From Red Schwinns to Fridge Food, Pee-wee’s World Is Up for Grabs
Own a little bit of Pee-wee magic! If your heart still hurts like ours does over his passing, now is the time to own a little piece of his magic. More than 400 pieces from Paul Reubens’ career are heading to auction this month, bringing costumes, bikes, puppets, scripts, props and wonderfully strange pieces of Pee-wee’s Playhouse history back to the place where it all began.
Paul Reubens’ BIG Auction, presented by Julien’s Auctions, takes place October 28 at 10 a.m. PT at The Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles, with bidding also available online. It is a fitting full-circle moment for a character born on that very stage decades ago.
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Paul Reubens’ BIG Auction
More than 400 pieces of Pee-wee history are heading back to The Groundlings — from red Schwinns and Playhouse props to scripts, puppets and one very important harmonica.
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Pee-wee Herman first took shape at The Groundlings in the late 1970s, when Reubens began developing the character through improv. That spark grew into The Pee-wee Herman Show, an HBO special, countless television and movie appearances, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and five seasons of Pee-wee’s Playhouse. Now a huge portion of that wildly specific world is being opened up for fans and collectors.
The auction lineup includes Reubens’ suit from Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, custom red Schwinn bicycles, an original Playhouse stop-motion dinosaur puppet, claymation pieces, scripts, storyboards, production materials and even the vintage “Pee Wee” harmonica Reubens credited with inspiring the character’s name. Yes, the harmonica. That is the kind of artifact level we are dealing with here.
There is also some peak Playhouse weirdness in the catalog, including faux refrigerator food, kitchen set dressing, crew parking signs and artwork tied directly to the series. A collection of 12 refrigerator-food props alone includes a claymation red pepper, bacon with armature arms, green olive barbells and enough tiny edible-looking chaos to make Chairry jealous.
Inside Paul Reubens’ BIG Auction
Gallery images: Julien’s Auctions.
Before auction day, highlights from the collection will be displayed at The Groundlings Theatre from October 14 through October 28 for Groundlings ticketholders. The celebration begins October 14 with An Evening in Pee-wee’s Playhouse, featuring screenings of the episodes “School” and “Heat Wave,” followed by a panel with surprise guests from Reubens’ Groundlings and Playhouse family. Proceeds from that event benefit The Groundlings.
There is something especially right about all of this returning to Melrose. Pee-wee was never just a costume or one-liner machine; Reubens built an entire visual universe around him, packed with handmade objects, strange little characters, hyper-specific props and tiny details fans still recognize decades later. Seeing those pieces gathered together makes the scale of that world-building impossible to miss.
So whether you are seriously bidding on a red Schwinn, eyeing a piece of the Playhouse, or simply want to see how much glorious weirdness one man managed to save, Paul Reubens’ BIG Auction is basically a Pee-wee time capsule with a paddle number attached.
Paul Reubens’ BIG Auction Preview
A video preview highlights pieces from the Paul Reubens archive ahead of Julien’s Auctions’ October 28 sale at The Groundlings Theatre.
Source: Julien’s Auctions; The Groundlings. Lead image: INYIM Media rendering using auction imagery. Gallery images: Julien’s Auctions.
