A couple weeks back, talented reader Yahoo! Music User speculated that we'd soon be featuring Liberace in Framed. Like you, we laughed...but then, we thought about it. Wasn't Liberace the highest-paid performer of his time? (Yes!) Wasn't Liberace the Lady Gaga of the 1950s? (Yes!) Wasn't Liberace flamingly gay, and--thus--very much like so many modern performers that we're too bored to name?
Yes!
We checked out the Liberace videos on Y! Music and were delighted to find that many were available for our, um, special treatment. And so it is that we're proud to be presenting "Peanut Vendor," a delightful Cuban song that has been recorded over 160 times, and the first million-selling 78 rpm recording of any Cuban music.
Our video is from his 1950s-era TV show, which regularly garnered 30 million viewers. (Take that, Idol!) Wikipedia says that his TV audience was mostly female and adds one of the finest sentences to ever appear on that site: "Homosexual men also found him appealing."
Seriously, it actually says that. In any case, we hope you enjoy the pop music of another era, our captions, and life itself! See you next week!
1 -- Liberace, seen seated here, with his brother, the lesser-known "Sib"-erace.
2 -- "Excuse me, Lee. You did just say that you're a homeowner, right?"
3-- "Yeah, I'll hit that."
4 -- "Amyl nitrate? You got it, boss!"
5 -- "Remember, men: although we praise the peanut vendor in song tonight, only the hot dog vendor can make us one with everything."
6 -- "Make it more spritely, if you know what I mean. Brighter! Livelier! I wish I could think of another word!"
7 -- "Dear Sen. McCarthy: Thank you for your patriotic attacks on the communists. If things get any worse, in 50 or 60 years we'll have a communist president! We might as well have (ha ha) a Negro!"
8 -- It's a boy, Mrs. Walker, it's a boy. Well, we guess that goes without saying this week.
9 -- "It's...odd, or curious, or something like that...that these are the boss's favorite instruments."
10 -- "Put it in my mouth? Can do!"
11 -- "Cool, daddy-o, cool! Real gone! I'm hip to that jive! And other delightful yet dated slang!"
12 -- Strange, but true: In the primitive 1950s, Gummo was still two-dimensional!