Herbert Khaury
Born: April 12th, 1932, New York.
Occupation: Singer / Entertainer.
Entered Eternal Life: November 30th, 1996.
Herbert Buckingham Khaury was extremely devout in his Christianity. In the spectrum of pacifist Christian vs Christian Soldier, he was about as far to the passive side as one could get. And, with all sincerity, I believe that he may have beaten St Francis as far as passivity goes. His faith however, was sincere, unshakable, and non-negotiable. From the time he gave himself to Christ, until his death, he practiced his Christianity both privately, in his personal relationships, and publicly, always giving the Lord His due. The perception of the public was that he was eccentric, perhaps gay, and sometimes downright strange.....but he always maintained his faith in the Lord, and always carried himself, except for one or two very minor instances for which he immediately repented, as he thought a Christian should. As far as "gay" is concerned, the guy was so passive as to be effeminate in many of his mannerisms. But, he was "straight", as he considered any form of homosexuality against the Commandments. His story is as follows:
For those of you who did not grow up in the '60s, I swear that I am not making any of this up....
Growing Up. Mr. Khaury was born of Butros and Tilly Khaury. His father was a Lebanese immigrant and devout catholic. Mr. Khaury senior, was the grandson of a priest, the nephew of a priest, and the brother of a priest (the Eastern Rite of the Roman Catholic Church has always allowed priests to marry). Mr. Khaury's mother, was a jewish immigrant from Poland. Her father was a Talmudic student ....a Shaychud, and would have been a Rabbi, in the United States.
"Herbie" was a normal kid growing up, loved baseball (the Dodgers were his favorite team) but had an intense interest in music, and began teaching himself to play guitar at about the age of six. He was fascinated by old vaudeville and jazz pieces. He would listen to the radio hours on end, writing his own songs and applying them to his guitar. He began to neglect his school work, and eventually dropped out of school altogether. In time, his parents resigned themselves to the fact that their son would be poor all of his life, but at least enjoy doing what he did, which was to perform. Since his parents were different religions, they decided to expose him to both, and let him then decide his belief when he was old enough to do so. His father emphasized that he follow the 10 commandments, obey and love God.
At age 18, Mr. Khaury was invited by some of this friends to attend a tent revival. It was there, that he swore his life to Jesus Christ and begged Him to accept him as His servant. He kept an unshakable faith from that day until the day he died.
Hitting the Road. Now, let us consider.....by now it is the late 1950s. Buddy Holly, Elvis, and Jerry Lee Lewis, among others, are the Rock'n music idles. Leather and slicked back hair is in. So how does Herbie project his image? By calling himself Larry Love, wearing his hair quite long, and crooning songs from the 1920s and 1930s. He started at the very bottom, and stayed there for quite a while. He played at many notorious clubs, including those catering to lesbians, druggies, and other such types. But he never succumbed to any temptations to take part in such things. When asked, he would politely say that he did not believe in those things, that Jesus was his savior. The odd thing is, that there is no record of anybody becoming offended at this, but quite to the contrary, after having met him, some gave up that particular life-style and accepted the Lord themselves!
By now it is the 1960s. Larry Love has by this time been discarded, and after a series of other names, Tiny Tim is the one that will stay. Tiny has become a seasoned performer, a virtual walking encyclopedia of musical knowledge from the jazz and big band days of the 20's, 30's, and 40's. He has also become quite eccentric. Now, I know that artists are SUPPOSED to be eccentric, but Tiny took artistic eccentricity to new heights, taking several baths per day, wearing adult diapers (for hygienic reasons), and wearing makeup (about a decade before Alice Cooper). His hair was shoulder length years before it was common or hip. He had also settled on his instrument. A Ukulele. Now, in many of the older songs, one would have a baritone fellow crooning deeply, and a rather high pitched woman crooning the high notes. When Tiny performed these songs he sang BOTH roles.
