Reflecting on Pee-wee Herman's wild journey from Carnegie Hall to Netflix on Paul Reubens' 70th birthday

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Today marks the 70th birthday of one of the most creative performers ever seen on television : Paul Reubens, whose character Pee-wee Herman gave decades of children the courage to feed their weird imaginations. In the late 70s, Reubens developed the childlike character of the Groundlings. In 1981 he got his own HBO special based on his stage show. Fueled by his growing popularity in late show segments, Reubens caused a Variety sensation via a 1984 concert review of Pee-Wee Herman performing at the iconic Carnegie Hall.

"Herman's rapport with the attentive audience, which included an idolatrous element, was impressive. crowd, which paid up to $19.50 per person, was generally between the ages of 20 and 33 and looked like rock concert fans in the long hair and preppy categories.They loved Herman's frequent visits to the audience (the performer's wireless body mic worked great). Despite an incredibly quirky and seemingly narrow personality, Herman's career took off and Reubens faces a bright future in all media."

All media indeed, because a year later Pee-wee fever would explode with the hit film "Pee-wee's Big Adventure", the feature debut of a young Tim Burton. A mixed Variety review consistently predicted the film's success, which grossed $41 million on a $7 million budget and touched on what Reubens does best.

"The goofy and seductive opening sequence sets a standard that the rest of the picture cannot not maintain, but the freshness of comedian Paul Reubens' unique characterization has already disarmed audiences at five regional venues and promises to deliver impressive numbers when Warner Bros. goes nationwide on August 9.

"Peewee's Playhouse" ©CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection

Perhaps Reubens' greatest triumph with the character was developing five seasons of the Saturday morning gonzo children's show "Pee -wee's Playhouse", from 1986 to 1990. With its unique blend of animation, handcrafted sets, puppets and audience interactivity, there was a sensibility "do-it-all" that caught the industry's attention early on. In 1987, Variety reported on a Director's Guild seminar called "Kid Vid: The Inside Story", with programming executives from CBS, NBC, PBS, Disney, KCOP and Paramount Pictures.

"The loudest panelist was Judy Price, VP of Children's Programs and Specials daytime for CBS, commenting on his struggles to b...