Gena the Crocodile

Crocodile Gena (Russian: 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 studio).

The 50-year-old Gena works in a zoo as a crocodile. In his spare time, he plays the garmon and likes to sing. His two best-known songs are "Pust' begut neuklyuzhe..." and Goluboy vagon ("The Blue Train Car").

Gena is best friends with Cheburashka, the title character in the series.

One rainy day, which happens to be his birthday, Gena sings the song "Пусть бегут неуклюже пешеходы по лужам..." ("Let the pedestrians run clumsily over puddles..."), which contains the famous line: "Such a pity that one's birthday happens only once a year." This song, written by Vladimir Shainsky, has since become known as "Crocodile Gena's Song". It continues to be extremely popular among Russophones of various ages and generations.

He is voiced by Vasily Livanov in the animated films.

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