There’s no way to overstate just how big Pee-wee Herman was. During the height of his popularity, the childlike alter ego of Paul Reubens rivaled Santa Claus and Mickey Mouse in popularity. Kids loved him. Adults loved him. Even dinosaurs and furniture loved him. In his purposefully geeky way, Pee-wee Herman was simply the coolest. While the “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” solidified Herman’s place in pop culture, it was “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” that introduced general audiences to the puckish prankster. The movie not only catapulted Pee-wee into stardom, but it also launched the careers of composer Danny Elfman and spiral enthusiast Tim Burton. In my opinion, “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” is Herman’s masterpiece and remains one of the funniest comedies ever made.
Two sequels (of sorts) were produced, but none of the Pee-wee movies we got resemble the movies that were initially planned. Even “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” is wildly different than what Reubens set out to make. Though the Pee-wee adventures (Big and otherwise) we did get are fantastic, it’s interesting to consider what could’ve been. If Paul Reubens had stuck to his original plan, would Pee-wee be the giant that he was? Would Tim Burton still be an obscure animator? If Reubens made the sequels he wanted, could they have been the start of a Pee-wee renaissance? We’ll never know the answers, but we can explore the cinematic history of Pee-wee Herman. For your amusement and education, I present the Pee-wee Herman films that never were!
Pollyanna Herman:
In the 1970s, Paul Reubens was a member of The Groundlings, the famous comedy troupe located in Los Angeles. Reubens developed the Pee-wee Herman character with fellow Groundlings member Phil Hartman. The original concept for the character was a spectacularly unprofessional stand-up comedian, poking fun at Reubens’s inability to remember punchlines in real life. Pee-wee’s trademark suit was borrowed from Groundlings director Gary Austin; the red bowtie was given to Reubens by an associate. Mr. Herman was then reworked from an intentionally lame stand-up to a manic caricature of Pinky Lee, the 1950s children’s television host. And lo, a legend was born!
When Paul Reubens did not pass his Saturday Night Live audition, he focused his attention on Pee-wee Herman. The soon-to-be icon of family entertainment made his first major appearance in that classic of wholesome merriment, “Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie.” Stoner comedies are not what one associates with Pee-wee, yet the character’s outré humor lends itself well to that genre. And while we now think of Pee-wee as a kid-friendly entertainer, his act always had a slightly mature bent to it. His stage show entitled “The Pee-wee Herman Show” (naturally) was loaded with both childish whimsy and ribald jokes. “The Pee-wee Herman Show” was recorded in 1981 as an HBO special. It attracted enough attention that it led to the development of a motion picture; one that had nothing to do with stolen bicycles.
“Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” famously drew inspiration from Vittorio De Sica’s “The Bicycle Thief,” but Reubens originally wanted to adapt another celebrated classic: “Pollyanna.” Reubens, the connoisseur of kitsch that he was, absolutely adored the 1960 live-action Disney adaptation of “Pollyanna” with Hayley Mills. The story is about an optimistic orphan girl who changes the outlook of a small town with her sunny attitude. As strange as a Pee-wee version of a 1919 literary classic sounds, Pee-wee himself is essentially a demented Pollyanna with the gag shop arsenal of The Joker. In “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” Herman thaws even the iciest heart with his eternal optimism and groovy dance moves.
It’s hard to say if we’d even be talking about Pee-wee today had Reubens made his “Pollyanna.” I’m sure it would’ve found an audience, but would it have resonated the average moviegoer? We’ll never know since Reubens noticed that many people on the Warner Bros. lot were riding bicycles. He was in the process of writing the “Pollyanna” script when he made that observation, which led to a new idea that became the beloved masterpiece of mirth we have today. The “Pollyanna” remake could’ve been amazing, but I’m glad we live in the universe with Large Marge and the Tequila dance.
