Added: 5 years ago
From: showmanlee
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  • Television used to be good huh

  • Super.TY for posting

  • How easy and yet very classy entertainment was at that time.....Just incredible that we don't have that kind of shows these days, I really miss them both

  • Very talented musician! And Lee seems to be a tad underdressed compared to Sammy in this show.

  • The camera can't keep up with his hands. <3

  • many piano players are good technicians with the piano and can play this...but it takes someone who actually understands this music to play it as it should. he certainly shows that passion and intensity that this piece needs to be played with!

  • that jacket he's wearing inspired Elvis and Michael Jackson.

  • Is that Trini Lopez on guitar?

  • legit old school swag

    

  • i want to rock a jacket like that, fucking sick. with my bow tie, my life would be complete

  • I had the pleasure of seeing Liberace play at Miami Dade Auditorium. He was a real showman. Very talented and great gift of people. His music will live forever. Does anyone knows where he was born.?

  • @anailoreviv i think he's from wisconsin.

  • IF YOU DON'T KNOW.......THAT'S 100% CUBAN MUSIC FROM ERNESTO LECUONA EL MAS GRANDE DE TODOS...

  • OH MY GOD THIS MAN WAS POWERFUL.........The arpeggios are what makes it, and the speed is par excellance. Maleguena is not for the faint hearted. I lose a pound every time I play it. It actually makes me breathless when it's finished, and I'm in tip top shape. No wonder you don't see any pianists w/ a lb. to spare, the energy it takes to play classical music, can turn a pianist into a ''stick-man/stick-woman. I'm the latter, from playing ''classical'' piano. Is that funny or what?

  • What a showman!

  • he was a powerful dynamo, and will go down in history as a great pianist........

  • hot damn. i like that jacket and the song

  • Wow! Bowing after receiving applause instead of saying: "Yo, Yo, Yo wassup yo?"

    What a different world it was back then.

  • There ain't anyone like that now.

  • I just the way it begins ooo ahh the serenity of it is SPECTACULAR and you are one inspiring man Liberace , you inspired apart of the woman i wasn't before, i love you Lee Liberace/ :/ sorely missed to bad i wasn't here yet.. '96 here

  • Bring them back ! I miss them both !

  • And this my friends, is what a classic is! Don't feel bad about yourself, just know what inspires you! and everyone else. Don't settle for less

  • How many people did he influence to play the piano? Elton John, and that guy I just seen on Americas got talent.

  • I quit playing piano after watching this.

  • It is truly amazing to me that it takes this highly complex piano, wieghing neary 1000 pounds and a highly skilled pianist to duplicate, almost note for note what can be accomplished by some experts on a simple guitar wieghing only 2-pounds.

  • I'm 18 and I'm watching this. :)

  • "They say such horrible things about me, I cry myself all the way to the bank every night" -Liberace

  • O.O!

  • we saw this performance back in the 60s on tv.my dad,(who didnt say very much usually),answered my sisters question about liberace being married."dont hold your breath" he replied.master showman and a gifted musician.actually,a very enjoyable performer.his appearances on batman was a riot!

  • Had the priviledge of seeing one of his shows at Lake Tahoe, many years ago ! Never forget, my 5 yr old daughter wanted to wait for the next show !!!!!

  • Malagueña de ojos negros,

    Malagueña de mi sueños...

  • Absolutely one of the best renditions I have seen yet...One of the hardest pieces to play be it any instrument....Bravo!

  • Phil Donahue asked him if he was ever annoyed when he had to make a trip to the grocery store and people would point and say "hey there's Liberace!", he replied to Donahue laughingly, "Oh no,It beats obscurity all to hell".When also asked about the huge diamond creations on his fingers," Well you bought 'em for me baby"

  • HEY, SAMMY IS IN THE BEGINNING. <3

    Liberace is an awesome guy as well.

  • WOW.....a man who enjoyed and totally rocked his God given talent

  • A wonderful performance! I often see negative comments about Lee's style of playing; moving his arms, etc. I like to set the record straight about this. His style is actually based on a legitimate style of Romantic piano from the 19th century; Liszt, Chopin, etc. He exaggerated the style somewhat so audience in back of hall could see him better. Most classical pianists today use a flat-hand approach with hands always close to keys. Also, this arrangement is close to the original.

  • @timothystapay The greatet pianist ever

  • I really love part from 2:37 :)

  • He ripped the Malaguena a new asshole...

  • Liberace demonstrates two melodies simultaneously,LH and RH, rhythymically. He made a lot of dough in the old days with his tv show and Vegas performances.he had been the butt of jokes for years but he was pure talent, heart and generosity.Enough to support 29 families and countless charities.

