re: #283 allegro

Liberace gets an instant upding. He did more than make his mark, he brought classical music into homes and hearts that had never been really exposed to it before. When I was a little kid in the 50s, my dad had his Big Band and my mom thought Mantovani was fine music. I sat rapt at classical piano, the most exquisite sound I’d ever heard, which Liberace was among the tiny few who made it available to the masses. it made me want to play the piano as much as I wanted a dog. (This is BIG. LOL) I got both in time and to this day they are both my greatest joys.

And before him was the radio, then TV, program “The Voice of Firestone”, brought to you by the tire corp. It featured a small orchestra led by a ridiculously good-looking white haired conductor. The nuns let us watch it every Sunday night, and it did the job.

(Opening and closing themes were artsongs written by the Firestone owner’s wife, bless their polluting little industrialist hearts.)

en.wikipedia.org