Author: W. Michael Feder Publisher: ISBN: 9781883318710 Category : Cooking Languages : en Pages : 128
Book Description
This retro cookbook is so totally Liberace. It is the step-by-step guide to Bling Cooking, food with all the panache of the glitziest pianist that ever tinkled a Steinway. It is filled with over 80 recipes that made America swoon in the 50s, including such delights as Salami Bouquet, Tchaikovsky Would Love This Salad, Poofy Spuds and As a Matter of Fact, I am Chopped Liver Pate. These are the culinary classics that kept viewers tuned in to The Liberace Show, pulled together with the Bling Cooking panache that was the signature of the world's greatest entertainer.
Author: Michael Feder Publisher: Harry N. Abrams ISBN: 9780810994522 Category : Art Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The late Liberace swings his closet door open in order to coach readers on the fine art of extraordinary dressing. Not only can readers enjoy dazzling photographs of Liberace in the most outrageous of outfits, but they can also punch these photos out to play with the included paper dolls.
Author: Darden Asbury Pyron Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 022611712X Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 549
Book Description
More people watched his nationally syndicated television show between 1953 and 1955 than followed I Love Lucy. Even a decade after his death, the attendance records he set at Madison Square Garden, the Hollywood Bowl, and Radio City Music Hall still stand. Arguably the most popular entertainer of the twentieth century, this very public figure nonetheless kept more than a few secrets. Darden Asbury Pyron, author of the acclaimed and bestselling Southern Daughter: The Life of Margaret Mitchell, leads us through the life of America's foremost showman with his fresh, provocative, and definitive portrait of Liberace, an American boy. Liberace's career follows the trajectory of the classic American dream. Born in the Midwest to Polish-Italian immigrant parents, he was a child prodigy who, by the age of twenty, had performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Abandoning the concert stage for the lucrative and glittery world of nightclubs, celebrities, and television, Liberace became America's most popular entertainer. While wildly successful and good natured outwardly, Liberace, Pyron reveals, was a complicated man whose political, social, and religious conservativism existed side-by-side with a lifetime of secretive homosexuality. Even so, his swishy persona belied an inner life of ferocious aggression and ambition. Pyron relates this private man to his public persona and places this remarkable life in the rapidly changing cultural landscape of twentieth-century America. Pyron presents Liberace's life as a metaphor, for both good and ill, of American culture, with its shopping malls and insatiable hunger for celebrity. In this fascinating biography, Pyron complicates and celebrates our image of the man for whom the streets were paved with gold lamé. "An entertaining and rewarding biography of the pianist and entertainer whose fans' adoration was equaled only by his critics' loathing. . . . [Pyron] persuasively argues that Liberace, thoroughly and rigorously trained, was a genuine musician as well as a brilliant showman. . . . [A]n immensely entertaining story that should be fascinating and pleasurable to anyone with an interest in American popular culture."—Kirkus Reviews "This is a wonderful book, what biography ought to be and so seldom is."—Kathryn Hughes, Daily Telegraph "[A]bsorbing and insightful. . . . Pyron's interests are far-ranging and illuminating-from the influence of a Roman Catholic sensibility on Liberace and gay culture to the aesthetics of television and the social importance of self-improvement books in the 1950s. Finally, he achieves what many readers might consider impossible: a persuasive case for Liberace's life and times as the embodiment of an important cultural moment."—Publishers Weekly "Liberace, coming on top of his amazing life of Margaret Mitchell, Southern Daughter, puts Darden Pyron in the very first rank of American biographers. His books are as exciting as the lives of his subjects."—Tom Wolfe "Fascinating, thoughtful, exhaustive, and well-written, this book will serve as the standard biography of a complex icon of American popular culture."—Library Journal
Author: Connie Furr Soloman Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0062202561 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 368
Book Description
Known for his spectacular performances, the magnificent Wladziu Valentino Liberace was a world-renowned star in the entertainment industry for more than four decades, and his dazzling, often outrageous costumes are what made him most memorable. In Liberace Extravaganza! the entertainer's sequined, bejeweled, and rhinestone-studded outfits, as well as his extravagant collection of furs, feather capes, sparkling bow ties, and custom-made shoes are exhibited in book form for the very first time. These mesmerizing costumes grew from Liberace's humble beginnings when, as a young man, he would perform in his brother's hand-me-downs. From there, his suits, worth as much as twenty-four thousand dollars, featured layers of silk and satin ruffles, Swarovski crystal rhinestones, and fourteen-karat white-gold, diamond-encrusted buttons, culminating in his "electric" costumes with four thousand light bulbs weighing more than twenty-five pounds. Michael Travis, Liberace's principal designer, has written the foreword for this breathtaking volume. Jim Lapidus, another of Liberace's designers, furrier Anna Nateece, and Ray Arnett, his producer, have contributed original sketches used to design Liberace's costumes. The result is a book that is one of a kind: a celebration of the legendary performer and a visual feast of the most extraordinary costumes ever created. With more than 260 full-color photographs
Author: Liberace Publisher: Turner Publishing Company ISBN: 1563119137 Category : Pianists Languages : en Pages : 238
Book Description
For decades, Liberace was known for his music, candelabra, charisma, diamonds and dazzle. Over the years Liberace acquired an astounding array of prestigious awards, including: Instrumentalist of the Year, Best Dressed Entertainer and Entertainer of the Year. He also earned two Emmy Awards, six gold albums, two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's highest paid musician and pianist. Best of all, he was known and loved throughout the world as Mr. Showmanship."" Relive The Wonderful Private World of Liberace in the reprinting of his fourth publication. When I started this book, I couldn't keep help wondering if I was doing it the right way. After all, it was so very different from the other books. One afternoon, I ran into Shirley MacLaine in a florist shop in Malibu. She'd never seen my Malibu place, so I invited her over. While we were having a drink, I discovered she had just completed her book Dancing in the Light. ""What a coincidence,"" I said. ""I'm just starting to write my fourth book."" She described a private place she had up in Washington, where she liked to sit outside, particularly when it was raining. She would sit under an umbrella and jot down the material in longhand. The solace and quietude of the place were very inspiring to writing in this personal style. I told here I was doing mine in longhand, as well, just as if I was writing a letter to someone. She smiled encouragingly. ""But that's exactly how you should do it ""So here it is a very personal letter from me to you, sharing an intimate glimpse into The Wonderful Private World of Liberace.""
