PTT Winchester Chuck E. Cheese Name Sign (1977)
The Winchester Chuck E. Cheese Nameplate was only used at the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre on 370 South Winchester Boulevard located in the Town & Country Shopping Center in San Jose, California; for the purpose of identifying the Winchester Chuck E. Cheese from 1977 to 1980.
Production
Production of the Winchester nameplates do not have any specific data documented on them outside of speculation, however we can assume Chuck E. Cheese's nameplate was the first produced in the batch of Winchester nameplates due to the significance of the character and was produced by either Fantasy Forest or Atari Incorporated from July to August 1977. If production was not headed by Harold Guldbrandsen's company, it was either produced at Atari Incorporated or in house at store. We can theorize each Winchester nameplate was sent out alongside the Helen Henny animatronic as earlier photos of the location do not showcase the nameplates.
Usage
The only appearance of this nameplate was at the 370 South Winchester Boulevard location, where it was placed on the bottom section of Chuck E. Cheese's portrait from presumably August 1977 to presumably 1981. Once it had completed its run, several scenarios could have played out, those being:
- A. The nameplate was sent to Sunnyvale alongside the other Winchester portrait characters.
- B. Kept in storage at the location itself and destroyed.
- C. Kept in storage at the location itself and auctioned off.
Usage in 2018 Remodel Program
Around 2017, Chuck E. Cheese announced their 2.0 remodel program. As a part of this program, all stores would be remodeled and receive new signage, one of those fixtures would showcase a timeline of the company and featured Winchester Helen, Winchester Jasper T. Jowls, and Winchester Chuck E. Cheese. All of these characters would have their nameplate underneath their image including Chuck E. Cheese's nameplate.
Design
Chuck E. Cheese's nameplate is pretty much identical to the other Winchester nameplates at the time, with the exception of Helen Hennys nameplate, each Winchester nameplate used a rounded wooden board with the character's name in white text in the center, enclosed in a thin yellow border. Chuck E. Cheese's nameplate was no different, with the only difference being the text was changed to "CHUCK E. CHEESE"
Around late 1979, Chuck E. Cheese's nameplate alongside the other Winchester nameplates would receive the text "© PIZZA TIME THEATRE INC 1978" on the lower portion of the nameplate, as seen in the 1979 Great All American Pizza Show Franchise Brochure. [1]
Gallery
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Seen in Generation 2 Winchester Chuck shot.
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Seen in the "4 Corners" news broadcast.
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Ditto.
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Seen in the "Great All American Pizza Show" Franchise Brochure, take note of the copyright text.
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Seen in the 1977 B&W Winchester Promotional Photos.
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Seen in a 1977 promotional photo, most likely shortly after installation.
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Seen in some 2.0 stores.
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Take note of the lacking nameplate.
