Fails the Bechdel test
Christmas at Pee-wee's Playhouse
1988. Directed by Wayne Orr and Paul Reubens, written by John Paragon and Paul Reubens.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
16 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Pee-wee Herman and pals are celebrating Christmas in the Playhouse in their own creative ways: Pee-wee makes a list for Santa Claus 1 1/2 miles long, teaches Little Richard how to ice skate, goes for a sleigh ride with Magic Johnson, commands Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello to make Christmas cards, receives a long phone call from Dinah Shore, even has more musical fun with k.d. lang, the Del Rubio Triplettes and Charo! Finally, Big Red arrives and announces that Pee-wee's Christmas list was so big, he didn't have enough presents for all the children of the world. Will Pee-wee follow his own advice and help others?
- Released
- 21 Dec 1988
- Genres
- Comedy, Family, Musical
- Rated
- TV-PG
- IMDb
- 7.8 / 10
- Awards
- Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys. 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Pee Wee 120 lines, man
- Pee-Wee 14 lines, man
- Reba 9 lines, woman
- Randy 7 lines
- Santa 7 lines, man
- Chairry 6 lines
- Countess 6 lines, man
- Miss Yvonne 6 lines, woman
- Mrs. Rene 5 lines, woman
- Pterri 5 lines, man
Full cast, 31 people
- Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman
- Kevin Carlson as Clocky / Conky / Floory (voice)
- Laurence Fishburne as Cowboy Curtis
- Aaron Fletcher as Santa Claus
- Ric Heitzman as Cool Cat / Fish / Flower / Mr. Window (voice)
- Suzanne Kent as Mrs. Rene
- William Marshall as King of Cartoons
- George McGrath as Countess / Fish / Flower / Globey (voice)
- S. Epatha Merkerson as Reba
- Alison Mork as Chairry / Chicky Baby / Magic Screen (voice)
- John Paragon as Jambi / Pterri (voice)
- Lynne Marie Stewart as Miss Yvonne
- Vic Trevino as Ricardo
- Wayne White as Dirty Dog / Fish / Flower / Mr Kite / Randy (voice)
- Charlie Tickner as Hans
- Annette Funicello as Self
- Frankie Avalon as Self
- Grace Jones as Self
- Dinah Shore as Self
- Little Richard as Self
- Cher as Self
- Magic Johnson as Self
- Zsa Zsa Gabor as Self
- Whoopi Goldberg as Self
- Oprah Winfrey as Self
- Joan Rivers as Self
- Charo as Self
- K.D. Lang as Self
- Elena Del Rubio as Self
- Milly Del Rubio as Self
- Eadie Del Rubio as Self
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 22% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 5
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 to 2 | 5 | 43 |
| 3 to 3 | 8 | 29 |
| 4 to 4 | 0 | 51 |
| 5 to 5 | 8 | 50 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 11 are women's.
21 lines from women, 173 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
16 women and 12 men in the cast. 4 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 24 of 249.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 113 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 13% of the words (211), men 87% (1,428). Women have 11% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
18
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Paul Reubens (man), Wayne Orr (gender not listed)
- Written by
- Paul Reubens (man), John Paragon (man)
- Produced by
- Steve Binder (man)
- Shot by
- David Lewis (man)
- Edited by
- Billy Fox (man)
- Music by
- Van Dyke Parks (man)
- Production design by
- Ric Heitzman (man), Wayne White (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Diane Dimeo (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
S. Epatha Merkerson 36
Men
Kevin Carlson 26, Laurence Fishburne 27, Paul Reubens 36, Aaron Fletcher 61, William Marshall 64
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 5 scenes and 249 lines of dialogue. How the test works
