Possibly the most popular TV and musical cartoon of all time, the Chipmunks were brought to life by Ross Bagdasarian in 1958, when the actor and songwriter began experimenting with a novel technique: recording normal vocals but then speeding up the playback. The process yielded the number one hit "Witch Doctor," and the phenomenon mushroomed. The Alvin Show premiered on prime-time television in 1961 but became a success in a Saturday morning slot. Several more Chipmunks singles and LPs also did well. Although Bagdasarian died in 1972, his son revived the Chipmunks in 1979. The TV series became more popular than in the '60s, and the albums were big sellers.