greg90

In Michael Moore's film "Roger and Me" - which is about the decay of the auto industry in Flint - Michael takes a tour of Autoworld.

Didn't they have their chance in the late 90s Bob Pittman/Time Warner era?

How many pages CAN you read in 9 and a half minutes?

I remember once Rob Einhorn was running the projector (I think it was Rob). I heard an expletive and ran up - the entire booth was covered in film. The rewinder had gone nuts. In fact, that was the most stressful part of working there, rewinding that film.

I also remember making a lot of splices with scotch tape! I am sure the film lost a minute or two by then end of the season.

I spent most of 1988 in Cinema 180 - when I wasn't performing the Salty Dog Puppet Show. In fact, I rmember us being so shorthanded that I did both at the same time once in a while. Not bad, since the puppet show was an outside concession - you got paid twice!

The best thing about running the projector - other than car=tching up on reading - was flipping on the house lights and closing the shutter at the exact moment of the final "crash". The objective was to see how many people would fall backwards!

The weirdest was during Deaf Awareness events. The guests couldn't hear the pre-show announcement, amd had no idea I was about to turn the lights out. The were all chatting away in sign language, when , bam - lights out, show starting. I always felt like I was interrupting all of their conversations.

A couple of things.

The hole they dug to build this ride must have been almost as deep as the ride is tall!

I was one of the first to ride, albeit dressed as Bogey Orangutan, for some publicilty shots with then Park General Manager Dave Paltzik. They raised and lowered us to all different heights - the photographer was in the next chute.

When they rebuilt the Games Square after 1982 - yes they wanted to drive people through there, and Parachuter's Perch was a good way to do it. They also blocked off direct access from the Carousel to the Four Tents with a large mounded garden - forcing people to walk through Games Square. Smart money move, but kind of ruined the big Fairway feel of standing at the Four Tents and looking right up the long street to Carousel - Fountain - and Big Wheel.

I rode this as a kid. The track was not flat, you had to get up that first hill after the start as you turned left. I think there were problems with some cars not making it up. It was a very slight incline, however - and then you came down the hill in the last turn.

The Mike Douglas Show went to Great Adventure in the mid 70s - may have even been 74 or 75. I don't remember if it was a whole week, but may have been. One of the segments featured the Grand Prix. I believe Mike raced against someone - Mario Andretti, maybe, No - one of the Unsers, I think. Anyway, you get the idea. It was a cool ride.

Did you take the SCI-FI pic? I seem to remember the head of retail, or food service hanging around and taking photos that day.

I like the picture with Eric - I seem to remember a similar phot from another year with Robbie Zumsteg and a girl in almost the same pose.

Anyway, I'm glad I found your site. I don't do Facebook or any of that other suff, so I am pretty out of the loop. But if you type "greg gillette" in google, I am the very first link! pretty cool if you want to catch up on what I'm up to.

With Salty Dog there was a story to follow - so you didn't have to do 15 minutes of Don Rickles. But with Perthy, that was just an insult show. My friend Erik Neilsen was doing it around 80, 81, 82, 83 - Paul Broderick was a sub during those years, as was my other pal, John Smales. I came in to perform the "right wing" many times. That was fun. The insults were amazing - these guys went all out. I remember the door being pounded on after the show on more than one occasion. I also remember being asked to lock one of these puppeteers in the booth from the outside (it was a padlock) when he was in there with a girl in between shows. To his credit, he apparently got the job done, composed himself, and hit the next show right on time 45 minutes later. Some one else performed the "right wing" during that show!

Answer: Perthy Pelican. There are a LOT of good stories associated with Perthy Pelican. None G-rated enough for your second book, I imagine.

good memory! Do you remember that I WAS Salty Dog for a good portion of 1988? I almost forgot about that myself? Do you remember what character preceded Salty Dog?

Did you find a set of slides taken in the early 70s of all the classic rides and shops, etc. I think there were about 30 in the set. They are a standard slide holder, but the slide itself is a square format. I had a set of these in my desk on Dec. 18, 1999, but I didn't take them with me, because they belonged to the park! What a dope I was! They were probably tossed.

