The history of music is rich with the stories of feuds and rivalries. Some are imaginary, made up by the press to sell fan papers and magazines (The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones, Tiffany vs. Debbie Gibson), while others are very public and very real (Kanye West vs. Taylor Swift, Kenrick Lamar vs. Drake). Sometimes the rivalry happens amongst bandmates (Eddie Van Halen vs. David Lee Roth, The Eagles vs. each other), while sometimes the bitter blood is shared by dueling siblings (Don Everly vs. Phil Everly, Liam Gallagher vs Noel Gallagher). But one of the most colourful rivalries between two of music’s most eccentric figures seems to have gotten lost in the annals of time. A battle between two masters of the keys, who shared similar components of their performances, except for all the ways that they didn’t. Two flamboyant unlikely sex symbols wrapped in mystery and lore, both with secrets to hide. In one corner, wearing a jeweled turban and with hypnotic eyes, hailing from New Delhi, India, “The Godfather of Exotica,” Korla Pandit! And his opponent in the rhinestone jacket and dazzling smile, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, “Mr. Showmanship,” Liberace! Two fascinating and immensely talented performers, one would become an entertainment legend while the other would fall into obscurity, but both would become guilty pleasures for vinyl collectors and music hipsters, gaining cult fanbases that continue three quarters of a century since their feud began.
While the interest in his career seems to have waned in the last decade or two, Liberace needs little introduction. During his fifty years in show business the man became an icon and a legend, and his name still holds weight within the history of entertainment. As for Korla Pandit, he is a far more obscure figure who has a devoted, albeit it smaller, fanbase. Case in point, Liberace albums can be found in pretty much any flea market or thrift store bin for a mere few dollars, while Korla Pandit albums are rare gems which can fetch prices in the $50 to $100 range. This is not a testament to the quality of the albums as much as the collectability and scarcity of Pandit records compared to that of Liberace records. As the more prosperous of the two performers, Liberace made and sold more albums which would eventually be disregarded and disposed of by the children of the people who bought them. But Korla Pandit records were sold in lesser quantities and for a shorter period of time, and by having a lower profile than Liberace, whether he deserved that or not, ultimately made him a more curious figure to record collectors, making his albums the far more collectable and sought out.
But without Korla Pandit’s initial success, we may never have even heard of Liberace. In many ways Korla Pandit cleared the way for Liberace’s trajectory of fame, but apparently there wasn’t room for two eccentric keyboardists at the top of the industry during the 1950’s. As music, not to mention media and society in general, was undergoing a massive transformation, the competition between Korla Pandit and Liberace would truly become a “winner takes all” situation.
Korla Pandit emerged out of seemingly nowhere playing organ in and around Los Angeles during the mid 1940’s. Often accompanied by his American born wife Beryl, it was told that Pandit was born in far away New Delhi and was the son of a government official and an opera singer and was a distant relation of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Considered to be a prodigy, Pandit was sent to England to study music as a child and first came to America to attend the University of Chicago when he was only thirteen years old. There were rumors that prior to gaining notoriety by playing at different dinner clubs and night spots, Pandit had posed as a Mexican American using the name Juan Rolando. By the end of the decade, Pandit got regular work playing organ for radio, most notably for scoring the eerie occult flavoured music for the 1949 revival of “Chandu the Magician,” as well as for being the organist on a musical program called “Hollywood Holiday,” which was broadcast live from an LA based restaurant.
But Pandit would finally get his big break when he caught the eye of television pioneer Klaus Landsburg while playing organ at a fashion show being presented by a local furrier. A German born electrical engineer, Landsberg had been working in television from the beginning of its development. Starting with NBC and their creation of the first television presented publicly at the 1939 World’s Fair, Landsberg continued his work with DuMont Laboratories, which set up some of the first television stations throughout the US East Coast. In 1941 Landsberg was hired by Paramount Studios to come to Los Angeles and develop the first television studios on the West Coast, which led to the creation of KTLA-TV in 1947. With television still in its infancy, KTLA-TV was one of the West Coast’s first commercial stations, which primarily aired live in house broadcasting.
