My top 20 Pizza Time Players

[captslappy]

I was bored so I ranked all the Pizza Time Players in order of my favorite to least favorite. If you count all the Pizza Time/CEC characters there are more than 20. Keep in mind the moon, building and Pizza Cam are CEC characters and didn't exist back in the PTT days. I don't consider them real CEC characters anyway. Also ommitted were the flowers, band board and flags which were really props and not characters. I also ommitted the Little Shavers (arguable), Hot Fudge and Family Album shows because to me they aren't real PTT characters either. I also didn't even bother with King Kat. I think we all agree he's completely stupid and he is still the King just in a slightly different outfit and he's doing MJ songs instead of Elvis. I did count the Clapper board even tho it's really a prop but it's cool and a very desirable colletible so it made the list. So, without further ado, here is my top 20 list:

1. Harmony Howlett
2. Dolli Dimples
3. Munch
4. Black Warblettes
5. Clappers
6. King
7. Jasper T. Jowls
8. Chuck E. Cheese
9. Sally Sashay
10. Foxy Colleen
11. White Warblettes
12. Crusty
13. Artie Antlers
14. The Beagles
15. BB Bubbles
16. Madame Oink
17. Helen Henny
18. Beach Bowzers
19. Mopsy Sisters
20. Pasqually

I really have been doing some thinking on this and I have really changed my mind on a few things so I thought it was time to redo this. A few are still arguable but I think this is pretty close to how I feel about the characters

[CEC3066]

Technically speaking, Moon is a Rock-Afire character

[captslappy]

Yes but in the CEC stage 3 stage he would be considered CEC. Again tho, I am only talking PTT era which is why he was left off my list as was building, the wink and Munch Jr and Pizza Cam. But as I said I don't even consider them real CEC characters.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Holy Mozzerella Captain!!

HOW ON EARTH could you put PASQUALLY above Madame Oink??!!!

PASQUALLY SHOULD BE #20!!!


Alright, alright....this would be MY list of how i would rank the original Pizza Time Players....again, in the order of how much i favor them. Here goes.....strap on yer helmets!

1. Harmony Howlette (She just rules, ok?)
2. Dolli Dimples (Super sexy, feisty, and fabulous!)
3. Artie Antlers (He rules...nuff' said)
4. Chuck E. Cheese (The ORIGINAL wise-ass Rat..NOT the current toddler tyke)
5. Crusty the Cat (CRUSTY ROCKS!! CRUSTY FOR PRESIDENT!! HOORAY!!!)
6. B.B. Bubbles (She was fun....and entertaining)
7. Clapperboard (YES!!!!!!!! i love the ClapperBoard!)
8. Jasper T. Jowls (one cool pup)
9. Foxy Coleen (ah...the intrigue of mystery...)
10.The Beagles (they rocked.....can't go wrong with the Beatles man..)
11. The Warblettes (original Black Magpies)
12. Helen Henny (her clucking noises could become annoying though...)
13. Madame Oink (ditto with the piggie oink noises)
14. Mr. Munch (the original Munch..back when he was cool)
15. The King ( Immortal Lion Legend )

Well, i can't really list 20 as the others don't really strike me as "favorites" to be listed. 15 will do fur me.....


My DISLIKES list now.....Jenn's top 5 least favorite Pizza Time Players now....

1. Pasqually (we all know how i feel about him...i won't elaborate)
2. Little Shavers (they SUCKED!!)
3. The Beach Bowzers (lame Beagles clone)
4. "Stupid Hick" Jasper ( cira mid-80's annoying voice)
5. Toddler Chuck E. (drives me crazy!!)

Okay...so there it is.

[dheineCECfan]

S.H.J.: Madame Oink spoke in a French style language, she didn't make any pig oinking noises.

[captslappy]

Ok first to Darryl. she had a French accent. She did not speak in another language and she did oink some. I have heard the reels.

