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Tiny Tim

eddie@edlis.org (Ed Ricardo):
Can anyone fill us in on why and what Bob Dylan did with Tiny Tim?

He invited Tiny Tim to Woodstock and Tiny Tim came.

I gather there are circulating tapes, but Dylan is thought not to be on them.

Why would he be interested in Tiny Tim? Is he the same character who appeared on Howard Stern's New Year's Eve special this year? Help us out, we who are too far from the USA to follow closely Mr Tim's career and his influence in Bob Dylan's work...

georger@com.ost (George Rothe):
Tiny, an alumnist of my high school (Stuyvesant High School, nyc) hit it big in the states around 65-66 with his rendition of 'tip toe through the tulips'...was featured on hit tv shows of the day (ed sullivan, laugh in, tonight)...had a best selling album (all i remember of the album was one song where he sings:

'one eye is brown, the other eye is brown'

remember, Harrison features Tiny Tim on the last Beatles Christmas Record. and since the fab four cut this record in 4 separate pieces, I wonder if Harrison was in Woodstock when he taped his portion... that would tie in with Tiny Tim performing with the Band and Dylan's association.

so, where are the tapes with Harrison, Tiny Tim and Dylan?


&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& U0A75@WVNVM.WVNET.EDU

In the new issue of _On The Tracks_, there is an interview with Tiny Tim that talks about how he made a movie called "Angelique" for Peter Yarrow in January of 1967. The Band backed him up in the movie.

Tiny Tim says that "Bob Dylan was in Woodstock and he heard that the Band was backing me there. He remembered me from California so he invited me up to Woodstock."

The story about his visit is very sweet. He said that first a "big black limousine" took him to Albert Grossman's place...then he had to wait there 'till it got dark. Then he got back into the limousine and it took him to Bob Dylan's house. "I couldn't tell where it was because it was all camouflaged."

Tiny Tim had taken his big shopping bag of cosmetics with him because he was staying overnight. He got to Bob's around 11:00 p.m. and was taken to a "big gigantic suite" where he freshened up for his visit.

Bob knew Tiny Tim was a hockey fan and asked him to go to a game with him some time at Madison Square. And Tiny Tim told Bob that he thought what Bob was doing in 1967 was similar to what Rudy Vallee was doing in 1929. According to Tiny Tim, "When the electric radio first came in, in the '10s and '20s, it was hard for singers to adjust to electricity. Everyone was shouting into the microphone, as if trying to put a song out over the wires was like telephoning through Dixie Cups. Rudy Vallee came over and put a sound into the microphone at the Hi Ho Club in 1928, piped through the WMCA radio, with a sound like this...(Tiny Tim croons a line of Rudy Vallee song). He was the first one to put sex and romance and softness into the microphone. Women flocked to the club."

Then Tiny Tim did his version of Rudy Vallee singing "Like a Rolling Stone" AND he did his version of Bob Dylan singing a Rudy Vallee song! (I wonder which one.)

He said that Bob seemed interested in Tiny Tim's ideas on this point. And later that night, Bob sang "Cool Water" for him, and Tiny Tim sang an Irving Kaufman song from 1922. (Again, I wonder which one.)

One thing that Tiny Tim said puzzled me: "It's funny but he did have me do some films. He was doing some filming for 'Stage 67'." Hmmmm. Anybody else know anything about these films???

On tiptoes,

Marguerita



Subject: Tiny Tim RIP (long)
From: (Pinky@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 17:48:26 GMT

Tiny Tim, Singer, Dies at 64
Flirted, Chastely, With Fame

NY Times 96-12-2
by William Grimes

Tiny Tim, whose quavery falsetto and ukulele made "Tiptoe Through the
Tulips With Me" a novelty hit in 1968, died on saturday night at the
Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. He was 64 and had lived
in Minneapolis for the past year.

The cause of death was apparently cardiac arrest, a nursing
supervisor, Ellen Lafans, told the Associated Press. He had been in
poor health recently, and collapsed onstage after suffering a heart
attack while performing at a ukulele festival in western Massachusetts
in September.

