Global InformationThe Alvin Show information
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| The Alvin Show | |
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 Title card from The Alvin Show. | |
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| Created by | Ross Bagdasarian Sr. W. Watts Biggers Chet Stover Joe Harris |
| Based on | Alvin and the Chipmunks by
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| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 (104 segments) |
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| Executive producer | Herbert Klynn |
| Producer | Ross Bagdasarian Sr. |
| Running time | 25:40 per episode (7 minutes for The Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup each, 3-4 minutes for both musical segments each) |
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| Network | CBS |
| Release | October 4, 1961 – September 12, 1962 |
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The Alvin Show is an American animated television series that aired on CBS in the early 1960s. This was the first series to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks. The Alvin Show aired for one season, from October 4, 1961, to September 12, 1962[1] and was originally sponsored by General Foods through its Jell-O gelatin and Post Cereal brands. Although the series was created in color, it was initially telecast in black and white. It was later rebroadcast in color from 1962-65 for Saturday mornings on CBS and again Saturday mornings on NBC in 1979.[2][3]
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.[4] 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.[5] The actual show featured a re-worked version, which aired as part of the fifth episode. With producer Fred Calvert (who would later work on The Thief and the Cobbler) calling them in, the opening sequence was animated by Bobe Cannon and assistant animated by Iwao Takamoto.[6]
Each episode consisted of a Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup segment, both of them seven minutes long. Following each segment was a musical number with Dave and the Chipmunks. Most of the songs came from the first three albums that had already been released by the time the show premiered (Let's All Sing with The Chipmunks, Sing Again with The Chipmunks, and Around the World with The Chipmunks). By the second half, all the songs from the new fifth album, The Chipmunk Songbook, were also featured. In addition to the non-album Alvin for President, three song segments were created that were never officially released on any album or single. They were Clementine, Maria from Madrid, and Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair.
The show was followed in 1983 by another Chipmunks series, Alvin and the Chipmunks which aired on NBC.
- ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 24. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- ^ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981. Scarecrow Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Paietta, Ann; Kauppila, Jean (1994). Animals on Screen and Radio: An Annotated Sourcebook. Scarecrow Press. p. 294. ISBN 9780810829398.
- ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 75–78. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- ^ "Story: Alvin Show Pilot Board". 18 November 2021.
- ^ Takamoto, Iwao (2009). Iwao Takamoto : my life with a thousand characters. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 99–100.