Making It. By now we have reached 1966, with Tiny still keeping the faith, both religiously and in his eventual success. He considered himself talented, said talent being a gift from God, and was determined to use this gift for its full worth. When visiting home, he would
always tell his parents that he would be famous someday...."Wait, you'll see....and then I'll buy you a penthouse!". Let us consider once again. We now have the Beatles, the Who, the Stones, and Hendrix will be here in a year. And then we have Tiny ...a fellow who wears makeup, sings male and female roles of songs 40 years out of date, while playing a Ukulele. So of course what happened next was probably inevitable.......Tiny got a bit role in the movie "You Are What You Eat". This immediately lead to a guest appearance on the classic TV Comedy Laugh-In (this would only have been better, had he shared billing with Richard Nixon, a year later). This immediately lead to a record contract, in which he recorded his first album "God Bless Tiny Tim", whose title track was a 1928 piece called "Tiptoe Thru The Tulips". In a matter of weeks the album went gold. If you had not lived then, you can have no idea how popular that song was! One of the astronauts even sung the thing on the Moon, while broadcasting to Earth! You just could not stop listening to the thing! And Tiny! In the era of the hippie, and acid rock, he STILL managed to stand out, and playing a ukulele yet! And again, you just could not get more passive than he. He was not that great looking; quite effeminate in manner; But women just threw themselves at him! He could have had any or all of a tide of beautiful women who would have given anything to sleep with the guy. But he didn't, as again, that conflicted with his Christian beliefs. While the rest of the pop world was into chic things such as transcendental meditation, Buddhism, taoism, and communism....Tiny constantly bore witness, publicly and privately, to Jesus Christ, his savior.
The Top. 1969 saw the pinnacle of Tiny's career. He often appeared on the Johnny Carson Show, and was quite popular, as much for his own personality, as for his performances. On one such appearance, Carson asked him about girl-friends.
While maintaining that anyone was welcome to stay in his home, girls would sleep in the living room, and he would retire privately, as he believed it quite unchristian to make love before marriage. When asked how long the girls usually stayed, Tiny replied, not long. When asked why, he answered with all seriousness that their Fathers tended to come and get them. The audience roared, and Carson laughed so hard that he almost cried. On another show, again, Carson asked him how the love life was going, and Tiny announced that he was engaged to be married. After the cheers of the crowd, Carson then jokingly invited him to have the wedding ceremony on his show. Tiny accepted, without a bit of humor. Over 40,000,000 people tuned in. 4000 tulips were specially arranged in the now climate controlled set. Ed McMahon looked more nervous than a bridesmaid, as he walked the set, adjusting tulips just right. Now, at the time, what my parents thought about folks with long hair, aka hippies, is quite unprintable here. However, both watched the wedding, and my mother even cried during the thing! And, what a beautiful wedding it was, as the Tonight Show, for those few minutes, was very subdued and respectful. They gave Tiny and his bride "Miss Vicki" a very solemn and absolutely gorgeous ceremony. Pure class.
The Fall. Tiny was devout in his religious belief, and in his music. But there was never a more naive fellow born. While his records were making millions, he was playing Las Vegas, and all he got was 100 dollars per week with free room and board. He never saw most of the money that his performances and recordings generated, as he was swindled out of most of it. Shortly after the birth of his daughter, his wife divorced him. I can remember the Jerry Lewis Telethon that year, when Tiny called in a pledge, of I think around 1500 dollars. At the time, I thought it a nice gesture, but believed there were millions more where that money came from. Apparently, there is a good chance that this was all of the cash he had on hand at the time. Shortly thereafter, the "hippie" times had run their course, the peace and love generation having had a stake driven thru its heart by bands like Alice Cooper. In a very short time, Tiny found himself again playing the smaller clubs, and trying to eke out a living. But he never lost faith. Living from one gig to the other, always in financial desperate straights, his faith in the Lord was rock solid, and he worked that much harder at making the big time once again. By now, he was by no means a young fellow, and by no means a healthy one, but he drove on, doing what he believed in. He remarried (his brides always asked him to marry them, and he always said yes ....mainly because he did not want to hurt their feelings!). This marriage. lasted 10 years, but he rarely saw his wife, as he was on the road all of the time and she had her own career. Eventually she too divorced him, although they remained good friends. He was going down, now playing clubs similar to those that he started in, but in times of desperation, he did not curse heaven, did not fall on his knees and beg for a better life, but in his prayers, he only asked that he be worthy. Pastor Doug Giles, once said, that God gives no guarantee of a soft life, no matter how virtuous. History is littered with the lives of many martyred saints. And in Tiny's case, with his total naivety, and stubborn but relentless drive to make people like, what had been out of fashion for 50 years now, his ruin seemed inevitable. To anyone with half a brain, it seemed that only Divine intervention could ease his life a bit.
It did...............See Sue Khaury for the rest of the story.
