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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1984)
tradl OZ I! jd V' J **<»riart*mrtr ***4UM~ '*****J7J*l!C* 0 KPRC O KBTX O KCEN O KTBC O KUHT (Dkhou © KTRK ©KAMU © KTXH © KVUE © KTW © KHTV WTBS WGN CBN TMC Midwest © © © 09 © CD CD © o © — © © o © Community Q © © O n CD CD © © © © © o a Q /»00 News News News News MacNeil Enter- News MacNeil .ove News News One Day At Sanford Barney Here " K " .ehrer tainment .ehrer Scat M " A Time L Son Hiller Come The " U30 Family Three's M.A.S.H The " Focus M " " M.A.S.H People’s .averne & laseball The Brides " feud Company Jeftersons Court Shirley Cincinnati Jeftersons " ” m00 The The The The Business The Foul-Ups Magazine Hawaii Foul-Ups The VegaJ Reds Odd Gentle - 7 ★Team American ATeam American Report American And Bleeps Five-0 And Bleeps A-Team At Couple Ben " 1 30 Parade Parade New Parade Happy Audubon ” Happy " ” Atlanta Baseball Gentle Movie: Visions Days , Theatre Days Braves Chicago Ben “Cheech n 00 Riptide Peter And Riptide Peter And Nova Peter And Houston Matinee Movie: Three's Riptide Movie: ” Cubs 700 & Chong's Q Paul Paul "Artificial Paul Symphony At The "Red Badge Company ” "The At Club Still Oso Parti Parti Heart" Part 1 Olympics Bijou Of Courage" Oh " Mercenary" " St. Louis ” Smokin’’ ** Madeline " Cardinals " rv 00 Remington Remington •• American " " " ” Hart To Remington " " Movie: Q Steele Steele Playhouse Hart Steele ” ” " "The %s 30 ” " "City News" " New Tech Baseball " " " News My Little Garden Times Houston Margie 01 The io: News News News News Business News News Business Astros News News Twilight " " Another Finzi- ” Report Report At " Zone " " Life Continis" Tonight Barney Tonight All In The Latemght Magnum, ABC News Latenight Los Angeles Barney Tonight Star The News Best Of " Miller Family America P.I. Nightline America Dodgers Miller Trek Catlins Groucho Movie: 11” Magnum, •• Magnum, " Movie: " ABC News ” " Movie: •• Burns And "The Happy ” P.I. P.L "Escape To Nightline "Bonnie " Allen Hooker Goes David David McCloud Mindanao" News Laugh-In David INN News And Clyde" A Married Jack To Wash- Letterman Letterman Letterman Man Benny ington" 12” McCloud McCloud " " " 'Spy ” Movie: Part 2 1 Married " News News " Rifleman Movie: “Dragon wyck" Joan Love That Movie: "Cheech “Going Home” Bob Bachelor & Chong” Wimp Pee-Wee Herman is hero since TV debut United Press International HOLLYWOOD — Pee-wee Herman is a cult hero to late night viewers of the David Let- terman TV show where he has appeared only eight times, but enough to attract a large, almost secret following. Pee-wee is a child-like wimp, an aggravating, hyper flake, a nerd of indeterminate age but somewhere between 8 and 20. His hair is a ragged crewcut and his gray checked suit is three sizes too small. He favors white socks and shoes and a red bow tie. He embodies elements of old- time comedians Stan Laurel and Harry Langdon. Some of his traits bring to mind Jerry Lewis and Eddie Cantor. He is as freaky as Tiny Tim. Much of Pee-wee's comedy is improvised, whether on Letter- man's show or in concert in such cities as Chicago, San Francisco, New York and Denver. Pee-wee is a fresh kid. But he's also vulnerable, wacky and a welcome change from laid- back young comics who grab microphones by the throat and pour out tired social comment on drugs, sex and politics. Pee-wee is a gossamer, ten uous nut who is thoroughly out of step with the rest of society but manages, somehow, to sur vive. He's funny. The man behind the Pee-wee is Paul Reubens, also of indis criminate age — but one would guess about 30 — an actor and comedian who failed to click until he invented willy-nilly Pee-wee. "Pee-wee switched itself on about four years ago," Reubens said. "Until then I'd been doing straight acting and working with the Groundlings, a Holly wood improvisational comedy group. "We were doing a satire of stereotypical comedy club com ics on talent night. I did a guy that people know will never make it. The voice, one I'd used in juvenile roles, just popped out." Pee-wee was refined thereaf ter, but he was bom that night. It wasn't until he appeared in an HBO comedy special that Pee-wee attracted a following, and the attention of Letterman. "I can't say why I named him Pee-wee Herman," Reubens said slyly. "It just sounded good. I took Pee-wee from the name on a little harmonica I had and Herman from a child