In response to Jenn... Pasqually and Oink are pretty much a tie. I could have gone either way. They are however above all the shows I left off my list such as the Shavers and Family Album.

Now let me ask you a question... WHAT THE @#%$ do you mean Madame Oink is higher than Mr. Munch and how did he get so close to the bottom??? :rollin :lol :eek

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Gee sorry Captain...

Munch just does'nt do much for me in the nostalgic department. It was the Madame who left more of a impression on me then him.

I was never a huge Munch fan really...he just seemed like a total Grimace rip-off to me.

He was fun in the early days...but now he has no appeal at all. Now he has been made into a Fatz wanna-be.

Sorry Captian, i KNOW how much you like Munch. He is cool, but just does'nt rank that high on my own personal list!

[captslappy]

That's ok. We each have our own ideas of what characters are cool. It would suck if we all liked the same ones. Oink is one of my least favorites for 3 reasons. 1) She replaced Harmony. 2) She's French (and that goes back way before all this current stuff with Iraq) 3) Her snorting is just annoying.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Yeah, i TOTALLY agree about her snorting...it gets very annoying once you listen to two shows...

Helen was the same way ....her clucking would get to you after a while.

Madame Oink is not a HUGE favourite of mine....i just have personal "nostalgic" memories attached to her. She was there during the "Golden Era" when i became involved in PTT in 1981 and she came to represent that fine animatronic age in CEC history. Munch never really did that for me....the only funky memory i have that involves him was the swell "Munch's Mad House" they had at the Brandon location i practically lived in. All those black lights and strobes inside the place effected me in ways i am still discovering!

Talk about trippy....Munch's Mad House ROCKED!!!

[dheineCECfan]

But wouldn't the first version circa 1979 wall portrait Helen Henny (long hair, goose looking, plays a guitar, might be a Helen Reddy spoof) be considered not to be in any top 20 Pizza Time Players list?

[captslappy]

It's true that there have been at least 3 versions of Helen. THere is the goose wall portrait version you just mentioned, the better known cyberamics half body version and the modern CEC version where she is younger. Aside from appearance I don't really know anything about the first version with the guitar. She certainly looks different but I do not know anything about what she sounded like or if she had the personality of the 80s version. Therefore, the Helen I am listing really refers to the balcony version. The modern younger Helen is strictly a CEC Entertainment character and not part of Pizza Time Theatre so she was not really counted either. I just went with the version I knew from my Pizza Time days.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

There were several versions of Helen...here is the current list:

Original Helen cira 1977 (Goose)

Broadway Helen cira 1983 (sequined superstar)

Country Helen cira 1988 (red "porch" dress)

Young Helen cira 1991 ( spring chicken)

Rollerblade Helen cira 1994 (test location in TX only)

Trendy Helen cira 2004 ( hip look) merch only, not Bot'


Mind-altering....is'nt it??

[rayray1980]

Actually, I first saw the Porch Helen in 1987 in Ft Worth, TX. The store was a RAE and it closed down for no apparent reason that I was aware of in 1985. It reopened in 1987 as Showbiz Pizza Place, but it had the rocker stage instead of the RAE. That store is still there now. They have a 2 stage MMBB.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

A few "test" locations recieved the Porch Stage a good 4/5 months before the rest of the stores, the first Porch being installed in Arlington Tx.

When that Showbiz opened, it no doubt had the "newest" stage installed, much like how today's new CEC locations recieve the latest Stage when they open.

So then i will correct the above list.....we'll say Country Helen arrived in 1987! Yee-Hah!!

[Harmony Howlette rules]

Trendy Helen cira 2004 ( hip look) merch only, not Bot'EWW NO DIE

[dheineCECfan]

S.H.J.: You forgot about Cheerleader Helen from the late 1990's.

And didn't Madame Oink alternate back and forth with Madame Oink like Foxy Colleen might have alternated back and forth with Sally Sashay in the CECPTT balcony/shelf shows? Don't forget Madam(e) Oink was even in the 1979 CECPTT Wall Portrait show era.

