Cabaret Helen Henny
Released: October 1979
Review by: Concord
Show Segments
"Wild About Chuck E." / "Meet Me in Saint Louis" / "Waltz Me Around Again Willie"
"Mairzy Doats" / "Do-Re-Me"
"Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens"
"How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm"
"Happy Birthday"
"Salute to Hollywood" ("Hooray for Hollywood" / "You Ought to Be in Pictures")
"Too Marvelous for Words" / "Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart"
"Hollywood Chicken Coop" / "Rootin' For a Rooster"
"Over the Rainbow" / "I Wanna Be Loved By You" / "I Get a Kick Out of You"
"If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked a Cake" / "Hollywood Songs"
"If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked a Cake" (Disco) / "Hollywood Songs"
Additional / Related Material
Commercial / Promo #1
Commercial / Promo #2
It’s quite a miracle this showtape was even able to be found, and it gives quite an insight to how Helen Henny was portrayed in her earlier appearances, but at the same time there’s not
really any other showtapes from the era to compare the tracks to, other than the later Broadway Helen Henny appearances.
Overall, this is her third appearance overall in the company, following her two showtapes used in her “Portrait” appearances. Surprisingly enough, this is the second “Cabaret” act in the company, even being introduced months before Artie Antlers debuted.
Known Installations - Interestingly enough, the Cabaret appearance of Helen Henny was only installed at 2 locations, her debut being at the fifth Pizza Time Theatre in Huntington Beach, California, and the second known appearance being at the Citrus Heights, California, Pizza Time Theatre.
Promotional Tracks - Cabaret Helen Henny came with 2 promotional tracks, suggesting that she’d appear in advertisements either on local television or car radios.
Dept 18 Archives - This reel (or these tracks) were uncovered by Department 18, found buried in their media archives.
Bawks - There are roughly 190 “Bawks” across the whole Showtape, including the promotional tracks.
Wild About Chuck E. - Helen references several Pizza Time Theatre Corporate Employees. Helen sings, “This little melody is dedicated to Nolan, Michael, Donald, Harold, Gregory, Raymond, and Jerry. William, Rob, John, Brad, Sam, Jack, Dale, Allen, James, Randy, Gene, Oh I couldn’t forget Gene, Alfie, Claude, and all the others who awarded me the Golden Drumstick”, Some of the notable mentions are Nolan Bushnell who served as Chief Executive of Operations, then Michael Hatcher as Director of Entertainment, Harold Goldbransen who served as Director of Research and Development of Entertainment Systems, Gregory Tilden who served as Director of Technical Operations, Ray Davis who served as Director of Engineering, Jack Campbell who served as Director of Franchises, Allen Strege who served as the San Jose District Manager, Randy Eaton who served as Store Lead, and finally Gene Landrum. It is unknown who else Ms. Henny mentions, but it could be possible they were Fantasy Forest Manufacturing Employees.
- 3 out of 5 Tokens -
Overall, it’s very hard to see who the showtape was actually trying to appeal to. Most of the songs are Nursery Rhymes and other tunes traditionally sung to young children, but at the same time Helen speaks of her “Thighs a thousand-roosters want to tenderize” quite often, and she even comes very close to swearing in one of the later tracks, which perfectly encapsulates what the earlier showtapes of Pizza Time Theatre were.
It’s pretty clear that the Showtape didn’t really know who it wanted to appeal to which makes reviewing it quite a challenge, and the constant strumming of the ukulele gets quite annoying around half-way through the showtape. The constant “Bawk” sound Helen Henny expresses is used way too often, even with the character being a chicken it shouldn’t be happening that much. The supplemental disco track of “If I knew you were coming I would’ve baked a cake” was a really good, but brief, change. Even though it follows the same boring formula of strumming a ukulele and “Bawking” every second, the disco styled music blends really well with Helen’s ukulele, hence why this track was one of my favorites in the entire tape.
It’s very nice to have more information on Helen’s earlier appearances, and this showtape is packed full of data surrounding that, once again it’s a miracle this was even recovered and digitized, especially when you factor in how there were only 2 known installations. Even with how repetitive it is, I still have a soft spot for the tape for the mentioned reasons above. I believe with a little more guidance on who Pizza Time Theatre wanted to appeal to with these tracks it could’ve gotten a higher score.
