Paul Reubens has died (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[antipop]

 

[Saintman2884]

ever heard of rest stops... and sliding the foot under the stall wall.... Understand?

Someone didn't like gay people, saw Pee Wee in there and decided to shine a light on them for doing what they had to do back in those days.

How do you know the person who called the cops or alerted the authorities on Pee Wee didnt like gays or lesbians? Did they publicly say so? And also, it was a big deal when it happened because of until that point, Reubens had been hosting a popular Saturday mornings CBS TV children's show, Pee Wee's Playhouse and bad publicity like being busted or exposing himself in an adult film theater won't help his popularity with millions of American kids. Also, back in the late 80's/early 90's, if he wanted to see porn, he didnt have to necessarily go to adult film theaters, there was Blockbusters, HBO showed porn movies all the time back then and still do. If Reubens had been lets say an action movie star like Arnold or Sylvester Stallone, and been busted, there would have been some backlash to his popularity but it wouldn't have damaged his career and reputation to the extent it did because he wasnt the host of a popular Saturday morning children's TV show. Whether we like it or not, these particular type of celebrities are held to probably even higher standards than most celebrities, film or TV stars.

If it was the mid-late 60's, or even as late as mid/late 70's, it might be more understandable because HBO/Showtime didnt exist back then or were in their infancy as was movie rental franchises like Blockbuster.

Like it or not, by the early 90's Reuben was a major celebrity and whenever he or other celebrities engage in questionable behavior, the media backlash gets magnified. Thats just the way it is and it still pretty much works that way even now, 32 years later. If Paul Reubens had been a ordinary, middle-aged nobody or non-celebrity living in a major city going to those theaters, this is a non-story but who he was and taking into consideration his perceived reputation at the time, the resulting backlash was going to be swift.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

How do you know the person who called the cops or alerted the authorities on Pee Wee didnt like gays or lesbians? Did they publicly say so? And also, it was a big deal when it happened because of until that point, Reubens had been hosting a popular Saturday mornings CBS TV children's show, Pee Wee's Playhouse and bad publicity like being busted or exposing himself in an adult film theater won't help his popularity with millions of American kids. Also, back in the late 80's/early 90's, if he wanted to see porn, he didnt have to necessarily go to adult film theaters, there was Blockbusters, HBO showed porn movies all the time back then and still do. If Reubens had been lets say an action movie star like Arnold or Sylvester Stallone, and been busted, there would have been some backlash to his popularity but it wouldn't have damaged his career and reputation to the extent it did because he wasnt the host of a popular Saturday morning children's TV show. Whether we like it or not, these particular type of celebrities are held to probably even higher standards than most celebrities, film or TV stars.

If it was the mid-late 60's, or even as late as mid/late 70's, it might be more understandable because HBO/Showtime didnt exist back then or were in their infancy as was movie rental franchises like Blockbuster.

Like it or not, by the early 90's Reuben was a major celebrity and whenever he or other celebrities engage in questionable behavior, the media backlash gets magnified. Thats just the way it is and it still pretty much works that way even now, 32 years later. If Paul Reubens had been a ordinary, middle-aged nobody or non-celebrity living in a major city going to those theaters, this is a non-story but who he was and taking into consideration his perceived reputation at the time, the resulting backlash was going to be swift.

‘Just the way it is’ is close enough to a tacit endorsement to raise questions
Do you think Paul’s actions warranted the reactions?

 

[Saintman2884]

‘Just the way it is’ is close enough to a tacit endorsement to raise questions
Do you think Paul’s actions warranted the reactions?

I don't know, Guido. If he wasnt the host of a popular, Saturday morning CBS TV series that was on for about 5-6 years before his arrest and if he'd been lets say, an action movie star like Arnold, Stallone, or even Willis, he mightve suffered some blowback to his career but it wouldn't have hurt him as drastically as who he was perceived as at the time of his arrest for exposing himself at an adult film theater.

Then again, wasnt there some major Illinois GOP Congressman that was arrested back in 2004 who was married to former Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Boston Public actress Jeri Ryan for indecent exposure, public exposure at an adult film theater in Chicago?

The types of celebrities that host or create content for kids are held to a very high, moral/ethical standards that other celebrities aren't necessarily. I mean, I could see how a lot of American families might be a tad bit upset about hearing about a supposed child role model exposing himself and acting like a bit of a perv, so if Paul was indeed marketing himself to kids, at the time, pre-teens, and younger, I can see why their was such a huge blowback.

 

[kcirdor]

Also, back in the late 80's/early 90's, if he wanted to see porn, he didnt have to necessarily go to adult film theaters, there was Blockbusters,

Where was Tinder? Grinder? Facebook? He wasn't trying to get some porn he was trying to get some Vitamin D.


Also, Blockbuster didn't carry porn. I worked at a video store illegally at the age of 15, there was NO PORN.

I don't think any one of us care about the blow back.. The fact that he got arrested for doing what you do in a porn movie is the problem.

 

[Saintman2884]

Where was Tinder? Grinder? Facebook? He wasn't trying to get some porn he was trying to get some Vitamin D.


Also, Blockbuster didn't carry porn. I worked at a video store illegally at the age of 15, there was NO PORN.

I don't think any one of us care about the blow back.. The fact that he got arrested for doing what you do in a porn movie is the problem.

If you're the host of a popular children Saturday morning TV show, and you're presenting content to children, yeah that can be a bit of a PR problem for families who complain about a celebrity their kids like or see as a role model misbehaving, you and everyone else over ages of 21 may not care, but you're not kids and frankly, if Reubens had been some middle-aged, big city non-celebrity doing this in an adult film theater, this is a non-story. He was a major celebrity figure who hosted a Saturday morning kids show on CBS. If you're a CBS executive back then or now, how do you manage the blowback from outraged parents across the country whose kids watch his show?

If Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr had existed back then, it probably would've taken far less time for a celebrity like Pee-Wee or anyone else to get busted for something like this. Before Internet, before social media, you'd be amazed at the sort of crazy, unbelievable sheet major celebrities got away with it and most people never heard about it.

You also neglected to mention that HBO, now Showtime and Cinemax showed porn all the time back then and still do.

 

[Saintman2884]

Where was Tinder? Grinder? Facebook? He wasn't trying to get some porn he was trying to get some Vitamin D.


Also, Blockbuster didn't carry porn. I worked at a video store illegally at the age of 15, there was NO PORN.

I don't think any one of us care about the blow back.. The fact that he got arrested for doing what you do in a porn movie is the problem.

There have been Congressman, Senators, hell even a few governors who have been kicked out of office, forced to resign, publicly shamed for committing acts similar or even worse then what Reubens got arrested for back in 1991. Gov. Mark Stanford? Gov. Elliot Spitzer of New York? Former NYC congressman Anthony Weiner? Congressman Craig? Congressman Ryan of Illinois?

Don't say there aren't any consequences or that public officials won't be held to accountability if they engage in suspicious or allegedly lewd behavior and their caught in the act.

 

[kcirdor]

You also neglected to mention that HBO, now Showtime and Cinemax showed porn all the time back then and still do.

I suggest you learn about Tinder, Grinder, Bumble, Hinge, Eharmony, Match.com, Adult Friend Finder, Christian Mingle....

 

[kcirdor]

Don't say there aren't any consequences or that public officials won't be held to accountability if they engage in suspicious or allegedly lewd behavior and their caught in the act.

what are you even talking about, willis? I don't care.



RIP PeeWee.

 

[Saintman2884]

what are you even talking about, willis? I don't care.



RIP PeeWee.

I'm talking about how if publicly-elected officials behave in a weird, suspicious way, there going to be held accountable by most of their constituents, whether you personally don't care or arent offended by their actions in the slightest? I gave you a list of politicians that committed acts worse then what Ruebens did and had to resign or lost a lot of respect they'd worked so hard to attain?

Pee-Wee was able to ride out the storm and reinvent himself as an actor and performer, quite a few others werent so lucky. He's a survivor in the final and ultimate sense and a bit of a chameleon as an actor, so yes, he should be praised for that.

 

[Saintman2884]

I suggest you learn about Tinder, Grinder, Bumble, Hinge, Eharmony, Match.com, Adult Friend Finder, Christian Mingle....

I'm aware the Internet changed things and no, I don't need a lecture about who or what E-Harmony, Match.com, Tinder, Grinder personal dating or relationships websites do for would-be couples now, that still doesn't mean adult film theaters are an option I would've chosen if I were looking for a girlfriend 35 years ago if I was in my early 40's or younger back then.

 

[Optimus Prime]

clever

 

[Optimus Prime]

HBO doc coming soon
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"I was born in 1938 in a little house on the edge of the Mississippi River. My father worked on a steamboat," Paul Reubens tells Matt Wolf, director of the new two-part HBO documentary series, Pee-Wee as Himself.

He, of course, was not. Reubens was born in Peekskill, New York, in 1952. His father was … well, his father was a lot of things, including a founder of the Israeli Air Force, but he definitely didn't work on the steamboat.

Reubens' joke - one of the first things he says in the documentary - points to two important things that are central to Pee-Wee as Himself, an entertaining, enlightening and enjoyably confounding portrait of an enjoyably confounding artist.

First, Reubens, who died in 2023, had been constructing his own identity for decades. He spent so many years making talk show appearances and personal cameos as beloved alter ego Pee-Wee Herman that it became impossible to know who the man behind the squeaky-voiced, suit-wearing man-child was.

One of the many pleasures of Pee-Wee as Himself is getting a sense of Reubens as a separate personality, even as the possibility never quite leaves your mind that "Paul Reubens," as featured in Pee-Wee as Himself, could be every bit as fabricated as Pee-Wee Herman.

That gives Wolf the impossible task of opening one Reubens/Pee-Wee nesting doll after another looking for the Root Reubens, Pee-Wee Prime. (The process of studying and interpreting Paul Reubens could be know as "Hermaneutics," a not-quite-joke that will amuse exactly seven people.)

But second, Reubens filmed 40 hours of interviews with Wolf, and the impression conveyed by Pee-Wee as Himself is one of constant push and pull. Reubens initially wanted to make his own documentary about himself, only to be talked out of it by Wolf and friends and loved ones, and it's a decision he still hadn't made peace with at the time of filming.

"You're not supposed to control your own documentary," admits Reubens, who passed away in 2023. "You don't have perspective, really, on yourself."

Fitting words from a man whose most famous catchphrase ended with, "But what am I?"

As featured in the documentary, Reubens is constantly breaking character (with the character being "Paul Reubens," replaced by … "Paul Reubens?"), accusing Wolf of trying to steer him, of trying to build their back-and-forths toward predetermined destinations. The confrontations are almost always good-humored, perhaps another character being played.

Either way, the doc gives a version of Reubens I've never seen before, offers insights into his career that range from hilarious to heartbreaking, and will absolutely make Pee-Wee as Himself a must-watch for the multiple generations raised on and warped by all things Pee-Wee...........

‘Pee-wee as Himself’ Review: Paul Reubens Explores Pee-wee Herman, and His Own Identity, in Revealing HBO Doc

Culled from 40 hours of interviews and thousands of hours of archival footage, Matt Wolf's doc gives Paul Reubens his own posthumous spotlight.

www.hollywoodreporter.com