[captslappy]

I think you are right Darryl. I don't know when on the portraits but Jen thinks Helen was first, then Foxy, then Madame Oink and possibly Sally. Then balcony wise it went Foxy, Sally, (79-81) Harmony, Oink (82-84), Helen (84 to present)

[dheineCECfan]

And nobody would put in the Top 20 Pizza Time Players:
* Wolfman Zack (who I saw a picture of when I toured CEC HQ in May 2001 when the pics of the CECPTT Pizza Time Players were still on the walls, Brian Hagen told me the name of that character).
* The Hollywood Chickens (the backup singers for Helen Henny - Discovered on an image of a circa 1979 CECPTT Program brochure seen on the 2002 G4 (now G4TechTV) "Icons" episode about Nolan Bushnell).

[captslappy]

I suspect that they were ideas that never really went into production. If you did see pics of these characters, they were probably one of a kind prototypes. Originally some planned guests were Glenn Camel and Elkton John. I suspect these characters were dumped when it was decided the guest would strictly be a female character. I also suspect Elkton John became Artie Antlers and ended up being a caberet instead of a guest. I have never seen pics of Wolfman Zack or the Hollywood chickens but you have mentioned them in past posts. I have been 2 headquarters several times and never did see pics of those characters.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

yeah, i missed everything this Summer too Captain...as i had reported upon my return all the cool old stuff had been taken down due to the remoidel they were doing. I was bummed...half of the reason i went was to SEE THOSE!!!

Oh well....

Darryl sent me a tiny pic of Wolfman Zack...it was interesting iw ill say that. The most noticable feature was that his felt tounge hung out of his mouth the whole time! A bit weird! He was grey and black in color, and looked very much like a male version of Foxy....almost identical. He wore a blue sportcoat, like a track uniform type outfit.

Of course, he was a spoof of the then popular radio dj personality Wolman Jack, thus the name.....i can only guess that he no doubt sounded like his predecesor did.

Elkton John was never made, at least as far as i know. There is a lenghty thread already on here somewhere here in this PTT section that goes into more detail about him and his turning into Artie.....this was a therory i came up with one day while looking over my old Artie poster. I am pretty certain Artie was originally supposed to be a Elton John spoof but was then changed to a swing daddy.

[captslappy]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! That pic with the tongue hanging out is wolfman? I thought that was CEC dressed up as Gene Simmons of Kiss. Yes seriously, I did! I thought that was just some prototype that they made as a joke that was never used. It never dawned on me that that was a different character. I do think he was just a mock-up. I don't believe wolf man ever actually got used anywhere. We have proof of Crusty being in service briefly and we do have a clip off of a show reel. As for Wolfman, I don't think that's true. Now I'd like to see a pic of these Hollywood Chickens Darryl has mentioned several times. Are we sure these aren't perhaps an early version of the Warblettes?

[dheineCECfan]

No, the Hollywood Chickens have no connection to the Warblettes nor the Mopsey Sisters.

And Wolfman Zack created by CECPTT has no connection to Creative's Wolfman character from the Wolf Pack 5 show (who would later envolve into Rolfe De Wolfe for the Rock-afire shows).

[captslappy]

So where did you see these Hollywood chickens Darryl? Now that I know what Wolfman looks like I do know that I did see the pic of him. I just didn't realize what I was looking at before. I do not recall any unknown chicken characters. How many were there?

[dheineCECfan]

I have never seen the Hollywood Chickens. VegaNova could make screengrabs/vidcaps from the G4 Icons Nolan Bushnell episode mostly of the CECPTT things including the menu image and possibly add them to the ShowBizPizza.com Picture Gallery in the Misc. CEC Pics section.

[captslappy]

So were they planned characters like Glenn Camel and Elkton John that were mentioned somewhere in early literature that never materialized or what?