The Playhouse goes to the cinema:
In the tradition of comics like Abbott & Costello and The Tramp, Pee-wee Herman had no set continuity or supporting cast. The Pee-wee of “Big Adventure” lived an entirely different life than Big Top Pee-wee or any of the other incarnations. Pee-wee himself was essentially the same person in a new world every time he appeared in a project. However, this nearly changed in the late 2000s when Paul Reubens announced plans for a new Pee-wee picture featuring the denizens of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
“This is a road picture, an epic adventure story where all of the characters leave the Playhouse when one of them disappears,” according to Reubens. His concept revolved around the Playhouse crew leaving their world and entering the one outside. “We never really went out into what we call Puppetland, and this takes place out of the Playhouse. I think there are one or two scenes in the playhouse in the beginning. Basically, it’s all in a fantasy land,” Reubens revealed. “It’s like a ‘Wizard of Oz,’ H.R. Pufnstuf epic adventure story.”
In December 2009, Reubens said this film is “already done, the script is already fully written; it’s ready to shoot.” A large portion of the film would’ve taken place in Puppetland, and stop-motion effects were being considered. As someone who can’t get enough of both Pee-wee and Harryhausen-style animation, this is the unproduced Herman feature I probably would’ve dug the most. It would’ve been an instant classic among puppet-loving weirdos like me.
The Pee-wee movies that were made all take place in what is essentially our universe. Some aspects are zanier, but the locations are mostly recognizable. The idea of a Pee-wee adventure in a land as strange as he is just sounds incredibly appealing. While we’ll never see the entirety of Puppetland, at least we can take short trips to it in “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
Pee-wee grows up:
Of the three concepts highlighted in this article, the most intriguing by far is “The Pee-wee Herman Story,” also known as the “dark Pee-wee movie.” Reubens had completed the first draft in the late ’90s and pursued the idea during the proceeding two decades. “The Pee-wee Herman Story” would’ve been the story of Pee-wee Herman (naturally) as he leaves prison and becomes a yodelling sensation. That alone would be pretty crazy, but the film would’ve gone completely bonkers. Pee-wee moves to Hollywood, becomes a movie star, and develops a severe addiction to pills/alcohol which turns him into an abusive monster. We ain’t in Puppetland anymore.
Reubens described “The Pee-wee Herman Story” as the “‘Valley of the Dolls’ Pee-wee movie.” It was a project he was clearly passionate about, though others were less enthusiastic. When Judd Apatow worked with Reubens on what eventually became “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday” for Netflix, it was clear that the two had very different approaches to Pee-wee. Reubens was grimly determined to tell his dark Pee-wee tale; Apatow wanted a much safer Pee-wee adventure with a tone similar to the Big one. Apatow won out, resulting in a pleasant but far too familiar outing for the bow-tied Peter Pan.
Still, Reubens kept fighting the fight for his unique vision. He approached the Safdie brothers, the sibling-director duo behind “Uncut Gems,” about helming the project. There was even a rumor that an affluent Pee-wee fan in the U.K. offered to contribute $10 million of his own money to the project. Unfortunately, the film went unproduced, and “The Pee-wee Herman Story” remains untold. It appears that the world couldn’t handle a mature Pee-wee.
I said the Pee-wee Puppetland movie is the film I would’ve enjoyed the most, but “The Pee-wee Herman Story” is the one I find the most fascinating. A Pee-wee film that deals with addiction and the Faustian nature of fame is pretty wild, but Reubens truly believed in the idea. He spent about 20 years trying to get it made. No matter how it would’ve turned out, “The Pee-wee Herman Story” has to be admired for its audacity. The whole saga just solidifies something we already knew: Pee-wee Herman is a loner. A rebel.
As you probably know, Paul Reubens died on July 30th of this year. I never met the man, but it felt like losing a relative. It may sound silly, but Pee-wee Herman was one of my heroes. When you’re a young nerd with more than a few quirks, it was important to have guys like Paul Reubens/Pee-wee Herman to remind you that it’s okay to be different; that weird is actually wonderful. Writing this article on all the Pee-wee movies that went unproduced just made me appreciate the ones that were even more. Pee-wee Herman will always be a giant.
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