DVD REVIEW: BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING: THE WAYNE WHITE STORY
1/20/2013

For over 30 years, Wayne White has made an indelible mark on the creative world. As a designer, painter, puppeteer, sculptor and musician, White has produced images and ideas that are an integral yet sometimes subconscious part of the pop culture lexicon. To this day, he still gets up every morning to do one thing: create..

On the heels of a national theatrical debut, Docurama Films, a label of Cinedigm Entertainment Group, released Neil Berkeley’s feature documentary on cable VOD (on-demand) and digital platforms, including iTunes, Amazon VOD, Xbox 360 and PlayStation. The DVD from Docurama Films releases on January 22, 2013.

BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING is a funny and inspiring profile of this one-of-a-kind visual artist and raconteur. Acting as his own narrator, White guides us through his life using moments from his latest creation: a hilarious, biographical one-man show.

The film traces White’s career from an underground cartoonist in New York’s East Village to his big break as a designer, puppeteer and voice-over actor on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, for which he won three Emmy Awards. The film follows Wayne’s success designing and animating for other children’s shows like Beakman’s World and award-winning music videos for The Smashing Pumpkins (“Tonight, Tonight”) and Peter Gabriel (“Big Time”), through a dark period of struggle and self-reflection before emerging in his present-day incarnation as a respected painter and performer. As Wayne explains in the film, there are sometimes second acts in life that take us to new heights…without compromise.

For two years, filmmaker Neil Berkeley traveled with White through Houston, Miami, New York, Chattanooga, Nashville and Los Angeles retracing Wayne’s steps from childhood to parenthood. He peels back layer after layer of Wayne’s singular creative process and his astonishingly prolific career. In addition to the more than 300 hours of footage shot by Berkeley and his team, the director discovered hours of video which White shot throughout his career including rare behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Pee-wee’s Playhouse, now included in the film.

Additionally, the film features interviews with White’s wife, cartoonist and graphic novelist Mimi Pond, Mark Mothersbaugh, Todd Oldham, Matt Groening, Gary Panter, Ric Heitzman and Paul Rubens, among others.

VIDEO:
Widescreen

AUDIO:
English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround Sound

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Full Screen Slide Show Featuring Original Wayne White Art

Wayne White’s Complete One-Man Show

Wayne Performing “Blue Ridge Mountain Blues”

Mike Quinn Performing “Country Boy in Paradise”

Deleted Scenes