DESCRIPTION:
This was likely the last time that both Tammy Faye & Tammy Sue Bakker performed on stage in front of a live television audience. This particular performance was recorded on 12/31/86 as part of the annual New Years Eve show telecast from Heritage USA. I believe it was telecast from the Church Auditorium, located right next to from where the daily TV shows were telecast.

There are actually two songs in this video. The first is the duet, which is then followed by Tammy Sue's solo "It'll Be Alright".

I actually recorded most of that event on videotape, and most of it is now available for viewing on YouTube under my channel.

This is clearly the December 31, 1986 New Years Eve show, as it says Happy New Year in huge letters, and 1987 in huge numerals behind Tammy Sue. The Bakkers were not at Heritage USA after March 1987, so it could not have been the December 31, 1987 telecast (if there even was one).

Jim Bakker is seen only very briefly at the end of the duet, running out from stage left, out towards the center of the stage to be with both his wife & daughter. He is heard exclaiming, "Oh, YES!" Immediately afterwards, in this video, you see Jim & Tammy walking off stage together side-by-side for a very brief second, right before Tammy Sue's performance.

Only days after this was recorded, at some point shortly after January 2, 1987, the Bakkers headed to their vacation home in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Tammy Bakker had developed an illness (the flu?) at some point around January 1 or 2, and, while in Gatlinburg, apparently had taken a mixture of tranquilizers and valiums in an attempt to alleviate the symptoms and stress she was experiencing. They then flew to Palm Springs, where the Bakkers lived temporarily while Tammy was recovering from the effects of the medications she had mixed. Jim decided to stay in Palm Springs with Tammy Faye & his son, Jamie while Tammy recovered. Tammy Sue, in the meantime, had decided to return to the Charlotte area. With Jim & Tammy's absence from PTL, as well as the ensuing Jessica Hahn scandal, the scene was about to get very ugly, very fast, and as you are likely aware if you are reading this, events spun out of control dangerously fast. Within nine months of this video being recorded on 12/31/86, Jim & Tammy would have effectively been forced out of PTL, Jerry Falwell would have come in, spun his damage, let Heritage USA spin in to bankruptcy & then exited the arena.

I am not making any judgments or being critical of the Bakkers in the least. Most of the information I've provided above comes from Jay Bakker's own book (aka Jamie Bakker), entitled "Son of a Preacher Man". Jay also helps maintain a channel here on YouTube called RevolutionNYC.

If you have not read the books about PTL's downfall, then you likely only know what had happened there after January 1, 1987 from scant and scathing news media accounts.

Read the books about what transpired during those tumultuous nine months between January and September 1987, and Jim's ensuing trial afterwards, and it will be clear that, while not perfect, Jim & Tammy's empire known as Heritage USA was conceived & built by them, from funds given by millions of TV followers. While a percentage of those funds may have been misappropriated- with amounts in the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars, misappropriation is almost certain to occur to some degree- the park itself, the TV studio, the waterpark, the train around the lake, the Grand Hotel... none of it could have been possible without Jim & Tammy. It's clear that Jerry Falwell was truly more responsible than anyone else for PTL's collapse. His lack of vision, management capability, foresight, and ability to raise funds for the ailing ministry, enough to keep it afloat and meeting payroll and operating expenses- all of his flaws and inabiities were just as responsible, if not more so, than anything Jim & Tammy were responsible for themselves.

The decision on Falwell's part to push PTL into bankruptcy was the final, irrecoverable blow. Doing so guaranteed that the park would effectively cease to exist as Heritage USA, that assets would be sold off, lands sold off, and areas of the park totally destroyed, razed and wiped off the face of the earth. I believe if PTL had not been forced to go through a senseless and needless bankruptcy, that Heritage USA would still be operating today.

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