Foxxy and Harmony--One and the SAME!

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Thought this would be of interest to all you die-hard Pizza Timers out there....

I recently made a startling revelation regarding one of the rarest PT Players, Foxxy Colleen.

A few weeks ago i was able to throughly study a original Harmony Howlette cosmetic head built in early 1981. It is very well made, and has all the hallmarks of a PTT Era creation: Clever and beautifully sculpted out of wood and foam, these original characters were put togther with a real art behind them. Now to the point...

While looking at Harmony, i was stunned to discover that she shared many of the same shapes and sizes for construction as Foxxy did. Their heads are the same size, shape, and contour. Both look very similar when you remove the outer coverings. In fact, when you do so, it's the SAME figure!

Yep, that's right folks....Harmony was actually the SAME cosmetic frames as Foxxy! Everything is there! I did'nt really seriously think this was true until i pulled out my original 1980 Caberet poster of Foxxy and compared it to the head itself. The similarities are stunning.

Everything is exactly the same frame-wise....even cosmetic wise with the exceptions being the lips and the fur colors. Also, the nose is a simple black pom pom ball on Foxxy...Harmony has a more complicated foam nose. Absolutely amazing! So PTT simply took the old patterns they were using at the time in 1980 and used then to basically make Harmonys!

I was excited to discover this....hopefully others here will fnd this "discovery" somewhat exciting to hear as well.

[captslappy]

I am not sure but I think Sally Sashay may have also used the same mask frame. it's hard to tell since her fur is black which makes it hard to determine the exact shape of her face.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Captian, you may be on to something. It is highly possible i think after this revelation that Sally was the same frame pattern too.

I've seen that photo of her and i have to say it looks the same. It's very possible, expecially when you consider she was built at the same time as Foxxy.

This means that if you have a old Harmony head, and a little talent, it is totally feasible and possible to re-create and rebuilt it as either a Foxxy or Sally!

Wow this is incredible!

[MMBBfan327]

I hope someone does build a Foxy Colleen head, that'd be frekain' sweet to see!!! You could even tell people, I have a Foxy robot! Now all we need is a reel and we'll uncover another PTT mystery!!!:D

[dheineCECfan]

SHJ: Don't you mean FOXY Colleen? Foxy has 1 "X" in her first name, not 2.

[captslappy]

I think it's very clear what she meant. Is it really that big an issue if she didn't spell it correctly? :rolleyes

[MatHat13]

To Darryl, yes, but we'll let him set this out on his own. >D

[MMBBfan327]

SHJ: Don't you mean FOXY Colleen? Foxy has 1 "X" in her first name, not 2.

:rolleyes

Dude, does it really matter?

[dheineCECfan]

One time VegaNova spelled out Foxy Colleen as "Foxie Colleen".

[captslappy]

Yes and I have seen Mitzi spelled "Mitzy", "Mitzie" and "Mitsy". We know what character they mean and it isn't necassary to correct someone's spelling or point out the fact they didn't the name right.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Well i think it's safe to say at this point that all three of those characters did indeed share the exact same frame pattern. No doubt in my mind at this point now that i have looked the Harmony one over more and the photos i have in my archieve.

Foxxy and Sally had the same heads, only the fur and trims were different. Harmony came along a year later and they just used the same pattern.

This is really surprising in a way as PTT always had slightly different builds for all the characters. All of the heads were very different and all of them had unique parts that were not interchangable. It's quite astonishing to discover that those three early Guests were all so similar construction wise.

Fasinating stuff.

[pizzacam]

Well guess what folks you've all been mislead by someone...maybe someone who saw her Idk but her name is(or at least on this showtape) Foxy Flanagan! ;)

[VegaNova]

Man you gotta pass along a copy of that tape! That's really crazy that they named her that on the show. I think where everyone got her name from was the old poster:

http://Rock_afire.tripod.com/ceccollect/signs/sign_foxy.jpg

Anyway that's really cool. Let me know what you want for a dub of that reel.

