Liberace Museum to Close Its Doors

Photo by Alan Light

Las Vegas will be losing a little bit of its sparkle on October 17 when the Liberace Museum closes. This was a must-see destination for anyone going to Sin City for its legendary sense of kitsch. After all, no one dazzled with tongue so firmly planted in cheek as the original piano man, Wladziu Valentino Liberace.

Apparently the board of directors is not “crying all the way to the bank,” and so comes the sad news that the mirror ball piano and matching car will go into storage. Worse yet, 31 employees will hit the unemployment lines. The closure is due to dwindling attendance at Lee’s museum, which averages 50,000 visitors a year—down from 450,000 in its heyday.

You’d think that all the glitz of a glamorous star like the Glitter Man would be a huge draw in a town like Vegas. But with competition like the Beatles’ Love and megastars like Cher on the Strip, Liberace’s ghost just doesn’t stand a chance. Still, it seems a shame that some hotel doesn’t scoop up the memorabilia and set up shop in the corner of one of the mega-casinos’ many malls. Don’t you think they’d sell a lot of feathered wraps that way?

Maybe if Michael Douglas recovers from his current battle with cancer, his much discussed Liberace movie will come out. And then a whole new generation will demand a dazzling destination.

Not everyone is standing idly by, stars like America’s Got Talent third runner-up Prince Poppycock are speaking out and calling upon fans to sign the Save the Liberace Museum petition.