Six Flags' Defunct Animatronic Show: Bullfrog Bayou Revue 

Larry Nikolai and I designed this show at AVG Productions. At 2:06 in the video, Larry's on the left and a much younger version of me is in the red shirt on the right. A little more trivia. We hired, "Big Al" Bertino as a consultant after he retired from Disney. I had to figure out a way to pay Al under the table because he, "didn't want to lose his social security." He'd come in to work with Larry and I, fondly greeting us with his, "Hey Chuckers. Got my envelope?" I really miss that old guy. Couple of additional details. Our recording engineer at A&M was Dick Bogert, Henry Mancini's sound engineer. This was in the days before digital, so when Larry and I discovered that we were missing a complete line of dialogue, Dick, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, reconstructed an entire line of dialog from 2" tape fragments recorded in other lines, with nothing more than a razor blade and a harmonizer to adjust pitch. Yes, this was before autotune as well. Because of our composer Bob Brunner's reputation and the fact that we were at A&M, our studio musicians consisted of musicians from the famous, "Wrecking Crew," a group of musicians that have their fingerprints on more famous hits from a who's who of artists than any other group of musicians, folks like Tommy Tedesco and Hal Blaine. Don Williams, composer John's younger brother, was our drummer. Lincoln Mayorga was our piano player. These amazing musicians took one rehearsal and played an almost perfect rendition on their first take. Larry and I adjusted the timing a bit to fit how was saw the dialog, and then they nailed it the second take. The second take! Our jaws were on the floor. And, to top it all off, Herb Alpert came in to watch the recording and say, "hello" silently through the double glass to Tommy and Hal with a cool "wave" that you'd expect from that legend. During lunch out at the roach coach, The Bee Gees were playing Frisbee as I stood in line behind Sting. Karen Carpenter had just died and we could hear her voice off the masters as Richard was back at work in the neighboring mix-down studio and our double doors would swing open at the same time. Larry and I were just blown away by the talent we were able to assemble by just being humble and listening to those with more experience, and what an experience this was to do all of this at A&M Records. It was surreal.

How you discover these hidden gems of history continues to amaze me! It’s so cool to look back on these old animatronic shows… they’re so hard to come by outside of a Disney Park these days!

Our boy Robert F Brunner was behind the music! Nice! He was involved in making the music for Knott's Bear-y Tales in the 1970s

Well, thanks for stopping by, folks. I hope you hop by any time you're in Bullfrog Bayou! (Translated from Uncle Rolly: Thanks for watching! And consider subscribing while you're here.) 😄

Great video! What an obscure, forgotten attraction. I was surprised to hear it wasn't removed until 2003 - would never have guessed it was still around so recently!

Great video! I used to work in the Entertainment Department at SFOG 1997-2003, and saw the show multiple times at the park, when I was little. I'm pretty certain that the show was never in the outdoor venue you showed, though. (That one was magic shows and mostly bugs bunny shows) However, the BFR "Theatre" was just adjacent, to the bugs bunny theatre, and kind of attached to the bathrooms on the other side. It was a pretty small, covered building, that could block bad weather, and still operate (which it wouldn't be able to do at the BB Theatre) It had a center isle & seats on each side, that mimicked split open logs. Held about maybe 40 people tops, at a time. The show ran on an automatic loop about every 15-20 mins. Sadly, during my time working at the park, we rarely saw anyone in there watching it. Guests were normally only in there to take cover during a rain storm, or to just sit in the shade a few minutes. They finally decided it was just time to take it out, in 2003. They didn't put anything else over there, during the rest of the time I worked there. They just left the benches for guests to utilize. It's sad, but kids were just not interested anymore, since technology was so much more advanced. But, I liked it in the early 80's when I was young!

Where was this attraction located in the park and what stands there now?

I’ve never been to a six flags park. Definitely felt those Splash Mountain and Country Bears vibes from this show.

Excellent video, duo! Very well done and enjoyable! Honestly...I didn't even know about this one! Love to learn new things like this about SFOG! Keep up up good work and we have to collab again on another video soon!

Could you do history videos for Professor Burp’s Bubbleworks and Toyland Tours, or would that not be up your alley?

Thanks for sharing this. I used to watch this when I'd visit SFOG as a kid.

Great video! I've never heard of this show before.

Nice quality animatronic show.

Nice Sharing

Was the actor who voiced Croaker, Joel Silver the same guy who produced the Matrix?

Is this sort of like SPLASH MOUNTAIN?