Circus Time Pizza Tokens

Circus Time Pizza was a short-lived pizza and arcade restaurant in Flint, Michigan, modeled on Chuck E. Cheese. It was opened by Cass S. Opyt after he failed to get his own franchise of an animatronic business, and he brought in Neil J. Mason as his business partner. It sat in the Small Mall (now the Dort Mall), in the spot a Big Lots later occupied, and its mascot was a clown named Jell E. Bean. The owner wanted to compete with ShowBiz Pizza and Huckleberry Junction, but rowdy teenagers hanging out in the parking lot hurt the restaurant’s image. Near the end, it tried bringing in name stand-up comics under the banner “Circus Time After Dark,” but that didn’t save it. It closed in 1984 and sold off its assets. The Jel E. Bean sign survived: Flint hockey figure Bob Perani returned it to the same mall years later.