“Pee-wee’s Playhouse” stands as one of the oddest, most audacious, most unclassifiable shows in television history.
In one episode, Pee-wee married a fruit salad.
The show arrived in the midst of Ronald Reagan’s presidential administration and harked back to another button-down era, the one Mr. Reubens lived as a child: the 1950s.
‘‘I saw it as very Norman Rockwell,” he told The New York Times in 2016, ‘‘but it was my Norman Rockwell version of the ’50s, which was more all-inclusive.”Laurence Fishburne, S. Epatha Merkerson and other actors of color were in the cast.
“Not just anybody — the king!” Mr. Reubens said.
Persons:
”, “, —, Ronald Reagan’s, Reubens, ‘ ‘, Norman Rockwell, ‘, ” Laurence Fishburne, Epatha Merkerson, Gilbert Lewis, Mr
Organizations:
wee’s, CBS, New York Times
Locations:
Florida