DVD Tuesday: The Alvin Show

It’s another slow week, but there’s one release of note: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Very First Alvin Show. Included is the very first episode of The Alvin Show, originally broadcast on Wednesday, October 4th, 1961 over CBS. The series ran for just one season from 7:30-8PM. Two thirty minutes specials are also part of the release.


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2 Replies to “DVD Tuesday: The Alvin Show”

  1. “THE ALVIN SHOW” lasted 26 episodes, and was originally telecast in black and white…not only in its original 1961-’62 prime-time season, it was telecast in monochrome when CBS rebroadcast it on Saturday mornings from 1962 through 1965 [the network refused to colorcast ANY regular series until the fall of ’65, due to its rivalry with RCA/NBC over their manufacture of color TV sets- Bill Paley once declared he’d NEVER help “General” David Sarnoff and RCA sell more of their color sets by scheduling color series on HIS network…and he didn’t, from 1959 through September 1965]. The color prints of “THE ALVIN SHOW” were FINALLY released by CBS Films in syndication in September 1965.

    I don’t know if the episodes are going to be presented in their original order or format- this is how the show was originally presented:

    1) Teaser opening, involving Alvin up to his usual mischief [parading a bull in a china shop, operating a wrecking ball machine, jerking a tablecloth piled high with dishes on it off a table, etc.] as “David Seville” (Ross Bagdasarian’s “alter ego”) inevitably yells, “AL-VINNNNNN!!!!”
    2) Opening title- “This is ‘The Alvin Show’/The Alvin Show!/You’re positively gonna love ‘The Alvin Show’…”
    3) sponsor I.D. for General Foods:
    ALVIN: ‘THE ALVIN SHOW’ is brought to you by-
    {Alvin and his brothers hold up signs with the name of the sponsor’s product in sections} J-E-L-L…{Alvin witholds his part}
    SEVILLE: AL-VINNNN!!!
    ALVIN: (annoyed, finally holding it up) O…..KAY!
    4) “Alvin” segment
    5) transition- one of them went like this:
    SEVILLE: (to Alvin, writing on a blackboard) What are you writing?
    ALVIN: Nothing!
    SEVILLE: Well, don’t just stand there- write SOMETHING.
    ALVIN: (writes “something” on the board, with the ‘S’ backwards, to audience) And here’s something, you’ll REALLY enjoy!
    6) first commercial
    7) transition to “David Seville and The Chipmunks” musical number (“western showdown”, “archery”, etc.)
    8) “David Seville and The Chipmunks” #1
    8) transition to “Clyde Crashcup” segment- (sometimes with Alvin introducing, others with Clyde and Leonardo doing the honors)
    9) “Clyde Crashcup”
    10) transition (one had Clyde giving a long-winded introduction, which Alvin shuts off on the “control room” monitor, in the middle)
    11) second commercial
    12) “David Seville and The Chipmunks” musical number #2
    13) transition- here’s one you might remember:
    ALVIN: (directing the movement of cameras in the studio as his brothers “dolly in”) Camera ONE, moving in…Camera TWO, moving in…Camera THREE, moving in..
    (all three cameras collide with each other- BOOM! Blackout)
    14) third commercial
    15) General Foods sponsor I.D. (usually a repeat of the opening one)
    16) closing credits, with Bagdasarian Productions logo at end (spelled out to tune of “MIS-SIS-SIPPI”)
    17) CBS network I.D.

    1. I’m trying to expand knowledge of the series but I do not want to misrepresent the series in any major ways. I just have a few questions and from your post here it sounds like you might know.

      When did the original run end, March 28, 1962 or September 12, 1962?

      So there were four distinct sections, correct? A Chipmunk short, Crashcup short, and two musical pieces.

      If so, what were the names of the episodes? Were they just the name of the Chipmunk short? Like, episode one was called Good Neighbor.

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