Author: Karan Feder Publisher: Arcadia Publishing ISBN: 1467127590 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 96
Book Description
Debuting at the Tropicana Hotel on Christmas Eve, 1959, at a reported cost of one quarter-million dollars (over two million in today's dollars), the Folies Bergere stage show featured a cast of "eighty stars" and promised an elegant evening of sensual entertainment complete with sensational song and dance numbers, curious novelty acts, and exquisite leggy showgirls. Imported directly from Paris, the iconic French production, famed for its elegant and chic legacy, was a mainstay on the Las Vegas Strip for nearly half a century. A 1959 Las Vegas Sun newspaper article portends the significant role that the Folies Bergere would play in the city's history: "From beginning to end this is the most dazzling entertainment which any city has been privileged to see. It's saucy, piquant and racy in the splendidly provocative French way. Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, is now no idle boast."
Author: John Berendt Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1101643692 Category : Juvenile Fiction Languages : en Pages : 36
Book Description
A blue jay building a nest outside his window prompts John Berendt to find his camera and record the familiar, yet always fascinating sequence of events that will unfold, from eggs being laid to chicks emerging and trying to fly. Children and adults alike will be astonished at the adventurous spirit of one particularly curious young blue jay as he ventures into the world. The author of the best-selling Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil brings his narrative skill to this up-close and delightfully informal account of an event that recurs each spring.
Author: Vincent L Stephens Publisher: University of Illinois Press ISBN: 0252051661 Category : Music Languages : en Pages : 343
Book Description
The all-embracing, "whaddya got?" nature of rebellion in Fifties America included pop music's unlikely challenge to entrenched notions of masculinity. Within that upheaval, four prominent artists dared to behave in ways that let the public assume—but not see—their queerness. That these artists cultivated ambiguous sexual personas often reflected an understandable fear, but also a struggle to fulfill personal and professional expectations.Vincent L. Stephens confronts notions of the closet—both coming out and staying in—by analyzing the careers of Liberace, Johnny Mathis, Johnnie Ray, and Little Richard. Appealing to audiences hungry for novelty and exoticism, the four pop icons used performance and queering techniques that ran the gamut. Liberace's flamboyance shared a spectrum with Mathis's intimate sensitivity while Ray's overwrought displays as "Mr. Emotion" seemed worlds apart from Little Richard's raise-the-roof joyousness. As Stephens shows, the quartet not only thrived in an era of gray flannel manhood, they pioneered the ways generations of later musicians would consciously adopt sexual mystery as an appealing and proven route to success.
Author: Ferentz Lafargue Publisher: Crown Archetype ISBN: 030749795X Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 194
Book Description
“Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand.” —Stevie Wonder, “Sir Duke” In 2003, young professor Ferentz LaFargue traveled to Paris, where his fiancée, Tricia, declared she wasn’t happy with their relationship, ending what he thought was a wonderful engagement. After days of “craying”—“that sorrow-laden blend of crying and praying delivered in perfect pitch by those in mourning”—Ferentz happened upon Stevie Wonder’s 1976 classic double album Songs in the Key of Life. Listening to it anew was a healing, spiritual trip down memory lane, helping him to come to terms with his breakup and reflect on how songs in general have been linked to his life. In this book, Ferentz invites us to get cozy and listen as he hits PLAY on meaningful tracks from Wonder and others, including Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, LL Cool J, Beenie Man, Sheryl Crow, Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, and Black Sabbath. He recalls: How the fusion of rock and rap in the breakthrough Run-D.M.C./Aerosmith video “Walk This Way” helped to change an adolescent Ferentz from outcast to authority figure How Michael Jackson’s Thriller brought back a traumatic childhood experience How Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks” speaks to the tension between his Christian beliefs and his need to rip it up in clubs as a hip-hop head In the tradition of Nick Hornby’s Songbook¸ these words paint a portrait of a life framed by sounds, allowing all of us to think about what songs have been key in our own lives.
Author: Bill Murray Publisher: Crown ISBN: 0767905229 Category : Humor Languages : en Pages : 223
Book Description
One of the funniest, most beloved, and most often quoted entertainers in the world tells his tale of Life and Golf--and of somehow surviving both. With his brilliant creation, groundskeeper Carl Spackler, and the outrageous success of the film Caddyshack firmly etched into the American consciousness, Bill Murray and golf have become synonymous. Filled with Murray's trademark deadpan and dead-on humor, Cinderella Story chronicles his love affair with golf from the life lessons he learned as a caddy--"how to smoke, curse, play cards. But more important, when to"--to his escapades on the Pro-Am golf circuit at the Augusta National and as a fan at the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the Western Open. An up-by-the-bootstraps tale of a man, his muse, and our society's fascination with a little white ball, Cinderella Story is one pilgrim's bemused path through the doglegs.
Author: W. Michael Feder
Author: Michael Feder
Author: Darden Asbury Pyron
Author: Connie Furr Soloman
Author: Liberace
Author: Karan Feder 
Author: John Berendt
Author: Vincent L Stephens
Author: Ferentz Lafargue
Author: Bill Murray