Walk around characters?

[cbrooney]

What walk around characters did showbiz have. I remember seeing someone in a Billybob costume, as well as Chuck E. Cheese (this must have been after they merged). But did any of the other characters have costumes? I'm sure that they did because I remember seeing a Showbiz commercial where they had an empty stage and some walk around characters were on the stage dancing. I guess my question is, does anyone else remember ever seeing costumes of the other RAE characters? Another question is, did any of the restaurants not have a RAE in them?

[MMBBfan327]

I know that ones of Fatz, Mitzi, Beach Bear, and Looney Bird exist, only they were at Billy Bob's Wonderland and Looney Bird's. Still, they're SPP characters.

[Lilredridinghood]

There is a walk around of Dook also.

[cbrooney]

Yes, I think I remember seeing a walk-around of Dook at showbiz. No Rolfe & Earl though >:

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

There were walkarounds made for all the RAE characters excpet Rolfe. Most locations tended to have Billy, but a few also had Mitzi, Beach Bear and even Fatz sometimes come out to visit.

You can see all of the walkarounds in the later RAE CyberStar video showtapes. These costumes were really cool...exspecially the Dook one!! Mitzi was neat too...but i always thought she looked a little scary. Her facial expression could have looked a little more friendly..i mean, some of that footage makes her look like one of those nasty nightmare visions!

From what i've heard, Beach Bear was the easiest costume to wear and the most comfortable. Basically, it was just a straight furry body suit with no cumbersome padding or hoops like Billy or Fatz normally had. I guess he was pretty popular but was more then likely very hard to keep clean due to the white fur.

Many of these costumes still exsist....now if only we could GET them! Ha ha!! :smokin

[cbrooney]

I guess the obvious reason for no Rolfe costume was because a Wolf would be too scary. Although if I were still a kid I know that I would be afraid of the Fatz costume. Maybe that's why they didn't use it as often at Showbiz.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

I agree...

And yes, the Fatz costume WAS a little scary for a kid!

Shoot...when you think about it they all were..even Billy freaked some kids out!

[MMBBfan327]

What about the Chuck from back then? Whoa...........that MUST of freaked kids out!!! I've even seen kids today scared of Chuck....

[pizzacam]

LOL what about a walkaround Earl, but only a midget could do it. hahahahaha! :lol :lol :lol :rollin :rollin :rollin

[YoungCaliHottie]

did any locations actually use the billy bob walk around that also performed the show programming?

[The ShowBizWolf]

i remember on one of the videos i have, i think creative engineering was demoing that walkaround billy bob with the animatronic mask that could be hooked up to the show... i think that would be really freaky to see in person, but it was a very advanced idea.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

We had one of those animatronic walkaround BB heads as part of the show at the first CheeseVention in 04'. The mechanics are no longer inside, but the way it was performed with during the Live Show segment was still somewhat freaky as Billy's mouth was flapping along with the show dialog and songs! Man, it was freaky but cool!

[YoungCaliHottie]

idk, i think it would be so awesome to have a walk around that sings too!

does air still have a working one???

[TreyTX]

well the 3 years that I worked at ShowBiz we always had a Billy Bob suit in the character closet but only used Chuck E Cheese as I was told because Billy Bob could not be on the floor while the show was playing and before the "birthday wave" started we would just come out with the cake and Chuck E at any time and later played the BDay show. There weren't any Chuck E Cheese stores in Houston at the time (the all closed within two years) so most people didn't even know who Chuck E even was. The manager at my store would order Chuck E Cheese drink cups at times so people would know were the same place.

I always wondered did PTT stores have Billy Bob on the floor for the same reason...

[Snap]

There were a few Showbiz's that actually used all the walk arounds but Rolfe of course and the reason for that was Rolfe was suppose to be a guest star. He was meant to be changed out more than he was. It just didnt happen. Thats why you never hardly saw anything with Rolfe. There were a few old Showbiz commercials that featured the walkarounds. Of course that could have been a corperate thing using the same ones they used for cyberstar for the commercials. But until last year it was proven. I met someone who's sister use to work at Showbiz back in the 80's. She told me she use to dress up as Mitzi. Sure enough she had a couple of pictures of herself as Mitzi in Showbiz.

[ryhoyarbie]

I never thought of Rolfe and Earl as guest stars. They were part of the Showbiz Pizza show. Sure you'd have the Statue Of Liberty, or Santa Claus, or Uncle Klunk, but those guys were there for a short while.

I'm sure back then people thought they were going to change different characters to replace Rolfe and Earl from time to time, but I'm glad they didn't.

I think by 1985, or 1986, when Rolfe and Earl weren't going to be reaplced for a time, the people in charge should have had some Rolfe and Earl dolls, or some prizes with their faces on them, etc. and also have a walk around Rolfe costume.

Rolfe and Earl got nothing.........

[anastaciacominatcha]

Okay 1) if there had been a Rolfe walk around Id need some major therapy (he still creeps me out) LOL! 2) They did make a prototype doll...my guess was he was *this* close to being officiated then CEC phased the show out...

If Rolfe and Earl were the guest star ideas Im almost frightened but still curious as to what the other guest stars would have been like!

[captslappy]

Well to me the Rock-afire name is 2 things. A brand name and the name of the animatronic band that played in Showbiz. From the brand name perspective all of the characters are Rock-afire including Klunk, R&E, Lady Liberty, Santa, Sun, Moon, etc.

From an "in character" perspective only Fatz (organ), Mitzi (vocalist, Dancer), Beach Bear (guitar), Dook (drums) and Billy Bob (Bass altho they treated it like a guitar) are the actual members of the band. Looney Bird is sort of just Looneybird's friend that is sitting in since they are hanging out in front of his gas station. He joins in with the singing like Sun and Moon and Choo Choo and Antioch but they aren't really official members. Same with R&E who are guests as was Klunk and some of the others. Rolfe references doing other gigs in his shows like performing in the small appliances section at K-mart. That also gives some explanation as to where he is when Klunk or someone else was installed in his place and why he is left to do the goodbyes on behalf of the RAE during CU. He's just a side performer and isn't a member of the band itself.

[MMBBfan327]

Funny...a majority of SPP (along with PTT) were located right next to or in the same plaza as K-Mart.

[RodHouTx]

There were also two different Billy Bob costumes. One of them was a big heavy, furry one that had billy bob with a wide waist and it had a fan in it. The other one was a smaller, cooler one (the one used on the Cyberstar videos).

[looneybird78]

That big heavy one with the fan was actually the Creative Engineering INC produced costume. The smaller one was a Corporate produced.

CEI's version in my opinion was far better than the Corporate one. Mine will be on display in my "Showroom" once it is finished ;)