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The Chipmunks

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The Chipmunks are a fictional musical group, created by Ross Bagdasarian in 1958. The group consists of three singing chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group, Simon, the tall bespectacled intellectual, and Theodore, the chubby, impressionable sweetheart. The trio are "managed" by their human "father" and confidant, David "Dave" Seville. In reality, David Seville was Ross Bagdasarian's stage name.

After first being brought to life in Bagdasarian's 1950s novelty recordings under the name David Seville and the Chipmunks, the characters were an unprecedented success, and the singing Chipmunks and their manager were given life in several animated cartoon series and motion pictures. At the present time, the characters are perceived as cartoon characters that also released some accompanying music, which is the inverse of their early existence.

The voices of the group were all performed by Bagdasarian, who sped up the playback to create the higher pitched squeaky voices. This process wasn't entirely new; Bagdasarian had also used it for a previous novelty song project "The Witch Doctor", but it was so unusual and well executed it earned the trio two Grammy Awards for engineering. Although the characters were fictional, they did release a long line of "real" albums and singles, with "The Chipmunk Song" becoming a number-one hit single in the United States. After his death in 1972, the voices of the Chipmunks were subsequently recorded by his son, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., and his wife, Janice Karman, in all subsequent incarnations to date. The Chipmunks themselves are named after the executives of their original record label, Liberty Records: Alvin Bennett (the president), Simon Waronker (the founder and owner), and Theodore Keep (the chief engineer).

Contents

Profiles

History

\"The Witch Doctor\"

In early 1958, Ross Bagdasarian released a novelty song, under his stage name David Seville, about being unlucky at love until he found a Witch Doctor who told him the "magic words" to woo his woman. The entire song was done by Bagdasarian in his normal voice, except for the "magic" words, done first in Bagdasarian's sped-up, pre-Chipmunk voice, then in a duet between his sped-up voice and his normal voice. The words, of course, are nonsense: "Oo-ee, oo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla-walla, bing-bang".

The song was a major hit, sitting at Number 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks during the spring, and the Witch Doctor's "magic words" were being sung by kids everywhere. Although nothing in the song makes any reference to chipmunks, the song is now sometimes included on Chipmunk compilations, as if the Chipmunks themselves had provided the voice of the Witch Doctor... which, technically speaking, is true.

\"The Chipmunk Song\"

The Chipmunks first officially appeared on the scene in a novelty record released in late fall 1958 by Bagdasarian. The song, known at first as just "The Chipmunk Song" and later subtitled "Christmas Don't Be Late", featured the singing skills of the chipmunk trio. The novelty record was highly successful, selling more than 4 million copies in 7 weeks, and it launched the careers of its chipmunk stars. It spent four weeks at Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart from December 27, 1958 to January 19, 1959. It also earned three Grammy Awards and a nomination for Record of the Year. At the height of its popularity, Bagdasarian and three chipmunk hand-puppets appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, lip-synching the song.

Imitations

While the series was being prepared for broadcast, an imitation, the Nutty Squirrels, beat them to the market, but was less successful, despite catchy scat singing.

scene from The Alvin Show
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scene from The Alvin Show

The Alvin Show

The first television series to feature the characters was The Alvin Show. The cartoon gave more distinctive looks and personalities to the three chipmunks than just their voices, and an animated portrayal of David Seville was a reasonable caricature of Bagdasarian himself. The series ran from 1961 to 1962, and was one of a small number of animated series to be shown in prime time on CBS. Unfortunately, it was not immediately successful and was cancelled after one season, only to find new life in syndication.

In addition to Alvin cartoons, the series also featured the scientist Clyde Crashcup and his assistant Leonardo. Those characters did not feature prominently on any of the later series. Crashcup made a single cameo appearance in A Chipmunk Christmas, and in an episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The first television series was produced by Format Films for Bagdasarian Film Corporation. Although the series was broadcast in black and white, it was produced and later re-run in color. 26 episodes each were produced for the Alvin and the Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup segments, along with 52 musical segments.

A Chipmunk Christmas

After the death of Ross Bagdasarian in 1972, the Chipmunks' careers stalled until NBC showed interest in the original show and Excelsior Records released a new album of contemporary songs performed by the Chipmunks. The new album—Chipmunk Punk—featured the late Ross's son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr., doing the voices of the characters. That album and the continued reruns of the series proved to be popular enough to warrant new television production, and in 1981, the Chipmunks and David Seville returned to television in the Christmas special A Chipmunk Christmas, produced by Chuck Jones, which was first broadcast on NBC on December 14 of that year.

A scene from the opening credits of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
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A scene from the opening credits of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

In 1983, the second cartoon series, produced by Ruby-Spears, was released. Titled simply Alvin and the Chipmunks, the outline of the show closely paralleled the original Alvin Show. The show lasted eight production seasons, until 1991. In the first season, the show introduced The Chipettes, three female versions of the Chipmunks—Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor—with their own human counterpart, the myopic Miss Beatrice Miller. Many fans consider this the moment when the show jumped the shark. After 1988, the show was renamed just The Chipmunks to indicate that there were now two groups of them. The show reflected current trends and historical events in pop culture; the Chipmunks sang recent hits, and wore contemporary clothing. One "documentary" episode spoofed John Lennon's 1966 comment that the Beatles had become "more popular than Jesus", by recalling how the Chipmunks had fallen in popularity after Alvin boasted they were "bigger than Mickey Mouse!"