-VegaNova

[pizzacam]

Oh nothing, I'm in the process of transfering it to CD so I'll get copies out to anyone who wants them when I'm done. ;)

[MMBBfan327]

Totally send me a copy man ;) :D

[captslappy]

Foxy Flannagan is probably her nickname and last name as almost all the PTT characters have a first and a last name. In the 70s lots of female characters were "Foxy ________" so unofficially that's her name just like Helen is Broadway Helen Henny. I'm bettng her "real name" is Colleen Flannagan. We'll see.

[menutia]

Well, was this a take off of a pop singer of the time? Hellen Henny = Helen Reddy.


~M

[pizzacam]

I don't think so..especially listening to the reel. It's the same ol guest star stuff it's even the person who eventually did Helen. Nothing to get too excited over.

[captslappy]

So does she do Irish folk music? I figured that would be her "thing." Sally was disco, Harmony country, Oink was romance. Is this reel actually titled "Irish Stew".

[pizzacam]

Well the label is hand written but it has all the date and # info the other reels have so I guess it was called "Irish Stew". But she does sings Irish songs. :)

[captslappy]

I thought so. What about her name? Is it Foxy Colleen Flannagan?

[pizzacam]

Yeah I guess so, cause the first skit is the only one where she says I'm Foxy Colleen, then they call her Foxy Flannagan for the rest of the show.

[captslappy]

That's so odd... I wonder what that's all about. That's the most bizarre inconsistancy I have ever heard of. You think there would be some sort of explanation. I can only assume like I said earlier that her full name is "Foxy Colleen Flannagan" but it sounds like they don't really explain that. Her poster says Foxy Colleen. I wonder if they decided to go with the whole alliteration thing maybe and changed it but the poster and first skit were done already? That's the only explanation I can think of:

Artie Antlers, Dolli Dimples, Harmony Howlette, Sally Sashay, Helen Henny, Foxy Flannagan... hmmm this is indeed a strange twist. Now we're going to wonder what to call her!!

[dheineCECfan]

Regarding Foxy: Maybe Flannigan is her middle name - Foxy Flannigan Colleen?

If so, I have known 2 other CEC characters full middle names - Chuck E. Cheese's middle name is "Entertainment" (Full name: Charles Entertainment Cheese) and Jasper T. Jowls' middle name is "Tennessee" (Full name: Jasper Tennessee Jowls). And somewhat off the subject, did Pasqually once have a first name "Don" (Don Pasqually)? And we never got to find out Munch's real first name since he was originally known as in the PTT years Mr. Munch.

[pizzacam]

we never got to find out Munch's real first name since he was originally known as in the PTT years Mr. Munch.

I think it was Butt. :lol

[MMBBfan327]

:lol

Beavis and Butt-Head inspiration, huh PizzaCam? :lol

[VegaNova]

Man, Foxy always struck me as looking more like a gypsy woman than 'Irish' - especially in her old portrait style.

I'd be interested to find other Foxy reels to see if they help out with the continuity at all. Like even the early Helen had the Broadway reel, a country reel, and the top-40ish bandstand ones. Maybe they explored her more fully because it was better on the budget than switching out characters. Or maybe even the other guests had less of a 'theme' and varied depending on the particular reel.

Who knows... :p

-VegaNova

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

More then likely there was only one Foxxy show reel. I doubt any of the old stars had more shows as the time frame just would'nt make sense in a way when you think about it. Harmony was out in 81' and the other Guest characters that predate her would all have to have short runs.

I always knew she was "Irish" as i own the poster shown above. When you see it full size, you can plainly see the irish theming in her clothing and trims. Everything from shamrock hair barrets to clovers' embrodered on her dress...she was all out Gaelic. She even had green eyes...a PTT first ( and only!). I assume she also speaks with a irish accent to her voice. It would make sense...

I'm glad that this reel has finally surfaced, It's interesting too to hear about the apparent change on the names. Foxxy Collen was her offical name, though, or it would'nt have been used on the poster. Also keep in mind that this is no doubt her title as even the first Pre-Cyberamic figure of her from the original PTT in San Hose' had a name placard stating "Foxxy Colleen".

So you have not been misled folks! :)

[captslappy]

My Sally reel has no date nor does it indicate if it is Sally 1, 2 etc so I believe this to be true of her as well.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

I doubt they issued any more reels for Sally considering she was'nt at PTT for long. It probably wasnt even considered keeping Guest Stars any longer then a month or two back then so only 1 reel was produced....that's my therory.

