Shark Bytes
David Seville was WAAAY MEANER in this show, which I like. Also, Alvin is more of a scheming brat. He's so awesome. Oh, and they are older here, and Theodore is the middle child, not Alvin.
Clyde Crashcup and Leonardo all the way.
Oh, and Simon is my hero.
Clyde Crashcup and Leonardo all the way.
Oh, and Simon is my hero.
The Alvin Show NEVER JUMPED. Those mutants they tried to present to us in the eighties were just WRONG. My daughter was about five, six years old when those new miscreants came out. And even she agrees the old version was by far more entertaining. She's twenty now and has purchased a CD of the REAL Alvin, Simon and Theodore singing their original hits. (She has her Mom's sense of humor
To "Guest"..."Far Inferioir ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS??" Totally BAD! This 1961 show was the ONLY Alvin show (and like the Underdog movie I hope the Alvin movie flops).
Pam.....no,you're NOT imagining it."Ruby-SPears","MWS",and "Dic" ruined the humor of the show for Standards & Practises purposes.
THe original by Format and Jack Kinney (r) will be the ONLY Alvin show forme..)
THe original by Format and Jack Kinney (r) will be the ONLY Alvin show forme..)
I loved the Alvin Show. I was just 11 and David Seville was still alive. However, the reintroduction of the Chipmunks in 1983 made me want to puke. Now, was it just that I grew up and the Chipmunks were always bad, or did the 1983 Chipmunks really suck in a league of their own?
“The Alvin Show”, (IMO) - the early 1960’s one to fans of the classics like I am that loved the original concept - is the ultimate, encapsulated version of the whole Alvin & the Chipmunks phenomenon, period! Hated the stupid things they kept trying to do with them any time after that like having them become “hippies” or “rockers” & do ridiculous rock parodies (and the dumb way they started making the animation of the Chipmunks stretch and bend later on). It’s almost as bad as taking some of the classic commercial characters like the Trix Rabbit, Kool Aid Pitcher, Nestle Quik Bunny, etc., and bastardizing them in to the “rap” versions to (supposedly) appeal to today’s kids (Come up with your own images! Don’t wreck the classics)! Who does this gratify, really??? The Marketing Department??? The same suits that made up the name “Sunny-D” for Sunny Delight so it would sound more coo-oool?!!! Enough of my rantings, though! BTW, to the poster about Clyde Crashcup’s “wife” – her name was actually “Pictoria” and I think his intention was to draw her smiling, but her face instantly turned in to a frown and she broke out of the wall harping & nagging at him right off the bat (frightening I still remember this some 30+ years later after not seeing them since childhood)! Lots of wonderful voices done by the “cartoon goddess” herself, June Foray too! Loved the arrangements that accompanied the cartoons and the honky-tonk piano ditties when the action got crazier. I’d have to doubt any of these would exist anymore on the planet, but one of the earliest toys my parents gave me were some “boxing-bag-like” balloons of Simon, Theodore and Alvin with little cardboard feet shapes you attached them to. I doubt they lasted more than a week, though 
Lastly I’m glad the Simpsons paid a “somewhat” tribute to the Chipmunks with “Melvin and the Squirrels” – “…Stuck a feather in his cap and called it – RICE-A-RONI…!!!” Great memories!
Lastly I’m glad the Simpsons paid a “somewhat” tribute to the Chipmunks with “Melvin and the Squirrels” – “…Stuck a feather in his cap and called it – RICE-A-RONI…!!!” Great memories!
The original "Alvin" show was a great childhood memory for me in the early '60s. I knew all the songs and we had a couple of "Chipmunks' Greatest Hits" albums. The entire concept, of course, was Ross Bagdasarian, who created one of the best "novelty" music gimmicks ever with just an old-fashioned tape recorder! I still love hearing "Witch Doctor", the Christmas song and my favorite Chipmunk hit, "Ragtime Cowboy Joe". Of course, Ross built a major record label- Liberty- off the Chipmunks: "Alvin", "Simon" and "Theodore" were named for Liberty's three head honchos. He also wrote a non-hit for Liberty act Bobby Vee that has a perfect "David Seville" arrangement! (It's "Yesterday And You", for all you Vee fans out there.) I also liked supporting actor Clyde Crashcup and his goofy-whispering buddy Leonardo, whose segments were near-"Rocky and Bullwinkle" quality in terms of dry humor and goofy gadgets. Clyde, but not Alvin, had that kiddie-cheap animated charm too. Of course, the real act died with Ross, and the later editions aren't even worth mentioning. I mean, do Blondie and Robert Palmer songs sound good in Chipmunk form? Thought so. But I'd have loved to hear, say, then-current '60s hits (Connie Francis, Neil Sedaka, et al.) in Chipmunk style!
no shark jumping for this show. I always liked "Dave Seville's" style. I recently bought a cartoon video with some of the original Alvin shows, and my 6 year-old grandson really laughs at it (and doesn't even crack a smile at some of the newer cartoons that are on tv now. Hmmm? I was pretty young when the Alvin show first aired, but Clyde Crashcup and Leonardo were hysterical. It must have been, for me to remember certain shows after so many years, but my favorite one was when Clyde was lonely and decided to invent a wife named Victoria. He drew a picture of her on the board but forgot to draw a heart on her so of course she turned out to be a nasty shrew and drove him crazy. I think he may have put her back on the board and erased her. What a kick.
It was when Clyde Crashcup invented soap, but didn't know what it was for. He exclaimed "Soap is for eating" and proceeded to eat the soap. I then followed his example (i was just a little kid back then) with disastrous results.
This show never jumped the shark but the Chipmunk characters collectively "jumped the shark" when Ross Bagdasarian died. This was the original and greatest of all Alvin Shows. The humor appealed to all ages, not just the 'kiddies'. Clyde Crashcup and Leonardo were entertaining in their own right, and could probably have stood alone in their own series as well. The stark hand-drawn UPA-style animation was far more conducive to humor and laughter than the "warm-fuzzy" Roger Rabbit computer style of the later incarnations of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Ross Bagdasarian (aka David Seville) was a creative and talented musician and humorist. He created the characters and was the driving force behind the creation and production of the original TV show. His untimely death came about before any of the subsequent incarnations came into being, and the absence of his input in those later versions is all-too-apparent.
The Chipmunks portion of "The Alvin Show" was decent, children's entertainment that adults could watch without embarrassment. It wasn't "Bullwinkle," but it kept me entertained. But the real star of the show was Clyde Crashcup and his sidekick, Leonardo. This was a surreal masterpiece. I still remember fondly the episode wherein Clyde invents "basic-ball," complete with an umpire and a fan ("Kill da bum!).
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