| Pizza Showtime | |
|---|---|
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1980 |
| Closed | 1984 |
| Previous owner(s) | Allied & Leisure Industries |
| Street address | 148 Murray Street |
| City | Perth, Western Australia |
| County | Australia |
Pizza Showtime was a family restaurant and entertainment centre operating in Perth, Western Australia from 1980 to 1984. [1] Similar to the American Chuck E. Cheese chain it was a sit down pizza restaurant complemented by arcade games, and animatronic characters.
The restaurant was located in the now demolished Grand Theatre building [2] located at 148 Murray Street (a site now occupied by Grand Theatre Lane, showcasing a small cafe, and multiple storefronts). [3] It featured 'space invaders' style game consoles built into the customer tables (operated with tokens [4] ) and an animatronic stage show featuring a dog named 'Bert Newhound', a piano playing kangaroo [5] known as 'Melton Pom' (next to joey), singing koalas with 'Lottie' being the lead, a wise cracking horse by the name of 'Ned Kelly' a dingo named 'Ringo Dingo', and a fiddle playing American bear who went unnamed. The animatronic robots cost "in excess of $100,000" [6] and are claimed to have had "more movements than any Disney character". [6] Australian actor Jack Thompson provided the voice for the "Ringo Dingo" character.
Pizza Showtime closed down around 1984 and the robot characters were dismantled and sent to Sydney. [6] The restaurant was originally intended as a starter for a chain of 'Pizza Theatres' around Australia, owned and operated by Allied & Leisure Industries, along with Paul Gregory under the supervision of A&L founder Malcolm Steinberg, who is the current owner of the Timezone arcade game franchise. [6] The building was subsequently converted to an Asian foodhall [7] and was demolished in 1990. [2]
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The Grand Theatre was a theatre and cinema located at 164–168 Murray Street, Perth, Western Australia. It was opened in September 1916 and closed in November 1980. The building was demolished in March 1990.
