busy doin' nothing

unsurprisingly, behind the candelabra offers us a great first case study. released with the full approval of liberace's estate nearly 30 years after liberace died in 1987, behind the candelabra famously draws all of its material and context from the dubious memoirs of scott thorson - a pathological liar who was both a) extremely jealous of cary and b) casually friendly with redacted. as a result, candelabra's cary is an almost villainous caricature of himself whose only real purpose is to stir up drama between the real star crossed lovers scott and liberace. most egregious is the film's baffling and ahistorical decision to write cary out of the last 5 years of liberace's life completely, presenting him as a temporary, meaningless hook-up instead of liberace's devoted life partner who spent every waking second taking care of him when his HIV turned to AIDS

meanwhile, in behind the music (an "unauthorized" TV movie released a year after liberace's death in 1988), cary is presented as scott's "replacement" in the best and most accurate way possible. he's still a minor character in the liberace story, but he's funny and kind and sincere. he responds to the profound loneliness liberace has displayed throughout the film with friendship and affection. and he's shown genuinely loving and wanting to build a life with this man who he also doesn't hesitate to nurse and protect when he becomes ill with HIV. behind the music's liberace even goes out of his way to refer to call this cary "the best person in the world" during the film's emotional final scene which ends with liberace tightly grasping his hand. unlike behind the candelabra, behind the music was produced by liberace career-long manager with extensive input from liberace's close friends and family members who'd join cary in suing to have redacted removed as liberace'e estate executor later that same year