Editing Tiny Tim (musician) (section)

===The Singing Canary===
By the early 1950s, Tiny Tim had landed a job as a messenger at the New York office of [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] Studios, where he became ever more fascinated with the entertainment industry. He then entered a local talent show and sang "[[You Are My Sunshine]]" in his newly discovered falsetto. He started performing at dance club amateur nights under different names, such as "Texarkana Tex", "Judas K. Foxglove", "Vernon Castle", and "Emmett Swink." To stand out as a performer, he wore wild clothing, grew his hair long and wore pasty white face makeup, partly inspired by [[Rudolph Valentino]].<ref name="gettyimages/1371377379">{{cite web |last1=Keyes |first1=Donald Biddle |title=Rudolph Valentino, publicity portrait for the silent film, 'The Sheik' |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rudolph-valentino-publicity-portrait-for-the-silent-film-news-photo/1371377379 |website=[[Getty Images]] |publisher=[[Famous Players-Lasky]], [[Paramount Pictures]] |access-date=19 September 2023 |language=en-us |date=1921}}</ref> His mother did not understand Herbert's change in appearance and was intending to take her now-twentysomething son to see a psychiatrist at [[NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue|Bellevue Hospital]] until his father stepped in.<ref name="ehollywood" /> 
[[File:TinyTim.jpg|thumb|140px|Tiny Tim performing at an event in Tennessee in the late 1980s]]
In 1959, he performed as "Larry Love, the Singing Canary" at Hubert's Museum and Live Flea Circus in New York City's [[Times Square]]. While there, he signed with a manager who sent him on unpaid auditions throughout [[Greenwich Village]].<ref name=ehollywood /> At this stage he began performing the song that would later become his signature, "[[Tiptoe Through the Tulips]]". In 1963, he landed his first paid gig at Page 3, a lesbian-run club on the corner of Charles Street and Seventh Avenue,<ref name="hughryan/lesbian-for-mafia">{{cite web |last1=Ryan |first1=Hugh |author1-link=Hugh Ryan |title=Back in the Day, Lesbian Drag Kings Worked for the Mafia |url=https://www.hughryan.org/recent-work/2015/8/3/back-in-the-day-lesbian-drag-kings-worked-for-the-mafia |website=Hugh Ryan .org |access-date=19 September 2023 |date=3 August 2015}}</ref> playing six hours a night and six nights a week for $96 per month. For the next two years, he performed as "Dary Dover" and later "Sir Timothy Timms". After a show in which he was booked to follow a "midget" act, his manager George King decided to bill him as "Tiny Tim" - a name which stuck.<ref name=ehollywood /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kennedy |first1=Helen |title=Tiny Tim Dies Singing His Hit |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/tiny-tim-dies-singing-hit-article-1.737455 |access-date=December 25, 2015 |work=[[New York Daily News]] |date=December 2, 1996}}</ref>

Throughout the 1960s, Tiny Tim made numerous appearances in film and television. He had a cameo in [[Jack Smith (film director)|Jack Smith]]'s ''[[Normal Love]]'' from 1963. He also featured in 1968's ''[[You Are What You Eat (film)|You Are What You Eat]]'', singing [[the Ronettes]]' "[[Be My Baby]]" and [[Sonny and Cher]]'s "[[I Got You Babe]]" as a duet with [[Eleanor Barooshian]], in which Tiny took the Cher part.  This led to a booking on the comedy variety show ''[[Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In]]''. Co-host [[Dan Rowan]] announced that ''Laugh-In'' "(believed) in showcasing new talent" before introducing Tiny Tim, who arrived on stage with a ukulele in a shopping bag and sang "[[A-Tisket, A-Tasket]]" and "[[On the Good Ship Lollipop]]" while an apparently genuinely dumbfounded [[Dick Martin (comedian)|Dick Martin]] watched.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_bljefIsBc| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627102122/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_bljefIsBc&feature=related| archive-date=2014-06-27 | url-status=dead|title=Video of Tiny Tim's debut on ''Laugh-In''|via=YouTube|access-date=September 28, 2012}}</ref> He sang "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" on both his second and third appearances on the show.<ref>{{cite web|title=Video of Tiny Tim's third appearance on ''Laugh-In'' (complete)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5MQbFAGHRE&NR=1| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627102303/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5MQbFAGHRE&NR=1| archive-date=2014-06-27 | url-status=dead|via=YouTube|access-date=September 28, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skU-jBFzXl0| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614093342/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skU-jBFzXl0| archive-date=2006-06-14 | url-status=dead|title=Video of Tiny Tim's third appearance on ''Laugh-In'' (song only)|publisher=YouTube|access-date=September 28, 2012}}</ref>