Long before the CGI animated Alvin and the Chipmunks known today, or the various hand-drawn versions from the Nineties, Eighties, Seventies and the Sixties, there was Richard Scarry's storybook illustrations.
Author and illustrator Richard Scarry is probably best known for his long-running "Busytown" series, featuring characters like Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm.
"The Chipmunks' Merry Christmas" Little Golden Book from 1959 was one of the earliest pieces of Alvin and the Chipmunks memorabilia. This was written by David Corwin and illustrated by Richard Scarry. Alvin and the Chipmunks were the creation of musician Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., and debuted in 1958.
These illustrations are quite charming.
The Chipmunks' human friend, David Seville, is not featured in this story, but their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chipmunk, are.
Alvin, Simon, and Theodore do have to stern music teacher named Mr. Owl, who gets to yell at Alvin since Dave is not around.
Don't worry, Chipmunks, Mr. Owl won't gobble you up if you misbehave (he's a tiny owl!).
The Chipmunks sing their famous song!
I like the watermelon painting in the background.I seem to remember Alvin wanting the hula hoop, but here it is Theodore...
What does Alvin want for Christmas? Where is Alvin?!? What happens next?!!Well, there's a wolf, and a car chase, and---wait, that's not what happens!
There is an appearance by Santa and Alvin gets what he deserves for Christmas. A lump of coal, because he was naughty. No! A Christmas tree, of course!
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Great illustrations! I didn't know anything about these early versions of the Chipmunks.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, I had Richard Scarry's "What Do People Do All Day?".....actually, I just recently dug it out of my mom's garage and gave it a new home on my bookcase. I used to get "lost" in his artwork for that book.
Hey TokyoMagic! I knew about the 1961 "The Alvin Show" and the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" from the Eighties and Nineties, but I did not know about the earlier versions of the characters until reading about them when the live action/CGI "Alvin and the Chipmunks" debuted in 2007.
ReplyDeleteRichard Scarry books sure are detailed, and I too remember spending a great deal of time looking at them. We also had a Richard Scarry "Puzzletown" set that was also great fun (we had the Town Center, which included figurines of Mayor Fox, Sgt. Murphy and Mrs. Murphy).