Wanted to make an ‘Introduction’ page thing similar to the ones on lost media and Rock A Fire. This Is to show what I think a Intro to Pizza Time Theatre intro page would look like and what would or should be contained if made.
Intro to Pizza Time Theatre
Welcome to Cheese-E-Pedia! This introduction article will help you get started with the basics to venture into our tons of articles.
Chuck E Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre was the predecessor brand to Chuck E Cheese’s created by Nolan Bushnell in 1977 that Operated until 1985 when all assets were Merged and or bought by Showbiz Pizza Place (Later Showbiz Pizza Time).
Pizza Time Theatre as a term has been generally used by the Fandom to mean any Pre-Concept Unification Chuck E Cheese material, but is specifically used by the Wiki to refer to anything related to Chuck E Cheese’s prior to 1985.
Characters
The Main Pizza Time Theatre Characters were part of the Pizza Time Players, who would appear as Animatronics in Stores. Other Characters would appear as Animatronics in a Secondary Dining Area, Mostly the Cabaret and Lounge rooms.
The Main Cast included:
- Chuck E Cheese - The ‘Big C’, The ‘Master of Ceremonies’, The Famous New Jersey Rat and Main Mascot of Pizza Time Theatre.
- Jasper T Jowls - A Country Dog who would play the banjo, and laugh at anything, which would annoy Chuck.
- Pasqually The Singing Chef - The Human Chef from Italy Playing the Accordion
- Mr Munch - A Purple Alien who was obsessed with Pizza, but could also sing.
- Warblettes - Secondary Singing Magpies, Daisy, Maisy, and Ermengarde.
- Guest - The Final Major Role would be filled by one of many Guests Stars. The Guest Stars in order of first Appearance are Helen Henny, Madame Oink, Foxy Colleen, Sally Sashay, and Harmony Howlette.
The Drum Board, Flag Wavers, and Clapper/Applause Board were prop animatronics that were used as non character animatronics in shows.
Several scrapped or replaced main characters also existed at one point including:
- Crusty The Cat - a Black Cat who was Chuck’s right hand man and most prominent character in Winchester Showtapes. He was replaced by Mr Munch for the opening of the Kooser Rd location in December 1978, but would appear in Winchester as an Animatronic until late 1979.
- Pizza Time Orchestra - Used at the first two Stores, they acted similar to the Drum Board but were located across the Walls with the Flag Wavers.
- Mopsey Sisters - Only used at the Kooser Location until 1980, Replacements to the Warblettes that would use the same songs. Its noteworthy that The Kooser Animatronic was the first Warblettes styled animatronic produced as the Winchester Warblettes were 3 figures above the middle of the Theatre.
In The Side Rooms, Single act characters or groups would appear including:
- Dolli Dimples - A Seductive Hippo who played Piano.
- Artie Antlers - A Charming Piano playing Moose.
- B B Bubbles - A Circus Elephant on Piano.
- The Beagles - Dog versions of the Original 4 Beatles Members who would play Beatles Songs
- Beach Bowzers - Dog versions of the Beach Boys.
- The King - a Large Elvis Pressley impersonating Lion who would play Elvis songs.
- King Kat - A Michael Jackson version of The King.
- Dr Quack - A Nursery Rhyme Singing Duck who appeared at the Simi Valley California location.
- The Little Shavers - Exclusively used at Modified Lounge rooms named Ice Cream Parlors. They were 4 Barber Shop Shavers based on Nolan Bushnell who would play songs by the Buffalo Bills.
- Helen Henny also briefly appeared a Cabaret/Lounge act in the Huntington Beach and Citrus Heights stores for their openings in 1979.
Some other characters, such as Family Album and Hot Fudge used for some locations during the Bankruptcy, were also made.
Terms
Due to the complication of this era of the brand and the misconceptions the fandom has and still has generally about this history, it’s important to explain several terms before diving into the History of the Brand.
- Winchester, Kooser - The Names of the First two Pizza Times Theatres that opened in May 1977 and Dec 1978 respectively. It’s important to note that neither store exists today as both were demolished in 2001/2002 and 2025 respectively.