Impressed with Korla Pandit’s music and mystique, Landsburg felt that the strange musician would be a sensation on television and talked Pandit into accepting a spot at KTLA-TV with his very own show. However, there was to be one stipulation. Landsburg needed an organist for the station’s morning kid’s show, “Time for Beany,” featuring the characters of puppeteer Bob Clampett (“Time for Beany” would eventually spin off to become the legendary cartoon series “Beany and Cecil.”) Pandit agreed, and soon his own television series, “Korla Pandit’s Adventures in Music” went into development.
However, when Pandit and Landsburg began to develop the program, Landsburg came up with a second stipulation. He told Pandit that he should never speak during the broadcasts. Although Pandit had exotic good looks and a mystical aura about him, he also had somewhat high-pitched voice that destroyed the mystique of his character. While most musicians may have fought the request to never open their mouths, Pandit, alongside the small production team at KTLA-TV, were able to make this a part of Pandit’s successful formula which only enhancined the air of mystery around him. “Adventures in Music” premiered in February 1949 with Pandit playing what would become his theme song, “The Magnet Theme.” The program would start with a close up of Pandit’s sensuous eyes, which would stare deep into the camera as if he was hypnotizing the viewer. The camera would eventually pan back, and Pandit would continue to stare into the camera as he played Eastern inspired melodies on the Hammond organ. With ethnic inspired set pieces sparsely situated as set dressing, sometimes Pandit would be joined by exotic dancers who would move provocatively behind him, as he continued his hypnotic gaze into the camera, acting like a cobra seducing its prey. As his long slender fingers caressed the keys of his instrument, followed by his trademark thumping of his palms on the keyboards which produced a sort of drum sound, Pandit brought Indian inspired ragas, such as “Misirlou,” “Turkish Dance,” and “Ode to a Desert Love” to American households. However, as his series went on Pandit began to adopt popular American standards, such as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Stardust,” “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” “Temptation” and “Laura,” played in his unique style, to his repertoire.
Airing on weekday afternoons, “Adventures in Music’s” target audience was housewives looking for something to watch between household tasks, and he was an instant hit, making him an unlikely sex symbol in the LA area. Pandit’s celebrity got so hot that he soon moved from supper clubs to concert halls and was chumming around with Hollywood personalities such as Errol Flynn, Bob Hope, Sabu and, in one of music’s strangest collaborations, appeared alongside Roy Rogers and The Son’s of the Pioneers. Korla released his first album, “Selections from Korla Pandit’s the Grand Moghul Suite” in 1950 for a small LA based company called Vita Records. Via his unique musical style, mysterious stage presence, and exotic sensuality, for a moment in time Korla Pandit was a star on the rise.
But when a network has a hit TV show, imitators are bound to follow. Enter Don Fedderson, general manager of KLAC-TV. A rival to KTLA-TV, Fedderson took notice of Pandit’s popularity and sought to recreate the success for his station with the same sort of afternoon music show of their own that would appeal to the same audience demographic. Unfortunately, there was only one Korla Pandit, and Fedderson knew he’d have to find somebody that could do the same sort of thing…. but who? It was during a trip to San Diego that Fedderson found his guy. Playing to a small audience at the Hotel del Coronado was classical concert pianist Walter “Lee” Liberace.
Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Liberace started playing piano at the age of four, and at the age of ten was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Milwaukee College of Music. Although he would continue to study classical piano throughout his teens and early twenties, Liberace got some of his earliest musical education playing in New York based jazz clubs, cabarets and strip joints as a young working musician, which gave him a real world lesson in connecting to “common” audiences and the art of showmanship. Eventually Liberace began to merge his love for popular music with classical in a fusion he described as “pop with a bit of classic” and “classical music with the boring parts left out.” Whimsical, warm and unapologetically flamboyant, Liberace liked to make a direct connection with his audience, interacting with members, introducing comedy into his performances and even doing something very few concert pianists ever did, taking requests. After a number of years struggling on the New York scene, Liberace signed on with the Radison and Statler hotel chain to appear as an entertainer in their locations. With his faithful brother George as his manager Liberace traveled to major cities throughout America gaining attention with audiences and professionals wherever he went. He’d have small moments of success, including getting his first movie role in the 1950 film “South Sea Sinner,” and putting out his first album, a 10-inch release titled “The Priceless Piano of Liberace” on a small label called Advance Records.
