Chuck E. Cheese's 1977 performances

[ThickAndFabulous]

Does anyone know what was a typical list of songs for the 1977 animatronic show at PTT?

Ex.: The RAE did songs like "Shout" and "Catch A Wave", "Venus" and "Louie Louie".

What was the PTT's 1977 animatronic show's usual memorable line of songs?

Did Crusty The Cat do any memorable songs?

And...did they do any disco songs? (please don't make fun of me, it's my first time on this board...LOL :) ) )

[pizzacam]

Well, no one's been able to find a complete show from that far back, the oldest showtape I've tracked down is from 1980 and it's a Foxy Colleen reel. Most of the shows from about '80 through '84 have sort of a disco sound to them, but the guest star who was known for disco was Sally Sashay. ;)

[captslappy]

The show was only run at specific times back then and they were longer segments just like a dinner theatre. We have not found any but apparently they followed a slightly different format and were not like the later balcony shows. If Shiney Happy Jenn sees this she can probably elaborate. They may have even had different reels for different show times. Not too sure. The show did not run all day long though.

[dheineCECfan]

I think one of the first 1977 CECPTT show song segments was "There's No Business Like Show Business".

[captslappy]

Yeah I think that one was used right from the beginning and was a re-occuring song til the mid-80s.

[MMBBfan327]

Sorry if this is incorrect, but wasn't there a Sally Sashay X-Mas reel from '79?

[puppetmaster29]

I could give you better insight as far as what songs were played back in 77 but unfortunely the shows from that far back are in a format called D2 which we are unable to play.

[pizzacam]

Son of a *****!...Well at least CECE still has shows from that far back...I only have as far back as '80 :(

[pizzacam]

Sorry if this is incorrect, but wasn't there a Sally Sashay X-Mas reel from '79?

Nope 1980.

[MMBBfan327]

Ok, thanx for that clarification.

Hey Mike--is there a way you could convert the 70 reels to a playable source?

[puppetmaster29]

I'm sure there is a way.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Absoultely there is so a way.

I know there must be....someone here must know the way.

If this were possible, what are the chances of someone from here coming down to decifer those old shows?

I am positive one of the brains here ( probably the RAE section whould know) could convert them via computer.

There is ALWAYS a way.

I am very happy to hear this confimation. For years it was pondered and theroized as to if CECE had any recordings.

I am glad to see that waiting has paid off.

Why did we not hear of this from Mix???

[puppetmaster29]

Why did we not hear of this from Mix???

Maybe cause a subject such as this never came about.

[captslappy]

The Sally reel in question is mine and there is no date. '79 or '80 is speculation. We don't know the actual date.

[pizzacam]

Oh that's right...the Foxy Colleen reel is the one I have from '80.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

I'm really surprised we have not heard of CECE having the old possibly original tapes until now.

This topic has been talked about many many times and Mix was a regular reader/poster back then. Surely he read these discussions...but then again maybe not. I'm not angry or anything, just surprised this had not come to light until now. Goodness knows we have been awaiting this news for years now.

I am sure there is a way to convert these. I bet someone here can figure it out.

[pizzacam]

I remember Mix telling Mike and I this when we took our tour in '03 cause we got to see all the racks of showtapes(in various formats of course) They were in the same room as all the walkarounds. :eek

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Yes, i have been in that room myself. Huge collection, of both costumes and tapes.....some great stuff!

I don't recall the topic ever coming up about what the oldest show was they still had on file.....well, now we know!

[dheineCECfan]

When I toured CEC HQ in 2001, I didn't get a chance to see the area where old 1977-1980's storetapes are preserved.

[pizzacam]

Well the whole problem is, you know getting the tape OUT of home office to get it transfered I know now what's needed thanks to a tech named Dan from Southgate, Mi.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Okay, so who voulenteers to smuggle the reels out so we can transfer them?

Actually those who attended Cv3 recently were able to hear some of these same original shows no doubt. Check out the "CV3 Reviews" thread for more info!

