MetaFilter posts tagged with chipmunks and alvin

AAAAAAAAAAAALLLLVIIIIIIIIIIN!

ocherdraco — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:30:49 -0800

The Origin of The Chipmunks. "Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (who went by the stage name "David Seville") was an actor who appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window and on Broadway in William Saroyan's Time of Your Life. He wrote novelty dialect songs, including Rosemary Clooney's huge hit "Come On-A My House", and released a few records but his successes never seemed to result in very much money in his pocket. He bought a tape recorder with his last $200 and played around with shifting the speeds, coming up with a novelty song titled "Witch Doctor". He got the single released and two weeks later, he found himself appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show performing the song. The success of "Witch Doctor" gave him the idea of creating characters with sped up voices, so he quickly knocked out a Christmas demo titled "The Chipmunk Song" and took it to record executives Simon "Sy" Waronker, Theodore "Ted" Keep and Alvin "Al" Bennett at Liberty Records." Chipmunks through the years: 1960s: The Alvin Show (including "The Witch Doctor" with the boys) 1980s: Alvin and the Chipmunks TV show, The Chipmunk Adventure (with the all-time sneeringest villains Claudia and Klaus) 2000s: Alvin and the Chipmunks live action/CGI movie

Critter Christmas! Forget Lipstick on a Pig!

ericb — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:46:22 -0800

Move over Alvin & the Chipmunks. The BBC has "been out talking to animals all over the UK to discover exactly what they'd like for Christmas...find out what they had to say here!" Do One Thing For Nature On The 12 Days Of Christmas

"If you're feeling inspired to look after the wildlife in your backyard, check out our 'Do One Thing' guide below. Just ONE could make all the difference. And then maybe ONE more…if you feel like it!"

1961. The Alvin Show

R. Mutt — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:22:47 -0800

The Alvin Show, 1961. The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late). The Witch Doctor, Pop Goes The Weasel, Chipmunk Fun and The Alvin Twist

Conservative Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue!

Effigy2000 — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:16:11 -0800

Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue was an animated drug prevention television special starring many popular cartoon characters from American Saturday morning television. Airing in 1990 and financed by McDonald's, it was simulcast on all three major American television networks. The VHS home video edition of the special also opened with an introduction from then-President George Bush Snr and Barbara Bush. And thanks to the wonders of the interwebs, you can watch the whole thing here. And you really should. After all, where else are you going to get to hear cartoon characters like Garfield and Winnie the Pooh talking about smoking crack and shooting juice? If you don't want to (or simply can't bear to) sit through the whole thing, at the very least you should subject yourself to the horrors of what is arguably one of the worst songs in animated TV specials history ever, Wonderful Ways to Say No, where the collected group of characters explain all the ways you can say no to drugs. It' worth it just for the irony of seeing Kermit the Frog telling kids to say no to drugs despite the fact Henson practically conceived the character in a drug fuelled haze (previously).

C..h...r..i...s..t..m..a..s....C...h..r..i..s..t..m..a..s

Turtles all the way down — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 12:55:10 -0800

If you slow down an Alvin and the Chipmunks recording by just the right amount you can hear the voices of the original singers. via