Birdies (Warblettes Retrofit)

Birdies is a retrofit of Warblettes (Cyberamic) at Jungle Jim's International Market in Cincinnati, Ohio. (4450 Eastgate S Dr, Cincinnati, OH 45245) The animatronic can be seen in the 'Pet' section of the grocery store, when he is turned on he plays from a list of five songs. The songs The Birdies are programmed to are Good Golly Miss Molly, Locomotion (Little Eva), Duke of Earl, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and Yakety Yak.

History

The Birdies originally came from the Cincinnati, OH (11400 Princeton Pike) Pizza Time Theatre and was bought by Jungle Jim's in the Fall of 1984.⁽¹⁾ Birdies first debuted on September 11, 1995, in the 'Pets' section of the store between aisles 8 & 9.⁽²⁾ Only minor adjustments would be made mechanically once installed at Jungle Jim's with them having all three mouths as separate signals instead of just one.⁽³⁾ Their stage was originally a birdhouse sitting atop a purple platform. The birdhouse was painted white and brown with four supports covered in leaves in front with four tree branches on top of the house. On the purple platform, it originally read 'Pet Land' in flat silver text.⁽⁴⁾ In 2005 the platform had minor adjustments made with the edges being re-painted from purple to black and the 'Pet Land' text being replaced with three-dimensional text using Jungle Jim's font to now say 'Jungle Pets'.⁽⁵⁾⁽⁶⁾⁽⁷⁾ Sometime in the 2000s the birds mouths were modified again to instead of being three separate signals just use one signal with the side Birdies having a delay once the middle mouth opened. The body tilt would also be modified around this time to go back and forth slowly automatically.⁽⁸⁾ Between 2011 - 2018 all movements would slowly begin to break. ⁽⁹⁾ Then in June 2021 when the Birdies would be removed as part of a massive restoration that would take place from June 2021 - 2022. The Birdhouse would remove soon after in July.⁽¹⁰⁾ In January 2022 the Birdies were shipped back from Life Formations and would then be reinstalled at the 4450 Eastgate S Dr, Cincinnati, OH 45245 store instead of the Fairfield Jungle Jim's location. Both the animatronic and birdhouse would be reinstalled sometime in Fall 2022. The birdhouse would receive a repaint with the white and brown becoming yellow and blue, the black platform becoming blue and the yellow text becoming orange. The support leaves and branches were also removed during the move. The Birdies were also given a complete mechanical makeover now having all three mouths as separate signals instead of having the side birds having a delay to when the middle one was used, and the body tilt was fixed after ⁽¹¹⁾. In December 2022 a button was added to play the show instead of it looping.

Lost Media & Unknown information.

During the holiday season, Jungle Jim's has the Birdies sing holiday songs. It is currently unknown as to when this started it is also unknown as to what songs the Birdies sing other than 'Frosty the Snowman' & 'Christmas Don't Be Late'⁽¹²⁾

Birdies (Warblettes Retrofit)

History

Lost Media & Unknown information.

References