History Trivia / BigTopPeeWee

* TheCastShowoff: The musical number Pee-wee sings in his dream at the beginning of the movie really is performed by Creator/PaulReubens himself, who it turns out has a surprisingly good singing voice when out of character.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: This movie would have originally had closer ties to ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure.'' The reason Pee-Wee ran away to a rural town was because he had become a celebrity after the spy movie from the end of the first film was released and wanted to escape his fans. This was removed due to the ChannelHop between the two films.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: This movie would have originally had closer ties to ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure.'' The reason Pee-Wee ran away to a rural town was because he had become a celebrity after the spy movie from the end of the first film was released and wanted to escape his fans. This was changed to a music career with no mentions of the movie due to the ChannelHop between the two films.

* RomanceOnTheSet: This happened between Valeria Golino (Gina) and Creator/BenicioDelToro (Duke the Dog-Faced Boy), who remained together for four years.

* RealLifeRelative: Two townsfolk, Herman and Honey, are played by Milton and Judy Rubenfeld, Paul Ruebens' real-life parents. Incidentally, "Herman Herman" and "Honey Merman" are also the names of Pee-wee's [fictional] parents, according to Ruebens' himself.

* RealLifeRelative: Two townsfolk, Herman and Honey, are played by Milton and Judy Rubenfeld, Paul Ruebens' real-life parents.

** This film also began a slow death for Paul Reubens' career as ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse'' stopped making episodes in 1990. Not helping matters was Creator/PaulReubens' infamous [[ADateWithRosiePalms nudie theater incident]] the year after. It would be a quarter-century before Netflix revived Pee-wee Herman on a visible basis, making this film something of a FranchiseKiller on top of it all.

* NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals: Paul Reuben's porcine co-star clearly did ''not'' enjoy being cradled on its back in one particular scene between Pee-wee and Vance, and Ruebens himself received some nasty bruises from the pig's panicked flailing.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $20 million. Box office, $15,122,324.

* BTeamSequel: Creator/Tim Burton turned down the chance to direct, as he was transitioning from completing ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'' to beginning pre-production on ''Film/Batman1989''.

* TheCastShowoff: The musical number Pee-wee sings in his dream at the beginning of the movie really is performed by Paul Reubens himself, who it turns out has a surprisingly good singing voice when out of character.

* RomanceOnTheSet: This happened between Valeria Golino (Gina) and Creator/BenicioDelToro (Duke the Dog-Faced Boy), who remained together for four years.

** This film also began a slow death for Paul Reubens' career as ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse'' stopped making episodes in 1990. Not helping matters was Creator/PaulReubens' infamous [[ADateWithRosiePalms nudie theater incident]] the year after. It would be a quarter-century before Netflix revived Pee-wee Herman on a visible basis, making it a very long but temporary FranchiseKiller on top of it all.

** This film also began a slow death for Paul Reubens' career as ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse'' stopped making episodes in 1990. Not helping matters was Creator/PaulReubens' infamous [[ADateWithRosiePalms nudie theater incident]] the year after. It would be a quarter-century before Netflix revived Pee-wee Herman on a visible basis.

* RealLifeRelative: Two townsfolk, Herman and Honey, are played by Milton and Judy Rubenfeld, Paul Ruebens' real-life parents.

* CreatorKiller: This was the second to last film produced by Richard Abramson; he never did another film after the 80's ended.

* HeyItsThatGuy:
** The elderly Mrs. Haynes is [[Film/HappyGilmore Happy's grandma]].
** Benicio del Toro plays Duke the Dog-Faced Boy.
** Big John was [[Film/{{Predator}} the Predator]].
** [[PeeWeesPlayhouse Miss Yvonne]] plays Zelda the Bearded lady.
** Isn't that ''[[SavedByTheBell Screech]]'' as the kiddified version of Deke?
** The circus wardrobe lady is [[Film/TheLastStarfighter Mrs. Boone]][[note]]A minor character.[[/note]]

* TheCastShowoff: The musical number Pee-wee sings in his dream at the beginning of the movie really is performed by Paul Reubens himself, who it turns out has a surprisingly good singing voice.

* RealLifeRelative: Two townsfolk, Honey and Herman, are played by Milton and Judy Rubenfeld, Paul Ruebens' real-life parents.