Liberace and Edward R. Murrow

Tacit defense of gay marriage, notice how very deftly Liberace chooses his words:

Edward R. Murrow:
Have you given much thought to getting married and eventually settling down?
Liberace:
Well, actually I have. Ed. I've given a lot of thought to marriage, but I don't believe in getting married just for the sake of getting married. I want to someday find the perfect mate and settle down to what I hope will be a marriage that will be blessed by faith and will be a lasting union. In fact, I was reading about lovely young Princess Margaret, and she's looking for her dream man, too. I hope she finds him some day.

Liberace on Edward R. Murrow's television show
Person to Person January 6, 1956


Later in the interview Liberace makes some flirty comments about the young, pretty, and single Princess Margaret, implying that he might want to marry her. Royal glam and glitter enough to make him switch teams?



















This DVD set is a remarkable 3-disc collection of historic 1950s material. Although staged and somewhat contrived, the conversations are at times remarkably intimate. Murrow interviews them in their own homes and introduces us to spouses and children. I was particularly moved by Oscar Hammerstein's heartfelt thoughts on the dangers of parents teaching hatred to their children. Murrow's approach is very dry and unintrusive, letting the guests talk about whatever's on their mind.

Meera, not as familiar with the celebrities of the era, took delight in supplementing the experience by consulting Wikipedia, finding juicy details along the way about the future fates of these people, their careers and marriages.


Comments

Avalon said…
Interesting exchange. I recently saw it in the film "Good Night and Good Luck." Liberace seemed to be saying that he, too, was looking for HIS dream man. I wondered if he were openly gay at that point in his life/career.
Unknown said…
this is exactly what I was thinking. However I just now recently saw the movie.

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