Dave Hickey, “A Rhinestone as Big as the Ritz,” from Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy.
“
In-crowd innuendo was not Liberace’s game; like a black man in black-face, he took it to the limit and revealed the impertinence of his pseudo-masquerade. He would come striding on stage in a costume that was, in his description, “just one tuck short of drag.” He would stop under the big light, do a runway turn, and invite the audience to “Hey, look me over!” Then, flinging his arms upward in a fountain gesture, like a demented Polish-Italian diva, he would shoot his hip, wink, and squeal, “I hope ya’ like it! You paid for it!” And the audience members would signify their approval and their complicity by their applause. They not only liked the dress, they were happy to have bought it for him. So, unlike Coward, whose veiled naughtiness remained opaque to those not “in the know,” Liberace’s closet was as democratically invisible as the emperor’s new clothes, and just as revolutionary. Everybody got it. But nobody said it.
”
8 notes