Gena the Crocodile (russian: links=no, Крокодил Гена, Krokodil Gena) is a fictional friendly crocodile in the series of animation films ''

Gena the Crocodile Gena the Crocodile (russian: links=no, Крокодил Гена, Krokodil Gena) is a fictional friendly crocodile in the series of animation films ''Gena the Crocodile'', ''Cheburashka'' and ''Shapoklyak'' by Roman Kachanov (Soyuzmultfilm studi ...

'', ''

Cheburashka ''Cheburashka'' (russian: links=no, Чебурашка, a=ru-Cheburashka.ogg, p=tɕɪbʊˈraʂkə), also known as ''Topple'' in earlier English translations, is a fictional character created by Soviet writer Eduard Uspensky in his 1965 child ...

'' and ''

Shapoklyak Old lady Shapoklyak (russian: links=no, Шапокляк) is a popular villain from a story about Gena the Crocodile written by Russian writer Eduard Uspensky. Her first appearance in the movie was in the animated film ''Gena the Crocodile'' (1969 ...

'' by Roman Kachanov (

Soyuzmultfilm Soyuzmultfilm ( rus, Союзмультфи́льм, p=səˌjʉsmʊlʲtˈfʲilʲm , ''Union Cartoon'') (also known as SMF Animation Studio in English, Formerly known as Soyuzdetmultfilm) is a Russian animation studio based in Moscow. Launched in ...

studio). He debuted in the 1966 novel ''Gena the Crocodile and His Friends'' by

Eduard Uspensky Eduard Nikolayevich Uspensky (russian: link=no, Эдуард Николаевич Успенский; 22 December 193714 August 2018) was a Soviet and Russian children's writer and poet, author of over 70 books, as well as a playwright, screenwri ...

. The crocodile's name is a typical

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

of the Russian male name

Gennady Gennady ( rus, Геннадий, p=ɡʲɪˈnadʲɪj), also spelled Gennadi or Gennadiy, is a Russian male name. They are derived from the Greek given name Gennadius. People *Gennady Gladkov, Soviet and Russian composer * Gennady Golovkin, Kazakh b ...

. Gena and

, also a title character in the series, are best friends. The 50-year-old Gena works in a zoo as an attraction (or, as the original novel's author Uspensky had put it, "Gena the Crocodile worked in a zoo as a crocodile"). In his spare time, he plays the

garmon The garmon ( rus, гармо́нь, p=gɐˈrmonʲ, links=yes, from rus, гармо́ника, p=gɐˈrmonʲɪkə, r=garmonika, cognate of English ''harmonica''), commonly called garmoshka, is a kind of Russian button accordion, a free-reed wi ...

and likes to sing. His two best-known songs are "Pust' begut neuklyuzhe..." and "Goluboy vagon" ("The Blue Train Car"). One rainy day, which happens to be his birthday, Gena sings the song: "Let the pedestrians run clumsily over puddles..." ("Пусть бегут неуклюже пешеходы по лужам..."), which contains the famous line: "Such a pity that one's birthday happens only once a year." This song, written by

Vladimir Shainsky Vladimir Yakovlevich Shainsky ( rus, Владимир Яковлевич Шаинский, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr ʂɐˈinskʲɪj; 12 December 1925 – 25 December 2017) was a Soviet and Russian composer. He was a recipient of the People's Artist ...

, has since become known as "Gena the Crocodile's Song". It continues to be extremely popular among Russophones of various ages and generations, and was also made popular in Finland by M. A. Numminen as "Minä soitan harmonikkaa" ("I Play the Accordion"). He is voiced by

Vasily Livanov Vasily Borisovich Livanov (russian: link=no, Василий Борисович Ливанов; born 19 July 1935), MBE, is a Soviet and Russian film actor, animation and film director, screenwriter and writer most famous for portraying Sherlock H ...

in the animated films. The

Mikoyan MiG-27 The Mikoyan MiG-27 (russian: Микоян МиГ-27; NATO reporting name: Flogger-D/J) is a variable-sweep ground-attack aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union and later licence-produced in Ind ...

aircraft was given the nickname Крокодил Гена due to the distinctive shape of its

nosecone A nose cone is the conically shaped forwardmost section of a rocket, guided missile or aircraft, designed to modulate oncoming airflow behaviors and minimize aerodynamic drag. Nose cones are also designed for submerged watercraft such as ...

External Links

Gena the Crocodile’s Song in English

References

Animated characters Characters in children's literature Literary characters introduced in 1966 Fictional crocodilians {{Animation-char-stub