Tiny Tim

It was the 60s OP and Tiny was riffing in the 20s - people back then were more a part of a monoculture and thus in on the joke.

He reminds me of The Childcatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Johnny Carson could make anyone famous.

So creepy. His nude body would have been a nightmare.

There’s a movie OP!

He died in 1996.

WHET Miss Vicki?

Helen Reddy's husband was his manager.

Mrs. Miller, bless her, paved the way for talent like Tiny Tim.

Yeah whet to Vicki? Did she divorce his ass and take his fortune?

And that Jimmy Saville freak - though that one's on the British, not us.

The first time I saw him was on Laugh In.

He piggybacked on the 20s/30s revival in the 60s and freaky artists in general were everywhere,. Another one was Wild Man Fischer (a homeless, paranoid schizophrenic from the Strip) who appeared on Laugh-In. Frank Zappa had a whole roster of freaks signed to his Bizarre-label.

Was he straight? He came across as a very creepy, ugly queen.

I think there was something somewhat erotically fascinating about Tiny Tim. I can see how someone could get a fetishy, carnivalesque turn-on from that guy. If REM's Peter Buck were re-cast as a David Lynch film extra, for example.

Howard Stern used to interview Tiny Tim sometimes and, quite frankly, Tiny Tim was truly one eccentric man. Was he a pervert, though, OP? I knew nothing of it if that's the case.

Was he son of Abraham?

Tiny Tim was married three times, and had one daughter from his first marriage to the then 17-year-old Victoria Budinger – also known as "Miss Vicki" – at the age of 37. Tiny Tim married Miss Vicki on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on December 17, 1969, with 40 million people watching. In 1971, Budinger gave birth to their daughter Tulip Victoria. Tiny Tim and Victoria Budinger divorced three years later. Budinger subsequently had several marriages. Tiny Tim married Jan Alweiss ("Miss Jan") in 1984, and Susan Marie Gardner ("Miss Sue") in 1995.[19] Gardner was a 39-year-old Harvard graduate and a fan of Tim's since she was 12.

A modern day equivalent: Har Mar Superstar: named himself after the Har Mar mall in Roseville MN Used to perform in his underwear- big belly flopping out for all to see.

Was he the son of Bob Cratchit?

I used to listen to his interviews on Howard Stern. What stood out to me the most was him being a clean freak and always wearing disposable diapers because of it. I also recall Howard chiding him because apparently Tim used to drink spaghetti sauce straight out of the jar.

Howard felt this was causing him to have too much salt in his diet.

Didn't he end up dying of a heart attack?

He got The AIDS and died.

Howard Stern and Robin Quivers now freely admit they think Tim was gay.

Tiny Tim was straight and into kinky sex. He was half Jewish on his mom' side, his dad was Middle Eastern, from Beriut. He was a total early 20th century music / entertainment history geek starting from when he was a teenager. Tiny's act was essentially performance art - singing 1920's & 30s songs in a way that mimicked the lo-fi sound of 20's/30's recordings and radio; but he really wasn't putting on a "act" so to speak, he was an eccentric who was pretty much just as odd as his stage persona.

Sounds pretty gay to me.

Howard and Robin knew him.

R24 didn’t

His final performance. It was a sellout.

I was walking around P-town one night in the early ‘90s & saw him at an outdoor restaurant.

Bob Dylan was a fan. Others were too. He was bringing back music from the 20s and was totally serious about it.

The infö about his sex life comes from his journals as per the new documentary. If he was truly closeted he never wrote about it, but he did write about the guilt he sometimes felt taking female groupies up on their offers.

Herbert Butros Khaury, as someone wrote above, Jewish and Arab. Boy, was he a son of Abraham.

He was featured in a film called "You Are What You Eat", but I never saw it. I recall the title though. Tiny seemed very sincere about his singing and his ukelele and didn't appear to realize he was considered "special". Maybe he did off-stage, but he must have made some good money for a few years when he was wildly popular. I once saw him near Lincon Center on the street, probably in the late 80s-early 90s, and he had put on quite a bit of weight.

