Liberace.

The archetypal queen that your mama would (and did!) love, Wladziu Valentino Liberace brandished the excess of success -- minks, diamonds, glitz, showbiz -- to both flaunt and distract from the obvious. Staking his fame claim during the sexually repressive but star-obsessed '50s, Liberace ascended with the rise of television and the explosion of Las Vegas, a city he embodied and reflected like a giant mirrored ball. His visual opulence and the florid bad taste of his musicianship made his eccentricity (read: homosexuality) safe and thoroughly, garishly American. Although his repertoire mixed classical standbys and sentimental hits of the day, Liberace's pristine celebration of his own prosperity made him the prototype of the effeminate rock star, a role Little Richard, David Bowie, Elton John, and others later personified, taking what was latent and making it blatant.

By the time of the late-'70s TV specials that are collected in this boxed set (only two of the three videos were available at press time), the public was used to having gay sensibility thrust in its face, so Liberace's masquerade became even more macabre. Leapin' Lizards It's Liberace begins with a shot of the nude male fresco painted above the star's elaborate bed and pans to his young valet helping him into the first of many outrageous outfits. Even the little pooches that follow him down the stairs are queeny. The chauffeur who drives him to the Las Vegas Hilton in a mirrored Rolls-Royce to the tune of "Hey, Look Me Over" soon appears onstage as his piano protege in an identical costume for a 176-keyed duet with the maestro. "I must say he's one of the fastest-learning and most brilliant students I've ever had," says the showman without a trace of irony or shame.

When Liberace boasts about his stuff and shows it off, he's brilliant. Liberace's Valentine's Day Special gets off to a slow start because it gets bogged down in the music, which was always beside the point. But it rallies midway when Liberace takes us on a tour of his museum, explaining, "I collect pianos, cars, dogs, and talented people that I use in my shows." He then parades these acquisitions at a little boat party that just so happens to take place aboard the Queen Mary, where guest stars Sandy Duncan and Lola Falana are little more than jewels on his lapel. Here and elsewhere Liberace is so old-school gay that he's practically preschool.

Walters is a pop-music critic for The Advocate.