Ambiguous Monotones

[D'Snowth]

Before the Monotones were given their respective names and such, I can't help but wonder if they were basically intended to be ambiguous/unisex characters... Big Jeffy aside, Rockin' Richard, Chrissy, and even Little Jerry were each played by Fran at least once in various different bits from the early 70s; it seems like isolated occurances with Richard and Jerry, but there's been other times when it seems suggested that Chrissy may have been female: in the album version of "Mad", Frank performed Chrissy using an angry-sounding Piggy-esque voice, likewise in "Good Morning Starshine", Caroll did Chrissy's speaking voice (using his mother voice from "Consider Yourself"), while Dr. Loretta Long provided singing voice. I can't even tell, with Jerry's exceptionally high voice, if Chrissy, or the Chrissy-esque character was intended to be female or not in "Surprise", but then again, the same puppet was used in a sketch with Grover about surprise where Caroll performed it (with Richard), though that was the same sketch where Fran played Little Jerry for some reason.

 

[minor muppetz]

in the album version of "Mad", Frank performed Chrissy using an angry-sounding Piggy-esque voice,

As far as I know the back-up singers didn't get their names until after their performers became consistient, I assume in the song "Four". With that logic I assuem the album version didn't have them address each other by name. So I wonder, how can you tell it's Chrissy with that voice in the album?

I've noticed that the voice Jerry Nelson used for Little Jerry is sometimes inconsistient. In most appearances Little Jerry sounds like Gobo Fraggle, but in a few songs (Proud, Sad, and With Every Beat of My Heart) the voice sounds more feminine.

 

[D'Snowth]

So I wonder, how can you tell it's Chrissy with that voice in the album?

I'm pretty sure I either read that on Muppet Wiki, or another source.

I've noticed that the voice Jerry Nelson used for Little Jerry is sometimes inconsistient. In most appearances Little Jerry sounds like Gobo Fraggle, but in a few songs (Proud, Sad, and With Every Beat of My Heart) the voice sounds more feminine.

Kind of like the song "Surprise", it features the point-green AM as a backup, along with Big Jeffy sounding pretty usual, Rockin' Richard played by Fran, then a Chrissy-esque lead vocalist who I'm unsure is supposed to be male or female, because the voice Jerry used in that song was feminine-sounding like you say (almost like Drtooth's favorite character Miss Mousy), but then again that same lead vocalist appeared in a sketch about the word "WALK" with Grover, and was voiced by Caroll, sounding like a slightly more grown-up Big Bird (and he also did Rockin' Richard, who simply groaned much like Oscar).