Later on as PTT branched out, it was decided to keep the Guest Star longer, for a 3 to 4 month stretch. This makes sense considering the new stores were opening as fast as wildfire back in the very early 80's and to swap out every stores' Guest every month would have been a daunting ( and expensive) task. To to keep the show fresh they would have to switch out the scenery and show material once in a while but to be cost effective they would want to keep the particular Guest around for more then one use/term. Thus the multiple reels for Harmony and Oink, along with the "everlasting" Helen! lol!

[captslappy]

It's also interesting that everyone else but Sally and Foxy appeared on Merchandise. We have seen Dolli stuff over the years, B.B. Bubbles, the King, Artie, Harmony, Oink and Helen. It's interesting the action figure prototype that Travis one last year didn't picture either of these 2 and that they didn't ever make an appearance in parody posters. Those earliest characters were written off fairly quickly.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Yeah..they were. I think the primary reason was mainly that the early Merch tended to focus mostly on Chuck only, the Early Logo, and the 3 main friends of the Big 'C's.

One vaild reason why may be that not all the early stores had Sally and Foxxy. If there was Merch of these two characters that early on, it would have not had made much sense to have it at a store that did not have that character. I think this is why we only see stuff of CEC, Jasper, Munch and sometimes Pasqually on pre-1980 merch.

When Sally and Foxxy were having there runs, there was only two dozen ( if that) PTT's that exsisted to begin with then. PTT did'nt really start to branch out explosively until 81' or so and by then they had Harmony. This is when we start seeing the "other" characters like Artie, Dolli, etc. on Merch as this is when the stores were starting to have similar characters. Does this make sense? Most locations in 81' and 82' eventually had all of those characters so any locations could have the Merch of them since eventually they would show up.

Early PTT Merch was very limited and the earliest pieces tend to have Chuck, the Early Logo, and Dolli ( oddly). There is always..ALWAYS a chance that somewhere at sometime Sally and Foxxy had at least one item made. It's very possible. I know somewhere along the line they must have been at least drawn out graphically...its a must in the character design process. I would'nt be surprised if those images eventually turned up on some rare item from the past.

We'll just have to wait n' see i guess!

[pizzacam]

Ok folks the CD's are done drop me an email if you're interested in a copy.

[captslappy]

Ok... wow... I heard the reel. Not sure really to begin. As Gabe said it's a lot of been there done that. Many of the generic skits are heard on other reels. Alot of the skits that don't use the guest in particular are found on Sally's reel. All of the birthdays and Christmas songs are identical to those found on Harmony, Oink and Sally's reels. The song that Pasqually makes reference to Madame Oink is on there too so this is defiantely a nod to Oink's original debute in the 70s as at this point she has not yet appeared in the balcony (that we know of) The same stuff with Chuck's intro (for the walk around) and the cheer skit.

So what about Foxy? Not a lot to say there. The skits are short and there are only 4 count them 4 appearances of Foxy on the entire reel which contains 24 skits total. They are short and yep, the songs are Irish. She sounds just like you'd expect, a young voice with a thick Irish accent. Yes, it is clearly the same voice as the other guests. Interestingly Chuck doesn't insult her. He just saves the insults to the guys. Foxy tells them they are a sorry lot of singers but she'll stick with them anyway. Pasqually gets a good jab at the rat telling him to stick his tail in his mouth and rent himself out as a hoola hoop when Big C tells him to lace up his mouth and let someone use his head as a football.

What's with the Foxy Flannagan business? The guys never call her Foxy Colleen once. Chuck introduces her as Foxy Flannagan. She says her name once in the opening song and she does say "Foxy Colleen". She isn't issuing a correction she just says it and with her accent it's hard to make out that is what she said. No one else addresses her by Foxy Colleen. It's Foxy Flannagan the rest of the way. The last skit she sings a song about looking for her "Kelly". Kelly is a common man's name in Ireland but she does reveal his full name to be Kelly Colleen. So it would seem that not only is Colleen HER last name but she is evidently married to! This point is never stated but you can only assume. That doesn't stop her from flirting with Jasper, however. Jasper gets all the girls in the early reels. Sally and Harmony are both attracted to him too.

