A hefty chunk of his money came from being a Mafia bagman. The Mob would send hordes of little old ladies down from Little Italy and the tickets would be bought through Mafia-owned travel agencies. The ladies had a nice time, Liberace filled the house, and the Mob got clean money, which he allowed a cut.
I was struck by something similar: I was thinking that that house would be super creepy in the early hours of the morning when nobody was home except Liberace and his boyfriend.
Liberace has always seemed sad to me... even when he's grinning maniacally during one of his performances. I've always felt sorry for him. Which is a strange thing to feel for somebody who was filthy rich & able to pursue a profession that many would kill for.
It was a baffling phenomenon. You wouldn't look at this weird guy dressed like he was playing that kind of music and think it would work as well as it did. A lot of it was the post-War need for solace. They'd won the war, they just wanted to listen to beautiful music and eat fried chicken. I think Liberace and Colonel Sanders both supplied vital needs for that generation.