The manic silliness of the 1985 Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was punctuated by dreamlike, golden-hour moments such as Pee-Wee Herman's sunset reverie with Simone the waitress inside the mouth of a roadside dinosaur attraction. It was with those moments in mind that Paul Reubens embarked on the halfway successful sequel, Big Top Pee-Wee, in which his man-child character finds himself living in a rural town where mean, elderly residents are attempting to oust a traveling circus. The plot features a charismatic pig, a fountain-of-youth hot-dog tree, and a two-minute screen kiss that is reputed to be the longest in cinematic history. The film is part of the Kansas City Central Library's circus-themed film series, which coincides with a circus-themed exhibit, Reckless Beauty and Mounting Laughter, on display in the library's Guldner Gallery. In a decade when Reubens has enjoyed positive critical reappraisal and a hit Broadway show, the time is right to take a second look at his variation on the theme, at 1 p.m. at the Central Library (14 West 10th Street, 816-701-3400). For more information, see kclibrary.org.
816-701-3400