An interesting note, some of the material may be borrowed from the portrait show. The first few years of CEC they had special programs they ran at certain times. I'm sure Shiney Happy Jenn can elaborate more but they do have "intro applause" dubbed into some of the songs when they start singing. You know how you listen to a live album and the audience cheers and claps when the singer busts into a well known song? Same idea here. The audience claps enthusiastically in a few places as the song starts off a few times. 2 other final comments. At the conclusion of the show they introduce everyone including the Warblettes but they DO NOT introduce Foxy. This farewell skit appears in some other shows as well. I'm thinking Harmony has it on her reel and possibly Sally too and they don't mention the guest either. The Warblettes chirp like real birds when they are introduced.

The final interesting note is Chuck makes mention a time or two about them being animated characters. I don't remember his exact words but soemthing like "music is programmed into our little mechanical souls" or something to that affect. He also mentions "they are going to get some well deserved rest while the computer rewinds the tape".

Overall all opinion: It's exciting to finally get answers on Foxy since she's been such a mystery to us but take the mystery factor out and this show is really not a very good reel. In fact if it were a Helen reel I'd give it an F. The mysterious Foxy and her 4 skits are the only saving grace for this one.

Opinion on Foxy: She's ok as guest. Better than Oink but not nearly as cool as Harmony or Sally. I'd probably rank her #3 out of the guests. Maybe after the novelty wears off she might even drop to #4. Annoying as Madame Oink is, she has much more personality. Harmony is basically her improvement. Same design, different fur colors and a cooler costume with much more attitude. I think my favorite will always be her "2.0 version" that debuted 2 years later.

[pizzacam]

Chuck makes mention a time or two about them being animated characters. Yeah he calls them "electroital animals"

[captslappy]

Actually, after thinking about it Foxy's personality is a little disappointing. There isn't much there. We don't really get to know her at all. She's pretty down to business and just sticks to the singing. Given the Irish are known for their tempers (which she does sing about) you'd think she'd go to town on the rat but she doesn't. Alot of this is really because the rat doesn't go to town on her but it was oppurtunity missed none the less. He does give one loan insult at the start by saying she is an "extinguished" singer and she corrects him by saying "distinguished". She sounds a bit irrated by the comment but that's as much insulting as she gets. I was hoping Foxy'd give Harmony a run for her money in the insult depart and maybe even dethrown her in "insult rebounds" but I guess that schtick comes along with Sally. This time around the guest is spared the abuse. One other comment on the second listen. When she sings the song about Kelly Colleen she introduces it by saying "she's spoken for" which leads you to believe Kelly is her husband.

[Lilredridinghood]

Well, it is a trip that Foxxy is now no longer a mystery-or at least, not so much as before. I think the Irish accent would irritate me though, as stereotypical accents usually do. But thanks for the review Capt! Very interesting.

And please forgive my ignorance, but what was the prototype action figure?

Hmmm, as much as I love dogs, it is funny that all the gals go for Jasper.

[captslappy]

About a year ago back an action figure of Chuck E. Cheese popped up. It was never produced, hence the "prototype" and Veganova won it. It was supposed to include a comic book but because this was a sample it did not contain one. Looking at the back of the package it looked like they were also planning to make figures of Jasper, Pasqually, Munch, Harmony, Oink, Dolli and King. I don't think the Warblettes were pictured and neither were any of the other characters. Helen was also not in the pic interestingly. The only 2 guests they showed were Harmony and Oink. They were all in cartoon form and not pics of actual figures. It was sort of a group shot.

[MMBBfan327]

I remember seeing Artie on that pic, too. How awesome would an Artie figure be? Taht'd be like, his only product, huh?

[Lilredridinghood]

Okay, thanks for the info. Actually, I do remember a CEC action figure awhile ago.....Artie, Madame Oink, Dolli, and the King where on there? That's interesting stuff.

