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Loren “Folklore” Cone

Minus the animated furniture, anthropomorphized food, and bejeweled bovine royalty grazing on the lawn, Amoeba transformed into a virtual playhouse and reached peak osmotic pressure amidst a hullabaloo of grey suits, polka dots, and rolling surf rock.

Paul Reubens enthusiasts gathered like so many serenading sill daisies in an un-enumerable flock to take a ganders at the Pee-Wee creator, clutching assorted effigies and ephemera (including a three-foot stuffed Chairry) to be christened by indelible felt pen.

The stage was meticulously set with obtrusive color and arbitrary brick-a-brack.  Leopard print ran across the mantel, piggybacked by knick-knacks.  Prismatic paper plates adhered to walls.  Palm trees hovered.  Some guy had a glittery box on his head.  Simply par for the course for Haight Street.

Then Peaches Christ took the stage - not dressed as Peaches Christ.  Joshua Grannell introduced a plain-clothed Paul Reubens to much fanfare and applause sustained long enough to cook a Hot Pocket.  After a brief statement of appreciation, the enigmatic Reubens sat for a four-and-a-half-hour autograph gauntlet of compliments, personal accounts, shutterbugging, and a few inevitable “do the laugh” requests.

Reubens’ magnum opus Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, which coupled surface juvenile high jinks with surreptitious adult shenanigans, garnered 22 Emmys in its heyday, creating a cultural behemoth and merchandising juggernaut.  Amongst others, the cast featured: would-be stars Laurence Fishburne (doggie-wrangler, Cowboy Curtis) and Phil Hartman (salty-dog, Capt. Carl); a red-headed bullyrag marionette from Brooklyn, Randy; a disembodied head in a box, Jambi the Genie; a family of minute wall-dwelling dinosaurs; and an anti-feng shui decorum.  While fantastic, Reubens’ flamboyant get-along gang is not surprising when you consider his childhood neighbors in Sarasota, FL were members of both the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s circuses.

Like Playhouse, the crowd consisted of a cavalcade of characters, but Reubens was less frenetic man-child and more patient gentleman as he stayed hours past his scheduled appearance time to ensure that each fan brought home a signed what-have-you and a pop-culture anecdote.

Several Pee-Wee movie ideas are in various stages of development, and anticipation is hyperactive amongst fans as Reubens mounts his next adventure—with or without a certain glittery-red vintage Schwinn.