The Alvin Show
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26 (List of episodes)
Broadcast
Original run	October 4, 1961 – September 12, 1962
Chronology
Preceded by	None
Followed by	Alvin and the Chipmunks

The Alvin Show is a 1961 American animated television series featuring the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks. The series rode the momentum of creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.'s original hit 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.

Contents 1 The Show 1.1 Running Periods 1.2 Structure 1.3 Clyde Crashcup 2 Characters 3 Episodes 4 Theme Song 5 Cast 6 Gallery

The ShowEdit

Running PeriodsEdit

The Alvin Show's original run lasted for a single season in prime time on CBS [Wednesdays, 7:30-8pm Eastern], sponsored by General Foods. Though the show was drawn in color, it was televised in black and white. The color prints of the episodes would not be released until the series entered syndication in the fall of 1965.

CBS would later rerun the series on Saturday mornings for a few years after the show's prime time run ended.

The individual segments from the show were separately syndicated in the mid- and late-1960s under the package title Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The series later was revived on NBC-TV, again promoted under the title Alvin and the Chipmunks (with the introductory The Alvin Show title card cut off the opening credits), on Saturday mornings between March 10, 1979 and September 1, 1979.

In the fall of 1983, coinciding with the launch of Ruby-Spears' newly-produced Alvin and the Chipmunks series on NBC, The Alvin Show was again syndicated, this time by Viacom Enterprises.

Nickelodeon picked up US broadcast rights to The Alvin Show sometime in 1994 and ran the episodes daily until early 1995. During this time, as well as for sometime after, the individual cartoons and musical segments were inserted into episodes of Weinerville. By the end of that year, however, Nickelodeon stopped showing The Alvin Show altogether and it has not been seen on television anywhere in the United States since.

StructureEdit

The show was created in a Three Short format, typical of the many cartoon shows (many today use the Two Short format instead). Each short was approximately six or seven minutes long with two Chipmunk segments and one segment by Clyde Crashcup in each episode. Each Chipmunk short also contained a musical segment. Such formatting allowed producing in parallel easier and helped preserve premises of segment-long jokes.

Clyde Crashcup Edit

Aside from the Chipmunk segments, in which Bagdasarian's 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. Clyde was an inventor who essentially re-invented various items and took credit for dreaming it up in the first place. His "creations" often backfired on him until his silent, level-headed lab assistant, Leonardo (diminutive, balding, and perpetually whispering in Crashcup's ear) saved him from any further self-destruction.

CharactersEdit

The Chipmunks were named based on the names of people Ross worked with: Alvin Bennett, Simon Waronker, and Theodore Keep.  The original character designs consisted of very realistic-looking chipmunks but were changed to cartoons in order to "fit the times."

Clyde Crashcup was created to impersonate Richard Haydn's character, Edwin Carp.

In 1990, The Alvin Show versions of the Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup reappeared in an episode of The Chipmunks Go to the Movies entitled Back to Our Future.

EpisodesEdit

There are twenty-six episodes in The Alvin Show including Clyde Crashcup invention moments and 52 musical segments. Every episode had two musicals in them.

#	Episode Title	Musical #1	Clyde Crashcup	Musical #2
1	Good Neighbor	Buffalo Gals	Invents Jokes	America The Beautiful
2	Ostrich	Mexico-the Brave Chipmunks	Invents Self-Preservation	Yankee Doodle
3	Squares	Italy-oh, Gondaliero!	Invents Glass	I Wish I Could Speak French
4	Sam Valiant, Private Nose	August Dear	Invents the Chair	Working on the Railroad
5	Overworked Alvin	When Johnny Comes Marching Home	Invents the West	Swanee River
6	Alvin's Curse	Old MacDonald-Cha, Cha, Cha	Invents the Baseball	Switzerland-the Magic Mountain
7	Alvin's Alter-Ego	Japanese Banana	Invents the Bathtub	The Pidgin English Hula
8	Stanley the Eagle	Stuck in Arabia	Invents the Wife	I Wish I Had A Horse
9	Fancy	Chipmunk Fun	Invents Flight	Good Morning Song
10	Sam Valiant: Real Estate	Alvin for President	Invents the Baby	Home on the Range
11	Dude Ranch	Witch Doctor	Invents the Stove	Lilly of Laguna
12	Camping Trip	Spain	Invents Music	Row, Row, Row Your Boat
13	Bentley Van Rolls	Swing Low, Sweet Chariot	Invents First Aid	Comin' Thru' The Rye
14	The Whistler	Coming Around the Mountain	Invents Electricity	Pop Goes the Weasel
15	Love Sick Dave	If You Love Me (Alouette)	Invents Egypt	Maria from Madrid
16	Jungle Rhythm	Alvin's Orchestra	Invents the Bed	The Little Dog
17	Theodore's Dog	The Chipmunk Song	Invents the Telephone	Alvin's Harmonica
18	Hillbilly Son	Three Blind Mice	Invents Do-it-Yourself	Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
19	Little League	Clementine	Invents the Time Machine	Sing A Goofy Song
20	Eagle in Love	Bicycle Built For Two	Invents the Shoe	On Top of Old Smokey
21	Alvin's Studio	Whistle While You Work	Invents Physical Fitness	Ragtime Cowboy Joe
22	Haunted House	My Wild Irish Rose	Invents the Ship	The Band Played On
23	Sir Alvin	Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair	This is Your Life, Clyde Crashcup!	Funiculi-Funicula
24	Good Manners	Git Along, Little Doggies	Invents the Birthday Party	The Man on the Flying Trapeze
25	Eagle Music	Polly Wolly Doodle	Invents Self Defense	Down in the Valley
26	Disc Jockey	The Alvin Twist	Invents Crashcupland	While Strolling in the Park

Theme SongEdit

CastEdit

• Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. - Alvin, Simon, Theodore and David Seville
• Shepard Menken - Clyde Crashcup
• June Foray - Mrs. Frumpington and other female voices

GalleryEdit