Sometimes I go to YouTube in search of some lost treasure and leave disappointed, forced to accept that the time is not yet right for me to be reunited with my old attachment. It's very rare, but it sometimes happens that I go to YouTube and discover that which I have sought has at last been found and uploaded. Today was such a day! Some kind soul has found and posted all 26 episodes of the 1961-62 TV cartoon classic, THE ALVIN SHOW. A few look great, many more are from acceptable broadcast or 16mm sources, and one or two are partly in black-and-white, but they are all there.
A lot of Johnny Come Latelys will tell you that MTV or The Monkees invented the music video. In terms of TV music videos, they were actually invented by Ozzie Nelson for THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE & HARRIET, who devised one from reused footage from earlier episodes to promote his son Rick's song "Travelin' Man" (making it a huge hit)... but THE ALVIN SHOW, being an animated program, took the illustration and dramatization of song in still more imaginative directions while still using them to sell the records of Ross Bagdasarian's conceptual vocal group, Alvin and the Chipmunks. I believe it was Lester Bangs who once identified Alvin as rock's original punk, and I would argue (semi-seriously) that Bob Dylan might never have picked up a harmonica if Alvin hadn't already played one in a way that said "This Machine Kills Conformity." THE ALVIN SHOW anticipates the later animated adventures of THE BEATLES in that each episode tells two stories, each encompassing a song from the group's catalogue.
I've read there are some lingering family issues that have led Bagdasarian's son (the rebooted "David Seville" who rebooted Alvin, Simon, and Theodore with the novelty album CHIPMUNK PUNK) from opening the vaults to release the series as a whole. Cartoon fans of my generation have been aching for these for a long time. So if you want to see them, or even download and have them till an official release is sanctioned, I advise you to head on over to YouTube and search for THE ALVIN SHOW. Sooner or later, because you never know. You'll be glad you did.
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