Q 01/05

Simon Seville and his brothers Alvin and Theodore were named in 1958 after three real men in which line of work?

A) Radio disc jockeys

B) Label executives

C) Broadway composers

D) Hollywood animators

Answer · why

B) Label executives

Label executives lent the trio their first names as an inside joke: president Al Bennett, founder Si Waronker and chief engineer Ted Keep, at the comp...

Q 02/05

Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian took his stage surname from a Spanish city where he was stationed during which war?

A) Korean War

B) World War I

C) World War II

D) Vietnam War

Answer · why

C) World War II

World War II took the Army Air Forces control tower operator to England, France and Spain, and he liked the city of Seville enough to perform as David...

Q 03/05

Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian appears as the lonely composer at the piano in which Alfred Hitchcock thriller?

A) Rear Window

B) Spellbound

C) Notorious

D) To Catch a Thief

Answer · why

A) Rear Window

Rear Window came in 1954, during an acting career that began on Broadway in 1939 in a play by his cousin, the novelist William Saroyan.

Q 04/05

In The Chipmunk Song, which hot new toy of 1958 does Alvin wish for as his Christmas present?

A) A yo-yo

B) A pogo stick

C) A Frisbee

D) A hula hoop

Answer · why

D) A hula hoop

A hula hoop was that year's craze, and Alvin's wish for one helped the novelty record sell 4.5 million copies in seven weeks.

Q 05/05

How did Ross Bagdasarian turn his own singing into the squeaky voices of Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1958?

A) Speeding up the tape

B) Inhaling helium gas

C) Singing in falsetto

D) Using a voice synthesizer

Answer · why

A) Speeding up the tape

Speeding up the tape was the whole trick: he sang slowly while recording at half the normal rate, so ordinary playback lifted his voice a full octave.