Baby Let's Play House

"Au Revoir Pee Wee", Sinone would say in his Big Adventure movie. 

It is now "adieu". 

What a week it has been. I've been playing Sinéad a lot since last week. 

But I loved Pee Wee - and Paul Rubens. Saw all of his Playhouse and his first movie is still superb. And he was a good henchmen in the original Buffy, the Vampire Slayer movie. 

.....and he still has the best Christmas show around.  Ever. Hands down. 

I can't say why Pee Wee spoke to me. Maybe he's just the kid in us men who never grew up. I've always said, we, as a gender, never grow up intellectually after 12. Maybe Pee Wee just personified that.

I lived up to it as well.  I have a decent collection of Playhouse collectibles: Randy, Pteri, Magic Screen, a Billy Bologna doll, a Chairy, a talking Pee Wee doll and yes, a live sized Pee Wee - which I've now had for at least....let's see......33 years? 

It took way longer than expected for Ruben / Herman to live down his Sarasota porn theater wank fest. 

Over the years - even here - I would tell the story of seeing his arrest on the news and seeing the theater.  Years before - but not too too many - I was in that very theater as well.  At the tender age of 16. 

My family vacationed about two miles from there. Other kids I'd see yearly who did the same were with me. I remember there being four of us. I don't remember who drove. I don't remember paying. Clearly we weren't 18 and yet clearly no one stopped us. 

I remember the "film" being about King Midas. I remember years later finding the lead in the straight movie being John Leslie, who at the time I thought was handsome.  ....and yes, his pecker did turn to gold when he fucked some chick. 

I do remember none of the four of us masturbating in the seats, or even aware that it happened there. 

It was a story I could never tell my family, as I'm sure over the years knew of the theater's existence. But Mr. Herman knew. 

A decade or so later, my still current friends and I would watch Pee Wee's Playhouse every Saturday morning. And we would base holiday parties around his xmas special. When it finally came to DVD (yes, I had a pirated VHS copy), I purchased a copy for all my friends. 

I won't lie. I tried watching his last Pee Wee movie a few years back. I couldn't make it through. Nostalgia only goes so far, I suppose. But it didn't lessen my love for his character. 

He will be missed, but he will live on. He was a brilliant visionary when it came to his character and how to portray him. 

Au revoir, Mr. Rubens. 

Song by: Rachel Sweet