JIFF: Tiny Tim: King for a Day

“Enticing… captures the delightful insanity of how Tiny Tim became, for a while, the biggest star on the planet.” - Variety

For a brief but wondrous time in the late 1960s, Tiny Tim was, improbably, a household name. Generating attention for his distinctive falsetto vocal stylings and unusual appearance, the performer began appearing on various television programs, culminating in his wedding on The Tonight Show, which was watched by more than 40 million people. For Tiny Tim, born Herbert Khaury to a Polish-Jewish mother, it was the fulfillment of a lifetime’s dream to find love and acceptance, but his fame would prove heartbreakingly fleeting.   

Piecing together diary entries — read in the film by Weird Al Yankovic — startling photographs, and archive alongside animation, Tiny Tim: King for a Day thrillingly celebrates the life and legacy of a singular superstar.

Rating

E

Language

English

Cast

Tiny Tim, D.A. Pennebaker, Wavy Gravy, Jonas Mekas, Tommy James, "Weird Al" Yankovic

Director

Johan von Sydow