[Showbiz]
God Bless Tiny Tim
A Musical Rememberance
by Dame Darcy (from her Facebook)
The God Bless Tiny Tim record was in my childhood pantheon of records. (Along with Gift from a Flower to a Garden, and Pirates of the Caribbean.) I met him in the airport on my way to Colorado from NYC when I was 23.
We became fast friends because we knew all the same 20’s 78 Victrola record songs. He kept buying me more red wine on the plane and we laughed it up while singing.
Everyone loved Tiny and asked him for autographs and asked me if I was the next Miss Vicky. “She’s Miss Dame Darcy” he corrected them, it was great having 2 (count em!) titles!
Well I let him touch my leg for a minute… let the guy have his thrills, I figured.
For being a dirty old man Tiny was the cleanest man in show biz. He took 15 showers a day and used a bathtub full of lotion afterwards (this is what he said… I didn’t experience that part).
We also had the same red rosary also he always carried hand sanitizer which he used every few minutes.
His hair was dyed purple at the time, and his agent called me and asked if I would like to donate comics for Tiny Tim fan club magazine.
Anything for Tiny. 🙂
A few months later He asked me to perform with him in Spooky World near Boston.
Elvira would also be there, as well as a chicken coop full of bats. 🙂
I practiced some of the 20’s songs we both knew with him on banjo, but he had a jealous guitar lady who kept knocking on the door and interrupting the practice (as seen in this clip) and she demanded that I not upstage her and play banjo, so this dumb harmony and little moment is all we have left.
I didn’t know how to highlight my hair or pluck my eyebrows at the time as you can see.
When Tiny died in 1996 I was so sad. It was an amazing magical blessing to even have known him in the first place.
I think he went to the place where he sings about in “Strawberry Tea” which has diamond skies and butterflies and a never ending tune.
When I die, I hope to join you there Tiny and sip strawberry tea, reading…
