Fridae

Paul Reubens, the actor eternally linked to his Pee-wee Herman alter ego, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a misdemeanour charge of possessing child pornography through his attorney, Blair Berk, according to Reuters news agency.

The 50-year-old, who is free on US$20,000 bail, was not present for the arraignment in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. His next court hearing is January 3. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in county jail and a US$2,500 fine.

Reubens turned himself in a month ago; authorities raided his home in November 2001 looking for child porn. The actor was targeted after a teenager accused Reubens of sexual misconduct although the actor has not been charged with any such crime.

At Reubens' Los Angeles home, police carted off boxes containing the actor's erotic art collection, videos and personal computers. The City Attorney's spokesman said police "uncovered materials that we believe depict minors engaged in sexual activity" which has been disputed by Reubens' attorney.

Berk had reportedly issued a statement after his arrest saying, "Mr Reubens has never at any time knowingly possessed any artwork from his extensive vintage and antique art collection even remotely related to anything improper." She also said would seek to have the charge thrown out at a Jan. 3 pre-trial hearing.

The same investigation also led to felony and misdemeanour child pornography charges against actor Jeffrey Jones, who played Ed Rooney, the uptight high school principal in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Offf.

---

Jones, 56, was arrested Nov. 14 for allegedly hiring a 14-year-old boy to pose for sexually explicit photographs and for possessing child pornography. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 9.

Although resulting from the same police investigation, the cases against the two actors are unrelated, officials said.

Sandi Gibbons, the spokeswoman for the L.A. D.A., stressed that for both Jones and Reubens "the charges do not involve any sex act being performed or any video or film being taken."

In August 1991, Reubens pleaded no contest to an indecent-exposure charge after his arrest in Sarasota, Fla., for allegedly masturbating in an adult movie theatre. After the incident, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, his Emmy-winning campy children's television show was cancelled and Pee-wee merchandise was removed from toy store shelves, bringing the Pee-wee craze to an abrupt end.

The show, which was enormously popular with both children and adults since its debut in 1986, also attracted the attention of media theorists, many of whom "saw" numerous queer characters and situations in the show - tough cab driver Dixie (Johann Carlo) was a possible lesbian and Jambi was played as a dishy gay man while Pee-wee himself, who embodies many of the familiar cultural stereotypes of the gay man as effeminate or sissy, often poked fun at heterosexist conventions: he once "married" a bowl of fruit salad!