  • He was absolutely marvelous, and will be missed forever!

  • At first I was like "This is going to suck.", and then I was like "Hey, this is pretty good", and by the end I was like "These guys are great!".

  • Sammy Davis Intro Of Mr Liberace. Awesome.

  • Sammy AND Liberace! Brilliant.

  • one of my favorites!!!

  • Wow, he has mad skillz.

  • AHHH SAMMY!!! AND LIBERACE IM IN HEAVEN

  • Imagine Liberace on the piano and Roy Clark on the guitar. Everyone in the audience would need oxygen.

  • the guy on the guitar is like :( ummm ... im ashamed

  • @KadeshLeMort yeah I too think the guitar player was ashamed--however I imagine you and I would disagree on the reasons for said embarassment. :)

  • two excellent performers!!!

  • Liberace was one of my favorite inspirations growing up. What a wonderful legacy of music and smiles he left behind. I love his showmanship and BLING! He reminds me of my grandmother, Lucia Pamela. And Sammy was amazing and so fabulous to watch too! Hope they're having a great time on the "other side!"

  • I believe that, with practice, one really CAN find the way to Carnegie Hall. I also believe there are human beings who were born to perform...whose brilliance and genius in from of an audience cannot be explained by rehearsal alone. Liberace and Sammy were two such "born performers".

  • Sheer Brilliance!

  • I must take exception to nchannon1984's comment -- He WAS appreciated, admired, loved for his abilities back in the 60s. We knew he was "unique" (LiquidXevil take note), which means -- one of a kind. They don't make them like they used to for sure!! What an entertainer!!!

  • I must take exception to nchannon1984's comment -- He WAS appreciated, admired, loved for his abilities back in the 60s. We knew he was "unique" (LiquidXevil take note), which means -- one of a kind. They don't make them like they used to for sure!! What talent!!!

  • Show me a better pianist that lives today... or has ever lived! He can play ANY style with such grace and fluidity, feeling amd emotion, he didn't get the credit he deserved i feel.

  • LIBERACE WAS TRULY ONE OF A KIND..........I COULD LISTEN TO HIM DAY & NIGHT.WE MUST APPRECIATE HIM FOR BEING A CROWN JEWEL OF PIANISTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY.ALL THE CLASSICAL COMPOSERS WOULD HAVE SURELY APPROVED OF THE FACT THAT HE WAS TRULY A WIZARD OF THE PIANO.....HE COULD SURE DRAW THE CROWD. I HEARD HIM IN ERIE,PA. WAY BACK. WHEN HE ASKED ''ANYTHING You want to hear? I stood up & YELLED ''MALEGUENA"' !!!!!! backwards. he was shocked, & couldn't stop laugh'g...............

  • Nothing like the showmen of the 60's.

  • VERY GOOD....!!!!

  • Liberace Rocks......

  • wow great he plays just like my bro

  • Absolutely wonderful, best performance I've seen yet.

  • Simply amazing!!! Two legends!!!!

  • WOW

  • fricken pro.

  • I hear the orchestra but I don't see them. Must be behind the stage since it looks like there is no orchestra pit in front.

  • This is my first time watching liberace, and I already hate his showmanship to death, what a disgrace to serious musicians who study piano for it's art.... I know I'm setting myself up for many flames, but goodness, the way he throws his arms about.... it makes me sick

  • @SealedSage I too find his flapping around a bit annoying, but that's not to say that he's not an amazing musician! Close your eyes if it bothers you so much.  Given the kind of performances he did, of course he was showy!

    I take issue with your judgement that he's not a "serious musician". What is art if not something that evokes an emotional reaction from its listeners? It certainly got that from you! Close your eyes and just listen and feel it. That's how music is best enjoyed anyway.

  • @Sploogal Thanks you for not flaming me :) I realize i spoke out of great anger last time and am since over it. But I do not think that Liberace really respected the composers and their music. If something was too simple for him he glamoured it up and if it was too difficult, he simplified it. I took your advice and listened to the recording wiith my eyes closed. It's like he recreated this piece in his own image. His use of of the drums and drums and ... guitar solo... distracted

  • @SealedSage I'm glad you tried closing your eyes. As somebody who writes my own music as well as having tried my hand at writing arrangements, I would say the opposite - I think it shows a lot of respect for the original artists to take their music and modernise it but still preserve the original thematic material.  It would've taken a lot of time and effort to do so. Every time we play a piece of music we put a bit of ourselves into it. He just took it a step further, that's all. Thoughts?

  • anyone know who the guitar player is?

  • I miss his flamboyance! He was a perfectionist and a truly remarkable entertainer!

    Thanks for posting this great video!

