Early Animatronic Influences
Creative Engineering Inc of Orlando, FL was originally formed to begin production of a small car called the 'Jutta' that was able to get approx 90 miles on a gallon of gas. While trying to raise enough capital to put the Jutta into production, CEI (led by inventor Aaron Fechter), entered the market of designing and creating animated characters for the amusement park industry.
One of CEI's first audio-animatronic characters was named the Scab, and was presented at the 1976 IAAPA convention. The Scab was a talking head with four movements, and was sold to DJ's Oyster Bar in Tampa, FL. Another of CEI's original characters was Willie Wabbit who was sold to Mystery Fun House. He was placed in a display case at the Orlando International Airport, advertising to potential Mystery Fun House customers.
Within the next year, CEI began cranking out new animatronics including a talking deer head, Count Dracula, a fortune teller named Lazlo, a growing ghost that had a removable head, and perhaps the most influential character to date - Friendly Freddy. This was CEI's first full animated character, which was a guitar playing bear that sat on a stump.
Shortly thereafter, CEI began production on fully animated stage shows. By the spring of 1978, CEI had completed the Santa Claus Revue for Santa's Village in NH. Another early show was the Confederate Critter Show made for Magic World in TN. Also produced at this time was the Bear Country Jubilee (Four Season Bears) which sold to Morey's Pier in NJ. The Bear Country Jubilee is particularly notable because of its similarity to Walt Disney World's Country Bear Jamboree. It was even marketed as coming "straight from Orlando" a perhaps misleading, but ultimately true advertisement.
The Wolf Pack 5
In the summer of 1978 CEI began development of the Wolf Pack 5 stage show. Aaron Fechter came up with the concept after seeing a live performance in London of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Wolf Pack 5 consisted of five characters that played 50's style rock and roll music. The cast included the Wolfman, Fats Gorilla, Dingo Starr, Beach Bear, and Queenie. They made their debut at the 1978 IAAPA convention in Atlanta.
The Hard Luck Bears
At the 1979 IAAPA convention, CEI presented their new show, The Hard Luck Bears - a retrofitted, hillbilly themed version of the Bear Country Jubilee. The characters in this particular show were the band of brothers - Billy Wilbur (guitar), Billy Bill (piano), Billy Boy (drums), and Billy Bob (bass). Stage right had Pete and Repeat Thornsberry - brothers who worked at Smitty's Super Service Station; and stage left had Mama Granbags along with the Gooney Bird.
ShowBiz Pizza Place's pre-incorporation agreement was signed between Creative Engineering Incorporated and Topeka Inn Management in December, 1979. The plan was set in motion to utilize CEI's animation in the second ShowBiz Pizza Place, while the initial store located in the Antioch shopping center in Kansas City would utilize Pizza Time Theatre animation. However, in January of 1980 PTT makes its intentions known about a pending lawsuit over breach of contract, and CEI is forced to supply the animation for the 1st ShowBiz.
ShowBiz Pizza Place
The 1st Showbiz Pizza Place opened its doors on March 3, 1980. Since CEI already had the Wolf Pack 5 in stock, they decided to temporarily use this show until a custom show could be designed and produced. A few modifications were made to the Wolf Pack as they had previously existed, specifically to Queenie - she was transformed from a fox into a mouse named Mini Mozzarela. This was done at ShowBiz's request (they wanted a mouse character to go with the "pizza" theme of the restaurant). The original twelve-minute Wolf Pack show was divided up into 3 shorter segments and 3 new segments were also recorded, giving the "ShowBiz" Wolf Pack tape a total of 6 different shows. Custom intro and exit segments were also added with an offstage announcer introducing the Wolf Pack to ShowBiz guests.