friend. "Together they sounded like a winner. Catchy. There aren't too many Pee-wees around. Pee Wee Russell, the jazz musician, and Pee wee Reese, the bal lplayer. "I think of Pee-wee as a kid. I don't like to attach any age to him. I leave it up to the people who watch. "He's very innocent, you know. He has the same knowl edge that kids do. He's self-con fident in an unconfident kinda way. There are a lot of areas he is unconfident about, but he's unaware of it." Pee-wee sometimes relies on props. On the Letterman show he arrives with a box of claptrap toys and household items for which he has found zany new uses, which he demonstrates with klutzy ineptitude. He can do wonders with an out-sized pair of men's boxer shorts, for instance. "I watch the behavior of chil dren for anything I can apply to Pee-wee," Reubens said. "Chil dren are wonderful because they are so unspoiled. They say and do anything. And so does Pee-wee." To the main body of Ameri can TV viewers and moviegoers Pee-wee is unknown, although he has appeared in a couple of "Cheech and Chong" films in minor roles. Reubens also played Pinocchio in the syndi cated "Faerietale Theater." Until recently Reubens and Pee-wee have just been floating around, playing concerts and looking for the big break. Reu bens was smart enough to re fuse dozens of offers to star in TV sitcoms. Evidently he wanted to avoid the trap of overexposure that befell Robin Williams, another improvisational comic, in "Mork and Mindy." Now under competent man agement, Reubens is about to become a movie star in "Pee- wee's Big Adventure," proba bly at Warner Bros. Reubens is one of the writers. Whether Pee-wee can carry a major motion picture and sus tain a comedic pace for a couple of hours on screen is moot. Pee- wee's concert show, part of which is audience participation, does sustain. When the film is released Pee-wee will lose his cult status and go public. With luck Reu bens may catapult Pee-wee into the forefront of movie comedi ans. He would like very much to tread in the footsteps of Woody Allen. tuesday movies MORNING 9:00 60 ★★★V2 “Suspicion” (1941) Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine. Direct ed by Alfred Hitchcock. A young woman suspects her charming husband of planning a murder. AFTERNOON 3:00© ★★★ “Cheyenne Autumn” (Part 1 of 2) (1964) James Stewart, Richard Widmark. Directed by John Ford. The dramatic exodus of Cheyenne Indians extends from an Oklahoma reservation to their homelands in Wyoming. EVENING enthrallment soon turns to terror. 12:30 ★★★ “Going Home” (1971) Robert Mitchum, Brenda Vaccaro. Following his mother’s murder, an ex-con hunts down his father for whom he harbors min gled feelings of love and hate. 1:35© ★ Vi “40 Guns To Apache Pass” (1967) Audie Murphy, Ken neth Tobey. A cavalry officer saves a group of homesteaders from an Indian attack then stalks the man who sold guns to the Indians. 2:00QD ★★★Vz “Suspicion” (1941) Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine. Direct ed by Alfred Hitchcock. A young woman suspects her charming husband of planning a murder. tuesday specials AFTERNOON 3:30 0 O CBS SCHOOLBREAK “All The Kids Do It” A young man, with dreams of competing in the Olympics, learns an invaluable les- t son about the perils of driving and drinking alcohol. 8:00QD ★★★ “The Red Badge Of Courage” (1974) Richard Thomas, Michael Brandon. Based on the "ovel by Stephen Crane. A Civil War soldier demonstrates true courage after panicking in his first enemy encounter. © ★ ★Vi “The Mercenary” (1970) Jack Palance, Franco Nero. A sha dy financier hires a gunslinger to begin a revolution in a country in South America. EVENING 8:00 B Q © PETER AND PAUL Anthony Hopkins and Robert Fox- worth star in the saga of Peter and Paul, the aposties of entirely dif ferent temperaments who worked separately and together through three decades to save the early Christian religion from destruc tion. (Part 1 of 2)(R) © 1984 HOUSTON SYMPHONY OLYMPICS Local personalities will compete for medals by conducting the full Houston Symphony. 11:00© ★★ Vi “Escape To Min danao” (1968) George Maharis, Willi Koopman. A prisoner of war is persuaded by his companion to attempt an escape from a Japa nese prison camp. 12:00© ★★ Vi “Dragonwyck” (1946) Gene Tierney, Walter Hus- tuesday sports EVENING ton. A woman finds love in a man- 9:30 © BASEBALL Houston Astros sion on the Hudson, but her at Los Angeles Dodgers .4 V. > U •