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People (well, his huge number of fans, anyway) didn't WANT to believe he was gay.
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At the time he was "current", you kind of realized it was all froth and that nothing he produced would stand the test of time, and so it has proved, time has not been kind to his memory.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 16 Apr 13 at 18:07
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Shows how much notice I was taking - I didn't even know it was a secret.
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He was a colossal star in his day, one heard about him all the time in the fifties, but I had no idea who he was or what he looked like until many years later, for what it was worth.
Most people would give their eye teeth and maybe an eye as well to be as hugely rich, powerful and successful as Liberace was. Very odd it always seems.
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>> worse than what?
>>
Heard the one about Jimmy Savile?
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Didn't he sue a newspaper for 'outing' him?
Cost them lots IIRC.
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>> Didn't he sue a newspaper for 'outing' him?
>>
>> Cost them lots IIRC.
>>
Cassandra, aka William Connor in the Daily Mirror was sued.
The point was that Liberace flatly denied he was gay and the Daily Mirror, instead of demonstrating that he was gay, took the defence of "Oh no, we weren't saying you were gay".
I don't think the word 'gay' was used in those days, I think they used the word 'H O M O S E X U A L.
They lost, Liberace won and all his adoring middle-aged and elderly women fans got the reassurance they wanted.
All the above is from memory, so I could well be wrong!
Last edited by: Duncan on Wed 17 Apr 13 at 06:47
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>> I don't think the word 'gay' was used in those days, I think they used
>> the word 'H O M O S E X U A L.
I still say homosexual and lesbian. I was brought up to use gay in the traditional meaning of happy and carefree, with no sexual connotation, and I see no reason to change that. What logical reason did homosexuals and lesbians have for hijacking the word gay?
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Cassandra wrote of Liberace..............
<"He is the summit of sex - the pinnacle of masculine, feminine, and neuter. Everything that he, she and it can ever want.
I spoke to sad but kindly men on this newspaper who have met every celebrity coming from America for the past 30 years. They say that this deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love has had the biggest reception and impact on London since Charlie Chaplin arrived at the same station, Waterloo, on September 12,1921.
This appalling man - and I use the word appalling in no other than its true sense of terrifying - has hit this country in a way that is as violent as Churchill receiving the cheers on V-E Day.
He reeks with emetic language that can only make grown men long for a quiet corner, an aspidistra, a handkerchief, and the old heave-ho. Without doubt, he is the biggest sentimental vomit of all time. Slobbering over his mother, winking at his brother, and counting the cash at every second, this superb piece of calculating candy-floss has an answer for every situation."
"There must be something wrong with us that our teenagers longing for sex and our middle aged matrons fed up with sex alike should fall for such a sugary mountain of jingling claptrap wrapped up in such a preposterous clown>
I think Liberace objected to the word 'fruit'......
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The language is full of words that have acquired new meanings, l'Es, 'tweet' being a recent example, 'nice' a much older one. And there's nothing to stop you using the old sense of 'gay'; I still do and no-one misunderstands me.
I tend to suspect that those who complain about the 'hijacking' of 'gay' have broader problems coming to terms with modern life.
Incidentally, lesbians are homosexual too, so what justifies you in hijacking that word? Surely that's just a person from Lesbos?
}:---)
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Interestingly their is now a new meaning to "gay" children now use the word gay to mean a bit "lame" or rubbish as in "that film was totally gay"
Language moves on. It's the fascinating thing about it.
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>> >> What logical reason did homosexuals and lesbians have for hijacking the word
>> gay?
>>
Because as AC has pointed out in another thread, "gay" has long had sexual connotations, since at least the 18th century.
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Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
Make him the cutest that I've ever seen
Give him two lips like roses and clover
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over
Sandman, I'm so alone
Don't have nobody to call my own
Please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
Make him the cutest that I've ever seen
Give him the word that I'm not a rover
And tell him that his lonesome nights are over
Sandman, I'm so alone
Don't have nobody to call my own
Please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
Mr. Sandman (Yes?) Bring me a dream
Give him a pair of eyes with a 'come-hither' gleam
Give him a lonely heart like Pagliacci
And lots of wavy hair like Liberace
Mr. Sandman, someone to hold
Would be so peachy before we're too old
So, please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
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"What logical reason did homosexuals and lesbians have for hijacking the word gay?"
Language does not obey logic. There are always reasons for linguistic change, but not necessarily logical ones.
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>> The point was that Liberace flatly denied he was gay and the Daily Mirror, instead
>> of demonstrating that he was gay, took the defence of "Oh no, we weren't saying
>> you were gay".
>>
>> I don't think the word 'gay' was used in those days, I think they used
>> the word 'H O M O S E X U A L.
The term homosexualism was also used.
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Liberace was so unrelentingly oleaginous that I could not help liking him.
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>> so unrelentingly oleaginous that I could not help liking him.
Yes. Laid it on with a trowel, but there was a sharp ironic glint in the eye.
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worse kept secret - FocalPoint
