Blustering Bellowpane Monster appears in the first season Fraggle Rock episode "You Can't Do That Without a Hat", where he was performed by Tom Vandenberg. The name "Blustering Bellowpane Monster" isn't mentioned on screen; the creature is named in an internal document, The Encyclopedia Fragglia, which was compiled by the cast and production staff. The puppet's tag is labeled "Leroy Bug".
In the episode, Boober is so sure that with his hat he isn't afraid of anything that he insults the monster by asking if it swallowed a trumpet. The monster, highly insulted, blew his nose trumpet at Boober, blowing the hat away and setting up the main plot of the story.
Not much is known about the monster; judging by the fact that the Fraggles gasp when Boober walks up to it, it may be a notoriously mean monster.
Designer and fabricator Sal Denaro says, "This puppet was something I designed and fabricated sometime between 1978 and 1979 for The Muppet Show. I was not asked to make him; I just built him with the expectation that he would be used for the TV show. I made him in between my job casting the foam latex characters of Miss Piggy, Statler and Waldorf, etc. When he was shipped out from the NYC Muppet workshop to London, it I was the last I saw of that puppet as he was modified from what I had made."[1]
A modified version of the original build was used as a Whatnot in The Muppet Show episode 512. He appears as one of the skiers in the opening number "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," and in the following backstage scene, he is revealed to be the famed Klaus Noodlemen (performed by Dave Goelz).
The revised monster puppet was recycled in later productions, as Mergie in the video Neat Stuff To Know & To Do and Singalotti in Mopatop's Shop. The puppet also surfaced as recently as The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted.
Blustering Bellowpane Monster has been suggested to play 46 roles. Click below to see other actors suggested for each role, and vote for who you think would play the role best.
