Foundation leader aims to help Liberace’s legend live on

Jack Rappaport had not heard Liberace's music until he joined the foundation board for the late showman four years ago.

Rappaport, a classical music fan, a veteran of foundations and a former commercial real estate agent, was brought in to administer scholarships and to oversee the foundation's real estate holdings.

Rappaport, who stepped down from the board to become president in January, oversees the operations of the foundation-owned retail plaza at the corner of Tropicana Avenue and Spencer Street.

He is also working on finding a new home for the museum, digitizing all 113 episodes of the musician's television show so they can be aired on TV again, and managing Liberace's licensing rights.

There are also discussions about taking part of Liberace's collection on a worldwide tour.

It is all part of this former competitive hockey player's drive to bring the late performer's work to a new generation.

Question: What was your first exposure to Liberace?

Answer: My first exposure was coming on this board of directors. That's why I say I am the perfect candidate to represent the new audience, the new fan. I, unfortunately, never saw him perform. I saw the Osmonds, Elvis, Barbra Streisand, the Jackson 5. But no one ever took me to see Liberace. I wish I had and I'm not saying that because I'm the president of this organization. It's because of everything I'm watching on video.

Question: Why did you join the Liberace Foundation?

Answer: In 2006 I was still busy with commercial real estate. I had resigned from the Las Vegas Music Festival the previous year. I was then asked to join the board for the Liberace Foundation for two reasons. One was for my love of scholarships from having done scholarships through the Rappaport Foundation and the Las Vegas Music Festival. The second was to oversee the real estate. The Liberace Foundation owns the plaza where the foundation and museum are located. There are other tenants here besides the foundation and the museum.

Question: Why did Liberace establish the foundation in 1976?

Answer: He formed it as a nonprofit with a mission statement, with a board of directors with the purpose of giving scholarships. In the 2008-09 scholastic year, 15 various colleges, universities and institutions received scholarships, and that will be approximately what we'll be giving for the current year. The value varies year to year, but nearly $6 million has been given since the foundation was established.

Question: How do expand Liberace's fan base and add more young people?

Answer: That is the big question. We have plans for a new museum. Liberace was constantly reinventing himself. We are contemplating and have been in discussions to move the museum. I think Liberace himself would have. The museum will always strive to be accessible and locals-friendly. But by the same token, why wouldn't we want to avail ourselves to the tremendous tourism. The millions and millions of visitors. The secret is to get close to the Strip or on the Strip in such a manner that you don't alienate the locals, but at the same time you make yourself available to the tourist.

In its day, the Liberace Museum would get 450,000 visitors a year. Now we are down to 50,000. Second is re-establishing the Liberace brand, working with licensing agents to get product out there. We are also in discussions to take a portion of the museum collection on tour in North America and overseas.

He had, and continues to have, a huge fan base in Europe, especially England. If we eventually reached out to Asia, I think the Asians would love the showmanship.

Question: What was your introduction to classical music?

Answer: In 1996, my Uncle Al passed away. I was the one who ended up looking after my Aunt Midgi because I was the only local family member. Her formal name is Marjorie Rappaport. Midgi's world was opera, classical music and the performing arts. She had it on 24/7 in her home. This wasn't my world at the time. Prior to my uncle's passing they would go to all the concerts at UNLV. They would travel extensively and everything was based around the arts and classical music. We became very close and she would continually ask me if I would attend a concert with her. I kept saying, "No thank you, it's not for me."

One day she said, "If you never, ever went to another concert would you please attend this one with me? I really want to see it." Out of love for my aunt we went to (UNLV's Artemus) Ham Hall. I sat there in my seat, fidgeting, looking around, twisting and turning. Then the music started and I was transfixed. I didn't move a muscle or an inch for the next two hours. It didn't hurt that it was Zubin Mehta conducting the Israeli Philharmonic. We then started attending all the concerts together.

Question: How did this experience lead to your foundation work over the years?

Answer: Around 1997 I was approached by Jeff Koep, who was the dean of the College of Fine Arts at UNLV. My Aunt Midgi and I had formed the Alfred and Marjorie Rappaport Foundation. The dean approached (us) to help underwrite a program called "Introduction to the Arts." It was presented as a way to give free-admission tickets to young people who could not necessarily afford to go. If it could change my life, and at the time I was in my 40s, what's it going to do to somebody who's much younger? It's been quite successful. To date, we've sent about 75,000 local young people to performances. There are always 200 tickets available for every performance.

Question: What was the Las Vegas Music Festival?

Answer: I joined the board in the late 1990s. ... I was asked to be president in 1999. Music students and faculty would come in from all over the world. The students would get private lessons, various coaching. There would be master classes given by the faculty that were free to the public. All the concerts were either free or very nominally charged. It became one of the acclaimed music festivals in the nation.

Question: How did you get into hockey living in the desert?

Answer: I started playing when I was 11 years of age and I played competitive hockey for 19 years. There was a group of us that hung out every day. We just ice-skated. I skated probably 14 hours a day, easily. I eventually played for Lake Superior State University (in Michigan) in 1974. I played in the minor leagues around the Southwest. Approximately when I was 30, my son was 3 or 4 and I was working, I started playing working-man's hockey. You'd play hockey, but it wasn't your job. You went to your job the next morning.

Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at
aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.