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

yeah....that's what i'd like to know...who the heck are the Hollywood Chickens???

Never heard of em'!!

[dheineCECfan]

Even the Family Album and Hot Fudge shows wouldn't fit in the Top 20 Pizza Time Players list since they were franchise related outside of CEC/PTT in the 1980's (3 Detroit CECPTT; Danvers, MA; Warwick, R.I.).

[captslappy]

"Even the Family Album and Hot Fudge shows wouldn't fit in the Top 20 Pizza Time Players list since they were franchise related outside of CEC/PTT in the 1980's (3 Detroit CECPTT; Danvers, MA; Warwick, R.I.). "

Yes I mentioned that at the beginning of the thread that they were not PTP and therefore didn't fit into this whole thing for that very reason.

Anyway, I wanted to ask again about these Hollywood Chickens. You are the only person I have ever heard mention them and no one seems to know anything about them at all. I am guessing they were an idea like Glen Camel and Elkton John that never got used. Exactly when and where did you hear about these characters?

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Yeah..what's the deal Darryl?

I mean, i'm a serious Pizza Time Freak and i have never heard of em'!

Captain, maybe he heard them referred to in a show....but they were never made into anything.

[Lilredridinghood]

Hmmm, thats interesting. Has anything else been found out on the "Hollywood Chickens?"

[captslappy]

I have looked around and haven't ever found anything. No reference to them at headquarters when I went.

[VegaNova]

My 2 cents....

I wouldn't rule out anything as far as who was made and who wasn't. This whole Hollywood Chickens thing sounds new to me, but it may have been a reality. Same with Elkton and Glen. There's a good possibility that they never existed (and that Wolfman was only a prototype) but it's just as likely that they were made, had showtapes, and were actually used.

I'm going to use the Sally example to prove what I mean. She first started out as a photo (still the only one in existance that I'm aware of) hanging on the walls of the corporate HQ. Looks to be a prototype by the fact there's tubes hanging from the bottom and she's not actually on stage. Then that photo of the PTT exterior with the "Now appearing: Sally Sashay" surfaced. Then the showtape reel popped up. By now I don't think there's anyone who would argue that Sally is just a prototype or an idea - but a few years ago I bet most people (myself included) would have thought that. But even today can anyone tell me exact locations that had Sally?

Same thing goes for King Kat, Yogi at ShowBiz, etc. Just because we haven't uncovered it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. To me that's an exciting though. Over the years the new stuff has continually turned up and I don't see that stopping. But I do understand everyone's confusion because the early history of Pizza Time seems to be hazy.

CEC HQ seems to have the most insightful photos and probably documentation of the early years that I know of, but I don't think it's anywhere near complete. I also don't believe that Dept 18 has every showtape ever made either - maybe they do, but somehow I doubt it. When SPP and PTT merged (it was more of a ShowBiz aquisition than an actual 'merger') not everything was transferred to ShowBiz which became the parent company. I know for a fact that much of what existed at the PTT entertainment department in California was auctioned off instead of being sent down to the HQ in Texas.

Anyway all I'm saying is that this is a puzzle and we should keep our thoughts very open. I do think it's great that everyone is keeping tabs on this and that though... the more we exchange info the faster this can come together. One of these days I need to go and update the characters pages with detailed and up to date information. There's a good example of what was known a few years ago and what we know now.

-VegaNova

[dheineCECfan]

I like your 2 cents comments, VegaNova. Maybe someday I may come across someone on the net who lives or used to live in California (or even knows someone else living/used to live in Califonia) and has film/video footage and/or photos of the 1977 CECPTT Pizza Time Players (wall portrait format) show from the first CECPTT Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, California location. Time will tell...

