Frank Lieberman
This was a sad week for me. Very sad. I lost 2 very special friends, one on each side of “the pond”.
Here in Vegas, my dear pal and fellow team member of vegasinsidetips.com, Frank Lieberman passed away at the tender age of 68. Frank was the energetic, non-stop Senior Entertainment Editor and the backbone of our digital magazine, always on top of the latest scoops and show business news. He never missed a week in our 4 year history, with not one, but two unique columns, one of which (Vegas Scene) was consistently the most popular feature of our weekly magazine. Many journalists told me they read his column every week to see what they were missing. He was a trend setter in that regard.
Don Rickles loved Frank, as did everyone who knew him
We first met when he was working with Siegfried & Roy, and before that, Tony Orlando had introduced me to him, but we never got the chance to hang out and talk and establish a friendship until his S&R days.
Not too long ago, we hooked up at the Orleans when Don Rickles was playing and we all ended up in his dressing room, swapping stories and laughs. His wife, Karen, was by his side, as she always was. They were a very special couple. Don Rickles loved Frank, and he told me of many instances over the years when Frank helped him out or wrote something especially flattering.
Frank was always in a great mood, no matter what health challenges he might have been facing, which were considerable lately. Last Tuesday he fell, as we was reaching for his cell phone, and broke his shoulder. He was in Summerlin Hospital Friday eve when I tried to reach him (his column was uncharacteristically late) and by Saturday, he was gone.
Frank was loved and respected by all who worked with him. He told it like it was, he helped many celebrities when the call arose and he respected the privacy and secrets that he knew at all costs. I will never forget some of the fabulous inside stories he told us about Elvis, as well as so many other show business icons who all knew and loved Frank as well.
I will miss his smile, his warmth, his writing. Most of all, I will miss our friendship.
On the other side of the pond, just north of London, a show business legend of another sort left us all too soon. Terry Seabrooke was one of the funniest guys to ever take the stage, he performed wonderful magic, but will be best remembered for his comic antics and dry sense of humor that was on all the time. He also played a mean game of snooker, which he taught me, and when I visited England we would meet up at the Bushy Men’s’ Club in Watford, where Terry was the presiding president, and we would play with his son Keith. They were always dramatic matches full of laughs and personal threats.
My favorite photo with Terry taken at the Magic Castle
It was on stage where Terry really shined, he was a one of a kind master of the stage. I learned so much just from watching him over the years. To observe his way of working a crowd was a delight. He had that twinkle in his eye, and could take the simplest trick or gag and milk it for major belly laughs. He was one of the most popular magicians to ever work the Magic Castle. You never knew what he might say or do. He was in a class by himself.
One year, I was booked to play the Easter Parade in Southport, England. It is not a parade, but rather a magic convention of sorts, with a stage show, which I was booked on, and the emcee was the master himself, Terry Seabrooke. I recall rehearsal, Terry did nothing except attend, and all the acts blocked and prepared themselves for the show.
In between the rehearsal and the evening show, Terry showed me the secret passage he had that led us out the back of the theatre and through a small alley and into the back door of a tavern next door. There, we had numerous adult beverages as we discussed the show. This was repeated several times before the show started. I tried to keep up, but that is completely impossible. Somehow, we got through the show, which included many improvised moments that I sprang on him while he was on stage, to the delight of the audience as they watched him ad-lib his was out of a number of wild things sprang upon him.
Like Frank Lieberman, Terry Seabrooke was a one-of-a-kind, they were both irreplaceable and both share a very special place in my heart. I am honored to have been able to call each of them “friends”. I was blessed to have them in my life.
Rest in peace, gents…you will be missed by so many.
LAST WEEK
There were no losses in football, however, if you followed my advice…
Last week began my football “picks” and as you can see from that post before the weekend, I went 2 for 2, thank you very much. Both of my picks, the Green Bay Packers and the Pittburgh Steelers, won the cahnce to play in the Super Bowl Feb 6th. I will tell you who will win this game next week, but for now, it’s just great to have silenced those knuckleheads in New York…
Read the rest of this week’s fabulous issue at www.vegasinsidetips.com
