Card Readings: Scream Real Loud!
Wish? Did somebody say wish?
In an attempt to bring order into the chaos that is both my office and existence, I have decided to pull cards from my large stack of trading cards once a week and glean some meaning from them. While my perfectly-good tarot deck may object to this, it also does not contain a non-zero chance of pulling Michael J. Fox from the deck. Our second pull gives us…
Today’s secret words are: Trading Card!
Pee-Wee’s Playhouse was my jam as a kid. Paul Reubens brought the gleeful ordered chaos of early variety shows and threw it into a gumbo with the trappings of buttoned-up 1950s sitcoms and the rubbery constant motion of cartoon luminaries like Fleisher and Avery. Even if you didn’t quite understand the progenitors of the Playhouse it was easy to be enthralled by its madness. You didn’t like Pee-Wee looking at his toys? There was a Penny cartoon just around the bend. Don’t like her? What about El Hombre? Here comes Captain Carl or Reba or The Cowntess or Randy or Cowboy Curtis. The only constant at the Playhouse were the people. As Cyndi Lauper said, it was a crazy mixed-up place where anything could happen.
It’s amazing that the show was able to extend that part of the theme to the trading-card sets, but Pee-Wee’s Playhouse could give you an afternoon of fun inside one of those packs. There were regular cards but there were also lenticular frames and temporary tattoos and magic tricks. Give me a pack and set me up in a blanket fort and I’d be ready to face an entire sleepy summer Thursday afternoon.
Take this oversized card, for instance. It’s already giving you a full regular pack’s worth of enjoyment by depicting Pee-Wee—played here by Doug Funnie—digging the scene with at least one member of the Puppet Band. This is premium Wayne White weirdness served up to kids in a pack of cards, and that is enough to put it well ahead of most trading card sets. But what of that instruction in the corner? “Punch out and stick on your nose!” You bet! This card is an immediate disguise kit to turn your nose into part of Mr. Herman. (Mister Herman, you have a call at the front desk…) Your face? Hidden from view! Amaze your friends and befuddle your parents by putting part of yourself in the action! Does it work for grown ups? Not really! But what adult is going to even try it? These cards are for you in whatever childlike hideaway you’ve made for yourself. It’s not like you’re buying these thirty years later in an attempt to recapture even a little bit of the joy that small trinkets used to bring you. Ahem.
Who’s on the other side?
It’s Mr. Kite! I would argue that this works even better with the nose punch-out than the reverse side. While Mr. Kite was a minor figure at the Playhouse, flying outside and only consulted in cases of extreme weather, his face was perfect for such intrusion. Who could resist weaving back and forth while trying to predict the weather in his trademark Don-Adams-esque nasal tones? “It’s a sunny day”, he says, and how could it not be when you’re having this much fun?
So what did the cards say this week? Maybe that sometimes all you need is a quarter’s worth of fun to make some memorable days. Maybe your favorite place won’t always give you what you want, but it will certainly give you what you need. The card reading is done, Long Live Jambi.