[CEC3066]

uh Jenn your gonna kill me I VVAUGELY now do recall mix saying as we were getting ready to watch Chuck E. Says on the HQ 3 stage "yeah we have stuff that goes all the way back to the first Pizza Time Players"

[RAFE CEC Guy]

Is There Still Any Hope For This Project? I Hope There Is, because This Is Something That We're Missing. We Can Finally Get The Music From The 1977-1979 Period! We Can Finally Reveal More History From These Showtapes!

[captslappy]

Having played the Sally and Foxy Colleen reels on my balcony and seeing the programming I have a feeling I have most of the early stuff that was just recycled. What I don't have are the Crusty the Cat segments and the early Helen Henny stuff from the portrait era. There are tons of segments with just the guys where the guest was not used at all on those early reels. Foxy Colleen and Sally Sashay's reels are strong proof of that.

[Billy Bob Brockali]

Mike and Jenn,

I don't want to see this thread disappear again! We should really make some moves to try to make this happen. Maybe we can setup a fund for these transfers?

We should check with puppetmaster29 to see what could be done. I don't know how much corporate is interested in saving this stuff anymore. But perhaps we could find them a D2 deck, or if they would allow someone to borrow and transfer the tapes, who knows, but D2 is an aging format itself, and I'd hate to see them slip through our hands.

I'm not the biggest CEC fan as you all know, but I'm very concerned about making sure the history of SPP/CEC gets preserved.

I'll be coming up to Dallas in May, I will try to find out if there is a local transfer service that still has D2 is, and what the cost would be. Maybe if the stars aligned, I could help get this done.

[captslappy]

Yeah but that's not really our call nor is it Michael's. I'm sure he can only do so much and I don't know if the powers that be will release the tapes to him even on loan and we certainly don't want him to do anything that would get him in trouble or cause him to lose his job. Our best bet is to see if we can find a player that uses this format and see if they will let him play them at work. Maybe if we are real lucky they will let him copy a few for his use.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

My guess would be the best bet is to visit the studio sometime in the future and just bring a system with us. If we are welcome to come in and just play them, i think there would be no problems. I am fairly certain that if there is enough curiousity on CECE's part, they would allow it.

Who's to say the Dept 18 gang can't invite friends over..and in the privacy of the studio walls they can finally be played? Corp does not have to know about it...and they probably don't have a interest in hearing those old shows. I think the Entertainment Dept is curious though...at least i would like to think so!


Oh by the way guys: While staying with Aaron in FL these past few weeks we watched the CV3 dvd set, and the restoration video i shot in TX of the show i helped to restore. Aaron thought we did a great job fixing up the old PTT show, and really loved the CV3 dvd. Billy Bob, i wanted you of all people to know that Aaron was very impressed with your editing techniques, and how well you put the CV3 program together. He loved it!!

Now back to the PTT Show restoration: I had to cancel my trip to TX for April due to all the time off i have requested off so far this year for the Hannah Banana project and FL trips. I STILL want to come though...maybe after CV4.

It would probably be for just a weekend this time.....but that is all we will need really to install the light bars and finish off the stage decor.

[menutia]

Ooh, I get to rewire the corporate show with my own system? LOL

~M

[captslappy]

I found this article on Wiki. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D2_..._format%29 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D2_%28video_format%29)

If the D2 show tapes look similar to VHS this is likely what we are dealing with. Perhaps someone could get a cheap player to listen to them with.

[Aaron]

posting for Jenn...

Thanks Mike.....nice find!

Okay, recently i was showing J the PTT Restoration video i shot back in January when me, Menutia and The Captain went nuts over a weekend and fully restored his classic 1981 era Balcony Show. As i was watching them again for the upteenth time, several things jumped out at me ( again) and i see i have not posted about it here yet in this thread. Allow me to do so now...as this may bring some things to light.

The earliest reels that we have ( Sally 79' and Foxy 80' i beleive) both were very interesting to view with the Bots' running fully. What stood out for me was the difference in animation technique and of course the sequence of the show material.

