I first became aware of Tiny when I saw him on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In which was in May of 1968

I first became aware of Tiny when I saw him on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In which was in May of 1968. As a 13 year old kid Tiny seemed like a visitor from another planet! Nobody had ever seen such a mysterious figure and nobody could figure out what his story was! I was totally mesmerized by him and his wonderful music. A couple of days after seeing him my Mom took me down to Lil's Record Shop to buy me the Reprise 45 of "Tip Toe Thru The Tulips With Me". The B-side was "Fill Your Heart". I brought the 45 home and played both sides over and over again until everybody wanted to break the record! My Mom and sisters all loved Tiny but my Dad hated him! I had a portable record player next to my bed and I would lay there and play the 45 many times before my Mom would come in and say "time to go to sleep"! I continued to play it at a lowered volume after she left the room!

Not too long after that we bought the "God Bless Tiny Tim" album at Woolworths. I began to play the album as much as the 45. That album and the album "We're The Banana Splits" on the Decca Records label spent equal time on the record player and they remain my two favorite albums of all time. The Banana Splits was a funny kids show on NBC that aired for two years. The music, by unknown singers and session musicians was really great and was excellent pop. The songs hold up even today. I remember saving my money for about a month and a half to buy the album at Woolworths for a whopping $3.98! I went through what seemed like dozens of copies of that and "God Bless" over the next couple of years.

I continued to see Tiny on many TV shows of the day and was so happy when I got "Tiny Tim's 2nd Album" for Christmas 1968. I was thrilled to discover that the album cover opened up with lots of cool pictures inside! I also bought the various non-lp 45's such as "Hello Hello" and "Bring Back Those Rockabye Baby Days". I found the first one at Lil's Record Shop which was in Downtown Battle Creek, and the other one at Ben Franklins which is still in business just two blocks from my house although they originally were a block south of where they are now. The big local radio station played both of these 45's as well as Tiny's amazing version of "Great Balls Of Fire" although I don't remember them playing "Tip Toe". While at the store one day I found the magazine entitled "The True Fantastic Story Of Tiny Tim" and bought a copy. I looked at the magazine a zillion times and then took it apart to assemble the huge poster. It seemed a lot bigger at age 13 than it does today! I carefully pieced it together and put it up on my bedroom wall. I came home from school one afternoon to find out that my Dad had torn it down and threw it away!! I was crushed!! I went and bought another copy of the magazine but didn't take it apart. All of the above happened in 1968.

In 1969 I continued to see Tiny on many more TV shows. In August of that year I found Tiny's third Reprise album "For All My Little Friends" at a store in town called Shoppers Fair. By this time it had become one of the best places to buy records and is still missed even today by all of us that bought music there! At the end of 1969 came the famous Tonight Show wedding. This aired on December 17th and we got to stay up late to watch it. I think we were on Christmas vacation by that time. Tiny's managers had changed him quite a bit by then and he didn't seem so mysterious anymore. His hair was combed out neatly and he seemed to be dressing a bit better which I didn't like! I preferred the old Tiny look. He had also stopped wearing the white face makeup. These changes were due to his managers wanting him to go more "mainstream". Even so, there was still nobody else like him. Also by this time the Beatles were wearing their hair much longer and John Lennon's was as long as Tiny's!

1970 rolled around and Tiny was still a popular guest on talk shows. This continued through the mid 70's but he finally started to fade from sight. His last Tonight Show appearance was in 1979. I didn't really hear much about him again until he came to Battle Creek with the circus in 1986. A friend of mine went to see him and met him after the show. She was thrilled to meet him and said how nice he was. I wasn't able to go as I had to work that day. I was really disappointed since I had been a fan for so many years. She talked about this for the next few years and said how she wanted to see him again someday. In 1993 an article appeared in the National Enquirer about how Tiny was on bad terms with his daughter. My friend showed me the article which gave me the idea to try and contact him. I called the National Enquirer in Florida and asked for the guy who wrote the recent article. He came on the phone and gave me the number of Tiny's hotel in Des Moines and told me to ask for "Fred Farmer". I called the hotel and asked for this person. The phone rang and a man answered. I said "is this Fred Farmer?" He said yes it is. I said, "I'm trying to contact Tiny Tim". To which he replied "this is he". Needless to say I was nearly speechless! We talked for almost three hours. I had prepared a list of questions and he was very nice and willing to answer each one in detail. The result of this interview can be read on the website. Several years later A short excerpt was printed in a magazine called "Cool & Strange Music Magazine", a small magazine published out in Seattle Washington. A few years later a magazine called "Discoveries" published a much longer version of it with lots of pictures. You can read the entire interview elsewhere on this website.

By knowing Tiny I was also able to meet great wonderful friends like Martin Sharp and Richard Perry who have both been very kind and supportive. Both of them thought the world of Tiny and miss him very very much. 1995 rolled around and I mentioned to a friend of mine that owns a club here in town that he should book Tiny. Several weeks later my sister called me and said "hey, guess who's coming to Battle Creek to perform?" When she told me it was Tiny I called my friend at the club to talk to him about it. He was here for three nights in April for five sold out shows. On the day of Tiny's arrival I went to the club to meet him and see part of the first show which a friend taped. On the second day I got a call from my friend who asked me if I could drive Tiny around town to do some shopping. I couldn't believe it!! You can read more about this in my introduction to the interview on this website. This was such an incredible experience for all concerned and something I will never forget. Tiny kept in touch after that and sent me a copy of the "Prisoner Of Love" cd which arrived on Christmas eve along with a nice letter. He was on TV quite a bit by then on shows like Roseanne, Howard Stern, and Rolanda which was his final TV appearance just two or three months before he passed away. His marriage to Miss Sue in August was a real boost to his career. He fell from the stage at the Uke festival on September 27th and was in the news again for several weeks. He called me two weeks before he died to thank me for the cards and for my concern. He said "let's keep in touch". Two weeks later the world lost the most incredible entertainer ever. I continue to try and do everything I can to keep Tiny's memory and music alive. That's the story of how dear Tiny has affected my life.

Ernie Clark