Paul Reubens called "Pee-wee's Playhouse: The Movie". In 2010, he starred on Broadway in "The Pee-wee Herman Show". In 2016, Reubens helped write and starred in the Netflix original film "Pee-wee's Big Holiday", reprising his role as Pee-wee Herman. Reubens was born Paul Rubenfeld in Peekskill, New York, and grew up in Sarasota, Florida, where his parents, Judy (Rosen) and Milton Rubenfeld, owned a lamp store. His mother was a teacher. His father was an automobile salesperson who had flown for Britain's Royal Air Force and for the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, later becoming one of the founding
Paul Reubens of junk food, all the while trying to release his own sugar-free cereal "Ralston Purina Pee-wee Chow cereal", a project that died after a blind test. With his positive attitude and quirkiness, Pee-wee became an instant cult figure, earning a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by 1989, and successfully building a Pee-wee franchise, with toys, clothes and other items generating more than $25 million at its peak in 1988. Reubens also published a book as Pee-wee in 1989 called "Travels with Pee-Wee". CBS aired reruns of "Playhouse" until July 1991, when Reubens was arrested, pulling from their schedule