If artists had to carve four faces into the San Jacinto Mountains to create a Mt. Rushmore of Palm Springs celebrities, they’d probably start with Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Sonny Bono.
And because it would need to be inclusive, they’d probably need a bigger mountain.
But, going with the fantasy of a Palm Springs equivalent of the all-male Mt. Rushmore, a strong case could be made for completing the four faces with Władziu Valentino “Lee” Liberace.
The famously flamboyant pianist, who died of AIDS-related illnesses at his Palm Springs home in 1987 and was the subject of the Michael Douglas-starring film, “Behind the Candelabra,” in 2013, is experiencing another revival of interest in the SoCal desert.
At least three tributes to Liberace are planned in Palm Springs this season. Two will be at Old Las Palmas estates associated with Liberace, donated by their owners for charitable causes.
Amy’s Purpose, an animal protection charity seeking to provide scholarships for students of veterinary services, is presenting “An Evening of Liberace” Oct. 13 at the lush Casa de Monte Vista estate, where much of “Behind the Candelabra” was shot. (See details below).
The Palm Springs International Piano Competition, which presents a triennial contest for elite teen and young-adult pianists from around the world, is presenting another Liberace-themed benefit March 20 at Piazza de Liberace, Liberace’s private getaway at 1441 N. Kaweah Road.
The Amy’s Purpose “Evening” is a two-tiered event with a dinner at nearby Eight4Nine restaurant, and/or a party and concert featuring Liberace’s Palm Springs-based friend Jere Ring and Connecticut’s David Maiocco. Liberace discovered Ring and hired him to sing and play piano at his Tivoli Gardens restaurant in Las Vegas in 1983. Maiocco, a piano prodigy at age 3, is billed as the nation’s “number one Liberace tribute artist.”
The PSIPC event is titled “The Return of David Maiocco as Liberace.”
“The Music of Maximo Marcuso: Liberace Meets Pavarotti on Broadway” also arrives Sept. 13 at Oscar’s Downtown Palm Springs. Pianist Michael Orland will accompany the dramatic Guatemalan tenor in a 90-minute program featuring 30 minutes of Liberace material.
(See below for details for all 3 events)
Liberace, whose death sparked a national conversation about AIDS and its distinction from the HIV virus, posthumously received the 14th spot on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in 1994, ahead of such Coachella Valley legends as Sinatra, Bono, and Elvis Presley.
I only met him once, but I interviewed many of his friends and helped coordinate The Desert Sun’s coverage of his lingering, controversial deathwatch. I’m producing the Amy’s Purpose Oct. 13 benefit partly because I think it’s time he received greater appreciation in Palm Springs.
Liberace actually was one of Presley’s mentors. He was Presley’s mother’s favorite entertainer, and the first celebrity Elvis sought out during his first Las Vegas appearance in 1956. They bonded over being twins whose brothers died during childbirth and they exchanged flowers on special occasions for the rest of their lives. Elvis surpassed Liberace as the highest-paid Vegas entertainer in the 1970s after Liberace advised him to wear more colorful stage attire.
Liberace owned four houses in Palm Springs (not counting his mother’s abode connected by a tunnel to her son’s main Casa de Liberace on Alejo and Belardo roads). Elvis owned just one, on Chino Canyon Road in the 1970s. But Elvis rented a house behind Liberace’s Piazza de Liberace in 1968 and ’69. Liberace’s housekeeper of 39 years, the late Gladys Luckie, told me in 1995 that Liberace once hosted Elvis for dinner.
“He had a home right in the back of us and he came over one evening and we barbecued for him,” she recalled. “I’d see him out in the backyard. He and Lee would be talking over the fence. Lee was very fond of Elvis.”
Liberace began performing in Palm Springs at the iconic Chi Chi club in 1951. He bought his first local home after spending the summer of 1953 at big band leader Horace Heidt’s Lone Palm Hotel at 1276 N. Indian Canyon Drive – when it was closed for the summer.
Liberace had become a national sensation a year earlier after making a name for himself in the ’40s performing classically-infused pop instrumental hits, such as “Boogie Woogie” and “Tiger Rag,” alongside “serious” compositions by the likes of Liszt and Chopin.
Producer Don Fedderson, a part-time Palm Springs resident, got him a Los Angeles TV show in early 1952 after he’d already played to 220,000 people at Soldier’s Field in Chicago. It became a 15-minute summer replacement for Dinah Shore’s daytime NBC show and was so popular, it was syndicated on 180 stations across the country, turning Liberace into a matinee TV star.
