Trade WindsMore than 3,000 booksellers, publishers, authors, and reviewers came to the four-day convention and trade exhibit of the American Booksellers Association this year. Among them were writers running the spectrum from Kurt Vonnegut Jr., to Lillian Gish. There were also at least two apparitions. One was Gunilia Knutson, and the other was Tiny Tim. Gunilla may be known to you as the girl who says, "Take it off, take it all off," in a television commercial, but it is quickly apparent she is referring to a man's beard. Nevertheless, she has become renowned as a result and therefore has written a book, Beauty and Health in the Scandinavian Way. She gave a small press conference to explain, but I got the impression that her big secret was that she simply grew up, turning into a stunning Swedish babe.As for Tiny Tim, he has authored a book called Beautiful Thoughts. The first 40,000 copies of it were sold immediately upon publication. I never suspected Tiny Tim of being a great philosopher, so I was moved to hear him expound on such matters as religion and beauty. "Life is exciting, exciting!" he declared during an interview. "I'll never forget the day— September 17, 1947—when Elizabeth Taylor threw me a kiss from a taxicab in front of the St. Regis Hotel." It inspired him, he said. Others who have inspired him are Rudy Vallee, a lady who gave him a "wonderful cookie" once and a seventeen-year-old runaway girl who Tiny Tim, through the medium of some of his beautiful thoughts, sent back home. "Listen, young angel," he advised her, "don't leave Mother." Among the world's problems that Tim discussed were the campus revolutions. "These things were taking place in 1868 as well," he reminded us. "There will always be strikes, and wars, and rumors of wars. The devil reigns." Tim's life goes in cycles. He began to let his hair grow in 1954. "It goes with the high voice, which I discovered in 1950." He is preparing for a new cycle to begin in 1970. He would not reveal its nature, but I predict he will take it all off.
June 21st, 1969 |
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