Tiny Tim

Tiny Tim

Born Herbert Butros Khaury on April 12^th, 1933, he began teaching himself guitar at the age of six. In his pre-teen years he developed a passion for music from the 1900s through the 1930s and learned to play the violin, mandolin and the ukulele. By the early 1950s, Khaury went to work for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in New York as a messenger and became fascinated with the entertainment industry. Entering a local talent show, he sang "You Are My Sunshine" in his newly discovered falsetto voice, and went on to perform in dance clubs under different names such as Texarkana Tex, Judas K. Foxglove, Vernon Castle, and Emmett Swink. To attract attention, he grew his hair out and started wearing colorful clothes and white makeup. Shocked by his strange appearance, his own mother wanted to take him to a psychiatrist, but his father nixed those plans. He landed his first paying gig in 1963 at a gay and lesbian club in Greenwich Village called Page 3. Over the next two years he appeared as Dary Dover, Sir Timothy Timms and eventually Tiny Tim.

It wasn't until February 5th, 1968 that Tiny Tim became a household name when he first appeared on the popular American TV show, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, as a gag act. Audience response was so great that he soon became a semi-regular on the program. After Johnny Carson held up a copy of his debut album "God Bless Tiny Tim" during an appearance on The Tonight Show on April 4th, the LP sold 200,000 copies. "Tip Toe Thru The Tulips With Me" was quickly released as a single and became one of the top selling songs of the year after peaking at #17 on Billboard's Hot 100. Although no further hits followed in the US, Tim did reach #45 in the UK in 1969 with "Great Balls Of Fire", and his live shows often brought in $50,000 a week.

Through 1968 and 1969, Tim made several appearances on The Tonight Show, usually up-staging the host with his outlandish wardrobe and his strong opinions on virtually every subject. In September of '69, Tim announced to Johnny Carson on the air that he was engaged to 17-year-old Victoria May Budinger. Carson, in a pre-arranged set of questions, asked Tim if he would like to get married on the show, with NBC footing the entire bill. The December 17th wedding marked Tim's most popular moment, with 40 million viewers watching him tie the knot with Miss Vicki. Several concerts, tours, and television appearances followed the wedding broadcast. Before long, Miss Vicki was pregnant, despite the disbelief of the many who were convinced Tiny's ukulele wasn't strung in that direction. But alas, the union was short-lived. Miss Vicki left with their daughter, Tulip in 1971 and filed for divorce in March 1972, eventually becoming a go-go dancer in Camden, New Jersey. She subsequently had several marriages. Tim moved back in with his mother in a New York City tenement.

By the early '70s, America's fascination with Tiny Tim had waned. He continued to play small clubs and oldies revival dates, even releasing albums on independent labels. Although he is best remembered for his falsetto, Tim was blessed with a beautiful, natural voice and his stage act consisted of covering sing-a-longs and tunes of the '30s and '40s. He found many of the songs he sang at the New York Public Library. He also appeared on The Tonight Show from time to time, but the magic was clearly gone. When a reporter asked him, "Do you ever think about what it was like when you were with Johnny and on top?", Tim replied, "From morning to night, that's all I think about."

Tim remarried in 1984 to Jan Alweiss (Miss Jan), however the couple separated after a short time. In 1987 he joined the Great American Circus for thirty-six weeks. His multiple appearances as a musician, entertainer, and celebrity included The Ed Sullivan Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Arsenio HallShow, several commercials, and an MTV game show. In 1987 he landed a part in the horror movie, Blood Harvest, where he played a clown. Tim would marry for a third time in 1995, to Susan Gardner (Miss Sue), a 39-year-old Harvard graduate and a fan of Tim's since she was 12.

After a long period of relative obscurity, Tim once again stepped into the spotlight in the mid 1990s. He re-surfaced on TV, making appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Howard Stern's TV show. He released several albums, including "Rock" and "I Love Me" in 1993 and "Girl" in 1996. The comeback was stopped short however when on September 28, 1996, Tiny suffered a heart attack just as he began performing at a ukulele festival at the Montague Grange Hall in Montague, Massachusetts. After being hospitalized for three weeks, he was discharged with the advice not to perform again due to his fragile health. He ignored that warning. On November 30th, 1996, Tim suffered another heart attack on stage at a gala benefit hosted by the Women's Club of Minneapolis. He was singing the last number of the evening, "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". While Miss Sue was helping him back to their table, he collapsed and never regained consciousness. After being transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, repeated revival attempts were made, but Tim was pronounced dead at 11:20 pm. He is entombed in a mausoleum in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.

Despite his passing, more of Tiny Tim's music has been released in recent years. In 2000, the Rhino Handmade label issued "Tiny Tim Live at the Royal Albert Hall", which had been recorded in 1968 at the height of his fame. In 2009, Collector's Choice released some of Tiny Tim's favorite recordings from the 1800s to the 1930s on an LP entitled "I've Never Seen a Straight Banana", recorded in 1976. In 2016, a label called Ship To Shore Phonograph Co. issued a limited edition LP called "Tiny Tim's America". That album started out as a rehearsal tape that Tim made in a New York City hotel room in 1974, and includes and a four-page, full color booklet with liner notes from his former producer, Richard Barone. In 2020, Swedish journalist and documentary film-maker Johan von Sydow released the film Tiny Tim: King for a Day.

Tiny Tim will always be remembered singing "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" in his falsetto voice, strumming his ukulele. With his dyed red hair and clashing outfits, he embodied all that was goofy about the late 1960s.

For more, check out Gary James' interview with Tiny Tim's manager, Jeff Wald.