- Sunnyvale - generally refers to the Final PTT corporate Building that operated from May 1980 until 1985 when all items were removed or destroyed and sent to the SPT offices in Irving.
- V1, V2 - V1 and V2 is used to designate the Different versions of the Chuck and Crusty animatronics used from 1977-1978 (V1) and 1978-1979 (V2) respectively. The Warblettes may or may not have also had this redesign through small photo evidence.
- Rick Rat, Big Cheese - Chuck names prior to Late 1976. The Big Cheese was used throughout the majority of the concept’s creation.
- Portrait Stages - Incorrect Term used to generally refer to the original 3 stage types used at PTT Stores, all of which had Portraits at one time or another. The Winchester and Kooser stages did not have official names, while the Cyberamic Shelf (Shelf) was named as such on Showtape Labels. It is important to note that the designation of a Stage as a Shelf is not their usage of Portraits as all Portraits besides Ogden Utah’s were removed the Portraits by the Mid 80’s.
- Balcony Stages - The Community term for The Stage, PTTs most common and recognizable stage type used at stores from it’s installation in Kooser near April 1980 until The creation of Chuck E’s House (Rocker Stage) by SPT in 1987. Several Balcony’s were retrofitted into House like stages by SPT during the Late 80’s, referred to as façade stages or C Stages.
- Zapp’s Bar & Grill/Wolfman Zapp - Zapp’s was a side chain to PTT that opened most stores in Nevada. Wolfman Zapp was an Animatronic Wolf version of Wolfman Jack that possibly appeared in Some or all locations. It is typically tied to the Era of PTT.
History
This history section is only a small overview of the Company’s history.
Foundations
Nolan Bushnell would have wants to create an Entertainment Pizza place even before the existence of Atari. Inspired by Redwood’s Pizza and Pipes and Walt Disneyland, Bushnell would eventually develop Coyote Pizza, buying a Wolf costume at the 1974 or 1975 IAAPA Expo. He would discover when it shipped to Atari’s offices in 1975 that it was a Rat. Making the best of this situation, Bushnell renamed the character to Rick Rat and later to The Big Cheese.
The Big Cheese and the Pizza Time Theatre concept would slowly form into Chuck E Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre by Early 1977. Two stores would be planned during this time. The Winchester store would be completed by early May and have Atari and Warner Communications employees visit for test screenings. The Animatronics were built by Fantasy Forest who was bought by PTT later on.
Early Years
The First Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose California on Winchester Boulevard would open on May 17th, 1977. While successful, Warner Communication did not plan on opening anymore Stores and planned to close the Winchester location, leaving Nolan Bushnell to buy the Rights back in Mid 1978.
The Second Pizza Time Theatre would open in San Jose California on Kooser Road on December 2nd 1978 in a former Grocery Store. The Store would also have the Piano Bar lounge with Dolli Dimples, which was planned since Late 1976.
The Opening of Kooser drew major and smaller News and other outlets to Visit and Promote the Location, which was the largest in door Pizza Parlor at the time.
Several Stores would open across 1979 including the first outside California in Sparks Nevada.
At the Time, Robert Brock would sign a deal with PTT Inc to open 200 Locations across the United States by the mid 1980’s. However, Brock later went back on this deal and opened Showbiz Pizza Place in the original 2 stores planned in Florida and Missouri.
Expansion Period & Bankruptcy
Pizza Time Theatre would expand across the United States, Australia, Canada, and France during the 1980’s. At the same Time, Pizza Time Theatre was in a Lawsuit against Showbiz over breaking of contract, which would last until 1982 when PTT won.
However, despite PTT’s expansion, and the designing of new Attractions such as the Large Indoor Playground Cheese E Street, The Company would be hit hard by the Video Game Crash of 1983.
Several PTTs closed between 1983-1985, and The Company was forced to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 1984. PTT would have all their assets bought off by Showbiz until May 1985, when the two fully merge. Despite the end of the Company, The brand remained mostly the same until the Beginning of Unification in the late 1980’s.
