The Warblettes and other singing characters

[captslappy]

The Warblettes were sort of PTT's sun and moon. They didn't do a lot but they added a bunch to the show and I really think it took quite a bit away from it when they were discontinued. Here are a few facts about the Warblettes. They only actually have 2 movements. They rock side to side and the beaks open and close. The 3 beaks operate off of one air cylinder so therefore they are not independent. This is why the Warblettes rarely spoke and when they did it was a short one or 2 word answer like "Got it." As far as I know the "Honey Bun Birthday song" is the only time the birds spoke. Mechanically the birds and the mops are identical in design. The Beagles and Bowzers are built the same way. Basically they are the center bird more or less with a few extra movement added like head turns. The little Shavers also use the rocker style body. The black birds were obviously first and I think were available the first few years. Like the Beagles and Bowzers they used googly eyes. I suspect the colorful version came out in 83 and when that happened they quit making the black ones. I know at least one store did actually have both variations. I wonder if the stores got to choose or if the black birds eventually ran out and stores automatically got the colored version after that. The eyes on the colorful birds are actually the same irises used on the half body characters. Computer wise, they ran off a splitter cable and shared a card with CEC. It is possible to run the birds seperately with a second CEC card in the computer or by wiring to the accessory terminals of CEC's valves. This is because the standard 8 movements for the half bodies are actually wired to the top set of terminals on the card while the birds are wired to the bottom side where the flag wavers and other accessories were hooked up. Because of this, they use a different set of pins on the 26 pin cable from CECs movements. The flowers were mechanically different from the birds but more than likely used the same bits that the birds mouths ran on. Therefore I am sure that any background singing character would be completely interchangeable and would do any background vocal part off of any show tape.

[MMBBfan327]

I believe that stores did get to choose which version they wanted, or perhaps in the mid-80s when one store's Warblettes would break down they could obtain anolther pair from CEC which would have to be the Colorful ones. I may be worng but I think Chase had this problem. They opened in 1980, however by 1985, they had the Colorful Warblettes.

[captslappy]

I don't know why they would change out the whole figure. Mechanically there was so little to them unless the cosmetics were just bad but I have no idea why they would really wear out. I have seen a video of a store with colored warblettes and they didn't work. Chuck's microphone hand and Jasper's strum hand on his banjo didn't work either in the video.

[MMBBfan327]

We need to post some of these videos. I really wanna see some!

[captslappy]

Nick has the video in question for sale.

[dheineCECfan]

On the Warblettes:
* They were originally in a cage prop (original CECPTT wall portrait format).
* Their original voices (late 1970's) was The Pointer Sisters.
* They were sometimes replaced in the late 1970's by The Mopsey Sisters.
* They were replaced in the late 1980's by talking flowers.
* Was it 1982-1983 Colorful Warblettes were introduced?
* The Warblettes at their time of phasing out of the CEC/PTT world in the late 1980's appeared on the "Close Encounters of the Bird Kind" parody movie poster.

[MMBBfan327]

What do CEC's signing flowers look like up-close?

[dheineCECfan]

CEC's singing flowers were under Munch and Pasqually in the house facade format, I think.

[MMBBfan327]

I believe so, I'm not sure myslef. They could be where The Warblettes were.

[captslappy]

The Warblettes didn't ahve a spot where the porch was. They would have been somewhere above the roof. Their little cubby was covered over with curtains. Most stores left them in place until the MMBB arrived. That was probably in case CEC wanted to bring them back later. Sadly, they didn't.

[dheineCECfan]

So, rumor has it CECPTT's Warblettes would have made a return appearance in the CEC Munch Band format?

[MMBBfan327]

I think they could have made an awesome comeback.

[captslappy]

No they weren't and didn't. I'm saying that the instructions for the porch and road stages stated to cover the birds with a curtain in front of the cubby hole. This was easier than taking them down. I speculated that this might also allow a future come back if they wanted to bring the birds back later. That was just speculation though.

[dheineCECfan]

I know a CEC location near El Toro, California that closed in late 2001 still had the CECPTT balcony show with the Warblettes at the time of location closing.

[CEC3066]

When TV's were introduced to CEC in most instances 1 was hooked up where the Warblettes were.

[MMBBfan327]

Yeah, I've seen that MANY times at CEC's. Kinda cool that their cubby still exsists.

[dheineCECfan]

It's true for the house facade formats the Warblettes were replaced by TV's (to show the Cyberstar video format for the CEC shows) and/or flowers that talk?