Defunct Looney Tunes Animatronic Restaurant: Gadgets

[@RensterCEC]

Great video! I’m the owner of a Pepe Le Pew animatronic from The Looney Tunes Revue. I’d like to mention that the company who produced the animatronic characters was called Advanced Animations and while they produced the Gadgets animatronics they were owned by Warner Brothers and named “Warner Technologies”. Also stage 2, the expanded version of the show also had Speedy, Henery Hawk, and Taz. If you have any other questions you couldn’t find information on, please let me know!

[@StorybookAmusement]

That's great! I was watching your Basket Case cover the other day haha. I didn't include some small details like the ones mentioned for the sake of simplicity. The archived info the community has provided online was a HUGE help putting this video together. You all are amazing. 😊 Couldn't go anywhere without seeing Pasq's name pop up. I guess the only mystery I wasn't able to find conclusive info about was the trailer. Was that used for carnivals back in the '80s, or what was its purpose? Was it made up of former Gadgets animatronics, or were they made specifically for that? Thank you so much for dropping in.

[@RensterCEC]

@@StorybookAmusement After Gadgets failed, and Warner Brothers sold Advanced Animations back to the original owners they decided they were going to move from Southbury, Connecticut to Stockbridge, Vermont. However, they still had The Looney Tunes Revue programming stage which they transported to Vermont and then put into a traveling trailer with a new control system and some modified effects to fit the trailer. It was then used for carnivals and was sold around a few owners until it reappeared in 2020, where the characters were sold separately which is how each person ended up with them.

[@StorybookAmusement]

@@RensterCEC Awesome! At least the animatronics are in good hands now.

[@oosthakker]

Did the same company did them for the WB movieworld rides as well?

[@RensterCEC]

@@oosthakker no

[@PiTheThemeParkGuy]

These animatronics are incredible for the time for a non-theme parks and I can't believe I've never heard of these before!

[@StorybookAmusement]

Especially Sammy! I love that they had an original character that looked and performed that great.

[@NathanIsaacStudios]

5:30 the women also did a news thing about Teddy Ruxpin,in fact, they couldn’t find one for it cause of how rare he was in the 80s lol

[@StorybookAmusement]

Ooooh that's interesting!

[@NathanIsaacStudios]

@@StorybookAmusement thanks!

[@MinnoMinori]

One day I *will* wake up with one of these glorious, technically-amazing, awe-inspiring, yet also uncannily horrifying animatronics looming over my bed and I'll be in the strangest mix of sheer terror and intellectually-curious/historically reverent bemusement. But I as groggy as I'll be from my waking stupor, it won't matter if it's human... or *humanoid* . But no, I tease, they genuinely look wonderful for the time compared to many of their contemporaries and I'm surprised how well some collectors have been able to maintain/restore them.

[@StorybookAmusement]

The Bugs one is especially charming to me. There's something about the way he has his arms raised to conduct that's kind of cute. But also, he ready to put those hands to good use if need be. 😈 Thank you so much for watching! Means a bunch as always!

[@EverythingYouKnowIsWrong]

Gadgets was my favorite restaurant in the 80s. My friend and I would go to the one at Eastview Mall in Victor, NY in the 80s. The shows were great, but my favorite recollections of Gadgets was the food. They had a blend of spices they used on seemingly everything from the fries to meal plates that was to die for. I tried several times to ask what the spice blend consisted, but was shot down every time. I'd still like to know.

[@StorybookAmusement]

Oh wow! Was it like an Old Bay seasoning? That sounds amazing.

[@oosthakker]

Wow that sylvester junior and bugs bunny from 9:14 look creepy

[@StorybookAmusement]

Don't talk to me or my son ever again. 😄

[@thedrewster0408]

1:14 A powerful rat named Charles Entertainment Cheese.

[@masonshaw536]

The Looney Tunes Revue kinda reminds me of similar shows that are put on by animatronic versions of Rocky and Bullwinkle at those old Bullwinkle’s Restaurant locations. I think one or two of the Bullwinkle restaurants might still be open

[@StorybookAmusement]

From what I saw briefly while researching, there are two still open in the Pacific Northwest!

[@PasqAnimatronics]

The location in Tukwilla, Washington is the only one with a Bullwinkle’s show still installed, but there are others that exist with no animatronics.

