After a long-running hit series in the USA and
straight from a European tour, Liberace arrived at Elstree. Despite jokey early
derision, he quickly won over everybody with his geniality and sheer
professionalism. From a sound perspective,
he was a joy to work with.
The middle part of the hour show was the Concert Spot. With
a sixty-piece orchestra behind his special personalised Baldwin
piano, Lee, dressed in one of his famous heavy brocade glittering suits would
proceed to play any one of the popular classics before four cameras almost
invariably in one take. Interestingly, I never saw classically-trained Liberace
read a note of music throughout the three months on site. Three concert spots
of approximately twenty minutes each were recorded in one short day to avoid
the set having to be erected every week.
The specially made Baldwin
piano was something that Liberace was proud of. He always told his audiences
that there were only two in the whole world … .and he had both of them.
After the very first concert spot recording, he was invited
up to sound control for a replay. The brocade suits were very heavy and even
the walk up the sound stairs was arduous. My sound console was a
hundred-channel Rupert Neve
desk. To reach both ends of the desk, a sliding chair had been installed on a
six-foot track. Lee sat in this chair and after joyfully sliding himself from
side to side, greatly admired the desk, likening it to a Boeing 747 flight
deck. I remarked that there were only two in the whole world, and he quickly
interrupted saying ‘I know, and you’ve got both of them. His laughter was
infectious.
At one point, he had made a slight error in the Tchaikovsky
4th. When director Colin Clewes asked him if he wanted a re-take, he replied,
after a pause, ‘No, I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead.’
I had given his piano a very sharp top end sound, which he
commented on and admired. ‘Especially’ he remarked ‘as I can’t see any
microphones’ (so, he noticed?). I had
hidden three mics in the body of the piano, one top end, one mid and the third
at the bottom far end of the enormously long Baldwin
piano. The level produced by the piano was such that even when all three
microphones were faded up, no other sounds infiltrated, not even the
sixty-piece orchestra. Totally unseen in shot, all the cabling for these
microphones came out of the bottom end of the instrument down the hidden back
leg and with the complicity of the design department disappeared under the rostrum
floor.
The shows were recorded on a Thursday evening before an
audience. Lee would always address them before, during and after recording.
They were mostly ardent fans and devoured his every word, admiring his diamond
rings and costumes. After the show was finalised he would thank the audience
for their patience during the scene breaks and tell them how much he admired
the guest star’s performance, often sharing a little private story about them,
but never detrimental. He would then tell them that the only part of the show
they hadn’t seen was the Concert Spot - which, for technical reasons, they had
to record earlier . . .’but I could play it for you now if you wanted’. They
wanted. He would return to the home base
set furnished with an ordinary baby grand and, without orchestra, play the
piece all through.
On any other show, the floor crew, would be tearing the set
down at this juncture, the lighting crew would be noisily working their
lighting tracks and generally the studio would be dark in twenty minutes – in
short . . .a wrap. But no, all the floor crew watched dutifully whilst Lee
played the entire piece, after which they joined in with the applause just as
heartily as the audience. I can think of
no other show, no other artiste where this occurred. Liberace had won the
hearts and minds of everybody at ATV Elstree, just as he had, surely, around
the world.
The shows were edited over the weekend. On Monday mornings,
before rehearsals started for the next show Lee was invited to the director’s control
room to watch last week’s finalised edit. He would sit with his eyes glued to
the screen, as if seeing it, and himself for the first time. When introducing
the guest star, he would often turn and say something like ‘Oh I really like
her’ - it was always apparent that he enjoyed watching the show just as much as
starring in it.
During the rehearsal of one show, I tried to raise my sound
guys (John Clark and John Segal} on the floor because a minor problem had
occurred up-stage. Having no success on talkback I dashed down the stairs to
find both of them sitting in the darkened Liberace home base set having a quiet
discussion with Lee. I jokingly admonished them and they tore up-stage quickly
to sort out a small problem with a foldback speaker. Ten minutes later, Lee crept quietly into my control room
and apologized for upsetting the routine of my crew. He assured me it wouldn’t
happen again despite my trying to convince him that all was well.
After the delightful experience of working on The Liberace Show we were all invited to
Madame
Tussauds in London
where Lee had organized a big party for everybody. All the guests were invited
to bring a partner, an unusual occurrence for conventional wrap parties. Many
of the guest stars still in the country also showed up. At the entrance of the
venue, Lee would be standing with his mother who had flown over for this
event. He gleefully introduced her to
virtually everybody as they arrived.
‘Mom, this is Teddie’
‘Hi Teddie’
‘He did the audio’
‘Oh’
‘He did it good Mom’
(pause)
‘He’d better’
During that memorable evening where wine and goodwill
flowed, Lee managed to take his mom round to just about everybody there.
Something like 250 people, giving as much time to, say, a lighting console
operator and his wife as Lord and Lady Lew Grade, who were also present. Producer/Director Colin Clewes and his wife Joy had just
been presented with a baby boy. They named him Lee, and Liberace happily became
the Godfather.
I can think of no nicer guy, no more talented an entertainer
than Liberace and I wish that we could all see, and enjoy, programmes of this
stature again.
PETER PAN >
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