Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 13

ljc Hartford jfaurant CONNECTICUT JVING SECTION SATURDAY OCTOBER 1,1988 B2 TELEVISION! B6-7 COMICS Men moving toward passion for fashion v( id ife of iberace hi i Mri James Endrst ON TV b4 Considering Liberace's love of gaudy excess, it's appropriate that the late entertainer have not one but two network TV movies on his life. i "4" if jr 0 i 'I- in ABC and CBS will chronicle the rise and fall of showy star Barbara T. noessner By 9 a.m. it was already a sizzler of a day, and he was already decked out in a quilted snow-suit and knee-high boots suitable for blizzard conditions. His head reeled, literally, from the weight of a large black motorcycle helmet, smoke-tinted shield shut tight.

One look at the kid was the rough equivalent of a half-hour in a steam bath. This particular sartorial arrangement didn't last long, though. They never do. Before the day was out I had seen flashes of Superman, Batman, He-Man, Kung Fu and an especially bizarre cowboy character sporting a certain brassiere he described as a "vest." These varied personae all had two things in common: an uncanny ability to annihilate the enemy instantly and excessive perspiration. My husband says our son inherited this behavior from me, the clothes-consciousness, I mean the constant rummaging through drawers and closets, interspersed with extended mirror-gazing and the sudden shedding of one costume and substitution of another.

He would say that, of course. He regards the donning of anything other than a pair of blue jeans the same pair of blue jeans as a terrible burden. Nor does he appreciate a sense of fashion in others. This morning he greeted the debut of my extremely funky and very expensive gray jumpsuit with, "Well, if it isn't Petula Clark." For a time I thought his aversion to clothes, and a special aversion to purchasing clothes, particularly male traits. But I'm not so sure anymore.

I'm beginning to wonder if my son might be the rule and his father the exception. After perusing this year's catalogs of men's fall fashions, I get the feel-, ing that the range of male clothing: styles is broader and the limits of respectability looser than in the past. A preoccupation with clothes, traditionally associated with women, is increasingly a gender-neutral characteristic. Men, it seems, are going into the closet. They've been headed in that direction awhile now, but their pace apn pears to be accelerating.

And the; trend is not limited to clothing; it extends into other regions of the personal-grooming field hair spray, skin moisturizers and per fume, for example. Not cologne or aftershave, mind you. Perfume. A recent USA Today poll showed men increasingly concerned about their bodies in general and increas ingly dissatisfied with their self-im-t ages. In this one area at least, there was true equality between the sexes Women and men gave their bodies; the same grades 40 percent of; women and 41 percent of men gavet themselves a only 5 percent or women and 8 percent of men rated their bodies an A.

Various sociologists saw the rat-' ings as illustrative of a radical change that has taken place during the past decade. Ten years ago," women were far more self-critical; than men. Now they're as vain as we are. -i Or perhaps they always were and, just didn't say so. I often have wondered whether," my son's fashion fickleness, often; resulting in a half-dozen quick changes a day, might reflect some dark insecurity or acute confusion about his identity.

Is he so unsure of. himself that he is driven to trying on; various versions for size? On the other hand, might it mean that he knows himself so well, is so internally grounded, that he feels free to experiment with abandon? Is it a sign of self-love or self-loathing? Although I still regard his behavior with a bit of suspicion perhaps because he is so obviously parodying his mother I have come to the conclusion that he is simply giving way to a basic human desire for self-expression, fantasy and disguise. When I was his age, I spent almost an entire year dressed as Estralita, Zorro's girlfriend. Day in and day out I wore the same old red petticoat and black mantilla. Then, without warning, I discarded poor Estralita and slipped into my mother's old blue-and-white-striped nursing uniform.

If I haven't changed all that much since, then it may be because I. haven't been forced to by cultural; notions of appropriate male and female behavior. And in this new cli-I mate, maybe my son won't either. If only he wouldn't wear shorts in February. 1 T.

Sunday, ABC will broadcast "Liberace" (from 9 to 11 p.m. on WTNH, Channel 8). And on Oct. 9, exactly one week later, CBS will present "Liberace: Behind the Music" (from 9 to 11 p.m. on WFSB, Channel 3).