[@TheAdventuresofMegGreg]

So cool they had a lounge animatronic for adults!! Haha. I had never heard of the Looney Tunes review! This was really fun to watch. Thank you for sharing, we subscribed! :)

[@StorybookAmusement]

Seems like a neat business model that might've worked out in different circumstances. Thank you!

[@popculturepalace]

This was really fun to watch! Gadgets is a place I knew I hadn't imagined but was so short-lived and obscure I might as well have. I loved going to the one at the Berkshire Mall and remember my mom and her cousin drinking white russians out of beakers. I thought it was so cool and pledged that when I was a grown-up I would have laboratory beakers for my beverages (sadly I do not).

[@StorybookAmusement]

Haha it's always so odd what specific childhood memories stick with us. That's amazing though! Do you remember getting to see any animatronics?

[@popculturepalace]

@@StorybookAmusement I do remember seeing the shows, but not really much in the way of specifics. The only image I have in my head is Yosemite Sam spinning his pistols around. Seeing the video clips did spark a feeling of vague familiarity but that's about it. I went to that mall quite a bit in childhood and there's a lot of nostalgia and fuzzy memories though I'm pretty sure the one with the Banana Splits in it had to have been a dream.

[@StorybookAmusement]

@@popculturepalace I know exactly what you mean. Sifting through footage for my videos, I always get very vague memories. That’s still fun though! The Banana Splits thing could’ve been something else!

[@jessebixler8573]

Berks county in the house! I went to that one as well. Upstairs. I can still see it in my head

[@thisguysgaming7246]

This video is gonna be huge soon gadgets go popular on tiktok

[@StorybookAmusement]

Oh boy 😳

[@LaurensTravels]

I love that Foghorn was included 😂 this was so well done! 👏🏻 Had never heard of Sammy before.

[@StorybookAmusement]

Thank you so much! There are unfortunately (to my knowledge) no photos or videos of Foghorn, but I think he played drums from what I read. He'd make a good front man though! 😅

[@animatronicentertainmentdude]

I really wish we had more showtapes. The bots aren’t necessary, but the music created for the LTR is powerful enough to keep the fan base alive. I would just love to hear more of what Taz and Foghorn had to say. Also, have we ever heard Henry Hawk talk during a show?

[@StorybookAmusement]

There's been a bit more preserved since this video has been posted. It's great! I can't personally answer your question about Henry Hawk. I haven't researched the show enough recently to know.

[@ParkTwister]

Such a fascinating story. This whole thing reminds me of that old trope in cartoons when a character stumbles across some old audio animatronics show that's been broken for years and then they come to life and try to kill the main characters. LOL

[@StorybookAmusement]

I'm not sure I'd trust turning my back to Sylvester. 😬

[@christopherwesterberg8555]

I Love Looney Tunes

[@mechaitheracer2563]

55 showtapes!? Man that is going to take years to find

[@StorybookAmusement]

🤞🏻 Hopefully the Sammy Sands ones come up!

[@larissazmijewski5928]

This is fascinating, great work! And Sammy Sands is a TOTAL rock star! ;)

[@StorybookAmusement]

This’ll be weird if I’m wrong, but I think I know who this is based on your comment. 😄⭐️

[@larissazmijewski5928]

@@StorybookAmusement That was the whole point! :D

[@StorybookAmusement]

@@larissazmijewski5928 Well well well! 😆 Thanks so much for watching!

[@AdventuresWithParker]

Such a cool piece of history! I wish stuff like this was more prevalent today... but at least we have Sonny Eclipse.

[@StorybookAmusement]

Sonny Eclipse is the 🐐, so I think we’ve got it pretty good!

[@PasqAnimatronics]

Good video! The Gadgets Cafe actually did open in Houston, on Westheimer Road.

[@StorybookAmusement]

Thanks! So were there only three then? The info you have put together online was incredible. Thank you for all your time and work to preserve the history of Gadgets and the Revue.

[@PasqAnimatronics]

@@StorybookAmusement There were 3 Cafe locations that completed opening, and planned ones for California in Torrance and Santa Ana. I heard the California ones never opened. It also seems like all of the locations were completely closed by 1985. The last one was in Aurora, Colorado.

[@StorybookAmusement]

@@PasqAnimatronics Thanks great info. Thank you so much for the update!

[@PasqAnimatronics]

@@StorybookAmusement No problem!

