There's here's something familiar about the actor playing a flamboyant cocaine-dealing hairdresser in Ted Demme's Blow, now on general release. Perhaps it's the arched eyebrows, or the impish grin. Yes, it's Pee Wee Herman!
Paul Reubens, born in New York in 1952, was a failed stand-up until he created Pee Wee in 1978. The endearing man-child, always-dressed in grey suit and red bow-tie, was the star of Tim Burton's first feature, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, and became one of American US television's best-loved entertainers in the series Pee Wee's Playhouse, which had a huge budget of $325,000 per episode. Children identified with Pee Wee's infantile antics, and grown-ups tuned in for the ironies and knowing subtexts.
Pee Wee dolls and other merchandise filled the toyshops. His catchphrase ("I'm the luckiest boy in the world,") was heard in schools in playgrounds everywhere. The first season of Pee Wee's Playhouse received six Emmy awards.
The fall from grace was sudden and embarrassing. In 1991, Reubens was arrested in a Florida porno cinema after a cop noticed him indulging in a not-so-furtive act of self-gratification. He was fined $50 for indecent exposure, although after he agreed to make an anti-drugs commercial his criminal record was erased. So, alas, was his career as a children's entertainer. The Playhouse was taken off the airwaves, and Pee Wee merchandise removed from the shelves. Paul Reubens - the unluckiest boy in the world.
Although he was more or less blacklisted by the industry, Reubens played a few small parts in movies in the 1990s - he friend Burton's Batman Returns - and on television he was a monster in an episode of Buffy the Vampire-Slayer.
Now Reubens feels enough time has elapsed since "the incident" for Pee Wee's return to the big time. He has written two scripts, and says: "One of the movies is a rather dark, adult story in which Pee Wee becomes famous and doesn't know how to handle his celebrity. He becomes nasty and abusive. It's Pee Wee's version of Valley of the Dolls. The other one is the Playhouse movie .. . pretty much a full-out family film."
It remains to be seen how the star who tossed threw away his career will handle this new rise to prominence. "I love being famous and I don't," says Reubens. "There should be a little seminar to explain the possible problems."