Left to right: Ed McMahon, Vicki Budinger, Tiny Tim, Johnny Carson
December 17, 1969: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson has its highest-rated episode ever. Oddball singer Tiny Tim, on the show, married Victoria Budinger, whom he called Miss Vicki, before 40 million viewers. He was 37, she was 17.
Tim was born on April 12, 1932 in Manhattan, as Herbert Butros Khaury. Though old enough to have been one of the original rock and roll performers, he fell in love with the music of the 1920s. He began appearing in New York nightclubs as Larry Love, the Singing Canary. His repertoire included several songs from that era, especially "Tiptoe Through the Tulips," by Al Dubin and Joe Burke, from the 1929 musical Gold Diggers of Broadway.
By 1963, he had followed a midget act, which led him to adopt the stage name "Tiny Tim." He began playing the ukelele -- lefthanded, which was unusual for any instrument at the time -- and singing mainly in falsetto. On February 6, 1968, he appeared on NBC's comedy variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, singing "Tiptoe Through the Tulips," and he was a hit.
Since The Tonight Show was also on NBC, host Johnny Carson was told to book him. When Tim sat down next to Johnny desk, Johnny asked him, "Are you married?" Tim giggled, and Johnny said, "I'll take that as a 'No,'" and the studio audience cracked up.
Victoria May Budinger was born on April 20, 1952, in the Philadelphia suburb of Haddonfield, New Jersey. She met Tiny Tim at a bookstore when he signed her copy of his poetry book. They got engaged, he always called her "Miss Vicki" in public, and their wedding was set up for The Tonight Show, and its studio, then in the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.
Among the 40 million viewers were my parents. My mother went into labor during the show, and, earlier in the year, had missed a wedding due to morning sickness. She was not going to miss this wedding. I was born about 12 hours later.
The marriage lasted 7 years, and they had a daughter together, named Tulip. Tulip Victoria Khaury, born on May 10, 1971. Each of them was married 3 times. Tim remained a novelty act, and married Jan Alweiss in 1984, divorced her in 1995, and quickly married Susan Gardner, a Harvard graduate, but also a fan of his. He developed heart trouble in 1996, and on November 30, at a gala benefit hosted by the Women's Club of Minneapolis, he suffered a heart attack on stage. He died that night, at the age of 64.
Vicki later married a man named Lombardi, divorced him, and became romantically involved with Fred Neulander, a rabbi in her native South Jersey, who hired a hitman to kill his wife in 1994. In 2006, she married John Benson. As of December 17, 2022, they are still together, and living in Tennessee. She does not give interviews or talk about her past. Her daughter, now named Tulip Stewart, is married with 4 children, and lives in Western Pennsylvania.
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December 17, 1969 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games played in the NBA:
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Boston Celtics, 124-106 at the Boston Garden.
* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 138-133 at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum (now the McCamish Pavilion) in Atlanta. Lou Hudson of the Hawks led all scorers in both leagues with 44 points, but the Bullets got 30 points from Jack Marin, 29 from Gus Johnson, and 27 from Earl "the Pearl" Monroe.
* The San Diego Rockets beat the Detroit Pistons, 114-107 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Cincinnati Royals, 117-104 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
There were 4 games in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets lost to the New Orleans Buccaneers, 111-100 at the Island Garden in West Hempstead, Long Island, New York.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Floridians, 101-100 at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami. Eight months earlier, the Auditorium hosted a concert by The Doors, at which lead singer Jim Morrison was accused of exposing himself.
* And there was a doubleheader at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. The Kentucky Colonels beat the Washington Capitols, 124-117. Then the Los Angeles Stars beat the Carolina Cougars, 105-98.
There were 4 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers played to a tie, 2-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* The Oakland Seals beat the Minnesota North Stars, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* And the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins, the Detroit Red Wings and the St. Louis Blues were not scheduled.
And in European soccer, the North London team I would one day support, Arsenal F.C., played away to F.C. Rouen of France, at Stade Robert-Diochon in Rouen. The game ended in a 0-0 draw.
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