Finchen
From Muppet Wiki
Finchen is a character on Sesamstrasse, the German co-production of Sesame Street. She is an orange snail with a yellow shell on her back, who loves to ride her skateboard around Sesamstrasse.
Finchen was added to the Sesamstrasse cast after Samson and Tiffy as a male character. He started as a weak, tiny snail who lived in the forest, outside Sesamstrasse.
During the mid-1990s Finchen has inexplicably been turned into a younger girl character with a really wild imagination, representing the psychological age of a three year old.
The sex-change might have something to do with the fact that "Schnecke", the German word for snail and slug, is a female word in the language, succeeded by the definite article "die". Another reason might be that Finchen's original performer was male puppeteer Lothar Klose. At that time Finchen did not always wear the glasses, and was at times without a shell.
He also sounded more masculine when Finchen's second puppeteer Wilhelm Helmrich took over from 1989 until 1991. Then as female puppeteer Uta Delbridge took over the role in 1992, Finchen's personality became more frightful and he/she began to speak with a softer voice. For several years now, Finchen has been performed by her fourth performer, singer and female puppeteer Andrea Bongers.
Members of the American audience might remember Finchen from the 1993 international special Sesame Street Stays Up Late!.
