POP/ROCK - Feb. 12, 1987

Britain’s Daily Mirror tabloid, which lost a libel case for suggesting that flamboyant entertainer Liberace was a homosexual, said Wednesday it wants its money back. The paper’s celebrated columnist Cassandra--William Connor--wrote in 1956 that Liberace, who died on Feb. 4 of what the Riverside County coroner said was pneumonia brought on by AIDS, was a “sugary mountain of jingling claptrap.” Connor described Liberace as a “deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother-love.” Liberace claimed the paper’s words suggested he was a homosexual, and he was awarded $53,000 in costs and damages. He said at the time he had laughed all the way to the bank. “Any chance of a refund?” asked the headline in the Daily Mirror.