In childhood, Liberace suffered from a speech impediment, and as a teen, from the taunts of neighborhood children, who mocked him for his effeminate personality, his avoidance of sports, and his fondness for cooking and the piano. The Depression was financially hard on the Liberace family. "My dreams were filled with fantasies of following his footsteps.Inspired and fired with ambition, I began to practice with a fervour that made my previous interest in the piano look like neglect." Paderewski later became a family friend as well as Liberace's mentor, to whom the protege never missed any opportunities to pay tribute. "I was intoxicated by the joy I got from the great virtuoso's playing", Liberace said later. At the age of eight, he actually met Paderewski backstage after a concert at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. He studied the technique of the Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski. By the age of seven, he was capable of memorizing difficult pieces.
Liberace's prodigious talent was evident from his early years. While Sam took his children to concerts to further expose them to music, he was also a taskmaster demanding high standards from the children in both practice and performance. Liberace began playing the piano at the age of four. Liberace later stated, "My dad's love and respect for music created in him a deep determination to give as his legacy to the world, a family of musicians dedicated to the advancement of the art." While Sam encouraged music in his family, his wife, Frances (despite having been a concert pianist before her marriage), believed music lessons and a record player to be unaffordable luxuries. Liberace's father played the French horn in bands and cinemas but often worked as a factory worker or laborer. He had three surviving siblings: a brother George (who was a violinist), a sister Angelina, and younger brother Rudy (Rudolph Valentino Liberace, named after the actor due to his mother's interest in show business). Liberace had an identical twin who died at birth. His mother, Frances Zuchowski (1892–1980), was American presumably of Polish descent (born in Menasha, Wisconsin). His father, Salvatore ("Sam") Liberace (1885–1977), was an immigrant from Formia in the Lazio region of central Italy. Władziu Valentino Liberace (known as "Lee" to his friends and "Walter" to family) was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, on May 16, 1919.
Conclusions: While longitudinal studies would better assess the impact of this intervention, CRUSH shows promise to reduce tobacco use among LGBT bar patrons. Among those who understood the CRUSH smokefree message, the highest level of campaign exposure was significantly associated with 37%–48% lower odds for current smoking.
There were significant interactions between time and campaign exposure and campaign exposure and understanding the message. Overall, 53% of respondents reported exposure to CRUSH of those exposed, 60% liked the campaign, 60.3% reported they would attend a CRUSH event on a night when they usually went somewhere else, and 86.3% correctly identified that the campaign was about “partying fresh and smokefree.” Current smoking was reported by 47% of respondents at Time 1 and 39.6% at Time 2.
Results: LGBT individuals were significantly more likely to report current (past 30 day) smoking than heterosexual/straight, gender-conforming participants. Multivariate logistic regressions examined associations between campaign exposure, message understanding, and current (past 30 days) smoking, controlling for demographics. Methods: Cross-sectional surveys (N = 2,395) were collected in Las Vegas LGBT bars at 2 time points 1 year apart. This study evaluated a Social Branding intervention, CRUSH, which included an aspirational brand, social events, and targeted media to discourage smoking among LGBT young adults in Las Vegas, NV. Introduction: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals are more likely to smoke than the general population.