It really saddened me to read the news of Paul Reubens’ passing last night. He was 70 and privately battling cancer for the better part of six years.
If you want a good example of Reuben’s genius, watch Tim Burton’s “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.” It was Burton’s first feature and he couldn’t have done it without Reubens.
The late Paul Reubens' final message to his fans:
Please accept my apology for not going public with what I've been facing the last six years. I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.
The first time I saw “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” was a real trip. The Burton/Reubens duo was a match made in heaven. The colors, the characters, the humor, the strange world — it all worked so well.
On Monday, Burton posted a photo of himself on the set of ‘Big Adventure’ accompanied by a caption:
Shocked and saddened. I'll never forget how Paul helped me at the beginning of my career. It would not have happened without his support. He was a great artist. I'll miss him.
Reubens didn’t have the best movie career, but when he did appear on-screen he was quite good, I’m thinking his supporting turns in “Mystery Men” and “Blow” in particular.
Part of the reason why he didn’t have much of a career at the movies was due to his being one of the very early victims of “cancel culture.” In 1991, he was caught and arrested for masturbating in a porn theater.
Not much came of it and Hollywood eventually started casting him in smaller roles around the late ‘90s. For good reason, that incident seems to have been omitted from many of the obits circulating last night.