Name: Liberace Gave Elvis Presley His Look | Letterman
Uploaded: 2022-12-14T16:15:53.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Liberace Gave Elvis Presley His Look | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-12-14. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Liberace Gave Elvis Presley His Look | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-12-14. Transcript available.

Thank you very much, folks, and welcome back to the show.
My first guest tonight will be appearing right across the street from us
at Radio City Music Hall on April 18th through the 29th.
Mr. Showmanship himself.
It's a pleasure to welcome Liberace.
How are you?
Hey, nice to see you. Good, how are you?
How are you?
Hi, David.
Nice to see you. Did you see Paul's lava lamp there?
I sure did. I love it.
That's how I started.
How did you begin with the candelabra?
Well, seriously.
I saw a movie in 1945 called A Song to Remember.
Yeah, who's in the film?
Cornel Wilde, Merle Oberon.
It was based on the life of Chopin.
And the next day, I was opening at the Persian Room at the Plaza Hotel
following a very popular and famous star, Hildegard.
That was her room.
Hildegard.
Hildegard.
Now, what did Hildegard do? Is Hildegard still with us?
Yes, she is.
And if we were to go see her, what would she be doing?
Well, Hildegard was perhaps one of the most famous Chanteuse Supper Club
performers.
She played the piano, she sang, she wore gloves, and she gave away roses and
things.
She had a real fabulous Supper Club style.
A real uptown class kind of deal here, huh?
Strictly class, yeah.
And she wore beautiful gowns and everything.
So, I was following her at the Persian Room.
So, I figured, well, she's got the gloves and the rose, I've got to have some
kind of a gimmick.
So, I saw the movie the day before I opened, and the candelabra was such an
important prop used in the life of Chopin.
I went to 3rd Avenue after seeing the movie, and I bought the prettiest cantelabra
I could find.
And the next night I opened at the Persian Room, and I had them turn off all
the lights in the Persian Room.
And then an attendant walked in with the cantelabra and set it on the piano.
That's nice.
And it got the attention of the people.
I thought, somebody important is going to come.
And I walked in, and I started to do my show.
And it was an instant, overnight trademark, and I've had it ever since.
Yeah, that's terrific.
Let me ask you about your name.
Now, you mentioned Hildegard.
Hildegard, and then Paul and I were talking about the other night, Cher.
See, I maintain, if Cher wants to be a serious actress, she's got to come up
with a last name.
And your name is Liberace.
Now, was there ever another?
Is that your real name?
Was it part of the name?
That's my family name.
It's your family name.
My father's name, Liberace.
And I was christened Polish for Walter, which no one could pronounce, called Wadju.
That's Walter in Polish.
And then my mother was a great fan of Rudolf Valentino, so my second name was
Valentino.
So I was Walter Valentino Liberace, and that took up the whole sign.
We dropped the first two names, and I legally became a one-name person.
I vote with one name.
I have a passport and one name.
Sometimes I have a little problem explaining it.
I said, you've got to have a first name.
You've got to.
I said, why?
My friends call me Lee, so that's it.
I have a painting at home that's signed Letterman.
Did you ever paint?
No, I never did any painting.
Well, somebody's using your name.
Is it a nice?
It's very nice.
What kind of work is it?
I hesitate to tell you I have it in the bathroom.
But it's a nice painting.
You're obviously very proud of it, then.
No, it captures your attention.
No, this is the first I've heard of this.
You know, when you're sitting, I've got to have something to look at.
No, but I mean, it's a good painting.
It really is.
Well, I don't know the person who did it, but that's interesting.
Letterman is not a common name, by the way.
I didn't think so.
That's why I thought maybe you had a business going outside.
That's why I'm just changing my name to Dave, I think.
Now, I wanted to ask you about, did you ever work under any other name, but we've
got to
go away here.
Think that over.
I will.
And then we'll come back with Liberace, folks.
Come on back.
Liberace is here.
Tell me about this picture, if you will.
This is a, there's got to be a great story with this.
If not, it's a great picture anyway.
Oh, thank you.
The first time Elvis Presley ever played Las Vegas, he was booked on a bill
with Freddie
Martin's orchestra at the Frontier Hotel.
Now, that right away sounds like a mistake.
It was.
Yeah.
And the kids loved him, but he wasn't, at that time, he wasn't ready for,
the adult audiences in Vegas.
And Colonel Parker, who is a friend of mine, said, would you come over and do
some publicity
pictures with Elvis?
And so we traded jackets.
He's wearing my jacket, and I took his guitar.
And we, this picture went all over the world.
And Elvis was so impressed with the fact that I wore sparkly jackets.
He said, could I wear a sparkly outfit in my next movie, would you mind?
He thought that you owned the rights to wear a sparkly jacket.
This is his jacket, which I gave back to him.
Yeah, a sedate little number there.
And in his next movie, he wore not only a gold lamé jacket, but he had pants
to match.
Oh, heaven.
