Warren, MI Family Album Technical Documents (1984)

The 1984 Warren, MI Family Album Technical Documents were a set of handwritten documents by an employee going by 'Jimmie' for controlling the Family Album stage show at the Warren, MI (11555 Engleman Rd) Pizza Time Theatre.

Contents

The document is a 7 page manual stapled together at the top left corner.

Dear 'Yuccys'

The fist section is a note from Jimmie to 'Young Up & Coming Controller's' (Yuccy) that describes tips for a better performance. It mainly details preparation before coming into work to decide on which topics to discuss, encouraging employees to bring in their interests, jokes, trivia, and topics the audience can relate to. It also notes to be ready for audience comments during a show.

Control Board

The second section is a hand-drawn diagram of the control board. Each button is labeled to its function,

Starting System

The third section shows steps on starting up and shutting down the Family Album system, alongside a hand-drawn diagram of the control rack. Other notable buttons are listed on the drawing.

Setting Up A Show

The fourth section details inserting a cassette, preparing the program, and playing a show to its completion.

Birthdays

The fifth section details playing an entire birthday show. The show is done entirely through just the Mr. Kootch character, with mainly adlibbed segments. This is the only show noted that requires multiple other employees to perform, as someone must knock on the door to signal if the pizza is ready, and the Chuck E. mascot must come out after section 2 of the tape.

Song List

The sixth section details the current cassette at the time being used for the showtape. Each song has a program number, designated character canonically singing the lead, and whether the songs are new or old (which designate their instructions in section 4). These are:
  1. Beat It - #2 - Old Song - Doodley
  2. Mr. Roboto - #4 - Old Song - Doodley (Electric Ave. Sly)
  3. Easy Money - #6 - Old Song - Doodley
  4. Physical - #8 - Old Song - Rox
  5. Celebration - #10 - Old Song - Sly
  6. Hard for the Money - #12 - Old Song - Rox
  7. Ritz - #14 - Old Song - Doodley
  8. Hit the Road Jack - #16 - Old Song - Doodley (All)
  9. Fun Fun Fun - #24 - New Song - Rox
  10. Dancing in the Street - #26 - New Song - Sly
  11. Boogie Woogie - #28 - New Song - Rox
  12. Tan Shoes - #30 - New Song - Rox
  13. Mack the Knife - #32 - New Song - Sly
  14. Major Tom - #18 - New Song - Doodley
  15. Karma - #20 - New Song - Rox

Errors & Trouble Shooting

The seventh section details the error numbers that may show up on the counter lights, with #1-10 being tech errors, and 12+ being human errors. It then details the procedures to do when an error happens.

Cleaning & Grooming

The last section details how to clean the tape heads, robots, and stage.