    <3 Maureen

  • Who cares if he was gay? He had a fantastic talent and was a great showman. He really enjoyed entertaining people, even if it was a bit over the top at times.

  • Love the extra treat of Sammy and Liberace dancing a bit.

  • Awesome clip! Liberace was the man! What a performer!

  • @korranis1 You obviously have no clue whatsoever as to the immense talent of this man(who gives a damn what he did in private?) Go play somewhere else, please.

  • Not just a piano player, but a real entertainer and artiste too.

  • i can't belive liberace was gay...

  • Wow Sammy can dance!

  • as always amazing - and it was ALL in his head - not a bloody single piece of sheet music to be seen- mind boggling!

  • @cometkatt not many people could read something that fast. To me... reading music so fast is mind boggling (but I haven't started from being a kid).

  • They called it ENTERTAINMENT!!!

  • he's surprisingly light on his feet. Cute!

  • Liberace . God bless him, was the best

  • liberace was the greatest piano player in the history of piano playing.

  • GREAT performer and pianist. Thanks for sharing your hard work and talent with the world, Lee. Rest in peace.

  • Unique 

  • I think by Liberace's standards, this performance shows a lot of restraint and taste. Not to mention that is obvious that he had quite a technique in his prime. Classical snobs may hate this, but he knew he was entering a highly competitive field when he started out as a classical pianist (his early recordings of Chopin are quite enjoyable) and he learned early that he could carve out a very profitable niche in the entertainment world. Certainly made lots and lots of money doing this.

  • At least he diidn't smoke cigarettes on camera. Yuck!

  • was looking away from the pc ..and next thing I see is Sammy Davis jr with a curly wig.. playing guitar?????? wtf.. lol... ~that's it, NO MORE BEER FOR ME!! Love Liberace.. showman and great pianist .. and not necessarily in that order.

  • wow hes gudd

  • That guy? Sammy Davis Jr. Him, Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, (the original Rat Pack

    That Guy? Sammy Davis Jr. Establishment cool all the way.

  • Love this song. That guy must have been the coolest host out, smokin' on national tv lmao

  • if this don't turn you on, you got no switches hahahaha!

  • Magic, Liberace!

  • wonderful entertainer!!!!

  • Feldman gave a great effort...but much too slow and deliberate and the the right hand was too legato to represent the effect of the feel and exuberance of the Spanish Tradition. ALTHOUGH....Liberace could haev played this about 6 ticks slower (about 94-ish), his spirit and technique and obvious showmanship gives way to the fact that Liberace was a genious at work. Of course he was a bit flashy and over the top...hence a showman with exceptional classical training.

  • I wonder if these self appointed experts wold be as annoyed if they just listened without the video. Yes the costumes are flashy, and the gestures are grand, but generally the playing is quite fine, broad dynamic range, nicely handled arpeggios and scales, the whole marred by a couple of splats that most probably didn't notice.

    This was largely about showmanship, particularly in this clip, which is taken from a show not aimed at a symphony audience. But that is no sin.

  • @ClassicMusicOnly

    Criticizing 50 year old performances on a Vaudeville program must be the newest craze among the "musical elite."

    Lighten up, Francis.

  • simply. amazing.

  • . . . it is his intent of discovering the spirit of this masterwork. What a difference!!! 95/100 to Anthony, 20/100 to Liberace.

  • . . . All the virtuosity ends up in a display of clownishness. What the base drum has to do with this expression for instance? This is a clear example of what commercialism does to the art (in this particular case to music). It kills it. What a pity!! For instance, listen to this 13 Y.O. kid, Anthony Feldman {Search: (Malaguena, from the Andalucia Suite by Ernesto Lecuona) here in youtube}. It is not the dollars that guides his fingers, . . . .

  • @Qharisunqu2

    He was a very accomplished pianist, a true showman and very entertaining. He was a joy to watch. What is your problem?

  • Malagueña is a Spanish melody composed by a Cuban composer (Ernesto Lecuona). What sensibility and what understanding of the Spanish music and soul by this composer to be able to discover the Spanish essence and express it in this wonderful composition; to such a degree that the Spanish themselves feel it as their own. Now it comes this SHOWMAN, trying to be special and different and instead ends up being ostentatious and superficial. So far away from its essence. . . .

  • A very amusing performance!

  • The announcer! that was Sammy Davis Jr he is not an announcer

  • Say what you will-------he was damn good; a real showman

  • @wborgstro THE BEST

  • Awesome. I also like the guitarist playing a classical piece on steel string wow!!!

