August 1, 1999

BY CINDY PEARLMAN

NEW YORK--He refused to sell the Schwinn. For years it sat in Paul Reubens' basement, a dusty reminder of the career he had lost.

He also kept the too-small gray suit and red shoes long after everyone proclaimed Pee-wee Herman dead.

After Reubens was convicted of indecent exposure, CBS pulled his "Pee-wee's Playhouse'' series off the air. Stores yanked Pee-wee toys off the shelves. He was the punch line in countless bad jokes.

"Believe me, there were days when I wanted to get rid of everything that had to do with show business,'' Reubens says. "I thought of quitting forever.''

But during the bad years, he would look at the memorabilia--worth a mint to collectors. He would pop in a Pee-wee tape and see the red bike. They provided inspiration. They made him smile--and Reubens' grin is wide now.

"Of course, I would have to get past security to get to the bike,'' he jokes. "You know, it's like Fort Knox in my basement. Armed guards on duty 24 hours, seven days a week.

"Better safe than sorry,'' he says in his trademark nasal whine.

These days he says he has something to be sorry about other than his arrest at a Florida XXX theater in 1991.

"I feel cheap and dirty because I'm bringing back the fart joke,'' says Reubens of his role in "Mystery Men,'' opening Friday.

Reubens plays a second-rate superhero named the Spleen. "I'm a lot of hot air in this movie,'' he says with a small smile. "All those noises. It's a little embarrassing.''

So is talking about himself.

In a voice that is low and soft, almost childlike, he explains that this is his first interview as himself, not as Pee-wee Herman.

Before, Reubens would only meet journalists in character, peppering his sound bites with trademark lines such as "I know you are but what am I?''

"I didn't do press as me. This is the first interview I've done in a long, long time, and the first one I've done as myself ever,'' he says.

But he admits it's a little scary for him. "It's not easy, in another sense, to be Paul Reubens,'' he says. "I guess it's always easier to hide behind a character.''

He's not interested in hiding now. After what he calls "my sabbatical,'' Reubens is in the middle of a full-fledged career comeback. Only he hates that term.

"I realize it's perceived as a comeback for me, and that's great,'' he says. "But I don't view it as a comeback. I don't actually think about positioning that much.''

Besides "Mystery Men,'' which teams him with Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo and Hank Azaria, Reubens just finished a Dwight Yoakam-directed Western, "South of Heaven, West of Hell.'' He's also developing a comedy called "Meet the Murkles,'' which Reubens describes as his version of "You Can't Take It With You.''

Most exciting is that he's resurrecting Pee-wee Herman, the character that earned him 25 Emmys--22 for the show and three for his acting.

Not wanting to give too many details, he says, "It's a semi-autobiographical movie and it's about fame in our times. Pee-wee becomes famous and turns into a monster. He's extremely nasty to other people.''

Can you blame him?

He was nice, not nasty, the day he was arrested. He explained to the officers that he was Paul Reubens, and asked if he could do a benefit for kids in exchange for having the charges quietly dropped. Please, he asked.

"As a kid I wasn't scared when I got into hot water. I knew I could talk my way out of it.''

It wasn't going to work that day.

But when he came up $40 short of the $219 he needed for bail, some Pee-wee-loving cops took up a collection. The officers drew a four-day suspension for their kindness.

When a local reporter recognized his name, the national press descended. He denied exposing himself or engaging in improper activities and paid a $50 fine. But the damage was done.

"Paul Reubens' life was destroyed by his fame and the media. He was a lamb led to the slaughter. And what kills me is that he's the nicest of men,'' says Garofalo, a longtime friend.

"Where is the victim in this crime? He was crucified for going to a porno film? Who cares? It's so crazy to condemn anyone for living their private life,'' she says.

Reubens retreated to small roles, such as the Penguin's father in "Batman Returns'' and a secretary on "Murphy Brown.''

"Who wouldn't want to escape?'' says Natasha Lyonne ("American Pie''), who played young Opal on "Pee-wee's Playhouse.'' "The real shame is that kids lost a man who created the best, most creative show of all time for children. ... He's so massively talented.''

