![]() ![]() ![]() The first season of the show included more original music, however, this version of Alvin and the Chipmunks cashed in on the surge in popularity of pop music thanks to MTV, picking up in the second season. Dody Goodman ( Grease) voiced Miss Miller, the Chipettes’ absent-minded adoptive mother. Karman also voiced the most significant additions to the cast– The Chipettes, Brittany, Eleanor, and Jeanette. This version was animated by Ruby-Spears Enterprises for Bagdasarian Productions.īagdasarian voiced David (usually called “Dave”), Alvin, and Simon, while Karman voiced Theodore. and Karman still released albums, Alvin and the Chipmunks wouldn’t become a pop culture powerhouse again until 1983 with the release of Alvin and the Chipmunks which aired on NBC on Saturday mornings. took over voicing David Seville and the Chipmunks, however, his wife, Janice Karman also contributed some voices as well. picked up the mantle and continued developing new Chipmunk projects. Strangely, it appears that the program was produced in color, but when CBS originally aired it, it was broadcast in black and white.īagdasarian died of a heart attack in 1972, however, his son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. The Alvin Show was produced by Format Films for Bagdasarian Film Corporation. In addition to “Witch Doctor” and “The Chipmunk Song,” the majority of the music was folky children’s songs like “Working on the Railroad” and “Row Row Row Your Boat.” Bagdasarian continued to release albums by Alvin & the Chipmunks during this time and beyond. In its original format, The Alvin Show opened with an Alvin and the Chipmunks short, followed by a song, a Clyde Crashcup short, and a second song. (I *think* these were removed from the syndicated package, as I don’t recall ever seeing them.) The Alvin Show also included an animated segment featuring the scientist Clyde Crashcup and his assistant Leonardo. It was also later repackaged for syndication and in 1979, NBC added the reruns to its Saturday morning lineup.īagdasarian voiced the boys’ adoptive human father David Seville and all three Chipmunks. This program aired on CBS in prime time for two seasons (26 episodes) and was later rerun on Saturday mornings. That came in 1961 with the release of The Alvin Show. Unlike “Sugar Sugar” which was directly taken from The Archie Show, “The Chipmunk Song” predated Alvin and the Chipmunks’ debut as cartoons. “The Chipmunk Song” was “David Seville’s” second and final #1, following “Witch Doctor” which also used similar voice manipulation although that song was only credited to “David Seville” and not the Chipmunks, although they later covered it multiple times. Today, “The Chipmunk Song” is the third most-downloaded Christmas song of all time behind “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”. It would continue to chart around Christmas time in the years following until 1963 when Billboard changed its system so that preexisting Christmas songs would be ranked on their own chart. In 1958, “The Chipmunk Song” also won three Grammy Awards– Best Comedy Performance, Best Children’s Recording, and Best Engineered Record (non-classical). “The Chipmunk Song” hit #1 on the Billboard chart and was the last Christmas song to do so until Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” hit #1 in 2019 over a decade after it was originally released. ![]() By varying the tape speed, Bagdasarian created high-pitched “chipmunk” voices which were credited to Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, a.k.a. The song was written and recorded by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. I briefly mentioned this cartoon/concept in my last column about The Archie Show, and with Christmas approaching, I thought this would be a good time to examine Alvin & the Chipmunks who made their debut to the world with the #1 single “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” in 1958.
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