Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty was one of the most unique characters ever used in conjunction with the Rock-afire Explosion. The actual Statue of Liberty in New York was celebrating its 100th Anniversary in 1986, and ShowBiz Pizza Place wanted to do a tribute of its own. They decided to do this by installing their very own version of the Lady Liberty in each of the 170 ShowBiz Pizza locations nationwide1.
Oddly enough, the Statue of Liberty became the only character (with the possible exception of Uncle Klunk) to join the Rock-afire Explosion system-wide - at the very least she was the only character to do so at all restaurants simultaneously. ShowBiz had been toying with the idea of adding licensed characters to the show, even considering licensing a character from the Transformers brand, but instead wanted something "lasting" and decided to ultimately go with the Statue.1
ShowBiz commissioned Creative Presentations, Inc. in March of 1986. CPI, with the help of mechanical designer Ralph Millard and costume designer Patti Whitmore brought Lady Liberty to life. The Statue was scaled down to 6' tall to match the size of the other characters, in fact, the animatronic mech beneath the cosmetics is that of Rolfe DeWolfe. ShowBiz felt it was best to go with a realistic appearance as opposed to an animated or characterized look - something that would maintain the dignity of the Statue as a national symbol. The only alteration that was made was the addition of a slight smile, to make her a little less intimidating to the younger children.1
Liberty first appeared in 1986, and had a small speaking role - when she was unveiled by the Rock-afire Explosion, a female voice could be heard reading words from "The New Colossus", the poem inscribed at the base of the Statue in NYC. There were two different Liberty shows produced (one by ShowBiz corporate and one by Creative Engineering) with both versions of the show being present on the 1986 "Happy Birthday Liberty" showtape2. Though Liberty read The New Colossus in both versions, she was portrayed by a different voice actor in each.
Although the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty came and went in 1986, Lady Liberty remained a recurring event around the 4th of July through at least 1990. New variations of the Liberty showtape were created, starting with an edited version in 1987 which removed the specific references to the 100th birthday celebration in the corporate version of the show. By the time of the cyberstar era in the late 1980s, only the Creative Engineering show was used and was given accompanying video footage of patriotic imagery that would play throughout the show.3
References
1 - Statue of Liberty Goes Into ShowBiz - The Daily Herald
2 - ShowBizPizza.com Showtape Review - Happy B-Day Liberty
3 - ShowBizPizza.com Showtape Review - Rock-afire Explosion Showtapes
