr_GDbvsTj_taM-jO6C1658N1PC| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/DAnrzg2aI3U| archive-date=October 30, 2021|title=You Bet Your Life #55-24 Liberace; Groucho sings "I Love a Piano" (Secret word 'House', Mar 8, 1956)|date=November 6, 2013|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Music critics were generally harsh in their assessment of his piano playing. Critic Lewis Funke wrote after a Carnegie Hall concert, Liberace's music "must be served with all the available tricks, as loud as possible, as soft as possible, and as sentimental as possible. It's almost all showmanship topped by whipped cream and cherries." Even worse, to said critics, was his apparent lack of reverence and fidelity to the great composers. "Liberace recreates—if that is the word—each composition in his own image. When it is too difficult, he simplifies it. When it is too simple, he complicates it." They referred to his "sloppy technique" that included "slackness of rhythms, wrong tempos, distorted [[Phrase (music)|phrasing]], an excess of prettification and sentimentality, a failure to stick to what the composer has written."<ref name=pyron180>Pyron, 2000, p. 180.</ref>

Liberace once stated "I don't give concerts. I put on a show."<ref name=pyron272>Pyron, 2000, p. 272.</ref> Unlike the concerts of classical pianists that normally ended with applause and a retreat off-stage, Liberace's shows ended with the public invited on-stage to touch his clothes, piano, jewelry and hands. Kisses, handshakes, hugs and caresses usually followed.<ref name=pyron281>Pyron, 2000, p. 281.</ref> A critic summarized his appeal near the end of Liberace's life: "Mr. Showmanship has another more potent, drawing power to his show: the warm and wonderful way he works his audience. Surprisingly enough, behind all the glitz glitter, the corny false modesty, and the shy smile, Liberace exudes a love that is returned to him a thousand-fold."<ref name=pyron292>Pyron, 2000, p. 292.</ref>