Both of these early reels featured very basic and somewhat crude animation. This is not surprising when you consider you are looking at programming signals laid down for PORTRAIT figures and not Cyberamic figures! What you have on these two reels is very limited animation on Jasper and Chuck, with more animation on the Guest. This is due to the fact that the Guests at that time ( Sally and Foxy) were the characters that were introduced as Cyberamic Bot's. Now there is evidence of Foxy originally appearing as a Portrait Bot' but judging from the very noticable differences in her show reel programming, that version was very rare and may not have been installed in many early locations. Sally is regarded as the characters first seen as a CyberBot, but we have proof of Foxy being in transition from one style of animatronic to another.

Back to the early programming now: So the Guest had better programming on these reels then the other characters by a longshot. This was because only the Guest was a CyberBot and the others were still in there original crude 'Portrait" era mode. You can clearly see this in the programming: Chuck and Jasper barely move at all. Their mouths will go, but the lipsych is VERY poor ( no doubt due to the early crude figures' responsive levels). Eye animation is there, including Classic Jasper's famous "crazy eyes". Body turns are rare, as are head up animations at that time. All of this makes sense when you realize these reels were programmed originally for the Portrait Bots' limited movements. They could not turn as they were mounted in the wooden frames suspended on the upper walls of the Theatre. They did have eye and mouth animation and some limited hand movements. It's really cool seeing those ancient programming moves on CyberBots.

Now the Guest in these early shows had much better animation due to her being the newer animatronic. As you veiw the segments that are "new" and feature the guest in speaking roles, she moves much better then the others. You can also see how the early programmer tries out some of the then very novel moves...but the lipsych is still a bit off in this early era.

Munch and Pasqually are not animated through the entire show however. Originally back in this era, both of them were located behind animated shutter doors at opposite ends of the Theatre. The doors would only open to reveal them at certain key points in the performance, so while you are watching the show on The Captain's setup, Munch and Pasqually will suddenly "go to sleep" after they stop talking/singing there part. When we first got this show running again after 26+ years for CV3 last year, this programming puzzled us at first, but then it was recalled that they were originally behind there doors. It was a revelation to actually see it for yourself that late night and make the connection. On the early Diagnostic Reels and Rosetta Layouts, "Munch's Door" and "Pasqually's Door" are plainly noted.

[Aaron]

posting for Jenn, round 2...

Okay..so you have in the Sally and Foxy reels very limited animation on Jasper and Chuck, periodic animation for Munch and Pasqually, and slightly better animation on the Guest. Warblettes, Clapper Board, Band Board, and Flag Wavers all operate as usual, just in places in the shows where you would not normally expect to see them in use ( some segments in the Sally shows in particular).

Since the Portrait Bots' were originally all dispensed around the walls of the Theatre back in the first few years of operation, there was no "stage" per say. When you watch these old shows with the Balcony layout ( M,J,C,Guest,P) you notice how Chuck will often face in the incorrect direction when talking to another character. This is not a programming glitch, it is simply because the postion of the characters was different then. When the Cyberamics were introduced in 1980, and the concept of putting the figures on a stage was introduced ( early Balcony version) Foxy was where Jasper is normally. On the Foxy reel, Chuck will often turn to Jasper when talking to Foxy. It would make no sense to anyone not versed in PTT early history, but to me it makes perfect sense and it's amazing to watch.

Another thing i should mention is that both of those early Guest Reels only have 2 or 3 skits that actually feature the Guest at all. Many of the other shows included, as well as the Birthday, Cheer, etc. shows do not have animation programming AT ALL for the Guest. This leads one to beleive that most of the material one is watching is PRE GUEST material which brings the material in questions to the VERY beginning of PTT's exsistance ( 1977). I strongly beleive that most of the material i saw and heard on those two reels were recycled ORIGINAL SHOWS from 1977. I FIRMLY beleive this. This stuff was later recycled and Guest programming signals were added on so the Guest figure would not simply be "dead" during a recycled older number. Many of the early reels feature this ( no Guest signals whatsoever) which proves without a DOUBT how old the material is. Some of the most well known "Classic Era" ( 81' thru 83') Birthday skits were actually original 77'/78' PTT Shows! I clearly remember hearing many of these in 81' and 82'.

So we have many of those original 77' shows already guys! Well...some of them at least. We don't have the original "guest-less" skits, but one of these days we will!

