Happy Birthday Tiny Tim!

Born Herbert Khaury on April 12th, in either 1933, 1932, 1930, 1926, 1923, or 1922 (his passport said 1932), in New York City, the son of a Lebanese father and Jewish mother. Legend has it that he first sang in a lesbian cabaret bar (lesbian, Lebanese, there's a joke in there somewhere); whatever the truth of this, he certainly went on to sing in a very wide variety of clubs and bars, as well as entering a large number of talent competitions in an attempt to be discovered. He used a number of pseudonyms, but eventually settled on naming himself Tiny Tim, after the character from Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Tiny Tim already had something of a cult following around New York when he appeared in the film You Are What You Eat. This led to a booking on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, which turned out to be his big break. Appearances on the shows of Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason followed, and he made a name for himself as a novelty performer. As well as his extraordinarily high falsetto voice, his appearance - long curly hair, large nose, six foot one in height and clutching his relatively tiny ukulele - helped him in standing out from the crowd.

In 1968, his first album, God Bless Tiny Tim, was recorded. It contained a version of what was his signature song, "Tiptoe Thru The Tulips", which was a hit when released as a single. The other songs displayed his wide-ranging knowledge of the American songbook, and also allowed him to demonstrate his baritone voice, which was less often heard than his falsetto. On one track, a version of "I Got You Babe", he sang a duet with himself, taking one part in falsetto, and the other in the baritone range. "On the Old Front Porch" extends this to a trio, including a boy, the girl he is courting, and her father. Another notable track was a cover of "Stay Down Here where You Belong," written by Irving Berlin in 1914 to protest the Great War. The following year, he recorded and released two more albums, Tiny Tim's Second Album, and For All My Little Friends, a collection of children's songs. Also in 1969, he married Victoria May Budinger ("Miss Vicki") on the Johnny Carson show, a publicity stunt which attracted 40 million viewers (the two divorced eight years later).

After that, however, the television appearances dried up, and he became rather more obscure. He continued to play around the United States, and got several lucrative gigs in Las Vegas before things got so bad that in 1985, he resorted to joining a circus for eight months. He briefly lived in Australia, then moved to Des Moines, Iowa before marrying for the third time (his second marriage had lasted for just one month) and moving to Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In the 1990s, interest in Tiny Tim seemed to pick up a little. He began to release records again, including I Love Me (1995) and Girl (1996), as well as appearing frequently on the Howard Stern Radio Show and Stern's movie, "Private Parts" (1997) and occasional appearances on other TV programs. He also worked with a number of other artists, including Brave Combo (who were his backing band for Girl) and was championed by, and collaborated with, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound.

In September 1996, he suffered a heart attack, but continued to play concerts when he was released from hospital. However, while playing "Tiptoe Thru the Tulips" at a concert in Minneapolis in November of that year, he suffered a further heart attack, and died.

In 1999, Tiny Tim's song "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" was included in the SpongeBob SquarePants pilot episode, Help Wanted. A fitting tribute to the man.

Other Historical Highlights for Today are:

• 1606 - The Union Jack is adopted as the national flag of Great Britain.
• 1633 - The formal interrogation by the Inquisition of Galileo Galilei begins. Under threat of torture & burning at the stake, the 69 year old Galileo recants his scientific discoveries & is sentenced to life in prison, but is allowed to live under house arrest (he isn't allowed any visitors, he isn't allowed to visit his doctors & he's required to spend most of his day reciting penitentiary psalms). His books would remain banned by the Catholic Church until 1822, and the Church didn't admit it was wrong to imprison him until 1992.
• 1903 - Sally Rand, fan dancer, is Born (d. 1979)
  
• 1908 - Lionel Hampton, Jazz vibist & bandleader, is born (d. 2002)
• 1912 - Clara Barton, nurse and Red Cross advocate, died (b. 1821)
• 1916 - Beverly Cleary, writer, author of books starring Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ralph S. Mouse, is born
• 1940 - Herbie Hancock, Jazz musician, is Born
• 1944 - John Kay, of Steppenwolf, is Born (to be Wild)
• 1945 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, died (b. 1882)
• 1947 - David Letterman, talk show host, is Born
• 1950 - David Cassidy, singer, actor, is Born
• 1961 - Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space. Tonight is Yuri's Night in his honor. Have a Test Pilot & watch the stars in his honor.
• 1975 - Josephine Baker, Jazz singer, dancer, Fighter in the French Resistance during WWII, died (b. 1906)
• 1981 - The first launch of a Space Shuttle: Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission.
• 1981 - Joe Louis, boxer, The Brown Bomber, World Heavyweight Champion for 11 years & 10 months, with 25 title defences, a record that has never been matched, died (b. 1914)
• 1989 - Sugar Ray Robinson, multiple time world champion boxer, died (b. 1921)
• 1989 - Abbie Hoffman, radical leader, committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills (b. 1936)
• 1990 - Christian Bernard, F.R.C., becomes Imperator of AMORC
• 2001 - Harvey Ball, inventor of Mr. Smiley, died(b. 1921)
  

Harvey Ball sure didn't resemble his creation... jeez, would it have hurt to smile for that picture? :) (this smiley is dedicated to Mr. Ball, may he rest in peace)

Oops, Freddie you did it again! Nope, that's not a picture of Harvey Ball. Another one of my all time favorite pictures. This is Marilyn Monroe posing as Harvey Ball, photographed by Richard Avedon. Such a great picture!

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2005-04-12 09:21 ]

Even though Tiny Tim seemed like he was from another planet,he was a ukelele fan to the very end.

Tiny Tim was one of a kind. How could you help but admire someone who's confessions in a "tell all" interview were that he took at least 6 showers a day, and his favorite guilty pleasure was Vanilla Shake-a-Puddin'?