First received a children's three-speed record player as a Christmas gift in 1962. Actually, I had the first LP devoted to music from the "Mickiey Mouse Club" television show in 1955, but never had anything to play it on. This album contained 26 songs from the show and featured Jimmie Dodd and a handful of Mouseketeers. Most of the songs featured Dodd and some backup adult vocalists, including Dodd's wife, Ruth Carrell Dodd. The album sold for $3.98 in 1955, not cheap by any means in those days. Still recall the album was purchased at "Crawford's Corndrs," a little department store in El Monte, California. The album survives today in good condition. Still sounds pretty good, too. There is a decent high fidelity quality about it.
Once the record player was in the house, my first album to go along with it was "The Alvin Show," featuring Ross "David Seville" Bagdasarian. Of course, the voices of Alvin, Simon and Theodore were also supplieed by Bagdasarian. His natural voice was sped up to twice the normal speed, thus creating the effect of Chipmunks. I am convinced many parents were driven batty by the Chipmunk records. Not so much by the voices of the Chipmunks, but by the sound of "David Seville" going postal at the end of each track.