When entertainer Tiny Tim was married live on The Tonight Show in 1969, the television audience that tuned in was the second biggest in history at the time. First place? The moon landing.
© Provided by National Post Tiny Tim's instrument of choice was the ukulele.
That alone should provide a sense of what a star was Herbert Butros Khaury, known at the height of his career and ever after as Tiny Tim. (At an early low point, he performed in a Times Square freak show and flea circus as Larry Love the Human Canary.)
Swedish director Johan von Sydow has to reach back a bit for this portrait of Tiny Tim. He died of a heart attack at the age of 64 in 1996, on stage at the end, with his third wife in the audience. Tiny Tim: King For a Day checks in with her as well as his first wife, and various relatives, friends and musical fans.
We also get some incredible footage of the performer during his heyday, when he appeared on variety and chat shows hosted by Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleanson, Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, David Frost and more.
The fast pace of the documentary, which runs to just 75 minutes, leaves a few questions. I’m still not sure what (if any) connections he had to the mob, and whether his FBI file contained anything more incriminating than his obsession with women. This is spite of his mannerisms and trademark falsetto singing style, which led many to label him as gay. His widow calls him half-gay, straddling a grey zone between identity and sexual preference.
But what comes through in his diary entries (read by Al Yankovic, toning down his usual weirdness) is a tortured soul, religious and horny and hungry for fame. “My greatest unfulfilled ambition,” he once said, “is to be one of the astronauts or even the first singer on the Moon. But most of all, I’d love to see Christ come back to crush the spirit of hate and make men put down their guns. I’d also like just one more hit single.”
Tiny Tim: King For a Day is available April 23 on demand through FilmsWeLike.com.
3.5 stars out of 5
That alone should provide a sense of what a star was Herbert Butros Khaury, known at the height of his career and ever after as Tiny Tim. (At an early low point, he performed in a Times Square freak show and flea circus as Larry Love the Human Canary.)
Swedish director Johan von Sydow has to reach back a bit for this portrait of Tiny Tim. He died of a heart attack at the age of 64 in 1996, on stage at the end, with his third wife in the audience. Tiny Tim: King For a Day checks in with her as well as his first wife, and various relatives, friends and musical fans.
We also get some incredible footage of the performer during his heyday, when he appeared on variety and chat shows hosted by Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleanson, Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, David Frost and more.
The fast pace of the documentary, which runs to just 75 minutes, leaves a few questions. I’m still not sure what (if any) connections he had to the mob, and whether his FBI file contained anything more incriminating than his obsession with women. This is spite of his mannerisms and trademark falsetto singing style, which led many to label him as gay. His widow calls him half-gay, straddling a grey zone between identity and sexual preference.
But what comes through in his diary entries (read by Al Yankovic, toning down his usual weirdness) is a tortured soul, religious and horny and hungry for fame. “My greatest unfulfilled ambition,” he once said, “is to be one of the astronauts or even the first singer on the Moon. But most of all, I’d love to see Christ come back to crush the spirit of hate and make men put down their guns. I’d also like just one more hit single.”
Tiny Tim: King For a Day is available April 23 on demand through FilmsWeLike.com.
3.5 stars out of 5
Chris Knight
POSTMEDIA
4/23/2021
No comments:
Post a Comment