The Untold Truth Of Paul Reubens

There's an oft-told tale about just how the inarguably bizarre concept of "The Pee-wee Herman Show" was developed, and as Paul Reubens usually told it, it had been his idea, hatched on a flight from New York to California. He always credited his parents with giving him the money he needed to put the whole thing together, but according to what others revealed in Caseen Gaines's "Inside Pee-wee's Playhouse," that might not be entirely true.

Another version of the story comes from a television producer named Dawna Kaufmann. At the time Paul Reubens was creating his characters and finding his voice with The Groundlings, Kaufmann was producing an "SNL"-style competitor, and looking for the next great idea. "If you want to be edgy, you've got to be a little clever. So, I thought it would be wise to come up with a late-night show that couldn't be touched by the censors ... We ... would be subversive," she explained. Pieces started to fall into place: an old-school, variety-show feel, plenty of innuendo, and "a playhouse idea."

When Kaufmann was introduced to Reubens, she said that she instantly knew that she had her host. As the show went on and ultimately wrapped, Kaufmann said that she was pushed so far out of it that she'd considered suing Reubens. By then, though, he was simply too big a star.

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