.
That’s where the Chipmunks started … a song with normal voices (all done by creator Ross Bagdasarian) … and then increased the speed. Do you remember doing that on a turntable?
Witch Doctor spent three weeks at the top of the charts in 1958
Bagdasarian appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show before the cartoon appeared
Later the same year, The Chipmunk Song (aka “Christmas, Don’t Be Late”)
- Spent our weeks at Number 1 (December 22, 1958 to January 12, 1959)
- Earned three Grammy Awards and a nominated for Record of the Year
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Appeared in Dell Comics …. and then came the the cartoon
Their popularity led to a cartoon series: The Alvin Show debuted (on CBS) October 4, 1961 in prime time, which lasted only one season before reruns the next year on Saturday morning
To sing along, the lyrics are below the video!
This is the Alvin Show,
The Alvin Show,
You’ll positively gonna love the Alvin Show.
There’s Dave Seville,
And what is more
Here’s the boy we know as Theodore.
Now you see,
On camera three,
The brother known as Simon on the family tree.
And here’s the star of the show,
Alvin, Alvin!
Ready, here we go,
Here’s the Alvin Show.
The 3 chipmunks after Liberty Records executives Si Waronker, Ted Keep and Al Bennett
Simon
Tall and thin with glasses
The good and smart one
Dry sense of humor
Responded “Naturally” to praise
Theodore
The youngest
Short and chubby,
Shy, trusting, sensitive, and giddy
Giggled when praised
Alvin
Mischievous
Impulsive
The lead vocalist and the star
#44 on TV Guide’s Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time
Dave to yell “Alvin!”, to which Alvin responds with “Okay!”
Dave Seville
The father-like manager who is a songwriter
Quick tempered, but kind
Alvin irritates him
The Show
- There were four segments in that show
- Two short segments with The Chipmunks leading viewers in sing-alongs
- One staring a crazy inventor named Clyde Crashcup (previous AFA honoree)
- The lead segment featuring the Chipmunk characters as kids with David Seville, their guardian, playing the role of Dad
- 26 episodes each for the Alvin and the Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup, plus 52 musical segments
Dell continue the comic books after the TV show debuted
Bagdasarian retired, then died in 1972
Five years later (1977), his son, Ross Jr., revived the Chipmunks
NBC re-ran The Alvin Show on Saturday mornings 1979-80
This episode is a blend of the old and the new
A Frank Angle 
Fun!
I remember watching these guys on tv as a kid (when the show was revived).
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RoSy,
Welcome first time commenter! Glad this was able to take you back to your youth. This entire series goes back to my youth, which is earlier than yours. 😉 Nonetheless, this is what I try to post on many (but not all) Saturdays.
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Now these I remember rather fondly…
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Bulldog,
Hooray … glad I hit one. I’m not surprised that although their actual TV history is belief, they are internationally known.
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I remember them well! I must have spent a fair bit of my youth watching TV.
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Debra,
Never too much time for good cartoons!
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I never knew that was the original song. Catchy tune. I see the boys reflect your typical birth order roles.
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Audra,
The Uh E Uh ah ah Bing bang walla walla bing bang? 😉 Meanwhile, typical with societal views was the norm at the time.
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What a wonderful post! My parents always bought me Chipmunks records. I was born the year the show debuted on TV. I had plastic Chipmunks dolls that bubble bath came in and they were my favorite toys. And Alvin the little troublemaker was always, and still is, MY ROLE MODEL! 🙂
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Carolyn,
LOL … With Alvin as your role model, that also means you have a spontaneous, fearless approach to life … which I’ve got the feeling is a good thing for you. 🙂 Glad to rekindle your memories of your youth!
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Back in summer of ’90, Rick, the girls and I visited brother and his family in Belgium. My greatest memory of the trip was driving through Belgium, Germany and Holland in a Dodge minivan and keeping the kids entertained with a chipmunk CD…er tape.
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Georgette,
I wonder … memories that they were entertained, memories of being eventually annoyed by the music, or both? 😉 Amazing how different things relate to personal events.
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I love the Chipmunks! Now I’m singing those songs in my head, Frank! Thanks a lot… Great post, BTW.
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Cathy,
Oh no … is Ooh eee Ooh ahh ahh bing bang walla walla bing bang the one stuck?
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They were/are great! All chipmunks have been called Alvin Simon and Theodore ever since I was a kid. In real life, they all act like Alvin!
Thanks for today’s toon, Frank!
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Elyse,
Great points that chipmunks are quite Alvin-like!!!!
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I LOVED this show when I was a kid. I remember having a 45 rpm record of one of their songs that I used to play when I was very, very young.
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Angela,
Do you recall speeding up the 45 to sound even faster? When doing this past, I didn’t realize that the records came before the cartoons. Well, if I did I don’t recall.
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Wow, I don’t remember that either about the records coming out before the cartoons. And of course I used speed up the records! I remember my sister and I laughing uproariously and dancing around the room because it was so funny.
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Too funny …. but that’s what kids did!
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You taught me somersetting new today too. Didn’t know that they started of like a cartoon, but I don’t like the cute things … they are getting on my nerves for some reason, just annoying me. Fantastic post you have done here – you are fantastic on facts and how to express them in light and understandable way. Excellent job as always.