So you were, in a way, responsible for a change in his wardrobe.
You know, we all, ever since that picture was taken, we were very good friends.
Every opening night, he would send me a guitar, all made out of flowers.
And I would send him, on his opening night, a piano, all made out of flowers.
He was a real nice guy.
What year was that taken, do you know?
That was taken in 1956.
Yeah.
You brought up the clothes and so forth, and you got some things here, some
items.
I want to get back to the thing about another name that you may have worked on.
But we have here a list entitled Liberace the Collector.
Do you mind if I share the folks, share with the folks some items on here?
It's a collector.
I'm anxious to hear.
A $150,000 floor-length black diamond mink coat, lined with 40,000, two-and-a-half-carat
Austrian rhinestones.
What's that, just for the house?
A velvet cape, covered with $60,000 worth of chinchilla, styled after the coronation
robes
of King George V, and especially designed for Liberace's first Royal Command
performance.
My, oh my.
Here's some jewelry.
Is it right if I read this on you?
Sure.
Okay.
A candelabra ring with platinum candlesticks and diamond flames.
Oh, you have that one here.
I have that one.
Oh, can we show?
Sure.
Oh, my goodness.
It's this one over there.
There you go.
There you go.
Oh.
And what's that plain little thing on your small finger?
Let's see.
Oh, brother, what is that?
That's three tours of South Africa.
Oh, wow.
At the end of each tour, my promoters gave me a diamond ring, so I wanted to
wear them
all at once, but I ran out of the finger.
Oh, sure.
Well, yeah.
So when I got home, I said, put those three rings together so I can wear them
all at once.
Let me see.
Tell me about this giant purple stone here.
What is that thing?
Well, this is probably the ring I'm most proud of.
This was given to me for the Royal Command performance that you mentioned.
It was originally a paperweight, though, wasn't it?
Originally a doorstop, then a paperweight, and now...
Well, it was designed by the same jewelers who do all the jewelry for Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
So I'm very proud of it.
I've never bought a piece of jewelry for myself.
It's all been given.
The Baron Hilton gave me the piano ring, which is air-conditioned.
Oh, heavens.
That's unbelievable.
And this is the piano watch, which my manager gave me for my 35th anniversary
in show business.
Uh-huh.
And now I'm about to celebrate my 40th anniversary.
That's right, your 40th?
Yeah.
And this is a watch with my nickname on.
This is the right name, sir.
I mean, a bracelet with my nickname.
We're going to have to get some welder's masks for the audience.
The glare here may be a little intense.
Well, those are some amazing pieces of jewelry.
Tell me now about ever having worked under a different name.
Yes, I did.
I didn't choose the name.
I was about to be soloist.
This is when I was about 19 years old with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
And back in those days, I was also appearing with a dance band, the J. Mills
Dance Orchestra.
And we were on a very popular radio show called the Fitch Bandwagon.
The Fitch Bandwagon?
The Fitch Bandwagon, yeah.
Is that still on the air?
No.
That went out with the big bands, didn't it?
And the Chicago Symphony Orchestra manager found out that I was playing in a
dance band.
And he was very upset.
He said, unless you use a different name for your dance band work, we won't let
you perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
So I went to the orchestra leader, J. Mills, and I said, you've got to give me
a different name for at least six months.
After I played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, then I can use my real name.
Right.
So he had to come up with a name, so he called me Walter Buster Keys.
Oh, that's good.
Oh, that's good.
Terrible name.
Yeah, that wouldn't look good in diamonds on a bracelet.
No siree.
But I, you'd be surprised, the name caught on.
It did.
And to this day, I have people come up to me and they say, you know, I used to
know a piano player by the name of Buster.
Are you Buster?
Do I look like the Buster?
You're going to play something for us tonight, aren't you?
You want me to?
Oh, yeah, if you don't mind.
Welcome back.
Coming up on this program tonight, we're going to take a five-minute break with
our own beloved Bob Rooney,
also from Educating Rita.
Julie Walters is here Monday.
Shelley Winters will be on the show, Tom Breeson, and plenty of fun.
You will be at Radio City Music Hall.
This is the room that was built for you.
This is a perfect match.
Have you ever been there before?
I've seen many shows.
In fact, I just saw the Christmas show, which was spectacular.
And it really, first time this year, I really got the mood.
But you've never worked in there, huh?
Never did.
I worked at the Roxy Theater years ago.
And you're going to use all the stuff, right?
Everything.
The dancing water, the what else?
The cars.
The lasers, the smoke bombs.
I'm bringing all the pianos.
Yeah.
So that's April.
What are the dates?
I open the Wednesday before Easter, and I'll be there for ten performances.
And this is to help celebrate your 40th anniversary at Chobis?
That's right.
That's amazing.
What are you going to do tonight?
Well, if it's not too late, I'd like to let some of that holiday music out that
I heard today.
We would be delighted.
I was inspired by it.
This is a nice touch.
Liberace, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.