  • This guy is amazing

  • This is great,he was a very unique performer,he was truly one of a kind

  • @balto4 YES....HE WAS VERY UNIQUE.  :))

    JUST A TIP THO, DON'T QUALIFY THE WORD UNIQUE>>TIS INCORRECT GRAMMER

  • What a performance! He was dressed much more conservatively here than later on. Two geniuses on TV at once.

  • The announcer is the legendary performer and member of the Rat Pack, Sammy Davis, Jr.

  • Ouch man...

  • Was Liberace ever married?

    Didn't he have a son named Larry Liberace?

  • I love how the announcer is smoking on air

  • Does anyone have video of Liberace playing "12th street rag"? If so ,might they consider posting it? It's an amazing performance.

  • He was so unique,thats what i love about him,really one of a kind

  • Is that Trini Lopez on guitar?

  • LONG LIVE LIBERACE!

  • best Malaguena ever = Hawthorne Muchachoes Drum & Bugle 1974 at DCI Finals in Ithaca

  • Fantastic performance!

  • Great laugh at the beginning!

  • That's the fakest laugh at the beginning...its like someone held up a card that said "Laugh"

  • I imagine that Liberace was very particular about where he ate,as he apparently always munched at the Chocolate Starfish!

  • BM!!!!!!!!

  • Wow they look like they're having so much fun showing off onstage! Haha! I really liked the guitar-piano call and answer.

  • I used to watch him on TV in the 50's and then wanted to see him in person but I was too late and now I can't get enough of his performing. Really entertains me enormously.

  • Whoa....... do I miss these days!! That was a marvelous television show~ Sammy was such a showman, and he and Liberace just built off each other!

  • Sammy Davis with the goatee and the cigarette in a Tux how cool man those were the days.

  • who is playing the guitar, is that lees brother

  • Not George.

  • I learnt how to play this on guitar when I was a kid.

    He's cool, so flashy. I used to pronounce his name 'Liber ace', lol.

  • can i watch one of her vids and i'l give you my opinion, an honest one at that!

  • Comment removed

  • You are a SICK VIAL mouthed people.

  • My piano teacher hated Liberace, so I didn't tell her that I watched him on TV. Such a great talent!

  • because of jealousy or what?

  • She thought he was showy and didn't like that he had his own interpretation of classical pieces, which was not the same as hers. She was a very straight, hardline classical pianist and yes, maybe jealous.

  • So glad I didnt live during the time period when everyone was able to smoke anywhere and anytime. Goddamn I hate cigarettes!

  • thats the way the rat pack was, they smoked on stage and also drank them selves silly on stage, that was there way!

  • I have the video and this doesn't do justice to the colors. He is is georgous baby blue pants, slightly darker shade in the sequined jacket, and a darker blue cumberbun. It is stunning in the original colors......and I love his dancing too..very talented. He love to say "I'm not good, but I've got guts".

  • what a great segment!...two wonderful & talented entertainers!

  • Fantastico !!

  • The greatest !! one of a kind, - no-one else has ever combined extraordinary virtuosity with such flamboyance, except maybe Jimi Hendrix.

  • what show is this?

  • Hollywood Palace

  • I love Sammy Davis Jr. as an entainer, but I if had to watch one or the other it would be Liberace. The other person I would watch is Fred Astaire.

  • Liberace died in 1987 from what the glory seaching coroner said was an "opportunistic disease" caused by the HIV/aids virus. That is a way of saying it is not conclusive. As people should know you do not have to be gay to contract HIV/aids virus. There could be other causes as well.

  • flamboyant

  • an amazing entertainer

  • I'm regreting a little, 4 starts, because I would stop the video at 4:02 :S

  • A true story about Liberace's generosity: He played at a R.I. venue in many summers, and grew fond of a small, local restaurant. One night after a show, the owner happened to mention she was looking to buy a new, used car. Lee asked as to what model and color did she REALLY like? The next night Lee arrived after the final show in a new Cadillac Convertible in the color mentioned, and gave her the keys to her new car!

  • wow the music they added in the background totally killed it.

  • he made that piano his *****!!!

  • This is amazing! I think people would watch this even if he performed this song just like this performance! Does anyone know if all that he is playing is in sheet music! Sounds like he's improvising or has arranged his own version.

  • Miss Pianist.. i wish you could have seen him in person. In this song, he is not playing by music, but improvising to his style. Liberace picked up on a pianists style in the 40's named Eddy Duchin and the love of Chopin, listz.

    Carmen Carvelero played the piano in the Movie 'The Eddy Duchin Story'. Liberace if watched closely when playing to the note by music, memorized such as Moonlight Sonota, is off in his world of his heart, mind, and who he is down to his fingers and plays.

  • really good, is he still playing, or even alive? =o

  • died of aids i believe