[Mr Munch88]

Ok, weve gotten a bit off track, so I'll get us back....
1 Mr. Munch-Coolest member of the band!
2 CEC- actually a tie for #1, but in 2nd place!
3 Jasper-Cool pup
4 The King- He loves me tender(inside joke about me, a vacume cleaner and him!)
5 The Beach Bowzers-Love theit counterparts the beach boys
6 The Beagles-just because
7 BB Bubbles-so cute and pink
8 Harmony-never actaully saw her perform, but could sling the insults right back to the rat(and liked jasper too)
9 Old school Helen-loved her chicken cluck
10 Pasqally-anyone who makes pizza for Munch aint ALL bad!
11 Dolly D. - I think she was a bit too "adult" for Chuck's place
12 The colored warbletts- they worn multi colored afro clown wigs!
13 Artie A.- Never saw him perform, but looked cool
14 Old school Jasper-love that laugh!
15 teen Helen- her singing voice is really nice
16 Clapper Board/Flage-brought lots of excitement to the showroom
17 Black Warbletts
18 Madam Oink
19 Sally Sashey
20 Crusty/Foxy/shavers/and anyone else Ive never saw or heard.
and my top vote for all CEC in general has to be tha Family Album-but thats a whole other topic!!!

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

The Family Album RULES!!!!

We so need to start a Society for the Appreciation of Old School Clapper Boards and Flag Wavers...

Right next to the Randy Fan Club of course....

[MMBBfan327]

Here's My List:

1. Arite Antlers
2. The KING
3. Jasper T. Jowls
4. Crusty the Cat
5. The Warblettes (brown w/ black tips ;) )
6. Charles Entertainment Cheese (the big meanie:lol )
7. The Beagles
8. Dolli Dimples
9. Harmony Howlette
10. Madame Oink
11. Wolfman Zack (although not really a performer, he still was something at the start.)
12. Foxy Colleen
13. The Beach Bowzers
14. Helen Henny
15. The Clapper Board
16. B.B. Bubbles
17. Mr. Munch
18. Sally Sashay
19. Pasqually
20. Color Warblettes

[pizzacam]

Yeah, hopefully one day we'll have more info and or audio of the earlier guest characters and previous retrofits like the Mopsey Sisters, and King Kat. ;)

[ChuckEFranchize454]

earlier guest characters and previous retrofits like the Mopsey Sisters, and King Kat.

that king kat is still a mystery to most of us especially me i wann kno what he looked like.

[MMBBfan327]

Not an expert here, but I believed he wore a white glove, black outfit, big sunglasses, you know.

[captslappy]

I know for a fact the pants were gold with a black stripe down the sides. I believe most of what was said to be accurate. I also think they put an afro wig on him. He still had the guitar which didn't really fit. Michael Jackson might play some guitar but he is not known for that. On stage he is a dancer and in the studio he just sings. He doesn't play any instruments on his records even if he does know how. King Kat, like the Bowzers were sort of a sloppy retrofit. There was no creative play on the name for example like "The Beagles". They could have given him a better name. The reel is really awful. I think he's probably the worst PTT character ever. Just a cheap retro fit thrown together to capitalize on the popularity of Michael Jackson at the time.

[MMBBfan327]

Yeah, he sounded like the kid of Michael, but he had Thriller in one skit. :x |I

[captslappy]

it's a mixture of his career. He did "Ben" which he recorded as a little boy, "Thriller", and there is a terrible Birthday song done to "Billy Jean." Interestingly "Beat It" one of his all time biggest hits which was on the "Thriller" album was not used.

[MMBBfan327]

"Beat It" may not have been used because around the same time SPP did their MJ Tribute, and that included the full rendition of "Beat It."

[captslappy]

Didn't matter. The caberets often did songs that balcony were performing on a current show tape. I can name a lot of songs King, Beagles and Dolli did that the main show in the other room did. I don't recall the song and if it was Dolli or King that did it but I stepped out of the caberet/lounge and 5 minutes later heard the balcony show do that exact song but a slightly different rendition. Therefore I find it odd King Kat didn't do one of Michael's biggest hits at the time.