NewsCenter 2 Creative Engineering News Cast (March 24, 1981)
The NewsCenter 2 Creative Engineering News Cast is a March 24, 1981 news segment for NewsCenter 2 discussing the at the time success of Creative Engineering, alongside the creation of its animatronic characters for Showbiz Pizza Place.
The Altamonte Springs, FL (541 W Hwy 436) Showbiz Pizza is highlighted and shown during the footage.(1) A similar newscast would appear on NewsWatch 6 'Someplace Different' (1981).
Transcript
The segment is narrated entirely by Debbie Wright. Aaron Fechter speaks during the footage and interview as well.intro, not seen on broadcast Debbie Wright: Creative Engineering, March 24th, 6 o'clock package. Broadcast singing Catch-A-Wave It's just an ordinary band, right? Wrong. It's called the Rock-afire Explosion and as you can see, it's far from ordinary. I guess you could call it a mechanical musical group or maybe you call it a musical group that just happens to be mechanical. At any rate, it's a different concept in entertainment that starts at this rather unsuspecting building in downtown Orlando. Inside Creative Engineering, an arm here, a leg there, an eye, a hand- that's what this fuzzy thing is, are welded and bolted and all put together to make a skeleton of sorts, while at the same time the bodies of the characters are being poured. Latex molds are made of their bodies. Looks like hard stuff, huh? In fact, it's not hard at all. It's really pretty soft, almost mushy. Right, Earl? Dubbed Earl Voice: It's all right. Debbie Wright: Add to Earl stuffing and a fuzzy little covering, you have one member of the Rock-afire Explosion, which by the way, is playing in Altamonte Springs. Creator Aaron Fechter, who by-the-way is only 27 years old, says creating the group was like a dream come true. Aaron Fechter: Well, it started off as kind of like a dream to build an animated character that would just work. Period. And even though I didn't know for sure that myself and my partner and I chose could do it, we didn't see why we couldn't do it so we went ahead and tried anyway. And we could always do something else if it didn't work. So we tried and it worked. Debbie Wright: I'll say it works! The group featuring Mitzi Mozzarella and Fatz the keyboard man is only part of a total electronic entertainment package at the newly opened Showbiz Pizza Place in Altamonte Springs. Paul McCartney, eat your heart out! Debbie Wright, Newscenter 2, Altamonte Springs.