Customer Reviews

Liberace: An American Boy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Far be it from me to take issue with the esteemed Kirkus Service, but references to the ceremonies of the Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece, as well as the Antinomian and Arminian heresies are inevitable when you're dealing with a phenomenon like Liberace. Well-researched and extensively footnoted, "Liberace: An American Boy" is a serious attempt at (as Oscar Levant would say) cutting through all that phony tinsel to find the real tinsel underneath. Just why is it that that this curious carnival figure -- odder with each passing year -- so captivated the American public? There's no way to neatly answer such a question, and this book, thankfully, doesn't try to. What it does is delicately take Liberace apart in order to reassemble him with as much of his chintzy glory as possible left still intact. While the author takes issue with the conclusions I came to in my book "Open Secret," he does quote from it copiously and accurately. Consequently I'm not about to carp. Suffice to say, however, that "An American Boy" isn't the last word on Liberace. It's only the second. Let's hope there's more to come.

Carefully researched and well written, this extensive volume details the life of Liberace, peeling away the layers and layers of half-truths, deceptions, and publicity machine myths. A well-loved and talented entertainer, Liberace lived a double life protecting his public image with a fierceness that caused much private agony. Liberace could not even tell the truth in his own biography, lest he be labeled as a liar and countersued by publications he had sued when they reported he was gay. This book details his relationships with friends, family and lovers. Pyron also gives wonderful detail on how Liberace got his start, tracing his career from his start in sleezy Wisconsin dives to his lavish Las Vegas productions. Liberace was smart enough to know his limitations and to exploit his strengths. This books gives a balanced view of the man and the entertainer; in addition, the author gives a detailed historical/sociological background about the lives of gay men in general, which provides an informative backdrop and better understanding of how and why Liberace functioned the way he did. The book may seem rather monotous and dry at times, but that is the author's style; this is a serious, intelligent book, not some gossipy tell-all. Unlike many biographers who write about celebrities, Pyron has great regard and respect for his subject. A must for all Liberace fans and for those interested in the lives of famous gay entertainers.

Unquestionably there are few authors in the historical profession who write biography as impeccably as Darden Asbury Pyron. Pyron once orated in class "In order to write biography you must eat, sleep, and breath the person's life." Pyron's biography of Liberace is a masterpiece. Some critics find his style dry and lacking in substance. Those readers themselves achieved only a superficial understanding of the pianist and of the author's prose. Pyron offers a balanced perspective of the artist and manages to allow readers not to judge Liberace, but to understand his life, circumstances, and the atmosphere in which he existed under duress and pressure for so long a time. It is a wonder that Liberace remained free from the ill-health effects usually suffered by those under immense personal and societal pressure. Only his contraction of HIV and brief scare from potential renal failure significantly derailed the artist. This biography reveals the tragedy of the pianist's life and piecemeal assembles the development of a real entertainer, a genuine American "hero" or sorts. Liberace was not a sexual hero as so much of his identity seemed suspended in air and never definitively revealed, but he was a man of integrity and someone of true character. Pyron magnificently illuminates the many shades of Liberace, the different gradations of his soul, and allows readers to take the journey of Liberace's life and times with him.

THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER LIBERACE BOOKS. PUBLISHED BY, ST. MARTIN'S UNIVERSITY PRESS, IT DOES NOT FOCUS SO MUCH ON LIBERACE'S JEWELS, COSTUME ECT., BUT RATHER, WHAT EVENTS IN LIBERACE'S LIFE SHAPED THE PERSON HE WAS TO BECOME.

HIS PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR OF 30 YEARS (RAY ARNETT) IS AN EXTREMELY CLOSE FRIEND OF MINE FOR MANY YEARS NOW; HE ALSO LOVED THE BOOK

Well researched, objective, accurate. Pyron has done a fantastic job of highlighting the most significant moments in Lee's life.

One of the more incoherent biographies of recent times, this tract begins with the flaw of wanting to be metaphorical. Wally Liberace was an enjoyable high-camp entertainer, who appeared at a time when you could cause controversy wearing white tails in a classical recital. The author takes a wildly discursive journey through post-war America, trying to draw curious parallels with the entertainer's career (and hookum Cluade Bristol philosophy, which extolled mind mastery to overcome every problem including physical disability), and America's own story of upward mobility and unlimited opportunity for anyone with a dream. A writer with better judgement would have not over reached but simply told this as the story of an ambitious entertainer who made it big by offering class to people with little taste during a time of post-war austerity, then parlayed this into visual controversy ("topping himself" with ever greater extravagance) after the initial novelty wore off. The prose is choked with philosophical discursion and rhetorical questions, none of which are developed or answered, which belong in an undergraduate tutorial on identity theory. At one point, the narrative stops as the author conducts a tail chasing exposition on sexual identity that goes on for several pages. What a competent prose stylist could have said in a brief chapter goes on for dozens of pages. Like his subject, the wordsmith seems more intent on putting on a show than providing a coherent narrative. This book won't shed much light on the club career before the television series, how the performer created the act and the personae, and is silent about the attempt by management to turn him into a bandleader at one stage.
To the unwary, this big, imposing book might look like it offers a substantial, even definitive account. Don't be fooled.

if this book were half of it's 420 pages, it would've been an excellent read. overall, i think the book is a great study of America in mid-century and especially of gay culture at that time. Anecdotes and quotes are repeated frequently in the book which gave me a sense of deja-vu as I was reading it.

Darden Asbury Pyron has a rather dry style which made this a rather boring and long-winded read for me. He has done little but assemble historical facts and comments and package them up in his own uninspiring style - rather reminiscent of school history textbooks - and added a few of his own little presumptions and snide remarks about Liberace's ambitions, achievements and lifestyle.

Darden Asbury Pyron has a rather dry style which made this a rather boring and long-winded read for me. He has done little but assemble historical facts, comments and reports from the time, package them up in his own rather uninspiring style - rather reminiscent of school history textbooks - and add a few of his own little presumptions/subtly snide remarks about Liberace's ambitions, achievements and lifestyle.