Showbiz Pizza Place LP

Submitted by Carrie August 18th, 2010
Certifikitsch Winner

Another well-loved LP from my childhood – ¬© ‚Ñó 1982. Wish I could find and add the picture of me from the 5th birthday party we had at Showbiz Pizza Place, where I probably “won” this LP by collecting tickets from the arcade games. More information about the animatronic band characters to be found here: The Rock-afire Explosion (I had no idea!)

The unofficial band leader was Fatz Geronimo, the gorilla in the gold tuxedo.

11 Responses to “Showbiz Pizza Place LP”

  1. Allee Willis

    Now wait, are you saying that there was an actual place called Showbiz Pizza Place and that you won this LP there? But the place didn’t look like what this a cover looks like, right? All the singing and playing animals? I’d have a heart attack and jump on a plane right now if so despite the fact that singing and playing animals oftentimes annoy me. though these look pretty great and look like they were made with loving care an attention to detail.

    I love some of the shots on the back cover, especially the little girl kissing that amazingly wide fur thing and then the giant 24 track mixing board next to it with the plaid suited animal most likely trying to figure out how to cup his paw around one of the knobs.

    (The AWMOK Jungle Animal Petting Zoo is a scenic attraction whose cages are currently being filled to coincide with the release of the upcoming Pomplamoose with Allee Willis “Jungle Animal” VideoSong and online music game and contest. Jungle tamer, AWMOK creator, curator and charming hostess, Allee Willis, me, will be steadily leading jungle animals to their cages over the next 1-2 months or so as you bring them here until the song is released. If ever there ever was a category that was primed to be kitschified it’s that of “Jungle Animal” as all the stripes, spots and fur have been inspiration for designers since the beginning of time. I thank you all in advance for placing your jungle pets in such an illustrious cage as The Allee Willis Museum of Kitsch. Keep them coming!)

  2. Carrie

    Yes, there was an actual place called Showbiz Pizza Place (later taken over by and absorbed into Chuck E. Cheese, unfortunately)! There was a stage with an animatronic animal band (the one in the photos!) along with arcade games (whac-a-mole, skee ball, etc) and dining area.

    You got tokens to play the games and would win tickets which you could exchange for toys and prizes. I don’t remember for sure, but I’m pretty positive I probably exchanged some of my tickets for this LP.

    • Nessa

      I went to a birthday party at a Showbiz Pizza as a kid and those slightly moth-eaten animatronics kinda scared the crap out of me! Pretty sure I enjoyed the arcade, though, I was always up for a giant ball pit as a kid.

      Allee, Showbiz Pizza looked EXACTLY like this record.

      Here’s a good website on the history of the chain: http://www.showbizpizza.com/

      • Allee Willis

        Not sure how I missed out on a place called Showbiz Pizza with such zaniness going on inside but it appears that I did. Sounds like I was too old to go to it as a kid but even in my adult years I’ve been attracted to crazy places like this. I would like to go right now!

      • Carrie

        Thanks for sharing that website Nessa! I hadn’t seen that one before.

  3. Douglas Wood

    This is great! My wife’s brother worked at a Chuck E. Cheese when he was a teenager and his comment on the place (which loads kids up with crappy food, then over-stimulates them with arcade games) was, “Every kid enters with a smile on his face, and leaves crying.”

  4. denny

    Wow, the mice with the really red faces are killing me. No wonder there were some kids that left in tears. I would have killed to go to Showbiz Pizza. Do you still play the lp?

    • Carrie

      If I had a working record player I would put it on right now. Sadly, I haven’t had access to one in a while, so haven’t listened to this in years.