It has already happened – the radio is playing “The Chipmunk Song.” Must be Christmastime.
While one may argue the merits of the original Chipmunks vs. the 1980s version and the recent reboot, the contemporary movies and records are finding a new audience for the squeaky-voiced trio.
I remember watching reruns of the early 1960s series THE ALVIN SHOW, and at the end of each episode’s credits was an animated sequence that said “Bagdasarian Productions”. Who is Bagdasarian?
He was a cousin of the famous playwright and author William Saroyan. He was also a child of Armenian immigrants who learned orchestration and arranging while studying music. He and Saroyan co-wrote Rosemary Clooney’s 1951 hit single, “Come on A-My House,” and Bagdasarian produced the unique-sounding record which featured a harpsichord. (Side note: Clooney hated the song, but Columbia’s Mitch Miller told her, “sing it or be fired.” It became her biggest hit.)
Bagdasarian appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock film “Rear Window,” among other films, but was down to his last $200 when he spent $190 on a reel-to-reel tape recorder that allowed for variable speed. Bagdasarian created three-part harmony on the song “Witch Doctor” and, by speeding up the tape, had his first taste of success as David Seville and the Chipmunks with a No. 1 hit in 1958.
Old-style hi-fi record players had several speeds: 78 RPM, 45 RPM, 33 1/3 RPM, and 16 RPM. A Chipmunks record played at 16 RPM would reveal Bagdasarian’s secret – three “David Seville”s in harmony.
By Christmas 1958, “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” was a monster hit for Bagdasarian’s Chipmunk operation, and he gave the three boys the monikers that exist to this day: Simon, Alvin, and Theodore (named for record executives Simon Waronker, Theodore Keep, and Alvin Bennett – Waronker’s son, Lenny, is still a record executive at Warner Bros. Records to this day).
Bagdasarian died of a heart attack at age 52 in 1972, and the Chipmunk act went dormant until 1979 when Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. released an LP called CHIPMUNK PUNK. The new version retained the same technology with an updated repertoire. Thus began a second life for Bagdasarian’s greatest creation.
From 1983 until 1990, NBC programmed “Alvin & The Chipmunks” on its Saturday morning cartoon block. Records and videos were produced along the way. And then, almost two decades of inactivity.
In 2007, 20th Century Fox opted to update the trio once again, this time with a live action/CGI hybrid film. The first two Chipmunk movies became the two highest-grossing live action/animation adaptations of all time.
And so, who was Ross Bagdasarian? As expressed in the movie’s credits, “This film is dedicated to Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who was crazy enough to invent three singing chipmunks nearly fifty years ago.”
Michael Bird is a music teacher for Tallassee City Schools.
