European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 29, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Pee wee s new adventure by Bob Thomas associated Presse entertainment writers Are always informed that pee wee Herman will be interviewed As pee wee Herman the film and television Star not As Paul Reubens his real life identity. How do you Deal with that would you interview Lucille Ball As Lucy Ricardo Sean Connery As James Bond How to question pee wee Herman in squeaks and baby talk such questions go through a reporter s mind As he awaits the arrival of the Star on a huge empty Paramount studio stage. He appears at the far end a tiny figure in the now familiar too tight suit hair plastered Down lips pursed. But As he sits Down to talk he is sigh neither pee wee Herman nor Paul Reubens rather he s someone in the Middle. He has come to talk about big top pee wee the Paramount pictures release he hoped would repeat the Success of the 1985 pee wee s big adventure returns so far have been respectable but not overwhelming. But he also talked about other matters presumably As Paul Reubens. Why a circus movie i grew up in Sarasota fla., which is the old Winter Headquarters of the Ringling show he explains and i knew of a lot of circus people. My school had a circus that included children of the performers. I always wanted to be an aerialist. But they told me i was too scrawny to be a Catcher. I thought i might be a Clown or acrobat and i Learned to walk the Tightrope which he does in the film. But i got in show business As an actor instead. I always thought if i did t get successful i la give up and join the born Paul Rubenfeld in Peekskill n.y., in 1952, he grew up in Sarasota where his parents ran a lamp store. Young Paul was a Jokester always putting on shows for the neighbor kids later graduating to summer Stock. After High school he spent a year at Boston University and was then turned Down by the Juilliard school and Carnegie Mellon University. So he enrolled at the Disney endowed California Institute of the arts in Valencia. When i first came out to Hollywood thought people would discover you. Then you became a movie Star and they figured out a Way to keep you a movie Star he reflected. I had an unrealistic View of what it was All going to be like. When i realized that i was t going to be one of those people who were discovered i decided i d better discover when and where was pee wee born difficult question he says cautiously. I was part of a comedy group Here in los Angeles and we had our own let the record show that the theater was the groundings where Reubens appeared at night while preparing pizzas and Selling Fuller brushes by Day. In 1979, he began developing the character of a would be comedian who is hopelessly innocent and untalented. Pee wee came from a one Inch Harmonica Herman from an obnoxious childhood acquaintance. Pee wee Herman became a one hour show he performed for a year at the Roxy theater on the Sunset strip then taped for Hob. Lafe night with David Letterman brought him More attention followed by Steve Martin to specials and appearances on the tonight show starring Johnny Carson. Pee wee s big adventure proved that the comedian had wide Appeal. He was one of the few who weren t surprised by the film s Success. I was confident. I Felt like the script was Good and the director Tim Burton who made Beetle juice and the team were Good. I had a lot of Pride in it. I was More relieved that it was a Success that my feelings were pee wee s playhouse began appearing on lbs saturday mornings in the Spring of 1987 and has been widely praised for its imagination and entertainment value. Why did he enter children s programming i guess my real motivation was lbs begging me to do it. I kept saying no i Don t want to do it and they said please please do it so i decided to give them a break and do it giggling. Really it just seemed like a fun thing to do. At first we discussed an animated comedian pee wee Herman stars in a new movie big top pee wee. Cartoon which i did t want to do. Then i told them about a sort of Salute to children s shows that was More oriented for adults. It started out As a Midnight show that some called a satire i called it a Salute. So i suggested making it a live action show like the ones i grew up on. They said Reubens lapses into Herman when he discusses one of his co stars in big top pee wee a talking pig. We had a nation wide Talent search for the pig and when you do that you hopefully come out with Talent he said. I will have to wait for the critics to Tell me whether he stole scenes from me. I am a giving actor and i think he was too. So we meet evenly somewhere. Since i wrote the film i have the better dialogue funnier lines. I also get to breathe Down the director s neck in the editing room. If the pig was getting too Many laughs then snip snip snip. Nobody is funnier in a pee wee Herman movie than pee wee he giggles. Business is booming in hispanic video Market by Felix Gutierrez associated Pressa s More . Hispanics add Vars to their televisions they re being wooed by everything from Spanish versions of american films like missing in action to videocassettes on amnesty simplified. Every month an average of 200 hispanic video movies were released last year according to Lomberto Perez publisher of Miami s bilingual video vision Magazine. Some were dubbed some were subtitled some had original Spanish language with a lower median income than the National Norm hispanics were once seen As a poor Market for technical gadgets. But about half of . Hispanic Homes have Vars according to strategy research corporation. That approaches the National average of 56 percent. The latinos rent More because we have larger families said Rafael Rivera of Condor video with a line of 300 Spanish language videos. To take the family to see a movie at $6 apiece you re talking about $50 a night by the time they pay for the ticket and buy Popcorn. But if they can rent a few movies at a Dollar or two apiece they can have their Popcorn and entertainment at Home said Rivera. He said hispanics typically select tapes As a family with youngsters often preferring English language cassettes while Spanish language videos Are favored by adults. These patterns plus the fact that the hispanic population is increasing faster than the Overall american population Are sending video manufacturers distributors and outlets scrambling to dub subtitle produce Transfer rent or sell videos targeted to hispanics. The Golden Opportunity for profits in the hispanic video Market was discussed in a session on hispanic videos fiesta or siesta at the recent video software dealers association convention in Las vegas. At last year s meeting the seminar was titled be Habla hispanic tapes run the Gamut from music videos starring Julio Iglesias and other top latin stars to Spanish versions of such popular English language movies As ironweed and �. T. Other titles include Spanish and English video Flash cards to help children learn math Lucha Libre cassettes of wrestling matches and the amnesty simplified tape featuring step by step instructions in English or Spanish for illegal residents seeking amnesty without an but most of the taped fare is movies about 75 percent of them from Spain or latin America Rivera said. . Releases dubbed or subtitled in Spanish account for the rest. Generally the most popular movies Are action adventure and comedy said David Quintero vice monday August 29, 1988 president of video visa a mexican owned company Selling videos in both countries. American films with subtitles Are the most popular in Mexico. In the United states it s original mexican video visa has about 300 films mostly mexican movies available in the United states and Hopes to build its Stock to 750. Three to seven films Are released a month usually a mix of action Romance comedy and terror to give a Little of everything for the Public Quintero said. With the new focus on Vars owned by hispanics there s increased Competition to tie up . Rights to Spanish language productions and get them to the viewers. Video pirates have also discovered the hispanic Market and Are offering discount illegal copies of tapes in Spanish. The pirates on any Given title Are Selling Between 2,000 and 3,000 copies said Condor s Rivera he said the illegal copies sold by truckers out of car trunks or through retail outlets Are sold at $20 to $35 just before his tapes go on the Market at $50. If the hispanic video Market is doing $30 million to $40 million a year they could double that without the piracy problem said Rivera. Added video visa s Quintero the Market is growing unfortunately it s growing much More for the pirates than for the stars and stripes Page 17