[@spochysrandomnetwork]

showbiz isnt a copycat it came before chuck e cheese

[@babyboy_336elgran2]

Chuck E. Cheese: 1977 Showbiz: 1980

[@spochysrandomnetwork]

@@babyboy_336elgran2 Oops sorry for my misunderstanding

[@babyboy_336elgran2]

@@spochysrandomnetwork it’s ok

[@rockafiremoon]

Nice video. And I also own the Tweety bird Animtronic from the looney tunes revue

[@StorybookAmusement]

That's awesome! Were you able to fix its beak?

[@rockafiremoon]

@@StorybookAmusement Yeah. I had to make a new mold off of the old mask and re-sculpt the beak. I have some videos of him on my KZbin here

[@StorybookAmusement]

@@rockafiremoon Whoa, you did a GREAT job! Tweety's looking fantastic and moves really well. Nice work!

[@LaurensTravels]

I’m already hooked on the first two sentences of this video. 🤩 🍹

[@maximusprime3459]

I really miss Showbiz Pizza.

[@StorybookAmusement]

The world needs more animatronic restaurants

[@princesspeachfan100]

How has no one talked about the Speedy animatronic? He’s so cute! 😊 (Does anyone know whatever happened to him?) Also why is there two of them during the show anyways, one was just hanging in the background while the Speedy with the maracas actually plays. XD ) 4:14 Also if someone has all of them anywhere, imagine it, if you really wanted to you could make them blink if you wanted to, with technology these days you could make them move a lot better too! :)

[@RensterCEC]

Hi, in the show, there was an effect in which the speedy in the back was basically a doll on a zipline that could move diagonally across the stage. (Starting behind Pepe and shooting up to where it is seen in the photo). Typically, the zipline would introduce Speedy's apperance and then the animatronic figure in front of Porky would pop up after, after the zipline effect was finished. In the trailer version of the show, Speedy on the zipline was not installed. Therefore, only the 6-function maraca Speedy was in the show (moved to be underneath Pepe's piano). Sadly, Speedy is the only animatronic that sold from the last remaning LTR to be lost. Nobody knows who bought Speedy and his whereabouts are still unkown to this day. As to your last comment, many of us who own the animatronics are in the process of restoring them. I own Pepe Le Pew, whom is almost completely restored. You can find photos and videos on my KZbin page or my Instagram, @renstercec.

[@StorybookAmusement]

Thanks Renster!

[@princesspeachfan100]

@@RensterCEC Thanks so much! Wait, both of them? That’s too bad… Hopefully both of them will be found one day… Zipline Speedy ESPECIALLY, he’s so cute as I said! 😊 Whoever has him is EXTREMELY lucky and hopefully will come out of nowhere and tell us where these versions of him are, lost media and stuff is being found all the time now, so no doubt we’ll find the wareabouts of those hopefully! :) I would hate the fact that he was just thrown out and forgotten… 😔 Zipline Speedy and Maraca Speedy needs to be found! 😊😂

[@politiekhistorie]

Do you have a Patreon or something similar? I'd like to support! Your videos are great and informative, your channel should be a lot more popular than the statistics seem to imply!

[@StorybookAmusement]

Well thank you so much! I currently don’t have any content behind a paywall as I’m not sure how much time I could dedicate to it. I’ll keep you all posted if anything changes. 😊 But thanks again!

[@politiekhistorie]

@@StorybookAmusement No problem! And I don't mind it if there isn't any exclusive content (in fact I like it that way), a mention in the credits would be nice but not necessary. Understandable if you don't for now but when you do, I'd like to be one of the first!

[@StorybookAmusement]

@@politiekhistorie Thanks! And those are some great ideas. I truly appreciate the kind words. 😊

[@AlphaTraveler1]

I dont remember this. Wow, this is some real old school stuff. HAHAHA. LIKE 51. Happy New Year 2022, stay safe and stay AWESOME my friend. 👍👍👍

[@StorybookAmusement]

Thanks for watching!

[@DirektBozo]

Kid named whistle:

[@emory_arts]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[@emory_arts]

sorry that was posted in a rogue state of passion, i loved learning about this and had NO idea Gadgets even existed

[@StorybookAmusement]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHAAH

[@StorybookAmusement]

Whoops, sorry for my outburst of pure excitement to see you watched my video. 🥲

[@emory_arts]

@@StorybookAmusement not sure if i've told you but i've seen SO MANY!!!

[@StorybookAmusement]

@@emory_arts 😭 Thank you! But also please kindly forget any cringe you may have witnessed. 🙃