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Viveka,
Being annoyed is fine as long as uh eee uh ah ah bing bang walla walla bing bang doesn’t get stuck in your head. Thanks for the kind words.
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These critters are only tolerated in very small doses. 🙂 Thanks for the interesting info on them, Frank. Hope your weekend is a good one. 🙂
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Sylvia,
And that’s OK … just don’t get one of those songs stuck in your head! Hope Paradise has wonderful weather today.
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Good morning again! Jim and I went for a short hike earlier in a wooded area near the reservoir. As we were walking, a chipmunk ran across the trail in front of us, SCREAMING. When I opened your blog, I thought ‘what an amazing coincidence!’ 🙂
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Melanie,
Good Morning … and a special welcome to Jim’s other half … oops … better half! 😉 Quite the coincidence, but hopefully this post didn’t cause you to scream and say “Never again” … 😉 …. I bounce around many topics, but this is my normal Saturday fare. Feel free to stop by anytime!
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The “happy hour” of the week!!!
Have a great weekend Frank!
🙂
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Marina,
Gotta love Happy Hour … cheers!
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I never was much of a fan of the chipmunks. It must have been the wrong frequency in my head or something. Or, they didn’t come a the right age for me. Like adinparadise said above ‘These critters are only tolerated in very small doses.’
Now back to tag teaming with Melanie for part 3 of our Rockies trip. 🙂
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Jim,
And that’s OK because not everything is for everybody! So thanks for tolerating this post. … and I’m sure you part 3 will be delightful as I’ve enjoyed the first two.
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I believe it is my turn to add the narrative. Stay tuned.
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Ha ha.
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Christmas officially starts when you hear one of those chipmunk songs on the radio! LOL
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Java,
That will work because that song still gets a lot of play! But for me, it’s the commercial of Santa riding on the Noreco electric shaver, and thankfully for YouTube, I can see it every year.
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Hurray for YouTube! 😀
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I never knew there was so much history to the chipmunks. My life was unaware of them until they put out those recent movies and I had to sit through them with my son – not the sort of movie I usually enjoy sitting through xx
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Spiced,
I didn’t see any of the three newer movies … so I understand your point. But hey … I imagine your son loved them.
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I still like the Chipmunks Christmas song. I know the words and can do the voices. And you thought I wasn’t talented!
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Renee,
Sing away …. and I know that bloggers are more talented than just writers!
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OK I give up, Witch Doctor spent three weeks at the top of the charts in 1958 🙂
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Fasab,
Dr. Kildare.
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Rats! I shoulda known that 🙂
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Glad to help.
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I remember too… Thank you dear Frank, have a great day, love, nia
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Nia,
Hooray … glad I posted one you remember!
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What an incredibly nostalgia provoking post, I say! What was it really about the chipmunks that caught the fancy of folks so?
Shakti
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Shakti,
Good question. I would say two things: 1) their status of having hit songs … 2) their voices. After all, those of us from the turntable era remember playing records at different speeds.
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Ting tang walla walla bing bang.
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Hansi,
LOL …. sing away!
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Cute post!!
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Hood,
Ahhhhhhhh …. after all, I don’t know if that adjective has ever been used before to describe a post here.
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I loved The Chipmunks when I was a kid, Frank, and I was crazy about The Witch Doctor song, too. I seem to recall jumping around like a maniac to it. My cousin gave me the 45 to Christmas Don’t Be Late, and that was also special to me … Both those songs grate on me now, but I did enjoy this post.
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Lame,
Sounds like we are in the same boat with these guys. I haven’t seen any of the new movies … Nonetheless, I enjoyed doing this post.
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God this stuff is great. Such a blast from the past. I had no idea that the Chipmunks’ legacy went this far back. I remember animated films like “Alvin and the Chipmunks meet Frankenstein” and the such. But to see it going back this far…it’s seriously awesome.
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Peter,
Ah ha …. so you didn’t realize that the Chipmunks went so far back in time! Well – at least now you know how they got started.
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I don’t precisely remember the Alvin Show, but I sure did enjoy the Chipmunks. Perhaps I did watch the show and just don’t remember it by name. I still smile and get very nostalgic each year when I hear the Christmas song.
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Debra,
Your memory is pretty good with cartoons, so I got the feeling you didn’t watch this one, but know the songs from the radio.
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Both your article and comments excellent. A bit more about Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (aka David Seville)…He wrote several hit songs for other performers before striking Chipmunk gold (“Come-On-a-My House” for Rosemary Clooney and “Hey, Brother, Pour The Wine” for Dean Martin, among others) and appeared in small roles in some 1950’s movies (as the songwriter in “Rear Window” and the ‘singing prisoner’ in “Stalag 17” among others.)
He also recorded some non-Chipmunk singles and LPS of what I guess would now be called “space-age bachelor-pad” instrumentals that deserve to be re-discovered. (If you have some old original Chipmunk 45’s, flip them over and you’ll hear some examples.)
And as for me, it ain’t Christmas time until I hear “The Chipmunk Song” coming out of a radio.
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Jeff,
Welcome first-time commenter. Excellent additions to this post … so many thanks. If you enjoy classic cartoons, I post them on Saturdays … but not every Saturday.
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