He was definitely straight. He was friends with porn star Marc Stevens and appeared at several of his night club parties in NYC in the early 80s because many of the female porn stars would be performing there. I know one female porn star who did a few of Marc's shows with Tim, and she said he was very eccentric, but very nice. She didn't have sex with him, but indicated some of the others did.

Some jewish men can come off as gay even though they are really not.

His daughter lucked out with her looks! She is quite attractive.

Oops, here is her photo.

[quote]He piggybacked on the 20s/30s revival in the 60s and freaky artists in general were everywhere,. Another one was Wild Man Fischer (a homeless, paranoid schizophrenic from the Strip) who appeared on Laugh-In. Frank Zappa had a whole roster of freaks signed to his Bizarre-label.

True.

The problem is that younger people know nothing about the era.

Phyllis Diller, Brother Theodore, "Professor" Irwin Corey, Andy Warhol and his crew, The Adams Family, The Munsters...the 60s had this fascination with freaky characters.

And while the 60s focused the jet-age future to come, it also had (as you mention) a strong nostalgia trend for the 20s and 30s.

Tiny Tim's moment ended with the Tonight Show wedding.

Genuinely thought this thread was going to be about the Dickens character when I saw the title

His 50-year old daughter, Tulip Victoria, looks normal.

Tiny Tim's appearance on The Tonight Show. He's obviously very ill.

I lived in Las Vegas in the *80s I worked as a floorman. One of my jobs was unsticking coins in slot machines when they had coin machines instead of electronic ones. I had to open up his machine. He is really weird looking but when he opened his mouth he had the deepest voice. That falsetto voice must be hard to do all the time. I think I did a double-take when he started talking. He was nice though.

I love this song, he did a great job vocally on this song. Primo 6ss sunshine pop. He was a strange man, that had a deep appreciation for beautiful music. Probably was gay, but he made it right in his own eyes.

For all the horrid frau stuff he had to do at times, there are great moments in his career. Brownie points to the reply that shared “Santa’s Got The AIDS”, it’s a holiday classic for me.

Lived in Des Moines in the early 90s!

My contribution on sightings: I saw him waiting in line at the post office near Lincoln Center. Late 70s.

Wasn’t his first wife a hooker?

I wonder if he did the falsetto voice when he came

Tiptoe Through the Tulips was used to really creep effect in that horror movie Insidious.

Bitch stole my act.

Nick Lucas introduced Tiptoe in The Goldiggers of Broadway. An early sound musical most of it is lost but a few brief scenes still exist. Including Tiptoe which is really bizarre and the finale which features Painting the Clouds With Sunshine which I find sensational but someone noted this is why vaudeville died. I think the vaudeville acts which follow each other with lightening speed are great. Unfortunately the visual of the very end no longer exists but the sound does. These are on YouTube but I saw a better quality print of the finale at FF.

Nick Lucas lived to see Tiptoe revived but not happy to see it made into a joke.

r33 is extremely niive and irrationally defensive about the effeminate freak Tiny Tim who couldn't make a relationship with a female last.

He has no idea what lengths closeted men go to to disguise their sexuality, especially when they're celebrities in the 20th century.

I bet he thinks Michael Jackson was a red-blooded pussyhound, too.

To be fair there are plenty of heterosexuals who can't make a relationship last and have multiple marriages.

He was sure goofy looking and annoying too

He was a smash on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

[quote]Nick Lucas introduced Tiptoe in The Goldiggers of Broadway. An early sound musical most of it is lost but a few brief scenes still exist.

I've watched it over and over again. Fascinating.

James Cagney at 5:30.

"The last surviving reel". That's a shame. I'd love to see the full film.

Though IMDB says two reels survive plus the Vitaphone soundtrack. Also George Raft is an uncredited dancer.

R51- Richard Simmons + Tiny Tim = TWO DREAMBOATS

[quote]is extremely niive and irrationally defensive about the effeminate freak Tiny Tim who couldn't make a relationship with a female last.

The one who is extremely naive and irrationally defensive is you.

There are effeminate men who are as straight as an arrow.

Was Tiny Tim gay or straight? I have no idea. And neither do you.

On days like these, we need a little Tiny Tim. Enjoy.

oh, daer

Gay or straight? You old queens need to hone your bi-dar, he's clearly very bi