Liberace found the solitude of Palm Springs, and its tradition of respecting its celebrities’ privacy, conducive to the freedom he longed to experience as a closeted gay man. After many visits, he bought his first home at 1516 S. Manzanita Ave. in the Deepwell neighborhood in 1957. But rumors of his personal life made their way back to his conservative mother, who encouraged Lee to buy a house for his older brother, George, to counter the “hillbillies and freeloaders” she told the Associated Press Lee was associating with in Palm Springs.
Author Bob Thomas said in his 1987 biography, “Liberace,” George asked his brother, “How can you keep saying in public, and in courtrooms, that you’re not a homosexual and then you hang out in the Springs with a bunch of (gay slur). You’re going to get nailed someday.”
George was referring to a 1959 libel case in England in which Lee sued a Daily Mirror columnist for intimating he was gay at a time when homosexual sex was illegal in the UK. Liberace denied it, stating, “I am against the practice because it offends convention and it offends society.” He was awarded £8,000.
He again denied being gay in a 1982 palimony case brought by his young chauffeur, Scott Thorson. That case was settled out of court in 1986, one year before Liberace died without ever admitting his sexual orientation and risking a lawsuit for perjury.
But Liberace was loved in Palm Springs in the LGBTQ+ and straight communities.
Liberace’s small circle of gay Palm Springs friends included a deceased ABC-TV cameraman named Bob Crawford who had a house on Camino del Norte. Liberace, who boasted that collecting real estate was his hobby, loved the neighborhood so much, he bought his nearby house on Kaweah, which will soon be used for “The Return of David Maiocco.”
Liberace bought a 1926 Spanish colonial-style home on Belardo in 1967 that became his public mansion. That house, built by Palm Springs pioneer Alvah Hicks, has a rather murky history. A Dec. 6, 1963 Desert Sun story about its purchase by a Los Angeles couple said it had once been “the village’s big party place.” Liberace said it fell into disrepair and became “a cheap hotel – a $2 and no questions asked kind of place” Liberace and his contractor, Duane George, spent two years turning it into an art-filled showcase among mid-century modern marvels.
Liberace said he only had time to spend 30 days a year in Palm Springs. But he spent every Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas there. Two local kids who grew up to become touring musicians, Mario Lalli Jr. and Steve Politz, told interviewers Liberace gave trick or treaters the best candy. Poltz said at the Joshua Tree Music Festival in May they’d ring his doorbell and hear the opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Then he’d come to the door and dispense such large pieces of candy, Poltz said he’d change costumes and double back for more.
Other than one benefit for the old Desert Circus, which raised funds for multiple causes, Liberace wasn’t known for performing local charity shows. But he opened his Casa de Liberace for tours and a reception for the Palm Springs Pathfinders to raise funds for the old Palm Springs Boys Club in 1973. He repeated that practice for the Palm Springs Women’s Press Club in 1981. It rewarded him by naming him Celebrity of the Year in 1982.
Boy George reportedly attended one of his exclusive Halloween parties in the ’80s. Desert Sun social columnist Allene Arthur got a tour of Casa de Liberace in 1985 as he prepared for an opulent, private Christmas party. He attended the February 1986 opening of the now demolished Maxim’s de Paris Suite Hotel in downtown Palm Springs in one of the few times his companion was identified. His partner at the time of his death was Cary James, but this one was reported as Cary Wiant. Other guests included Tony Curtis, Esther Williams, Ernest Borgnine and Zsa Zsa Gabor, and media heavyweights Herb Caen, Rona Barrett and Army Archerd.
The true loves of Liberace’s life were his dozens of dogs of multiple varieties. He adopted them from all over the world and said in a 1972 interview, “Most of them have been given to me by people who really didn’t want them.” That’s why Amy’s Purpose is subheading the title of its benefit as, “A party celebrating the legacy of Palm Springs’ premier dog lover.”
But Liberace had long-time loyal associates in Palm Springs. Maxine Lewis, who first booked him at the Frontier casino in Las Vegas in 1944, also booked him at the Chi Chi when he was way too big for a club of that size. He remained dear friends with Tido Minor after she divorced his producer, Fedderson. His manager, Seymour Heller, also lived in Palm Springs and served as his first spokesman as he lay dying at Casa de Liberace.
He needed a spokesman because hundreds of fans and media people stood outside his door waiting for him to draw his last breath.
