PeeWee's Playhouse

The highlight of my career came in 1989, when I was given the opportunity to design Chandelier for PeeWee's playhouse.

I first heard about Chandelier, from Jimmy Cuomo who was the current art director for the show. Jimmy and I had successfully  worked together on several projects but this was the 'one' I was waiting for. It seemed Paul Reubens was looking for a new character for the show and had not been satisfied with the concepts he was presented with. A meeting was set for me to meet with Paul and Jimmy at Paramount Studios. For the interview I brought along my portfolio and a marionette character named Aura, that I had created for my original children's fantasy 'The First Little Girl on the Moon'.

Aura was a surrealistic star-like creature made of clear lexan™ and vac-u-form plastic. After presenting her to Paul, I was given the go ahead to prepare sketches for Chandelier. The sketches were approved and Chandelier was born.

Approximately 24" tall, the character of Chandelier was first designed and sculpted to produce a series of master models.

Each section was then vac-u-formed in clear plastic. Two-way mirror was used to laminate the pieces together in order to pass light and reflect it. Once complete, the various crystals were arranged on a motorized carousel and lighting effects were added.

The face is animated with a dropping lip and the make-up applied with an airbrush. Cast resin hands, silver eyelashes and ten yards of rhinestones later and the effect is complete. "Ooh La-la! PeeWee"