My old pal, the fine cartoonist Fred Hembeck, sent in this question…
The other day, I stumbled across a recording on the internet of "Tip Toe Through The Tulips" by Tiny Tim (aka Herbert Khaury), and it brought back vivid memories of the strange fascination folks, myself included, had with him in the late sixties. I can't say I was actually a fan — I didn't buy his LP, for instance — but there was nothing like him in popular culture at the time, and it was difficult to look away.
My question to you regards his appearances on The Tonight Show — what did Johnny, Ed, Doc, Fred, and other folks behind the scenes really think of him? Were they taking him seriously or were they exploiting him — or did it fall somewhere in between? I know I stayed up late to watch his wedding to Miss Vicky — were you in the audience that night? Or did you meet Mr. Tim another time? Just wondering.
I never met Mr. Khaury or Mr. Tim or whatever you'd call him. I did see him in operation once when I was poaching on the set of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and he was there taping some short blackouts. I think I saw enough of him that day to conclude that his "strangeness" (if we can call it that) was not an act. He really was like that except that the falsetto voice that some knew him for was something he put on just for certain musical performances.
For those who don't know: He was an eccentric performer who liked to strum his ukulele and sing very old songs. He played a circuit of night clubs that featured unusual acts and gained a modest fame in some circles. A lot of people thought his career began when he first appeared on Laugh-In but he actually had something of a cult following before then and some sources say his first record album was recorded before his first time on Laugh-In. Laugh-In certainly had a lot to do though with surprisingly high sales of that album, the cover of which looked like this…
The TV shows that booked him weren't particularly interested in his music…just his freakishness. Laugh-In brought him out to perform and they put co-host Dick Martin, who apparently had never seen him before, onstage to laugh at (not with) him during that performance. Johnny Carson had him on for much the same reason and here's his first appearance with Johnny from April 4, 1968. As you can see, the host went through his entire catalog of facial takes to camera playing off how odd his guest was…
On a later appearance, Tiny Tim mentioned that he was engaged to be married and Johnny, apparently spontaneously, invited T.T. to have the ceremony on The Tonight Show. The invite was immediately accepted and on December 17, 1969, the wedding of Tiny Tim to 17-year-old Victoria Budinger got Johnny one of the highest-rated TV broadcasts of all time. Here is that ceremony — and no, Fred, I was not in the audience but I was watching along with most of the country…
What did the people on The Tonight Show think of Tiny Tim? They thought he was great for the ratings, though obviously not for long. Yes, they were exploiting him but from what I heard from one gent who employed him, T.T. was fine with that. He absolutely loved the fame and fortune he was now achieving…and with an act that absolutely no one ever thought was commercial. When asked about it, he said it was fine that people laughed at him because they also paid attention when he talked about the old songs he loved and when he voiced his disappointment with current music which he felt lacked strong melodies.
The sad part of it was that none of it lasted very long. His marriage to "Miss Vicki" (as he called his first wife) was over three years later and she was followed in his life by a "Miss Jan" and a "Miss Sue." He had one child — a daughter with Miss Vicki. He wound up playing smaller and smaller clubs. One reason his career faded was that he had several heart attacks, at least one while performing on stage. That will cause people to not book you.
The gent I mentioned above who hired him was the Entertainment Director at a hotel in Laughlin, Nevada. I do not remember the man's name but he booked "oldies" acts into the casino showroom and I met him — this would have been around 1993 or so — not long after he'd had Tiny Tim there for a multi-week stand. T.T. had cut his onstage performance short one evening, staggered into the wings and collapsed.
If you absolutely have to have a heart attack and can't do it in a hospital, a gambling casino is not a bad place to have it. Most of them have emergency medical equipment on the premises and someone who knows how to use it. T.T. was treated there until the ambulance arrived and took him to a hospital in nearby Bullhead City, Arizona. The E.D. told me, approximately: "We heard he pulled through but that on doctor's orders, he would never perform again. And then four weeks later, his manager or someone was calling to see if we wanted to have him back. I decided I didn't."
Herbert Khaury, better known as Tiny Tim, died in September of 1996. He was onstage at a benefit performing his signature number, "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" when he suffered yet another of his many heart attacks and died later that night.
The Entertainment Director told me that T.T. loved performing, loved signing autographs, loved his celebrity. It's hard to believe that most of that would have happened if he hadn't been willing to let Laugh-In, Carson and others treat him as a human oddity, mocking his appearance, his voice, his manners, his effeminate gestures and laugh and so on. I don't think anyone took him that seriously…not even himself. Thanks, Fred, for prompting me to write this.