[captslappy]

Yeah I left Artie out of the list because I forgot him. He was the only other one on there that I left out. They didn't do Sally, Helen, Foxy, Warblettes, Beagles, Bowzers, BB Bubbles or any of the other earlier characters. It was just sort of the current cast at the time minus the birds and Beagles. What would have been cool tho is if they had done all of them over time and made a balcony stage playset with spots to put the balcony characters complete with a tiny clapper board and an exclusive Warblettes figure. I would have bought all of them back in the day although once they moved forward Crusty, The Mopsy sisters, Sally and Foxy were forever forgotten so they would not have made figs of them. But you do have to wonder, had PTT stayed on course with the original people what would it be like today? Would they have made new guests and is it possible that Foxy and Sally would have made oncore appearances? We can only wonder...

[MMBBfan327]

NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!!!!!!! If I was alive back then, I'd TOTALLY buy that!!!!!!!!! (if it existed, of course;) )

[captslappy]

Yeah I'm sure it would have been a big seller. I wonder why it didn't get produced. Maybe it was too costly or it happened at the wrong time. This had to be pre-bankruptcy because no Helen is shown and we know Harmony was rolled out around 82 and Oink was 83. So it might have been just before when the ship was starting to sink and PTT started cutting back on expenses seeing that they were beginning to get into financial trouble.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

I have seen that figure up close, and based on the style of the box graphics, and the quality of the item, i date the figure to be from late 82'/ early 83'. I say this as the front image on the box is the "new" way CEC was being drawn back then...front view. It's definately from this slim time period between PTT expansion into custom merch and the folding of the operation in mid 83'.

My guess based on this is that the figure was possibly lined up to be launched and was shelved due to the end of PTT Inc. and the takeover by it's competitor, Showbiz Pizza.

I am sure that if PTT did not go under during the Arcade Crash of 83' we would have seen a series of these figures. They were cheap to produce really....and would have probably sold decently at that time.

Another reason to be depressed about the takeover! Damn you Showbiz!!! >:

[VegaNova]

Hey hey now... if no ShowBiz then dead Chuck E. today. :evil

Actually the PTT money crunch was evident before they went under. An old manager sent me some scans of his old business cards and the early 80s one was nice and full color and by 84 or so they were black and white. He even mentioned how the budget was the cause of that kinda stuff.

Anywho, yeah that figure is dated 1983. But the artwork on the box shows Chuck from that 82/83 changeover - the one on the front looks like the newer one, but on the back and the side he's the long-nosed rat.

Here's some high-quality pics of the front and back for those who haven't seen it:

rockafire.tripod.com/proto-doll1.jpg (http://rockafire.tripod.com/proto-doll1.jpg)
rockafire.tripod.com/proto-doll2.jpg (http://rockafire.tripod.com/proto-doll2.jpg)

-VegaNova

PS - Thanks for the review of Foxy! It sounds craptacular but I want a copy anyway. Very interesting stuff. If you want to 'format' what you posted above into a review for the ST review part of the site feel free to send it my way and I'll post it!

[captslappy]

Will do. Let me list the songs and skits that appear. I can add a little more to it and clean it up a bit. That was really based on the first listen and I literally wrote it up minutes after I finished it. Obviously I have edited a few things a few times since then.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Yeah..yeah...i know Vega.....Showbiz "saved" Chuck E. in all honesty. From a die hard Pizza-Timer standpoint though, it can still be seen as "destroying" it.....

If it were'nt for the buyout, we all would'nt be here today talking about CEC or maybe even Showbiz for that matter! So yeah...credit is due.:hat

[captslappy]

Another interesting fact getting back to the show tape... This one begins with a diagnostic... but it's a bit unique from the later Dr. Dux... This one has sound checks with white noise for each character's speaker. You see, initially each character literally had a speaker inside of it and so Munch's voice came from Munch, Chuck's voice came out of Chuck, etc. Neat idea that didn't work. The speakers did not project well and unfortuantely the effect was lost. It ended up being more practical to have a house sound system that played everything together just like the characters are singing and playing over a public address system. That's the way real bands do it anyway. You aren't hearing the voice of the singer straight from their mouth. You are hearing them singing into a mic and the sound comes from speakers. So in the end creating the illusion the voices come from the characters works every bit as good using a house system as opposed to having the sound come out of the individual characters themselves. One thing I am puzzled by is they were using a 2 channel audio format and only one of those were for the actual show audio (the other channel is signals) so I don't know how the individual speakers "picked up" each characters voices. As far as I know this particular "sound check" and character diagnostic is unique to this reel. I believe Sally Sashay's contains the standard Dr. Duxx diagnostic. Later on this was its own reel with no skits and each caberet and lounge had one for them although Dolli, Artie and BB just used Dolli's (as far as I know) and the Beach Bowzers just used the Beagles since they are the same.