Heller claimed that when Liberace was admitted to Eisenhower Medical Center on Jan. 23, 1987, he was being treated for anemia stemming from his “watermelon diet.” But rumors soon swirled that he “had AIDS.” He was released three days later with Heller “categorically denying” the reports. But reporters and photographers from around the world began stationing themselves on Belardo. Heller still denied Liberace had AIDS, but his publicist in New York announced the next day he was “gravely ill.” His sister, Angelina Farrell, came from Las Vegas as more media arrived. She also denied her brother had AIDS, saying he was suffering from “pernicious anemia, advanced emphysema and heart disease.”
Security guards circled the house as the vigil became a tourist attraction. Palm Springs cops threatened to arrest people for vagrancy. Some media camped in Temple Isaiah’s parking lot, where people will soon be shuttled to Casa de Monte Vista for “An Evening of Liberace.”
Thorson, the storyteller of “Behind the Candelabra,” told The Desert Sun in a telephone interview from Burbank, “He asked me how my health is, so I’m assuming it could be AIDS.”
Liberace’s lawyer, Joel Strote, arrived on Feb. 4 and proclaimed there would be no more press conferences. He was not in pain, Strote said, but “he can’t swallow.”
Liberace died Feb. 4 at his home. Then came the inquisition over his true cause of death. Liberace’s personal physician, Dr. Ronald Daniels of Whittier, signed his death certificate at 2:05 a.m. listing the cause of death as “cardiac arrest due to congestive heart failure brought on by subacute encephalopathy” — an inflammation of the brain.
But the head of the University of Minnesota Medical School’s cardiovascular division said encephalopathy does not cause heart failure. The Riverside County Coroner, Ray Carrillo, said he was launching an investigation because he claimed the doctor wasn’t at Liberace’s side when he died (only a nurse) and Liberace’s body was moved to the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn Mortuary without notifying coroner’s office, as required by law.
Carrillo charged that Liberace’s doctor deliberately tried to cover up that he died from AIDS.
Liberace’s publicist countered that two other physicians concurred with Dr. Daniels. Interestingly, one of them was Dr. Elias Ghanem of Las Vegas, who had once put Elvis on a “sleep diet” – putting him on sedatives to make him sleep through mealtimes.
Rep. Henry Waxman, the Democratic chairman of the House health subcommittee, told “Good Morning America” he supported Carrillo’s efforts to issue a correct cause of death. But he said he found the way Carrillo promoted the issue in the media “repugnant.”
Carrillo performed an autopsy and declared five days after Liberace’s death that the entertainer died “as a result of AIDS.” But he didn’t plan to press criminal charges against Dr. Daniels.
Liberace left most of his estate to the Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts, which has given millions of dollars to various colleges. He also left $50,000 to his dogs.
Bruce Fessier is long-time desert journalist who was inducted in February into the first class of the Coachella Valley Media Hall of Fame. Contact him at jbfess@gmail.com, facebook.com/bruce.fessier. or instagram.com/bfessier
“The Music of Maximo Marcuso: Liberace Meets Pavarotti on Broadway”
Entertainers: Operatic tenor Maximo Marcuso accompanied by Michael Orland.
Where: Oscar’s Downtown Palm Springs, 125 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs.
When: Sept. 13. 7 p.m. show, 5:30 p.m. dinner.
Information: https://oscarspalmsprings.com/product/maximo/ or (760) 325-1188.
“An Evening of Liberace: A Party Celebrating the Legacy of Palm Springs’ Premier Dog Lover”
Entertainers: Headliners Jere Ring and David Maiocco, plus cabaret artist Francesca Amari and pianist Ron Pass in the patio lounge, and psychics and fashion models throughout the estate.
When: Sunday, Oct. 13. Dinner begins at 5 p.m. Shuttle service starts at 6:15, party at 6:30, and concert on the lawn stage at 8 p.m. Return shuttles begin at 9:15 p.m.
Where: Dinner at Eight4Nine restaurant, 849 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. Party and concert at Casa de Monte Vista, 696 N. Via Monte Vista. Shuttles from the restaurant and the Temple Isiah parking lot at 332 W. Alejo Road. Uber and Lyft-only drop-offs at the estate.
Cost: $250 for concert and party, including hosted appetizers, beer and wine, and no-host bars for dessert drinks. $450 for dinner plus party and concert. Proceeds benefit the Amy’s Purpose mission to provide scholarships to train veterinary assistants and education on animal safety.
Information: Amyspurpose.net or (760) 220-8713
“The Return of David Maiocco”
Entertainer: Liberace tribute artist David Maiocco
Where: Piazza de Liberace, 1441 N. Kaweah Road, Palm Springs.
When: 6-8 p.m., Thursday, March 20, 2025
Cost: $150
Information: PSIPC.org