But television would prove to be the medium that would launch Liberace to stardom! Impressed with Liberace’s showmanship, good looks and personal charm, Don Fedderman developed a TV series around the colourful musician. “The Liberace Show” made its debut in January 1952 and was also a fifteen-minute musical program airing on weekday afternoon and marketed towards a female audience. With a decedent elegance to him, being of Polish and Italian heritage, Liberace carried a European autocracy type exoticism of his own which, albeit different, was able to rival Pandit’s Middle Eastern exoticness. With his signature candelabra mounted on his piano, and dressed in a white tie and black tailed tuxedo (his jeweled jackets and fur coats were still a number of years off), Liberace also created an intimate experience for the viewer that seemed like he was playing just for them.
But while “The Liberace Show” unapologetically copied the format of “Adventures in Music,” where Liberace succeeded was in all the ways he differed from Korla Pandit. While Pandit’s magnetic persona came from his mysterious gaze and his continuous silence, Liberace brought his chatty persona and a warm empathy to his program. Liberace sang his songs, and he talked to the audience as if they were in the room with him. He’d tell charming stories and often talked about his close relationship with his beloved mother as well as his sister, Angie. He’d also invite brother George onto the show, who’d often accompany Liberace on violin.
Liberace’s warmth and humour made him a hit with audiences, and, within time, Liberace too became an unlikely sex symbol to viewers. Noted for his wavy hair and “keyboard” smile, Liberace played the role of the elegant bachelor with a close loving family who no woman seemed able to land. Of course, the reality of Liberace’s personal life was obvious in the subtext, but that didn’t stop early fans of the show from wondering what life would be like as Mrs. Liberace.
Now, with two flamboyant keyboardists on rival stations playing for female adoration and sponsor endorsements, there was bound to be a little bit of heat, but in reality, it seemed to have been more of a one-sided rivalry. As the new kid on the scene, Liberace seemed to be just doing his thing blissfully unconcerned about potential opponents, but Korla Pandit would go on to express his resentment to his new challenger by calling him a “charlatan that stole his act.” But for a brief moment the two performers maintained their own popularity while cultivating their individual audiences. While Korla Pandit appeared at The Hollywood Palace, Liberace was playing The Hollywood Bowl. Korla Pandit sold Zoom Cereal, and Liberace became the celebrity spokesman for Blatz Beer. Both performers were receiving thousands of letters a month from fans and showing up at prestigious events and parties. As requests for live performances increased, it was obvious that it’d be a matter of time before local live television would no longer be a viable career option for either performer.
It’d be Korla Pandit who made the first attempt to jumpstart the next phase of his career. By 1953 Korla Pandit was being paid more for doing live performances than he was for working at KTLA-TV and, for the first time since “Adventures in Music” premiered, Pandit asked Landsburg for a raise. But despite his consistent loyalty to the station, Landsburg denied Pandit his request. It might have been a case of the station not being able to afford to pay Pandit what he felt he was worth, but the refusal in a salary increase sent Pandit packing. After more than 900 episodes of “Adventures in Music,” Pandit left the station, thus ending the show.
However, Pandit had another option tucked inside his sleeve which had the potential to gain him an even wider audience. Pandit had developed a professional relationship with producer Louis Snader who developed a lucrative business filming what he called “Telescriptions.” An early predecessor to the music video, Snader filmed short fifteen-minute films of musical performers and then distributed them to television stations to be used as filler for slots in which local stations didn’t have a program to air. Telescriptions were also, in some areas, being shown in movie theatres between features. Working with a range of name performers including Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, June Christy, Tex Ritter, Count Basie, Lena Horne and Alvino Rey and The King Sisters, Telescriptions were an opportunity for musicians to reach an even wider demographic than ever before, often launching performers from regional to national fame. Teaming up with Slader for a series of Telescriptions seemed like the obvious next step for Pandit. However, after only making a handful of short films, Snader and Pandit also had a conflict over payment expectations. With Pandit no longer on weekly television, and with the birth of two sons to support, his salary demands were more than Snader could, or at least was willing, to offer him. Pandit held tight to his expectations but soon the Telescriptions opportunity was dead. Losing the newest acquisition to his roster, Snader decided to see what that other LA based piano guy was doing.