Now I'm wondering who my OTHER favorite was? I checked out the photo gallery from 79 and 80. I started in 82 - but the big changeover in on grounds employees started in 1981 - by 1982, no one from 1980 was still there - except for Lynn Hirsch - she's the first headless (!) girl in the photo that starts this thread.

I'm glad you found a spot for Sc-Fi in the book. I gave 11 years of my life to that character before I quit on Dec. 18. 1999. For years, I missed writing and performing those shows - especially the hundreds of educational shows that I put on in the schools.

I'm over it now - sob, sob!

You should be happy you got out when you did. GA was an awesome place to work in the 80s, and a crummy place to work in the 90s. I can't imagine what it was like this century!

oops, typing too fast! Maurice carried a PALETTE and brush, not an easel.

Hi Guys -

I saw a picture of a parrot-like character on your site, but that isn't Pedro Parrot.

These characters arrived around 1978, I would think. We continued to use them through 1983, overlapping with the Shirt Tales characters. I believe the costumes were sold off - without employees knowledge! - around 1986 or 1987. I think Matt Brand (is that his name?) bought the costumes, but he had no idea how the pieces went together - what heads went with what costumes and feet.

Don't forget PacMan and Ms. PacMan - arrived in 1982 and used through at least 1984, for sure, maybe 1985. PacMan and Ms. couldn't speak, but they had a cassette player in the head that played the theme song. It was hooked up to some kind of battery. I remember at least once the whole thing caught on fire and got really smoky on the head! I never played PacMan or Ms. because I was too tall. You wore tights, and if the head was too high on your shoulders, well, you weren't covered.

Flapperz, the big clown, was allowed to drop his pants revealing his striped long underwear/jumpsuit. Maurice le Rat was an artist and carried an easel and brush. The costume was like a dress, with tights, so very desirable on the hottest days. Prince Ruppert was like wearing a carpet - hot hot hot - but great freedon of movement. Buddy Bear was also a rug. Pedro Parrot was so polluted by the stench of one cast member that no one but he could wear it for the entire season. Wheeler was just like Yosemite Sam in concept - big head and you looked out of the hat. Officer O"Malley and Casey Baseball were like that also. Sir Wilden Woolie was the nicest costume - I think that one may have been added later because it looked newer. He was supposed to be an English Big Game hunter - ha ha - but because of the Safari, he only shot with a camera. HockenSwipette is described as an older uncle who likes to steal kisses - can you imagine that 30 years later! Casey Baseball was a huge baseball.

I rarely had a camera in those days, but I can take a look in the attic.

I hope you included my favorite character in your book. Can you guess who that was? Tom should know.

This happens to be my area of expertise, as I played every one of those characters in the early 80s.

Starting from the left

Officer O'Malley

CatFish

Prince Ruppert

HockenSwipette

Flapperz

Sir Wilden Woolley

other charcaters included

Fritz (the German character shown elsewhere in this thread)

Pedro Parrot

Pierre Le Pup

Maurice Le Rat

Casey Baseball

Wheeler

Buddy Bear

and - in the same vein as Cap'n Crunch

The Drake's Duck

The Armour Hot Dog

Icee Bear

The interesting thing about these characters is they were all SPEAKING characters. You had to do the accent or the voice, and STAY IN CHARACTER.

We even practiced it backstage. Two actors would try to crack each other up with insults while staying in character until one broke down.

I still have the oficial "back stories" and charcater notes for these characters. Here is a short one to give you an idea:

Pierre Le Pup

Pierre Le Pup is a very noble musketeer-like character who speaks with a French accent. He is very interested in what other Body Puppets [costumed characters] are doing and often gets annoyed when they act below his royal standards. He is a member of Prince Ruppert's Dog Court and enjoys sharing an afternoon with the Prince himself. He usuakky sizes up situations and types of people while twirling his shapely mustache. Pierre is a sort of stick-in-the-mud. Please avoid fire hydrant and tree jokes. [!]