Looney Toons Intermissions - Projector

[YoungCaliHottie]

I remember they used to do this in Lakewood, CA Showbiz. Did they all have this?

When the show was over, the curtains would close and a large projector screen would come down from the ceiling. in the back of the showroom on the ceiling they had a video projector. they would play Looney Toons cartoons until the next show. it was usually roadrunner cartoons. (this was before they had TVs). anyone else remember this/have a picture of it?

[ryhoyarbie]

I remember the giant screen coming down near the middle stage and yes, Looney Tunes cartoons did play, along with other cartoons. I think one of those cartoons were the old Pink Panther cartoons too.

[cbrooney]

Wow, you guys are bringing back some memories now, I remember the projector screen too. It used to show cartoon shorts of pink panther and I believe the flinstones.

[pizzacam]

Let me know guys I have some of these beta tapes and can put them onto DVD they're called "Family Vision" One I have has the Rock-a-fire ski trip before each cartoon which is just footage of the walkaround characters skiing somewhere...:hat

[captslappy]

Same with the Showbiz I went to. This was before the TVs. A screen would lower in front of center stage and Looneytunes came on. I remember one time, the screen started going up and down like it was broken. Someone impersonating Billy Bob said "The screen can go up and the screen can go down." Then the manager came on over the PA and said "Billy Bob, stop playing with the screen!" This may have been prerecorded but I think it was people in the restaurant that were doing it. We had the interactive Billy Bob controller that allowed BIlly Bob to talk to the audience so I suspect the guy that voiced Billy Bob came on the PA and did this.

[pizzacam]

Yeah the manager that used to voice our Billy Bob(Ingram rd) is STILL a GM and recently moved back to Ingram rd!

[ryhoyarbie]

I wonder if one of the reasons they stopped using the screen was because little children like me at the time pulled on the screen when it was down! That may explain why they used tvs above the stages.

[captslappy]

Maybe but the reason for the TVs was the introduction of Cyberstar which added video footage to the shows. The screen thing may have been an issue but once the monitors were in place the screen was no longer an issue. I doubt that kids tugging on the screen had anything to do with the intro of the TV monitors.

[menutia]

My store removed the projector and screen when the TV's ere installed with Cyberstar. The screen came down right infrony of Fatz, center stage, so that would have not been good.

I do recall, maybe a tribute to Michael Jackson, where the video projector was used to project some type of "slide" with the show title, onto the main stage curtain, before it opened.

Other than that, I didn't see it used for anything outside the intermissions between stage shows.

~M

[pizzacam]

You're right about the MJ tribute thing Menutia cause I have video footage of that... where you can see his name on the curtain. It's the image of his name you see on the Cyberstar version.

[YoungCaliHottie]

wow! im glad other people remember this! lol

pizzacam, id sure love to check out that footage!!!

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Wow i am glad to hear that i was'nt halucinating about this! I too remember the screen at the Orlando location ( Int Dr) in the late 80's. It would play cartoons and even some movie footage from recent films between shows. I vividly remember seeing the Muppet Babies sequence from "The Muppets Take Manhatten" at that Showbiz.

I agree that this projector and screen idea was what spawned the later CyberStar video system. No doubt at all in my mind....

[CraigRBowers]

Hey all. Happy New Year!

I was the store Tech when the Lakewood, Ca. location opened in 1983. I don't think that the screen and projector were installed at opening.

Does anyone know when it was installed?

Craig R. Bowers
craig@craignet.com
craignet.com (http://craignet.com)

[captslappy]

Actually Jenn, you are hallucinating. The screen and projector are just as real as all of the rest of us who are really just your little friends in your head. You are still in the hospital in the happy padded room in your little white armless jacket. Sorry... someone had to tell you eventually. :rollin

[menutia]

No, the Video screen and projector was not installed at opening at my store. It came along a few years later.

~M

[YoungCaliHottie]

hi craig! nice to meet u! my name is robbie. lakewood was the store where i had all my childhood cec memories! its cool to meet someone who worked for that store!

btw, i dont know when they installed the screen...

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

I would say it was installed in the mid-80's....85' and on. It was about this time when i first saw it at the Int Dr location. The image of those Muppet Babies is forever burned into my brain as i thought it was such a random thing to see between RAE shows!

