It's amazing what turns up on the Internet. Before Six Flags, the Looney Tunes characters were mascots for the two Marriott's Great America theme parks. I never knew this before today and a quick Google search turned up some interesting pieces of information.
From Wikipedia:
- "In 1976, the Looney Tunes characters made their way into the amusement business when they became the mascots for the two Marriott's Great America theme parks (Gurnee, IL and Santa Clara, CA). After the Gurnee park was sold to Six Flags, they also claimed the rights to use the characters at the other Six Flags parks, and continue to do so to this day."
The Looney Tunes characters appeared in a number of live stage shows for the parks. These were fairly big budget affairs as you can see in this YouTube clip. From professional dancers to what will be most interesting to us Looney Tunes buffs --- Mel Blanc doing all the character voices.
The same Google search turned up an entire website that lists every stage show that ran at the Marriott park. The page for 1983's Bugs Bunny's Las Vegas Review includes surprisingly high quality MP3 downloads of the entire half-hour show. Don't miss Bugs singing "One of Those Songs" with the Tasmanian Devil and Wile E. Coyote (!) or Daffy doing a Sammy Davis Jr. impersonation (oddly, the folks behind the show failed to speed up Porky and Daffy's voices).
Enjoy these "lost" Mel Blanc performances: Click here
6 comments:
I admit I don't know the parks' history all that well, but it seems as if Great America really liked depicting Bugs in an Uncle Sam outfit. Dakin produced a doll exclusive to their parks, and at least the Gurnee one still used such imagery well into the early '90s, long after they had become Six Flags Great America and had abandoned most other elements associated with the old company (the double-decker carousel being another exception).
But anyway, some of those costumes are terrifying (does Tweety have an overactive pituitary gland?). I actually thought that Pepe costume was Sniffles at first glance. And who the heck is that lady cat thing next to him? I will say, though, that Sam and Sylvester do look somewhat decent. Sylvester in particular looks like just the old Mighty Star plush.
For what it's worth, Six Flags does continue producing stage shows with the characters. I still recall one themed around "Tweety's Global Patrol," no doubt indicating what high hopes Warner Bros. had for the concept.
Look for us to mention "Tweety's Global Patrol" in the weeks ahead. I had no idea they did a Six Flags stage show based on the concept.
Am I the only one for whom these video links don't work at all? The YouTube clip has been taken down and the photos/videos removed from the website.
I'd love to see more material from these performances. According to Bob Bergen, the 1970s live shows included new Jones-written material in which Marvin the Martian had his original, otherwise unknown name of "Antwerp"! (Evidently, "Marvin Martian" came along for THE BUGS BUNNY/ROAD RUNNER MOVIE, and his "the" was added for legal reasons in or around 1990...)
The YouTube clip seems to have been taken down, but the site with the audio downloads still works for me.
Do you still have mp3's or photos from Bugs Bunny's Las Vegas? The linked website no longer exists...
Unfortunately, site containing MP3s has been taken down either :( Files are not available in Internet Archive as well...
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