Pee-wee Herman has been MIA ever since his creator, Paul Reubens, was caught, sans pants or alibi, in an x-rated theater in Florida in 1991. Save for the occasional throaty giggle hiccupped by Troy Stevens, Reubens’s game-show persona on You Don’t Know Jack, the geeky man-boy in the shrunken gray suit has all but vanished from pop culture. Except for post-arrest Pee-wee cameos on MTV’s Video Music Awards and Hats Off to Minnie Pearl: America Honors Minnie Pearl, it appears that Reubens has permanently retired the red bow tie.

Pee-wee’s departure from the public eye and Reubens’s struggle for legitimacy has left loyal Pee-wee fans in the lurch, but that hasn’t stopped them from setting up permanent residency in the virtual playhouse that is the Internet. Pee-wee’s official site, www.peewee.com, hawks video box sets but does little else, so Pee-wee fans have taken it upon themselves to re-create the Pee-wee’s Playhouse world, right down to Chairy’s inviting blue cushions and Cowboy Curtis’s luscious curly locks.

Among the more comprehensive tribute sites are Coolcat’s Ultimate Pee-wee Herman Site (http://peewee.zombiegirls.net/) and the Pee-wee Herman Worship Page (http://members.home.net/wafflehorse/peewee.html). Both feature sound clips ( " I know you are, but what am I " ), links, and fans’ memoirs. Most of these e-mails are personal pledges of Pee-wee dedication, although Coolcat’s page also includes the testimony of a drug-rehab counselor who used Pee-wee’s Playhouse as a therapy tool. (Oh, to be a fly on the wall when " syringe " was the word of the day.)

Pee-wee’s Playhouse was not the typical Saturday morning show, so it stands to reason that his presence on the Web would range beyond the standard tribute site. Take " Pee-wee’s Biggest Adventure " (http://www.geocities.com/coconnor101/). Two New York-based travelers took a Pee-wee doll along on their trips and photographed the slyly grinning toy posing at many world landmarks. Pee-wee seems equally at home sitting among the Washington, D.C. cherry blossoms or schmoozing with the locals in Jamaica. Then there’s " The Church of Pee-wee " (http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/pwchurch/index.html) in which God is Reubens, Pee-wee is his Adam, and Tim Burton is Moses. No word on how Eve fits in, but the " Proverbs " section does provide an extensive collection of Pee-wee links.

Finally, it seems as if all those " mekka-lekka-hi’s " have been answered. " The Pee-wee Herman Story " (http://peeweestory.tripod.com/) takes its design cues from the tabloids and displays blown-up pixilated images of Pee-wee celebrating a new Pee-wee movie that’s now in development. The site also provides an " Ask Dottie " advice column, but the really juicy part of the site is in the " FAQ " section, in which the author claims to know what movies the theater was showing — a triple bill, no less — on the night Reubens was arrested. Mekka-lekka hiney-ho.