And just what was Liberace doing? Well, with Korla Pandit off the air, Liberace enjoyed a fluctuation in viewership made up of Pandit’s displaced audience, increasing his broadcasts to include two weekly prime time spots on top of his daily afternoon show. As KLAC-TV’s most popular show, the producers began to merge episodes together into half hour broadcasts and successfully syndicated the series to NBC affiliates across the US. In 1952 the series was aired as a summer replacement for the popular “Dinah Shore Show,” bringing Liberace to network television for the first time, and by October 1954 over two hundred stations across the US were airing “The Liberace Show,” making it one of the highest rated syndicated show in production. Signed to Columbia Records, Liberace’s albums were being produced en masse, and soon he was making appearances at Carnegie Hall and would be off to Las Vegas in which he’d become a major icon and staple of “Sin City.” With his career taking off like an exploding firework in a July 4th night sky, Liberace even signed on with Louis Snader’s Telescriptions, essentially replacing Korla Pandit on the roster. Although he never seemed to be that concerned with Pandit as a rival, this would be the defining blow that put Liberace over the top as the reigning champion of the keys.
With his audience having moved on, Korla Pandit seemed out of options but was saved in 1958 when he was offered a new series of his own out of KGO-TV in San Francisco. Leaving Los Angeles behind him, Pandit moved his young family to Northern California, and swallowing some of his tarnished pride, began a long relationship with the station, making him a local celebrity in the Bay area. Pandit brought new changes to his program and, for the first time, began to talk during broadcasts in which he taught the teachings of the late Hindu guru Paramahansa Yogananda. Although the reach of his show never gained the same levels as his former series in Los Angeles, Pandit became popular with San Francisco’s growing counterculture communities, especially within the Beatnik and jazz movements.
But while his fame seemed to be eroding, what really paid off for Pandit’s relocation to San Francisco was that he got signed to Fantasy Records. A far more prestigious label which was primarily producing jazz acts, Pandit’s first release was 1958’s “Korla Pandit Plays Songs of the Exotic East,” and he’d continue to release another dozen albums with Fantasy through to 1963. Superior in production and art direction, Korla Pandit’s Fantasy releases would become the lasting testament to his musical legacy.
As the 50’s moved into the 60’s, Korla Pandit’s fame seemed to rapidly fade. With his brand of exotica music being replaced by rock n’ roll, Pandit’s fifteen minutes of fame seemed to be long over. Liberace, on the other hand, was now one of the richest and most successful performers on the planet. From a vaulted residency in Vega, he brought a new sort of over-the-top camp to his performances never seen before by mainstream audiences. Although never popular with critics, and despite becoming a target for jeers from members of the public, Liberace seemed to embrace the laughter, never losing his sparkle or his smile.
In 1968 Korla Pandit ended both his television show and relationship with Fantasy Records when he packed his family up once more and left San Francisco for the safety of Vancouver, British Columbia. This time Pandit didn’t quit due to frustration or wage conflicts, but to keep his sons safe. With the Viet Nam War escalating, young men not much older than his sons were coming home en mass in body bags, and Pandit was terrified bis boys would be drafted into a senseless war he did not believe in. Life in British Columbia at the end of the 1960’s would prove to be even quieter for Pandit, who never seemed to gain any foothold into the Canadian entertainment industry. Never having an audience in Canada, Pandit was reduced to playing at hotel lounges, pizza parlours and car dealerships. He would release five independently produced albums between 1968 and 1971 via his own label, India Records, but eventually settled into a life of teaching private music lessons.