So i'll say these were installed in 84/85'.

[menutia]

I agree Jenn.

That is when I remember them.

~M

[TreyTX]

Hey all...I worked at the Houston-Inwood store in 1986. The Family Vision would start every 8 or 10 minutes. So when the Rock afire would end and the light would come on with 8 or 10 minutes of wait time the Family Vision would start. The screen would start coming down and once fully down (about 12 seconds) the lights in the showroom would dim and the Family Vision would start. After it was over (Bugs Bunny 3 minute) the screen would go up along with house lights and another 10 to 12 minutes would go by before the next Rock afire show. Inside of the Billy Bob booth (the one where you would control him for personal announcements also had buttons to start the show/Bday show, screen up, screen down...sometimes the screen would get stuck down. Sometimes I would start the screen down and place the show on hold so the video would start. Not all stores had the Family Vision and most franchised stores did not offer this but I think some corporate CEC stores also offered this as my friend in Corpus Christi told me back in the day before the King was moved to the showroom they had cartoons playing in the showroom...but I am not sure about this.

[RodHouTx]

Wow, there are some more Houston guys in here! Cool!
I did "Interact With Billy Bob" too. It was so much fun! You could really start a video whenever you wanted. What's more interesting is the hardware that made it work. The grey-box computer initiated the process. There was another box in the booth that controlled the VCR and the screen. When the system saw blackness for so many seconds it new that was the end of the video and would stop the VCR and raise the screen (and notify the grey-box computer). HOWEVER, you may have noticed that sometimes the screen would come down and you wouldn't see a video for a while. That's because the tape was rewinding. You had to set the VCR at 0000 where it should rewind... and it would skew pretty quickly. Had to do it every day.

We still had our screen installed until recently. I think one of the techs finally uninstalled it and took it home.

During all those years of having videos, I think there were a couple of different scenarios. In one scenario the screen would come down right after the show ended. But I think in the latter years the video would be just another "show". So you would have a show - then about a 4 minute wait - then a video - then a 4 minute wait - then a show.

I think I have almost all the family vision videos, but the betamax player doesn't show a picture anymore.

[RodHouTx]

TREY - I think I know who you are. Didn't you do walkaround at FM 1960??

[YoungCaliHottie]

does anyone know what happened to their family vision computers?

[YoungCaliHottie]

rodney, where can i email u at? thanks

[TreyTX]

Hey RodHouTx,

No I started in 1986 at Houston-Inwood for about a year and the worked for two more years at Memorial before working at other CEC stores in later years...RodHouTx are you currently working for CEC? please email me at treyclewis@yahoo.com

[CraigRBowers]

Hey there Houston people;

I opened the Pasedena store and one in southwest Houston. I just cann't remember where it was at.

That was all back in 1983.

Happy New Year.

PS Fight On USC! Sorry Horns. :-(

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Ah...1983.

What a great year that was indeed!! :)

[YoungCaliHottie]

i wouldnt know. i was 1. lol

[RodHouTx]

Back in 1983 in SW Houston, that could have been my store (Weslayan) or Memorial. They are about the same age. Weslayan is inside the loop, Memorial is outside the beltway. I started going to SPP in 1983.

[RodHouTx]

I think they threw away the family vision computers (which was just a custom-made box. I think it was even in a "radio shack" casing). That thing was around for a long time! There were taken out during Cyberstar installation.

[pizzacam]

My friend in Corpus Christi told me back in the day before the King was moved to the showroom they had cartoons playing in the showroom
Damn, so where was he prior to the showroom??

Was he ever in that big room with the screen as you walked into the Walzem store here in San Antonio or was he always in the showroom?

[mitzirocks]

What is family vision anyway?

[Larry the Tech]

Family Vision was a beta tape that Showbiz played during intermissions in the mid 80s, on the screen that dropped out in front of the RAE center stage as mentioned in this thread before, it played videos, cartoons, etc, but it was replaced by the Cyberstar system. To see a sample of Family Vision tapes, just check out pizzacam's Youtube channel, he has a few vids on there. Hope that answers your question!