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Huge thanks to Aaron for helping me out and re-posting the above two posts i made from the old message forum.

You rock dude!

[VegaNova]

I may have thrown my opinion in here already at some point but I would be willing to offer whatever I can to see this happen. Not the biggest CEC fan in the world here either and frankly I think that the early PTT stuff can be pretty hard on the ears, but that's not the point.

My guess is that CEC saw enough value in the material to preserve it, but I don't think they see enough value in it to ever commercially release it. Nobody but the few of us would ever want it. But yeah, in all honesty I'd rather see it bootlegged and preserved than to deteriorate over the years in some room.

This is a conversation I remember having on multiple occasions with Mix years and years ago. And again with those who have seen the archival room. And again with the group of us (Rock-afire) fans at CV3. And again here tonight. :cec_smile:

We've all done a lot of talking, but not much real action. I oughta know better by now than to put any faith in a corporation, but just maybe CEC would be benevolent enough to let some of these old recordings out.

[captslappy]

Again it's not our call. It would be up to CECE to allow this and I don't know if they'd be open to it or not.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

My guess would be they probably won't bother.

When you think about it, there probably is not a heck of a lot there that we don't already have, since most of the early material was recycled like crazy. The 70's reels and the 80' reel all have only 3/4 "new" skits with the then new Guest characters and the rest is all stuff we have heard many many times before on later reels ( particularly 81' through 83' Birthday Shows, Cheers, Etc.)

The few shows i would like to hear are of course Crusty the Cats' debut, The original "Goose folk singer" version of Helen, and Munch's intro show(s). The rest we all have i think, or most of it.

I doubt Corp has any of the Caberet/Lounge material from the first 5 years, but i can be wrong. Maybe they do?

I think the only way any of it would get out is if one of us gets a job there and goes nuts!

:choochoo:

[RAFE CEC Guy]

I'd Also Like To See What The First EVER Song Was. That Would Be Landmarked As The First Pizza/Entertainment concept Show Song EVER.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Yeah, it would be interesting to know that at least.....

The "Rain Songs" segment is very early, and has no Guest involved. This one is surely one of the earliest peices. It is featured on the Sally reel if i am remembering right, and it has obviously been used in previous shows.

It would be interesting to know, what was the first song/skit on the very first show reel?

Maybe someday someone out there will join our community here and tell us.

Now that literally anyone can join the Forum now, it would not surprise me at all if one day someone who knows the answers steps from the shadows and reveals many answers to our long pondered questions about the very first few years of PTT.

[captslappy]

Here is basically what we need of the cyberamics stuff:

The Crusty material
BB Bubbles
Artie Antlers/Marty Moose (probably a reel for each)
The Little Shavers
Madame Oink 1 and 2

I'd also like to find out if Sally and Foxy had more than one reel. I think that's about it. Everything from 80 forward has pretty well shown up with the exception of the Artie Antlers, BB Bubbles and Little Shavers reels. The shavers are just for completeness sake.

I think they threw out the original Oink cosmetics in 80 and made a new sculpt of her for her return in 83. I suspect almost all the Sally and Foxy stuff got thrown out too. Hey, if they came back a few years later, why use a dusty old mask in storage? They would just make a new one!

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Yes, the original Oink cosmetics from her original 1980 incarnation were junked, as my therory is she resembled Miss Piggy from the Muppets too closely and the company did not want to risk any possible lawsuits. It could also simply be that it was decided to change her look and direction. Either way, her original Portrait Bot' incarnation was dumped.

Oink was shelved, then two years later she was re-introduced as the "Romantic Piggy from Paree" in 1982 with a complete makeover. The two "missing" reels Oink 1 and Oink 2 are no doubt her previous incarnation.

Foxy and Sally i am pretty sure only had a reel each. They did not last long, only a year or so, and at that time i don't get the impression that PTT was producing new show material every few months like CEC of today is.

Foxy was originally a Portrait Bot', but she came about during the breif cusp when PTT was going forward with the all new Cyberamic design. There is more then enough solid proof of her Cyberamic form in photographic form. Not long after she arrived Harmony was introduced, so my guess is Foxy only had one reel.

