How scandal shamed Paul Reubens into exile — and nearly destroyed Pee Wee Herman

Paul Reubens as Pee Wee Herman. Photo: John Kish Archive/Getty Images

He is looking at me right now. The talking Pee Wee Herman doll I bought at Macy's in the late 1980s takes pride of place on my desk; dressed in his trademark tight plaid suit, red bow tie and white loafers, eyebrows raised mischievously, a rough grin in place. His vocal apparatus has become a little moody after all these years, but he will still delight you with a selection of his catchphrases if you just lead his phrase: “I know what you are, but who am I”, “Hey, what is this ? – made you look”, and his “Haha, hyuk-hyuk-hyuk” chipmunk chuckle.

Even in those dizzying days, at the height of its pomp—five seasons and 22 Emmys at Pee-wee's Theatre, his Saturday morning TV show for kids, and a couple of years after his movie debut hit Pee-wee's Big Adventure. V,” the doll was marked down. Many people have claimed to find this pathologically perky male boy, with his pencil-drawn widow's peak and his repertoire of verbal and visual tics—stretched syllables, rapid syllables, jerky, stammering movements—irritable, if not a little. nasty.

But for those who received it, Pee Wee, whose creator Paul Reubens died at age 70, was as enduring a comedic character as Alan Partridge or Dame Edna Everage, the guiding star of his own richly delineated and lavishly edited universe, Master of the World. Wrong government that ran the Theatre, a kind of all-permissive daytime arcadia. “When I was younger, I couldn’t understand why I liked Pee Wee so much,” said writer/director Judd Apatow. “But looking back, it's simple; they are a group of strange people who have a great time and are good to each other.”

Inclusion and acceptance have characterized Pee Wee ever since he was coined by actor and comedian Paul Reubens during improv sessions with the Los Angeles-based comic troupe The Groundlings in the late 70s: «I saw it as Norman Rockwell,» Reubens said of the Pee Wee Theater, «but it was my version of Norman Rockwell in the '50s that was more welcoming to everyone and everything.»

Everything at the Playhouse has been amplified and anthropomorphized, from the meat and vegetables frolicking in the fridge to Pee Wee's chair (Chairry), his globe (Globey) and even the floor (Floory). Pee Wee's buddies ranged from the pterodactyl Pterri to Cowboy Curtis (played by Laurence Fishburne, the pre-Morpheus) to prom-dress Miss Yvonne, «the most beautiful woman in Puppetland.» It was a world where Conky the robot could pore over a nude robot magazine, Pterry could hover over the ceiling to get a bird's eye view of Miss Yvonne's cleavage, and Pee Wee could love fruit salad so much he could marry it. , ceremony and all that.

Cultural critics of the time rushed to applaud Pee Wee's «anarchic oddity,» but he was not so much subversive as downright disarming. See Grace Jones in the 1988 Playhouse Christmas special, wearing what looks like a titanium breastplate and matching potholders; when she politely asks, neutralizing all fear, if she can sing the song, Pee Wee responds with his cheerful, jubilant tone, “Come on, what are you waiting for? Christmas?

Likewise, in the most famous scene in Pee Wee's Big Adventure, filmed by a rookie named Tim Burton, he climbs the bar in a greasy biker cab, wearing white platform shoes no less, and bursts into a twitchy chicken. dance to tequila. Needless to say, the sullen Hells Angels, jawless at first, soon raise their bottles of Pabst Blue Ribbon in his honor.

Paul Reubens pictured after being arrested for indecency in a public place, Florida, July 1991. Photo: Getty

Pee Wee might sound like a cult leader who preached acceptance of the Other, but real life was less forgiving. In July 1991, Reubens was arrested at an adult theater in Sarasota, Florida and charged with indecent exposure. The media jumped on a picture of him — with his long curly hair and spotted goatee, he could be Pee Wee's bus stop-dwelling cousin — while Playhouse reruns were abruptly canceled and the remaining Pee Wee merchandise was hastily pulled off the shelves. .

Despite widespread sympathy — Cyndi Lauper lambasted the alleged crime as a «victimless incident» — and «Hands Off Our Pee-wee» rallies organized by fans on the east and west coasts, as well as a rapturous reception when he appeared at the MTV Awards in 1991 in Los Angeles, Rubens disappeared from view. At the time, he pleaded not to enter the pageant to avoid a lawsuit, which inspired a subsequent Vanity Fair story lamenting the era of officially sanctioned sex tapes and reality television womanizing to describe him as «the last celebrity to be shamed and sent into exile.» «.

Paul Reubens with Dolly Parton in 1987. Photo: ABC

And though he later reappeared to play notable supporting roles and cameos in films such as Murphy Brown and 30 Rock, it looked like Pee Wee was doing his last jig. Especially since a decade later, Reubens was charged with possession of child pornography, a mysterious case in which the LAPD apparently mistakenly included hardcore recordings seized elsewhere in the evidence against him; the charges were dropped.

What made it all the more enjoyable when, almost 30 years after his last big screen appearance in Big Top Pee Wee, Netflix and producer Judd Apatow gave the character one last cheer with a big Pee Wee celebration seemingly untouched by the ravages time (Reubens, then 63 years old, mastered using hair dye and anti-aging technologies to help his genetic happiness), he undertook a cross-country farewell pilgrimage of sorts, defeating female gangs of bank robbers, Amish villagers, and country rednecks. . along the way.

It seemed that, despite Rubens's own hardships, or maybe because of them, an intoxicating mixture of childish exuberance and unholy innocence Pee Wee just got stronger. He was forever out of time, and all the more desirable for that. Recently, Reubens has been touting his longtime project, a «dark» Pee Wee movie in which the character will become an id-monster-style Hollywood star («It's about fame,» he quipped). , and Pee Wee has become a prominent figure on social media, posting classic clips and wacky memes more or less daily, voicing them to acquaintances hyuk-hyuk-hyuk (images of tiki-mag tributes and emoji carved into watermelons continued during his last illness) .

It's a convenient portal to Pee-wee's World, a world that makes our own species dimmer, uglier, and more than poor by comparison. I carry the doll again and gently tug on the string. “I love you,” he says. I love you too, Pee Wee. I will always be.