The Rock-afire Explosion Classic Stage (Mini)
The Classic Rock-afire Explosion Mini Stage (also known as the Rock-afire Explosion One-Stage) was designed for small town ShowBiz Pizza restaurants in the early 1980s. It contained only four characters and, because it lasted for only a couple of years, the Mini-Stage saw very limited usage. A few independent chains have also used the Mini-Stage beginning in the 1990s.
Description of the Stage
The Rock-afire Explosion Mini Stage contained the following characters from left to right: Mitzi, Fatz, Billy Bob, and Looney Bird. Standard props such as Smitty's Super Service Station were used as well as some that were customized specially for the Mini-Stage. One prop was a wooden "Used and Abused Tars" prop containing a stack of worn out tires, a black bird-character, and a sign that read "Beware Bad Frog" (alluding to the Mini Stage exclusive Bad Frog character). Another unique prop was a rounded wooden tree that wasn't used on the standard classic show. Also exclusive to the Mini Stage were the singing flowers that sang backup vocals.
Another unique feature to this stage was the Mini Stage valence curtain. This exclusive banner recycled the images of Mitzi and Fatz from the center stage valence on the classic show (changing Fatz's shirt from blue to green), and included new artwork for both Billy Bob and Looney Bird, who was shown in rare full-body form. The Rock-afire Explosion band logo in the center was also replaced with the ShowBiz Pizza Place logo.
Stage History / Origin
Creating the Mini-Stage version of the Rock-afire Explosion was something that Creative Engineering was unenthusiastic about, but was convinced by ShowBiz to design. It was given very limited exposure, and appeared in only five ShowBiz Pizza Place stores some of which being Anderson, IN, Cullman, AL, and Logansport, IN. A black and white promotional photo also exists showing the Mini-Stage at ShowBiz, though it's unclear which location it's from. With the unique arrangement of the characters, shows had to be specially programmed, and because of the missing characters, only certain shows could be used anyway.
By 1983 ShowBiz came to the realization that the Mini-Stage wasn't a very cost effective solution and made the decision to discontinue its usage. ShowBiz suggested selling them back to Creative Engineering, but were advised that it would make better sense to suppliment them with the necessary components to make them complete versions of the show. The existing Mini Stage shows were to be converted to full-stage shows, thus providing "top level entertainment for these smaller communities".
Legacy / Post-ShowBiz Pizza Place
Begining in the early 1990s, Creative Engineering found some use for the Mini Stage by selling it to third party Family Entertainment Centers as a more budget friendly alternative. Without the direct comparison to the full classic stage, as was the case with the ShowBiz Pizza Place empire, it made good sense for FECs to use the scaled down version of the stage. It also allowed for a more affordable option, leaving customers with some room to pay for customization that may not have been affordable when purchasing a full classic stage.
Fun Time Pizza - One of the companies that used the Mini Stage Rock-afire after the demise of ShowBiz was Fun Time Pizza in McAllen, TX. Although the stage was largely unchanged from the ShowBiz version, they modified the stage valance, replacing the ShowBiz Pizza Place logo with their own Fun Time Pizza logo.
Tweetsie Railroad - Located in Blowing Rock, NC, Tweetsie Railroad used a customized Mini Stage Rock-afire in the Tweetsie Junction pavillion section of the park. The show was known as the Hootenanny Hoedown. This show performed a few different shows, each running around ~15 minutes in length and recycled older Rock-afire Explosion songs. These compilations were bookended with a custom intro and outtro skit that was exclusive to Tweetsie Railroad.
Okefenokee Swamp Park - Another theme park that used the Mini Stage was Okefenokee Swamp Park in Waycross, GA. Called the Okefenokee Bear Revue, this unique customized stage used different cosmetics, and even gave each character different names (except for Billy Bob). Looney Bird became Clem, Mitzi became Peaches, and Fatz became Whitmer. This show was installed long enough to eventually get a new control system from a competing animatronics manufacturer, Sally Corp. The show was eventually decommissioned and later sold to a collector in 2018.
Hillwood Strike N' Spare - This bowling alley in Nashville, TN was one of the last places to purchase a Mini Stage from Creative Engineering, which happened in 2002. They kept the overall appearance of the original show making only a few modifications. Notibly they blacked-out the ShowBiz Pizza Place logo on the valence, and in the beginning covered it up completely with a piece of scrap curtain. They also changed the moonshine jugs to H2O jugs, in an attempt to make the show appear more "family friendly". The show was installed until 2014, having only run sporadically in the years leading up to its removal. After being sold to Funtown Mountain in Cave City, KY, the show was soon sold to a collector in 2016 following the closure of the park.
Bear-A-Dice - Billy Bob's Bear-A-Dice Tropical Jamboree (or Bear-A-Dise, as it's spelled on the organ front) is a Mini-Stage show housed in a trailer and travels around to differnt carnivals and state fairs, mostly in the mid-western US. This show was purchased in the late 1990s and was sent back to Creative Engineering in 2017 for some much needed refurbishment. Although a lot of work was done to restore the show, it continued having issues immediately upon returning to the festival circuit. The show was even put up for sale on eBay in 2020, but went unsold. It returned to traveling again in 2024 and 2025 and is currently the last operating Mini Stage known to exist.
