Ross Bagdasarian

Here's Shana Alexander's 1959 LIFE article about the man behind the Chipmunks. THE CHIPMUNK SONG was the # 1 record on the radio the day I was born that year. Bagdasarian would have been 97 years old on today's date this year. 

Nine years ago, I shared the sample chapter I wrote on Ross--aka David Seville--for my unpublished book on cartoon voice actors 18 years before that!

http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-lost-chipmunks-article-1989.html 

Alvin and the Pre-TV Chipmunks

My Lost Chipmunks Article-1989

THE CHIPMUNK SONG was the # 1 record in the US on the day I was born in January of 1959. It had been released just prior to the holiday in the just ended year and become more a phenomenon than a hit. Eventually Alvin and his cartoon crew would enjoy fame in records, television, toy merchandising and even now a brand-new, long anticipated/dreaded CGI feature film with Jason Lee as David Seville.

Here, however, reproduced from the original typewritten pages, is a 1989 aricle I pitched to the local newspapers during the holiday season. The one reply I got questioned why it might be considered newsworthy and added that even if it was, they have their own staff writers to write these filler pieces. Sigh. The article itself was actually excerpted ( at least in part) from the longer piece on Ross Bagdasarian I had written for my legendarily unfinished and unpublished book, CARTOON CHARACTER ACTORS-THE MEN AND WOMEN BEHIND YOUR FAVORITE ANIMATED STARS.