Paging Mr. Herman – A Retrospective on Childhood Insanity

Who the hell does this "Tim Burton" character think he is?  If he ever gets a shot at directing that 2^nd movie someday, he needs to be closely monitored - for Tim Burton is the creator of childhood trauma the likes of which Elián González never imagined (too soon?)

               

 I'm sure the conversation went a little something like this as I strode towards my mother in our local video store, VHS in hand:

JOHN: "Hey mom!  This looks fun; it's got a guy and a bike on the cover!" 

MOM: "Sure!  I've heard tell of this Peewee character, and he seems like a wholesome comedian of great substance.  We will rent this motion picture for your childhood enjoyment."

JOHN: "Yay!"

2 Hours later I approached my mother with the look of a weary old man who had been to The Mountains of Madness.

MOM: "Son, you look rather distraught, as if your childhood has just come crashing down upon you."

JOHN: "Large…Marge…sent…me……."

MOM: "Who is this Marge you speak of?"

JOHN: "Clowns…everywhere…and the devil…fat devil…melted the bike…kept saying 'Now!'

The rest is history.  How in Lovecraft's name did this movie get placed into the kid's section of my video store?  Let's see: mangled corpse trucker ghost, wild animals with demonic glowing eyes, Pee Wee getting mugged (by Tim Burton) in an alleyway (also the funniest part of the movie), a magic shop of ungodly horrors, clowns…just…so many evil clowns, snakes, and to cap it all off…Texas.

I hated that movie as a kid.  It destroyed any hope I had of being a tough guy...I was officially petrified of Paul Reubens (was I right, or wrong in the end?)  Something always stuck with me though, even beyond the waking nightmares whenever I closed my eyes…that score.  I had no idea why I loved the breakfast machine so much…I had seen a breakfast machine in Back to the Future prior to that.  When you've seen one breakfast machine, you've seen them all, am I right?

Elfman tends to get a lot of crap by some for being an "untrained composer."  Sure, the snob in me is skeptical about who wrote what parts of what-have-you, and that bothers me.  But you know what?  Danny Elfman dove from being a popular rock musician into the horrifying land of film composing, and his simplistic (intentional!) playful score rocked that movie.  Even the…(shudder)…clown scene had music that was so steeped in irony and childish cracked out carnival nightmare that you can't help but appreciate that horrible, horrible scene.  And Danny Elfman would go on to never sound like a circus, or use oom-pah-pah's again.  The End.

Seriously though – this was Elfman's first chance to make an impression on the film world, and he created a score so unique in its simplicity and insanity, that you have to give him all the credit in the world.  Even watching the DVD with the isolated music track and Elfman's commentary is a joy.  Listen to how happy that guy is to be reliving the process he used in scoring that movie!  I may have been horrified and traumatized while watching the movie, but darnit, the filmmakers clearly enjoyed themselves!  If you haven't checked out that DVD with Danny's isolated score/commentary, I suggest you check it out to hear a composer have a fun time visiting an old friend.

As a final note, I currently love me some Pee-wee's Big Adventure.  My wife hates it, and says I'm a child for enjoying it.  I think she might be underhandedly complimenting me.  Probably not, though.

John Ross Jesensky

 www.johnjesensky.com

Google