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Possibly the most popular TV and musical cartoon of all time, The Chipmunks enjoyed two periods of prosperity -- the '60s era of adolescent Baby Boomers and the '80s, when the Boomers' children were growing up. The man who brought the Chipmunks to life, Ross Bagdasarian, was born on January 27, 1919, in Fresno, CA. He came to Los Angeles in 1950, and appeared in the films Viva Zapata, Stalag 17, and Rear Window. Bagdasarian also worked as a songwriter, reaching the charts first in 1956, as his production of Alfi and Harry's "The Trouble With Harry" hit number 44. He later charted two solo singles (recorded as David Seville), "Armen's Theme" and "Gotta Get to Your House." In 1958, Bagdasarian began experimenting with a novel technique -- recording normal vocals but then speeding up the playback on a tape machine. The process yielded the number one hit "Witch Doctor" in early 1958, and the phenomenon mushroomed later that year when his Christmas gimmick single The Chipmunk Song spent fou...