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The Nutty Squirrels

  “UH! OH!  PART 2“

(Sascha Burland, Don Elliott)

Hanover 4540

No. 14    December 28, 1959

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The Nutty  Squirrels were the creation of Don Elliott and Sascha Burland.  Working their “squirrels”

like  David Seville did his “Chipmunks,” Don and Sascha speeded up their scat voices to sound like

the chatterings of some hip little creatures.

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Don Elliot (b. Oct. 21, 1926, Somerville, N.J.) had been active on the jazz scene since the ’50s. He has

played mellophone, trumpet, and vibes  with Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, George Shearing, and Teddy

Wilson.  Elliot had his  own 16-track recording studio, where he wrote and produced numerous  radio

and TV commercials during the ’60s.   He composed for, and played in, Broadway shows like A Thurber

Carnival, The Happiest Man Alive, and The Beast in Me; he  had also supplied soundtracks to such films

as The Getaway (1972), In the Heat of the Night (1967), and The Pawnbroker (1965).

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In the ’50s, Alexander  “Sascha” Burland (b. Oct. 25, 1927/NewYork City)  began producing, writing,  and

working TV and radio jingle sessions.   Sascha was the creator of the theme song for TV icon “What’s My

Line?”

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In 1959, the pair came  up with  the idea of having chipmunk-like characters  singing jazzy scat numbers.

 STEVE ALLEN and Bob Thiele  had just formed the Hanover/Signature Record labels, and were pleased

pink to give the jazzy “squirrels” a try.   “Uh! Oh!” was a hit,  but a novelty hit at most, which meant that

follow-up efforts  like “Zowie” failed to  excite enough program directors and ergo record-buyers.  With

novelty numbers the media has demonstrated a long history of being dismissive.

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Despite successful recordings by the Nutty Squirrels, RAY BRYANT, Bill Evans, and Jack Kerouac,  Allen

and Thiele shut down Hanover/Signature in 1960.  With the help of  Columbia and RCA, Don and Sascha

  continued to work their nutty turf for another four years.  None of these efforts fared well economically,

and eventually the two returned to their previous endeavors.