But Pandit’s story wasn’t over yet. In fact, it might be said that it had only just begun. By the end of the 1980’s, interest in the exotica culture of the 1950’s began to reemerge, and new wave hipsters and alternative artists began to rediscover the myth and legend of the elusive Korla Pandit. With newer younger audiences beginning to pay attention, Pandit eventually came out of retirement, returning to California to perform, once again, at night clubs and art events. Although interest in his music was incredibly niche, he gained a cult following of his own which led to some interesting collaborations in the final years of his life. In 1993 Pandit was invited to contribute an eerie introductory raga to the track “From You Girl” on LA based punk band The Muff’s critically acclaimed debut album. The next year Pandit would return to the big screen when he got a standout cameo in Tim Burton’s Academy Award winning film “Ed Wood,” where he played the organ in the scene where Johnny Depp performs the dance of the seven veils in full drag. The cameo was a tip of the hat to Pandit’s legacy as a Hollywood eccentric amongst the roster of Hollywood weirdos being celebrated in the film, such as director Edward D. Wood Jr, psychic The Amazing Criswell, TV hostess Vampira, wrestler Tor Johnston and, of course, horror icon Bela Lugosi. Although extremely gaunt, the magnetic eyes and signature turban was immediately recognizable as classic Pandit, and the scene doubled not only as an emotional crescendo to the film’s primary conflict, but a loving tribute to Korla Pandit’s forgotten legacy. Finally, in 1995 Pandit would release one final album, “Exotica 2000,” on the independent label Sympathy for the Record Industry. His first new album in over twenty years, despite “Exotica 2000” being released during the dark ages when CDs were considered the new medium, the album did manage to get a vinyl release, and copies can be found for sale on Discogs at surprisingly reasonable prices.
Korla Pandit would eventually get a new collection in 2022 when record fans were treated to a surprise Record Store Day release from Fantasy Records titled “Genie of the Keys: The Best of Korla Pandit.” Pressed on crystal baby blue vinyl, the 180-gram disc would become a rare collectable for music fans and propel Pandit’s music into the 21st Century.
But as these things usually go, when Korla Pandit finally began to gain fame again, time ran out. Korla Pandit died on October 2nd, 1998, at age 77 of natural causes. His final public performance was a sold-out concert at Los Angele’s Luna Park Club in 1997.
Far more monumental in our social history, however, was the death of Liberace years earlier in February 1987 at the age of 67. Succumbing to complications from the AIDS virus, Liberace became the second major celebrity after Rock Hudson to die of the deadly disease that was killing hundreds of thousands of people, primarily gay men, throughout the world. Making his final public appearance on an episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” only weeks before his death, Liberace put a face onto AIDS victims, starting a new conversation about the seriousness of the disease which increased public awareness and education about prevention as well as new movements to find a cure.
Although they were different performers in many ways, there is no denying that Korla Pandit and Liberace were remarkably similar during their rise to fame. Of course, in the long run, one performer became a legend, while the other became a musical curiosity. But there was one more thing that both performers had in common at the time of their death. Both Liberace and Korla Pandit had secrets that they were concealing from the public. Secrets that could have potentially dismantled their careers, and even perhaps their lives. In the case of Liberace, that secret was that he was gay, although when re-examining his lifestyle and performances in retrospect, he was playing fast and loose with the secrecy. Despite rumours and innuendos to his sexual preferences being reported in the tabloids for decades, while nobody ever said it out loud, Liberace’s sexuality was one of entertainment’s worst kept secrets, but still somehow managed to shock the public upon his death. But in death, Liberace’s cult status would only increase as an LGBT+ icon and trailblazer.
As for Korla Pandit, his secret was a lot more guarded and shocking when, in 2000, it was revealed by journalist RJ Smith, writing for Los Angeles Magazine, that everything we ever thought we knew about “he godfather of exotica” was a lie, and there never was a Korla Pandit. Having been dead for two years, Korla Pandit’s story wasn’t over yet…. but that’s another Vinyl Story.
VINYL STORY NOTE: The story of Korla Pandit continues at Vinyl Stories soon! Stay tuned!