The Chipettes, as seen in the feature film The Chipmunk Adventure (1987).
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The Chipettes, as seen in the feature film The Chipmunk Adventure (1987).

In 1987, during the fifth season of the show on television, the Chipmunks had their first (and thus far, only) animated feature film, The Chipmunk Adventure, directed by Janice Karman and released to theatres by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. The film featured the Chipmunks and the Chipettes in a contest traveling around the world. Other than improved production values, the movie was more of an extended and enhanced episode of the series.

In the 1988–89 season, the show switched production companies to DiC Entertainment, by which time the Chipmunks had truly become anthropomorphized. In 1990, the show switched titles again: The Chipmunks Go to the Movies. Each episode in this season was a spoof of a Hollywood film, such as Back to the Future, King Kong, and others. In addition, several television specials featuring the characters were also released. At the conclusion of the eighth season, the show was cancelled again.

In 1990, a documentary was produced about the show entitled Alvin and the Chipmunks/Five Decades with the Chipmunks. In that year, the Chipmunks also teamed up for the first and only time with other contemporary cartoons (such as Bugs Bunny, Garfield, etc.) for the drug abuse-prevention special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.

From Left to Right: Theodore, Simon, and Alvin
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From Left to Right: Theodore, Simon, and Alvin

Direct-to-video Chipmunks

In 1996, the rights to the characters were purchased by Universal Pictures. This resulted in The Chipmunks' 1999 reappearance in the form of the direct-to-video movie Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein. The movie was successful enough to spark interest in a sequel, and in 2000, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman appeared. Both movies featured the "original" cast of the second series reprising their roles and the tone of the movies are very similar to the series. These film titles reflect earlier horror spoofs by Abbott and Costello.

The Chipmunk's future

In 2000, Bagdasarian Productions sued Universal Pictures for breach of contract, in order to recoup monentary damages and to regain control of the Alvin and the Chipmunks characters. If that lawsuit is not successful, the contract will expire in 2006. Until that is resolved, there will likely be no major activity with the franchise and no further television movies produced.

A new movie called Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks released in April 27, 2004, features puppetry used for the Chipmunks and Chipettes. In this movie, when Dave goes out of town, he leaves the young Chipmunks and the Chipettes in the care of Lalu, a friend who is happy to have six kids stay with her. Lalu lives in a magic cottage with Gilda (a talking cockatoo), and PC (a talking frog who believes he is one kiss away from being Prince Charming). There are also Sam and Lou, two gophers who report to the viewers about the feelings the characters are experiencing. While at Lalu's, the kids learn about separation, jealousy, telling the truth, sharing, and other life lessions. The six different characters are all pre-schoolers. With several songs, the DVD is a cute and educational way for youngsters to learn about life. Alvin, Simon, Theodore, Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor (the infant) are adorable characters, and through the imaginative puppetry they entertain and educate the viewers. Whether Theodore is learning about telling the truth and not to put things into the toilet, Alvin is learning about helping Eleanor, and Jeanette is learning that she cannot "borrow" Brittany's lipstick, these characters each have something with which viewers can identify.

A live-action feature-length movie, loosely based on the early-1960s animated television series The Alvin Show, was reportedly in development by 20th Century Fox, featuring computer-animated Chipmunks and a live-action David Seville. It was scheduled to be released in theatres around 2007.

Recording technique

The Chipmunks' voices were recorded onto audiotape by voice talent talking or singing at half the normal speed. When the tape was played back at double speed, they would sound a full octave higher in pitch, at normal tempo. The technique was by no means new to the Chipmunks. For example, the high and low pitched characters in The Wizard of Oz were achieved by speeding up and slowing down vocal recordings. Nowadays the same effect can be created digitally and in real time. The term "chipmunk-voiced" has entered the American vernacular to describe any artificially high-pitched voice.

The technique was frequently imitated in comedy records, notably "The Ying Tong Song" by The Goons, "Transistor Radio" by Benny Hill, "Bridget the Midget" by Ray Stevens, "The Laughing Gnome" by David Bowie, and on several tracks the Joe Meek and the Blue Man Group album I Hear A New World. The technique also appears in the instrumental break in Bobby Lewis' 1961 US #1 hit "Tossin' and Turnin'". It was also used extensively in the British puppet show Pinky and Perky.

Prince has also used the technique for his "Camille" alter ego.

Kanye West's technique of speeding up soul samples has led to his productions being compared to the Chipmunks.

However, the vocal technique is not always generated by a recording technique. Some fans of the band Gamma Ray have described the singer Kai Hansen's falsetto as "chipmunk-like" on the album No World Order.

Pop Culture influence

Discography

The Chipmunks as babies in a scene from the 1983 Alvin and the Chipmunks Saturday morning cartoon.
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The Chipmunks as babies in a scene from the 1983 Alvin and the Chipmunks Saturday morning cartoon.

Albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

The original theatrical poster for The Chipmunk Adventure.
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The original theatrical poster for The Chipmunk Adventure.

In total: five Grammy Awards and a Golden Reel Award.

External links

 

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