The Alvin Show


The Alvin Show is an American animated television series that aired on CBS from October 1961 to September 1962. It is the first series to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks. The Alvin Show aired for one season in prime time and was originally sponsored by General Foods through its Jell-O gelatin and Post Cereal brands. The series was initially telecast in black and white, but was later colorized for rebroadcasts; these episodes began airing in 1965 on CBS and have since aired at various intervals on other stations.
The series rode the momentum of creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.'s original hit musical gimmick and developed the singing Chipmunk trio as rambunctious kids-particularly the show's namesake star-whose mischief contrasted to his tall, brainy brother Simon and his chubby, gluttonous brother Theodore, as well as their long-suffering, perpetually put-upon manager-father figure, David Seville. The animation was produced by Herbert Klynn's Format Films. The pilot episode, an early version of the fifth episode "Good Neighbor", was written and produced to sell the show to CBS. The actual show featured a re-worked version, which aired as part of the fifth episode.
The show was followed in 1983 by another Chipmunks series, Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Characters

Aside from the seven-minute Chipmunk segments, in which David Seville was portrayed as a hapless bachelor who managed and mentored the three singing rodents, the show also had segments featuring a character called Clyde Crashcup, a scientist/inventor. Each segment was introduced by Alvin, who was told by Dave that he was introducing a great inventor and was dumbfounded or dumbstruck when he heard it was Clyde Crashcup; Alvin was never a fan of Clyde Crashcup, as during the show intro montage he gives him a cold, dirty look whenever he appears.
Clyde's "inventions" were really items that had already been invented, but with his own personal touches. His "creations" often backfired on him until his silent, level-headed assistant, Leonardo, who was diminutive, balding and perpetually whispering in Clyde Crashcup's ears, saved him from any further self-destruction.

Commercials

As was the case for many television series of the day, the Chipmunks appeared in commercials for their respective sponsors that were aired during the run of the series. In addition, there were two sponsor plugs shot with the characters.
On weeks where Jell-O sponsored the program, Alvin, Theodore, and Simon would sing the product's jingle and reveal the letters in the word. Alvin would then annoy Dave by trying to upstage his brothers, then would hold up the O to complete the sign while shouting "O-kay!" When Post Cereals was the sponsor on a given week, Dave would offer a description of the product and the Chipmunks would respond by performing a jingle.
As for the ads themselves, there were several different ones created for Jell-O, with the theme being "What's For Dessert?":
Two commercials were created for Post Cereals, both focusing on Alpha-Bits and featuring the Chipmunks telling the story of Red Riding Hood. Alvin plays the role of the wolf while Simon and Theodore take on the role of delivering cereal to their grandmother like Red Riding Hood. Both commercials are the same except that one features a longer jingle and also promotes Post's Treat-Pak line of cereals.
Later on, after The Alvin Show was cancelled, the Chipmunks appeared in a commercial for Soaky bubble bath soap with the product's mascot, the Soaky Kid. This commercial premiered in 1965 and promoted the Chipmunks as the latest in a continuing line of cartoon characters licensed by Colgate-Palmolive for the product; each bottle of Soaky was also intended to be used as a bath toy for children once empty.
A colorized public service advertisement from the United States Forest Service was made by the same animation team in 1964. In the sixty second ad, Dave and the Chipmunks are recording a fire safety message at the behest of Smokey Bear. Despite Alvin's troublemaking, the boys do manage to offer useful tips to prevent forest fires.