[captslappy]

I have the reel itself, just not the tape on the reel... I agree with Foxy and Sally. They only had a hand full of skits each on the reels I have.

[VegaNova]

I thought I had posted this somewhere before, but I have the 1st Oink reel on CD... not the data, but I think that I know who has a copy of that if you want to run it on your show. It's something that was copied for me awhile back from a friend and has sat with the CDs for awhile. I shifted through the pile awhile back and found it with the others I had.

I need to get in touch with everyone to do a cross check of who has what audio to get a master set compiled.

I'd post an mp3 sample from it, but all of my CDs are still in Loveland and it'll take me a few days to get to them.

Oh and yeah it's totally CECEs final call on whether they'll ever release that audio, but as fans nobody from outside has ever really pursued it - like even organized to the point of bringing up to them.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Wow...!

Awesome Vega! I did not know that you had Oink 1! Very cool!

[dheineCECfan]

Yes, the original Oink cosmetics from her original 1980 incarnation were junked, as my therory is she resembled Miss Piggy from the Muppets too closely and the company did not want to risk any possible lawsuits. It could also simply be that it was decided to change her look and direction. Either way, her original Portrait Bot' incarnation was dumped.

Oink was shelved, then two years later she was re-introduced as the "Romantic Piggy from Paree" in 1982 with a complete makeover. The two "missing" reels Oink 1 and Oink 2 are no doubt her previous incarnation.


So the first circa 1979-1980 Madame Oink (spelled Madam Oink) was a Miss Piggy sound alike or something?

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

I can't confirm that she sounded like Henson's Pig, but Madame Oink DEFINATELY looked a lot like her.

The Portrait Era version of her looks almost exactly like her, the exception being Madame is wearing a green dress instead of a purple one like Miss Piggy was back then ( mid 70's).

So yes, Madame Oink was very reminisent of Miss Piggy in appearence....but i think at this point only Veganova could confirm for us if she SOUNDS like her as well.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

:cec_smile:

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Just bumping this up for our newer readers to enjoy....

Madame Oink was pretty cool....when she was not making piggie "Snorting" sounds all the time.....

I always liked the colors for her, the pink with mint green and gold. Very eyecatching. It would have been interesting to see what Corporate would have done to her if SHE were the last Guest character instead of Helen Henny. Can you see a "young" cheerleader version of Madame Oink??

( shudders at the thought....)

[Larry the Tech]

Well, the showtapes sound cool, and she and Pasqually had some love intrest

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

In the early period, Pasqually was known for being a romantic....so Madame Oink would have been someone he would have been able to relate too.

It was'nt until much later ( mid 80's) that Pasqually lost his opera-singing/hopeless romantic personality and was instead turned into just an average all-around friendly guy. MUCH later ( mid to late 90's to present..) he became ...well....an idiot!

:laugh:

[dheineCECfan]

I think I recently notice what 4 of the 1977 CECPTT songs could have been for the early CECPTT 1 hour show formats (first CECPTT location in San Jose, California - Winchester Blvd. location):
"Chuck E. Cheese's Theme"
"How Will I Know?" (not related to the 1985-1986 Whitney Houston song of the same name - Wish Helen Henny covered/sang the Whitney Houston "How Will I Know" song in a future CEC show!)
"Roots in the Country"
"Endlessly Awake"

[Shaddie Hiiragizawa]

What would REALLY be a great find is some video footage of the early PTT shows. Is it possible that CECE could have old footage that was like, used for promotional purposes or something? I'm just guessing here really...

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

There IS older footage that exsists. What little we have uncovered thus far is already readily availible now right here on Showbizpizza.com's Video Archieve section. Check it out!

One has to remember that back in the very early 80's, people in general did not have video cameras. That was something only the tech savy or wealthy patrons tended to own back then. ...thus why very little "home movie" type footage of older PTT shows exisits. It was not until the mid to late 80's that video technology had developed to a point where Joe Average could afford and use a video camera...thus why the later periods are much easier to find footage of.

Just wanted to point that out for people wondering why there is so little footage.

:)