TABC's movie, which stars Andrew Robinson as the flamboyant "Mr. Showmanship," Rue McClanahan as his upstaging mother, Frances, and John Rubinstein as friend and publicist Jamie Jones, is the authorized version. Made with the cooperation of the Liberace estate, the film uses $3 million worth of Liberace costumes, pianos, automobiles, jewelry, etc. Even his piano-shaped pool makes a cameo. But "authorized doesn't mean whitewashed," says producer Preston Fischer.

'In the movie, Liberace's homosexuality is made obvious especially as it relates to his companion, Scott Thorsen and the fact that the star died of AIDS is stated candidly at the end of the film. "I think you have a fairly accurate look at the situation without dealing with it in a seedy way," Fischer said in a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. "This movie was not made because Liberace 1 died of AIDS," Fischer explains. "It was made because he's a legend in our time and one of the greatest performers of all time." Yet, his life, he said, "was ultimately very sad. When it's all finished you feel very sad for the man." Fischer also thinks it is "very sad" that there are Liberace movies competing for attention.

Victor Garber, who is CBS's Liberace and stars opposite Maureen Stapleton as mother Frances, and Saul Rubinek in the role of the performer's longtime personal manager, See ABC, Page B3 A Victor Garber has the title role in "Liberace, CBS's version of the star's life. ty- -J CBS ABC and the syndicate decided to end the long-running feature. The Courant was the paper with the largest circulation to run Wordplay, Yates said, and many of the contributors were from the Greater Hartford area. He said The Courant has run Wordplay for about 15 years. Frehm, the cartoonist and artist who executes the Wordplays, said in a telephone interview from his winter home in Boca Raton, that he has been doing the feature for 14 years.

He said he will miss the contributors to whom he has grown close over the years. "It's like a little family; you get to know people," he said. "I had a good relationship with the people, and I enjoyed getting the letters. It's sad when something like this drops." He said he was notified by King See Hartford-area, Page B3 Andrew Robinson is Liberace and Rue McClanahan is the star's mother, Frances, ABC's "Liberace." Area devotees mourn the end of Wordplay Prince rocks his flock with flashy spirituality By ROGER CATLIN Courant Rock Critic Tl Prince hadn't The religious awakening apparently came about late last year, after he withdrew a lewd, funky "Black Album" from distribution and replaced it with the uplifting sentiment of the current "Lovesexy" LP. Before any testimony, however, he began with an absolutely barn-burning medley of his hottest material, which started with "Erotic City" and stayed generally within those city limits.

He exploded on the cloud-shaped stage in the center of the arena (which never did sell out), which was outfitted with all manner of hydraulic lifts, rising backdrops, massive fog machines and even, a swing set and basketball hoop. See Prince, Page B5 By FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR Courant Staff Writer To the true Wordplay aficionado, there are few words that do not generate a thousand pictures. For years, state residents from schoolchildren to retirees have enjoyed creating the little cartoons that humorously depict the meaning of words. But now, devotees of The Courant's daily Wordplay feature will have to find a new hobby. The cartoon, drawn by Walter Frehm, makes its last appearance today.

King Features Syndicate had been distributing the cartoonlike drawings that illustrate the meanings of words to 25 newspapers. But, said William Yates, an editor at King Features, there were not enough clients to justify its expense, 1 mentioned it so Rock often, maybe nobody would have review noticed. But the sudden religious Conversion of his Purple Highness was the talk of his typically dazzling concert Friday night at the Hartford Civic Center. gotta new drug!" he exclaimed 'at one point. "He is alive!" feel good!" he said at another point a sentiment once echoed by fellow soul man James Brown.

But he added: "Because I know that God is alive!" During a solo'stint at the piano, he seemed absolutely distracted by his spiritual bliss, interrupting snippets of "When 2 in Love" and "Raspberry Beret" to declare, in his funny, pinched voice, "Hartford! I'm a thankful little man!" Sherry Peters Special to The Courant Prince performs Friday night at the Hartford Civic Center..