Now You See Me, Now You Don't is the fourth episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse.
Pee-Wee performs a magic show.
Episode Plot[]
Pee-wee looks at his toy shelf. Then Pterri sends Pee-wee a big piece of foil he found wrapped around a baked potato which he found at a nearby restaurant. Pee-wee places the foil in his foil ball, and then plays with Pterri.
Mr. Window asks Pee-wee what today's secret word is. Pee-wee activates Conky 2000 for the day, who reveals the secret word: little. Pee-wee tries the secret word on Mr. Window and asks him what is the opposite of "big". Mr. Window synonymizes the answer until Pee-wee corrects him frustratedly, and everyone screams when he says "little" as a result. For snack time, Pee-wee cooks up a delicious salad.
In a Connect the Dots segment, Pee-wee makes a tree. Later, Reba sends Pee-wee a package, which Pee-wee opens to reveals a magic kit he ordered. Dixie arrives and Pee-wee shows her what he got in the mail. Dixie plays the trumpet and calls in the King of Cartoons, who plays Smile, Darn Ya, Smile (Merrie Melodies, 9/5/1931), Foxy and Roxy's 2nd cartoon and a remake of the Disney short Trolley Troubles, starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit..
Pee-wee's friends come to the Playhouse to watch Pee-wee's magic show. Tito introduces the great magician, which is, of course, Pee-wee, who enters with his levitation trick. For his next trick, Pee-wee waves his wand over an empty vase and a bouquet of flowers appears. And for the grand finale, Pee-wee makes himself disappear, amusing the crowd, wondering where he has gone.
Pee-wee is now invisible and plays a trick on Mrs. Steve, who enters the Playhouse. Hungry, she sees a chocolate cake and cuts a slice, but just before she takes a seat on a stool, the cake moves to the stool and Mrs. Steve squashes it stuck to her butt. Conky makes a joke about the event as he leaves the house while the invisible Pee-wee eats the slice of cake. Next, Knucklehead calls for a knock-knock joke, which backfires when Pee-wee scares him away. Then Miss Yvonne enters as well, thinking she's imagining Pee-wee's voice and giving up.
Randy thinks Pee-wee will be invisible for the rest of his life, because no one may know him anymore. Pee-wee hears and argues that he can make himself visible whenever he wants, so Randy tells him to prove it. Pee-wee looks it up in his magic book. He simply has to send $9.95 (a nickel short of $10) to the magic company and allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery. Pee-wee, frightened, drops the book.
After a Penny cartoon (in which Penny tells us about a time one of her friends lied to her by claiming to have eaten lots of food), Magic Screen and Conky calculate for Pee-wee. Conky states that according to his calculations, he's going to be invisible forever, much to his total shock. Pee-wee sits down beside Jambi's box, and starts to cry. A confused Jambi then asks who's crying outside his box and guesses Pee-wee's still invisible and wants Jambi to change him back to normal. Jambi, however, says it might be dangerous to mix magics, although Pee-wee's willing to take the risk. Jambi has the Playhouse citizens as well as the viewers at home repeat his magic words after him as loud as they can. Pee-wee reappears but has no head. The doorbell then rings and the headless Pee-wee sees the salesman, who is terrified when he sees him.
Pee-wee returns and begs Jambi to return his head. Jambi, concentrating hard, grants his wish and Pee-wee runs to the mirror, completely visible once more. Finally, as Pee-wee exits on his scooter, Conky tells him that everybody had missed him a little.
Characters[]
- Pee Wee Herman
- Pterri
- Mr. Window
- Conky
- The Food from the Refrigerator
- Chairry
- Dog Chair
- Magic Screen
- Snooky (single appearance)
- Bear
- Reba
- Dixie
- The King of Cartoons
- Flowers
- Cowboy Curtis
- Cool Cat
- Chicky Baby
- Dirty Dog
- Mrs. Steve
- Miss Yvonne
- Captain Carl
- Cowntess
- Jambi
- Tito
- Globey
- Exercise Belt
- Knucklehead
- Randy
- Penny
- Door-to-Door Salesman
Trivia[]
- Reba delivers the magic kit. Later, Cowboy Curtis, Miss Yvonne, Mrs. Steve, and Captain Carl come to the magic show.
- Tito is the assistant.
- This is the first time that Dixie announces the King as "the King of Cartoons"; in early episodes it was "King Cartoon".
- When Jambi recoils at Pee-wee's headless body, the sound used is the classic transporter sound effect from Star Trek: The Original Series.
- When Pee-wee takes the first bite of his salad, he says "The salad is a little dry," and no one screams even though the secret word is little.
- Knucklehead's joke backfires in this episode.
- Feature Cartoon: Smile, Darn Ya, Smile (1931).
- This is the third time in which Pee-wee used his wish at the end of the episode, only to become visible again. He first used it for different reasons in Ice Cream Soup and Rainy Day. He would later use it, also, for different reasons in School and Tango Time.
- The secret word was said six and screamed at four times. This is the least amount of times in any episode of the series.
- Only time where Pee-wee scares the salesman away he had no head the first time Jambi tried to make him visible again.
- Pee-wee's name is shown misspelled twice. First, on the card advertising his magic show, the dash is missing. Then, when his name is displayed on Magic Screen, the dash is again missing, and the "W" is capitalized.
- After the salesman leaves, the door doesn't close.
- In the refrigerator, the Crinkle Cuts resemble the Beatles.
- This episode premiered April 30, 2020 on T.H.E. Television Network.
Notes[]
- Secret word: little
- Connect-the-dots: tree
- Snack: salad
- Wish: To be visible again.