[pizzacam]

Yeah I left it off the Audio CD's cause I know most people'd be annoyed by the 2nd audio test...It IS interesting to hear how the programmer is doing it live at an actual PTT. It's really neat to hear the pots and pan clanging in the huge place....sigh I'm gonna miss the huge space when Military Dr. relocates. :(

I DO still have this diagnostic on the master MD if those of you who still need a copy want it on their CD please specify.

[captslappy]

They do use the same diagnostic on Sally's reel that they used on Foxy's reel but you can tell they have edited the white noise tests out for the speakers. You can hear a sloppy cut as the programmer starts in on the characters and lighting. They quickly realized that there was no point in putting the "voices" in the characters and went to a house sound system for the show. Therefore this test was not needed after the Foxy reel. Later on they made a Dr. Ducks (sometimes spelled Dux) diagnostic reel and quit putting the diagnostic on the actual show reel. Sally's and Foxy's reel both have the diagnostic on them. Starting with Harmony and moving forward the diagnostic was a seperate reel after that. The balcony also has the one for Dolli. King's is just his by himself as are the Beagles. I do not believe Artie, BB and the Bowzers had seperate diagnostics reels. They most likely used Dolli's in the case of Artie and BB's. I'm sure there was a tech note somewhere that said Dolli's breast movement was BB's trunk swing and that Artie didn't have an equivelant or whatever since mechanically they were identical except for that one difference. The Beagles and Bowzers are 100% mechanically identical so it would have been silly to make a seperate one. Same deal for King and King Kat. None of the diagnostics in the reel to reel days had test songs or skits. It is just the programming calling out what movement he is doing "Now I'm doing Jasper's mouth" and then counting in time with the movement being tested or saying "up, down, up, down or open, shut, open, shut" The diagnostic tapes are not really that interesting to listen to.

[dheineCECfan]

One of the sketches on the Foxy Colleen Irish Stew showtape is the one recycled from the original first CECPTT 1977 showtape that starts "There's No Business Like Show Business" but Munch replaces Crusty's parts in this skit.

[captslappy]

Wow, that's really interesting. I think this one may actually have several because the background applause that are dubbed in are heard as the show starts just like you'd hear in a real performance. I don't ever recall hearing this anywhere else so I believe that the skits that have that may also be ones recycled from the portrait material.

[dheineCECfan]

Now I hope someday the very first 1977 CECPTT portrait show format showtape (featuring Crusty) and/or a late 1970's CECPTT portrait show format showtape that features the first version goose looking guitar playing Helen Reddy spoof Helen Henny surfaces somewhere, maybe even rare video camera footage from the first CECPTT Winchester Blvd. San Jose location from 1977 (primarly of the CECPTT wall portrait robots performing the show) could surface by surprise someday (even if the person who runs the Disney Extinct Attractions Club web site at www.extinct-attractions-club.com discovers it if he ever looks in his attic)!

[MMBBfan327]

Why don't you email him and ask him?

[dheineCECfan]

MMBBFan: I first e-mailed the person at the Disney Extinct Attractions Club in 2002 and told me he couldn't locate the footage of the first 1977 CECPTT and he hasn't checked the attic in his house as well.

[captslappy]

But he did have it at one time? Oooh that would be cool!

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Holy crap Captain!

You've been "promoted"!

Sorry...this is unrelated...but i just noticed your new subtitle: "CV Staff"

Way to go!!!!! :D

[captslappy]

I didn't know it either until I just read the thread... I was like, what is she talking about and then I saw it under my name. Cool! I got a promotion and didn't even know it! Now I hope they double my pay! :lol

[dheineCECfan]

And Gene Landrum never had the chance to reply about if he located any 1977 CECPTT first location Winchester Blvd. San Jose photos (still buried in his archives) from its May 1977 grand opening and/or months after its opening.

[MMBBfan327]

Gene said he had all of his stuff in FL and he's in Lake Tahoe.