Syndication

reran the series on Saturday mornings for a few years after the show's prime time run ended.
In the mid- and late 1960s, the individual show segments were culled together and sold as a syndication package under the title Alvin and the Chipmunks. The original episodes began airing under the Alvin and the Chipmunks title on NBC Saturday mornings in 1979.
Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. died of a heart attack on January 16, 1972, seemingly bringing to an end any further Chipmunk productions. Years later, his son, Ross Jr., picked up on a disc jockey's joke and produced the album Chipmunk Punk in 1980. The success of Chipmunk Punk spurred renewed interest a new animated series, which launched in fall 1983 on NBC and was titled Alvin and the Chipmunks, with Ross, Jr. taking over for his father as the voices of Alvin, Simon and Dave Seville. His wife, Janice Karman, voiced Theodore, as well as The Chipettes, who are the Chipmunks' female counterparts. To coincide with the new series, Viacom Enterprises distributed reruns of The Alvin Show to local stations; the rerun package was also carried nationally over superstations WGN and WTBS at various times beginning in 1983.
In 1981, Clyde Crashcup made an appearance during a dream sequence in A Chipmunk Christmas. During recent network airings of the special, the sequence has been cut out, due to network time constraints concerning commercial ad time.
In 1990, The Alvin Show versions of the Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup reappeared in an episode of The Chipmunks Go To the Movies titled "Back to Our Future".
A majority of the songs and clips from The Alvin Show were featured in the Alvin and the Chipmunks Sing Along Songs VHS releases that were released in the mid-1990s. The songs, however, were slightly remastered.
Nickelodeon picked up US broadcast rights to The Alvin Show sometime in 1994. The network aired digitally restored versions of each episode as it originally was broadcast, adding its logo to the opening. The show aired on weekday mornings for approximately a year.
During this time, as well as for sometime after the full episodes stopped airing, the individual Chipmunk and Clyde Crashcup cartoons and musical segments were inserted into episodes of Weinerville. In 1996, Nickelodeon stopped showing The Alvin Show segments altogether and no television station has aired them since then.

Voice cast

26 episodes each were produced for the Alvin and the Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup segments, along with 52 musical segments.
#The ChipmunksMusical Segment 1Clyde CrashcupMusical Segment 2Original air date
1Stanley the EagleOh GondalieroInvents BaseballI Wish I Could Speak French
2Sam Valiant, Private NoseAugust DearInvents the BathtubAlvin's Orchestra
3SquaresSwanee RiverInvents the WifeThe Magic Mountain
4OstrichThe Brave ChipmunksInvents the BabyYankee Doodle
5Good NeighborThe Little DogInvents ElectricityOld MacDonald Cha Cha Cha
6FancyJapanese BananaInvents MusicWhen Johnny Comes Marching Home
7Alvin’s Alter EgoThe Pidgin English HulaInvents the WestChipmunk Fun
8Sam Valiant, Real EstateWorking on the RailroadInvents the StoveStuck in Arabia
9Camping TripGood Morning SongInvents JokesI Wish I Had a Horse
10Overworked AlvinWitch DoctorInvents FlightThe Chipmunk Song
11Dude RanchHome on the RangeInvents First AidAlvin for President
12Jungle RhythmLily of LagunaInvents EgyptRow, Row, Row Your Boat
13Bentley Van RollsSwing Low, Sweet ChariotInvents Self-PreservationComin' Thru the Rye
14Good MannersBicycle Built for TwoInvents Physical FitnessRagtime Cowboy Joe
15Little LeagueBuffalo GalsInvents the ChairWhile Strolling in the Park One Day
16Hillbilly SonSpainInvents the BedPop Goes the Weasel
17Alvin’s CruiseAlvin's HarmonicaInvents the TelephoneIf You Love Me
18Lovesick DaveComing 'Round the MountainInvents the Time MachineThe Three Blind-Folded Mice
19Eagle In LoveSing a Goofy SongInvents Do it YourselfTwinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
20Theodore’s DogClementineInvents the ShoeMaria from Madrid
21Haunted HouseWhistle While You WorkInvents GlassMy Wild Irish Rose
22Alvin's StudioJeanie with the Light Brown HairThis is Your Life, Clyde Crashcup!The Band Played On
23The WhistlerThe Alvin TwistInvents the BoatThe Man on the Flying Trapeze
24Sir AlvinGit Along, Little DogiesInvents CrashcuplandDown in the Valley
25Disc JockeyFuniculì, FuniculàInvents BirthdaysPolly Wolly Doodle
26Eagle MusicOn Top of Old SmokyInvents Self-DefenseAmerica the Beautiful

General Foods was the show's main sponsor; as such, Dave Seville and The Chipmunks appeared in several humorous half-minute commercials for Jell-O and Post Cereals.

Credits

Other than the two VHS releases from Buena Vista Home Video, both of which featured 11 songs from The Alvin Show, up until recently, the show has never been released on DVD. However, on September 8, 2009, Paramount Home Entertainment released the first episode of the show, along with two "modern" specials. A future "Complete Series" DVD set of the series has not yet been planned. In 2014, "The Brave Chipmunks" musical sequence was released as a bonus feature on The Chipmunk Adventure Blu-ray and DVD combo pack. In 2015, three complete episodes were released together as The Alvin Show on Blu-ray and DVD.

International broadcast