Tiptoeing...
June of 1968 was "a time for joy, a time for tears, a time for".....Tiny Tim ? The campy singer with the long, straggly mane and ever present ukelele, born Herbert Buckingham Khaury became a one-hit wonder on this date in 1968 when he reached the top 20 (at #17) with "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips"...
At the peak of his popularity, Tiny Tim was earning $60,000 a week in Las Vegas, made numerous appearances on "Laugh-In", Johnny Carson (where he married "Miss Vicki" live) and other talk shows and was the hottest act in show business in the summer of '68. Read my personal view of Tiny Tim in my commentary but first, join me in this sing-along:
"And if I kiss you in the garden, in the moonlight, will you pardon me ? Come tiptoe through the tulips with me"...
More June 29 Memories...
1967) Jayne Mansfield in fatal auto crash...
1990) A's pitcher Dave Stewart and the Dodger's Fernando Valenzuela pitch no-hitters...
2002) Rosemary Clooney sings her last note at 74...
2003) Katharine Hepburn takes her final curtain at 96...
Happy Birthday to...
1930) Eccentric movie producer, Robert Evans...
1936) Baseball Hall of Famer, Harmon Killebrew...
1944) Gary Busey...
1947) Comedian Richard Lewis...
1948) Actor turned U.S. Representative, Fred ("Love Boat") Gandy...
1953) Men at Work singer, Colin Hay...
1960) Evelyn "Champagne" King...
1961) "NYPD Blue" actress, Sharon Lawrence...
1962) "LA Law" actress, Amanda Donohoe
Commentary...
I met Tiny Tim in 1968 in Boston during the height of his fleeting career. He was in town for an appearance in Framingham where he was performing at an outdoor arena. My immediate impression of "Mister" Khaury was how polite he was, referring to me as "Mister Mel". He had a vast knowledge of music from the 20's and 30's but was not entirely enthralled by his hit, "Tip-toe Through the Tulips", feeling there were better songs he could have had a hit with. Tiny Tim had a tiny voice and I found myself straining several times just to hear him. The accent was pure New York, more Queens or Bronx than anywhere else. I promised him I would see his concert, did and wasn't disappointed. He proved to be quite the campy showman, delighting the crowd with a vast assortment of ukelele driven standards from his favorite era, the twenties and thirties. By the way, in one of the most bizarre pairings I've ever witnessed, the opening act on that show were the Amboy Dukes, led by Ted Nugent...
Tiny Tim strummed his ukelele for the last time at a Minneapolis fund-raiser in November of 1996...