She shakes her head and says, "The shame of it all is that we missed so many creative years with him. In fact, I ran into him in New York City a few weeks ago and he picked me up and spun me around, screaming, `Opal O!' He told me, `You're so tall,' and then he said, `Man, I must be old.' I was thinking, `You don't realize how long, Paul, you've been gone. I grew up.' ''

He never grew bitter--just reflective. "Fame is such a weird, strange thing. I always thought it would be interesting to have a little seminar or something,'' Reubens says. "Everyone who is just starting to get famous would have to attend. It would be mandatory.''

Reubens was the funny kid, first in Peekskill, N.Y., and then in Sarasota, Fla., where his parents moved to run a lamp store when he was in sixth grade.

"At school, I was a strange child, a little oddball. I was really serious and really funny at the same time,'' he says. "I was always performing.''

He went pro in the '70s on "The Gong Show.'' As the story goes, Reubens was trying to win worst act, but wound up with the best act award. A stint with the famed Groundlings comedy troupe led to a role in "The Blues Brothers.''

In 1979, Reubens created Pee-wee Herman "to illustrate to kids that it's OK to be different. Not good. Not bad. But all right.''

By 1985, the movie "Pee-wee's Big Adventure''--a $6 million film about a man losing his beloved bike--grossed $45 million. The TV series "Pee-wee's Playhouse'' debuted the next year to Emmys and merchandising galore.

But Reubens was conflicted about Pee-wee, sometimes hating his alter ego. "There were often times I thought I should just change my name legally to Pee-wee Herman and then have the marquees read `Pee-wee Herman--as himself.' ''

By late 1991, he was able to laugh at being monologue fodder. Reubens presented on the MTV video music awards, opening with a quick, "Heard any good jokes lately?'' The crowd roared.

But he mostly stayed out of the spotlight, building up his "ET'' memorabilia collection, gardening, and spending time with friends Fran Lebowitz and Debi Mazar.

He slips into the last row of a Manhattan screening room just as the opening credits for "Mystery Men'' roll. There's polite applause for Garofalo, bigger applause for Ben Stiller. But when the name Paul Reubens flashes on the screen, a crowd of 500 goes nuts.

He is befuddled. He is confused. He is happy. And he can't believe that there are second acts. "To be honest with you, I wasn't really sure why they were cheering,'' he says the next day.

Maybe because people missed him? He smiles hopefully. He gropes for a magic word, finding one too big for the "Playhouse'' crowd.

"When I heard those cheers, I felt rejuvenated,'' he says with a tiny smile.

As a struggling comedian in the late seventies, Paul Reubens created an alter-ego named Pee-Wee Herman, who subsequently achieved success beyond Reubens' wildest and worst dreams. Pee-Wee landed jobs at comedy clubs that scoffed at Reubens. Pee-Wee starred in a hit feature film; Reubens languished in Cheech and Chong flicks. Pee-Wee became a television icon; Reubens provided voices for The Flintstone Funnies. Yet when Reubens was arrested for exposing himself in an adult theatre, it was Pee-Wee who incurred the media's wrath. And it was Paul Reubens whose career survived.

Born in upstate New York, Paul Rubenfeld grew up in Sarasota, Florida, where his parents owned and operated a lamp store. During winters, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus called Sarasota home, and young Paul counted such big-top families as the Wallendas and the Zacchinis among his neighbors. At the age of eleven, Rubenfeld joined the local Asolo Theater, and during the next six years, he appeared in a variety of plays. After graduating from high school, he attended Boston University for one year before deciding to seek his fortune as Paul Reubens in Hollywood.

Reubens enrolled as an acting major at the California Institute of the Arts and accepted a string of pay-the-rent jobs ranging from pizza chef to Fuller Brush salesman. During the mid-seventies, his acting career grew slowly and steadily with small parts in regional theatre productions, routines at local comedy clubs, and four appearances on The Gong Show (as four different contestants). During this period of educational and employment mayhem, Reubens joined an improvisational comedy troupe called the Groundlings. The popular gang of yuksters, whose roster has included Conan O'Brien, Lisa Kudrow, Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, and Julia Sweeney, wrung laughs from audiences with skits starring scads of imaginative, self-created characters.

