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Helen Henny is a vocalist (formerly tambourine player), bassist, and guitarist of Munch's Make Believe Band at Chuck E. Cheese. Although not officially a musician in stage setups, she is commonly seen playing either bass or tambourine in most showtapes and artwork. She replaced Mitzi Mozzarella from ShowBiz Pizza Place, and the other guest stars from the Pizza Time Theatre. She is still a present member of the band.

History[]

Portrait Era[]

Helen first debuted in August 1977 as a parody of Australian folk singer Helen Reddy and as a guest for the portrait stage. This version of Helen looked more like a goose than a chicken and played a guitar. She had long, straight brown hair and wore a purple vest, a white shirt, and a black choker.

Cabaret Era[]

In the Fall of 1979, she appeared as a cabaret act. This time, she took on the guise of a Hollywood chicken who was praised for having thighs that "a thousand roosters would want to tenderize". As a full-bodied animatronic for the first time, her design was changed. This time, she had a more chicken-like face and her hair was curled. She wore a blue shimmery satin dress with a gold vest, red boots, and a gold headband. She still played guitar and sat on a stage made up of luggage.

Broadway Era[]

Helen's next guest appearance was in 1983, first appearing on the balcony stage. Her personality was changed once more to become an old Broadway diva, and her showtapes featured songs from different musicals. She also developed a tic of constantly clucking (as a chicken should), which would occur throughout the rest of her PTT era appearances. Her clucking would irritate Chuck sometimes, but he still loved her, just as he loved Broadway. She was redesigned yet again, with her hair being replaced with black and white feathers. She also wore more heavy makeup and a red glittery dress. Helen was the last guest star because Pizza Time Theatre's 1984 bankruptcy made the introduction of new guest stars impossible. Therefore, Helen became a permanent member of the cast, being added to the C-Stage and Rocker Stage in the late 1980s. During this time, her outfit was slightly changed; her dress lost its glitter and became polka-dotted, to make her a more versatile character.

The Early 1990s[]

On the Concept Unification prototype stage, Helen retained her late 1980s appearance and was supposed to play the keyboard, using Dook's mech. However, Showbiz Pizza Time executives liked the kid appeal of the Rock-Afire Explosion's band format, so the stage was radically redesigned into the 3-Stage. During this transition, one of the most desirable elements of the Rock-Afire was Mitzi Mozzarella's marketability to young girls. As Helen was an old hen, she didn't have that same appeal. Thus, the decision was made to "Mitzify" Helen. Her new design, first present on the 3-Stage, had her black feather hair in pigtails, a more youthful face, and a black dress with a frilly dark pink skirt. She also gained a sweet and cheerful personality. Eventually, this new design made Helen the second most featured character on merchandise, behind Chuck E. himself. During this time, she was voiced by Karisa McKinney, but Annagrey Labasse provided her singing voice starting in 1992 with the "Environment" showtape.

It was also during this time that Helen began developing feelings for Chuck E.

Late 1990s-2000s[]

Beginning with the 1996 Awesome Adventure Machine tape, Helen's feather hair color was changed to yellow, and she now sported a green cheerleader dress, making her even more similar to Mitzi. However, most animatronics still kept her original appearance, with some locations, as well as Dept. 18's show, updating her hair color accordingly over the years. Her personality was still consistent, but by this time, her romantic feelings for Chuck E. had become even stronger, as mentioned in several showtapes and the Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000 film. The other characters, especially Jasper, would often tease Chuck about Helen's crush on him. With Chuck's purple and green "avenger" outfit becoming his standard look in the early 2000s, Helen was seen in a dark purple cheerleader outfit in the showtape footage (though most walkarounds still retained the green outfit).

Rockstar Era (2012-Present)[]

In 2014, 2 years after Rockstar Chuck debuted, Helen Henny also received her new Rockstar look along with the rest of the Make Believe Band. Her hair is now in a ponytail instead of pigtails, and she wears a bright pink striped dress with bright blue bows and bellbottom-esque jeans. Her crush on Chuck E. is not as apparent as before, but several music videos such as "Dream Big" may prove otherwise. Her personality has also been further tweaked, making her an avid fan of arcade games. Since 2016, she has been voiced by Caroline Richardson, with a higher and younger-sounding voice than Labasse's (closer in pitch to Georgia Denney's voice for Helen in Galaxy 5000).

Animatronics[]

References[]

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