The cultural turbulence of the late 1960's produced many strange
phenomena, but none stranger than Tiny Tim, a pear shaped singer with
a beak nose, scraggly shoulder-length hair and an outfit that could be
described as haute-couture bum. In the age of acid rock, he crooned
romantic melodies of the 1920's, accompanying himself on a ukulele
that he pulled out of a paper shopping bag.

For a brief, heady period, Tiny Tim, who had spent years performing in
small clubs, often free, was one of the most popular entertainers in
America. When he married Vicki Budinger, a 17-year-old fan he called
Miss Vicki, on the "Tonight" show on Dec. 17, 1969, the event was seen
by 21.4 million American households, the show's largest audience.

Tiny Tim, whose real name was Herbert Khaury, was born in New York
City and grew up in Washington Heights. He spent most of his time
listening to the radio, fantasizing about celebrities and singing
along with popular tunes.

From an early age, he doted on the music of vaudeville singers like
Arthur Fields and Eddie Morton, as well as crooners like Rudy Vallee.
He was drawn, he said, to the music "when this country was filled with
gaiety and singing and romance".

Early on, Tiny Tim took to wearing white pancake makeup and long hair.
He dropped out of George Washington High School and took a variety of
menial jobs. Soon he began competing in amateur talent contests, with
no success. In 1953, he said, after accepting jesus into his life and
praying for a new vocal style, he hit upon the falsetto that would
become his trademark.

"Not only was it easier on my throat, but I found that I was thrilling
myself as well" he said . But he continued to sing in a tremulous
baritone as well, and sometimes alternated voices, duet style.

Billed as Larry Love, the Singing Canary, he sang in Hubert's Museum
in Times Square as a freak attraction. He also sang in small clubs in
Greenwich Village, New Jersey and Long Island without pay. In 1962 he
landed his first paid engagement, at the Cafe Bizarre in the Village.
The following year, his manager, George King, changed the singer's
name to Tiny Tim, leaving behind aliases like Julian Foxglove and
Emmett Swink.

In the mid-60's, Tiny Tim gained new visibility at a midtown
discotheque called the Scene, which often booked top rock acts. His
appearances there led to a booking on "The Merv Griffin Show" and a
small part in the film "You Are What You Eat" which was made by Peter
Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary. It was Mr. Yarrow who brought Mo
Ostin, the head of Reprise Records, to hear Tiny Tim at the Scene, an
encounter that led to a recording contract. National attention came
with an appearance on the first "Laugh-In" show in 1968, which drew an
avalanche of negative mail. Nevertheless, Tiny Tim became a regular
guest on the "Tonight" show.

His most successful single was "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", a remake
of a 1929 hit by Nick Lucas that reached No. 17 on the pop charts in
June 1968. His first albulm, "God Bless Tiny Tim" (1968), sold more
than 200,000 copies. It was quickly foloowed by "Tiny Tim's Second
Album." His third album, "For All My Little Friends," released in
1969, flopped. By the end of 1970, the Tiny Tim wave had crested. His
marriage to Miss Vicki soon unraveled, and in 1977 the couple
divorced. He continued to perform, to dwindling audiences.

In the 1980's, Tiny Tim experienced a mild resurgence, as he was
discovered by a new generation of rock musicians. He resumed touring
and turned out a flurry of albums that included cover versions of rock
songs, as well as the Tin Pan Alley and vaudeville numbers.

Some were merely peculiar, like the heavy-metal album "Tiny Rock,"
which included a cover version of the AC/DC hit "Highway to Hell."
Other albums earned respectful reviews, notably "Girl," a
collaboration with the band Brave Combo that included a cha-cha
version of "Hey, Jude." Other albums from this late period included
"The Impotent Troubadour," "I Love Me" and "Prisoner of Love." He
recently completed "Tiny Tim 's Christmas Album," which has just been
released.

He is survived by his third wife, Sue Gardner, and a daughter by his
first marriage, Tulip Victoria. His second marriage, to Jan Alweiss,
ended in divorce.

Initially, journalists and critics debated whether Tiny Tim was a
put-on or the real thing. It quickly became clear that he was genuine,
a lonely outcast intoxicated by fame, a romantic in persuit of a
beatiful dream. "These voices," he told an interviewer, "really live
within me."

Ernie Clark's Tiny Tim interview

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