Just ahead of the August fortieth anniversary of the release of the movie, the Alamo has acquired the iconic, custom Schwinn DX Cruiser that appeared on screen in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. 
Directed by Tim Burton (his first time in that role), scored by Danny Elfman (their first collaboration) and cowritten by Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman, Herman travels cross country in search of his stolen bicycle—a plot comparable to the 1948 Ladri di biciclette, hitchhiking to Texas after being told by a fake psychic that his beloved bike is in the basement of the San Antonio mission. The film prop will go on display in the visitors’ centre and museum of the Alamo, in the sublevel that famously did not exist at the time of the shooting, a space below the gift shop also used as a reception hall. This accession was undertaken by a private trust that maintains the monument’s collections, an acquisition unrelated to Texas’ attempted gallery heist of the Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian.
synchronoptica
one year ago: enduring lessons of technology (with synchronopticรฆ) plus a thistle cousin