Among Reubens' contributions to this comedic community were a philandering husband named Moses Feldman, an Indian chief named Jay Longtoe, and the now infamous Pee-Wee Herman, who debuted in 1978. Pee-Wee was a giggling man-child of indeterminate age and sexuality who possessed a sarcastic enthusiasm for the popular culture of the fifties and sixties. The gawky character's wardrobe consisted of a gray suit (several sizes too small), a white shirt accessorized with a red clip-on bow tie, and white patent-leather loafers. Pee-Wee wore his jet-black hair military short with a defiant tuft in front, and he accentuated his lily-white complexion with rosy cheeks and crimson lips. Reubens drew inspiration for Pee-Wee's gawky mannerisms from an unfortunate youth he had attended summer camp with, and derived his creation's boyish voice from a character he played as a child actor.

Although Pee-Wee appeared for only ten minutes of the Groundlings show, he nonetheless built up a considerable following and became a breakout star. In 1981, The Pee-Wee Herman Show ran for five sellout months at Los Angeles' Roxy night club, and HBO taped the performance and aired it as a special. Now a genuine comedy-circuit star, Pee-Wee became a frequent guest of David Letterman and a favorite at Caroline's in New York. In 1984, Pee-Wee sold out Carnegie Hall.

Reubens then auditioned for the cast of Saturday Night Live, but when that didn't pan out, he began writing a feature-length screenplay for Pee-Wee to star in, and asked friend Tim Burton to direct. Released to wildly divergent reviews, in 1985, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure followed its star cross-country in a manic search for his beloved, stolen bicycle. The $7-million picture ended up grossing $45 million. CBS, which had been losing juvenile audiences to cable programming, was looking to shore up its Saturday-morning lineup. They signed Reubens to produce a live-action children's program called Pee-Wee's Playhouse. They doled out an eye-popping budget of $325,000 per episode--the same price as a prime-time sitcom. Reubens received complete creative control, albeit with three minor exceptions: he was forbidden to say, "If you show me yours, I'll show you mine," to stab potatoes with pencils, or to walk around with toilet paper stuck to his shoe. Launched in 1986, the program became a ratings success by attracting not only children but the adults who originally made Pee-Wee a phenomenon.

During the Playhouse's five-year run, Reubens never appeared in public as himself. He even granted print interviews in full Pee-Wee regalia. The image of Pee-Wee, however, was shattered forever on July 26, 1991. On summer hiatus, Reubens was visiting his parents in Sarasota and sought escape from boredom by catching a showing of the X-rated film Nancy Nurse. Unfortunately, Reubens fell victim to a police sting operation and was arrested on indecent exposure charges when detectives allegedly saw him masturbating. He was released on $219 bail and nobody seemed the wiser until someone recognized Pee-Wee Herman beneath Reubens' vacation-time long hair and goatee. The media went wild: kids show star arrested in sex scandal. CBS promptly cancelled the Playhouse, related merchandise was pulled from store shelves, and Pee-Wee's star was yanked from Hollywood Boulevard. Reubens agreed to pay a fifty-dollar fine plus eighty-five dollars in court costs to Sarasota County, and he produced a thirty-second anti-drug commercial. For its part of the bargain, the county sealed all documents pertaining to the actor's arrest and did not burden Reubens with a criminal record.

The scandal marked the virtual death of Pee-Wee Herman. Reubens appeared as his favorite character for one last time at that fall's MTV Music Video Awards. He bounded onto the stage before a standing ovation and asked, "Heard any good jokes lately?" in reference to being the butt of many current punchlines. "What was that one? Oh, so funny I forgot to laugh!" The enthusiastic reception was not surprising, as Pee-Wee had received fifteen thousand supportive letters during the scandal. Regardless, Reubens had recently vowed not to portray Pee-Wee much longer and used his arrest as an excuse to pursue other roles. His career may never soar to Herman heights again, but Reubens has landed a series of offbeat character roles. In the summer of 1992, he appeared in Tim Burton's Batman Returns as the Penguin's unloving father, and as a vampire henchman in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Subsequent gigs have included voice work for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), a healthy stint on Murphy Brown, and the portrayal of an animal-control officer in Dunston Checks In (1996). Reubens more recently co-starred with Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman in the screen adaptation of children's author Roald Dahl's Matilda (1996), and appeared alongside the lovely Rene Russo in Buddy.

c Mr Showbiz