I got a great letter this week from a fan named Harold Dickinson.

He writes, "I'm trying to get the name of a cartoon from the late 50's or early 60's. It had two characters who -- at least in my memory -- remind me of Penn and Teller. The one character was tall and bombastic, the other was shorter and never spoke- although he would whisper to the other character. I believe the smaller character was named Leonardo- but I wouldn't swear to it."

Jason Lee, star of My Name is Earl, also has another career apart from television: crapping all over my childhood memories. Lee will not only provide the voice of Underdog in the upcoming live-action feature based on the beloved children's cartoon, but has also joined the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie as Dave Seville, the human "father" to Alvin, Simon and Theodore (the Chipmunks will be computer generated). Seville was the stage name of songwriter and performer Ross Bagdasarian, who first used the sped-up voice technique on his song "The Witch Doctor" and later used the same technique for his Chipmunk records.

The film is being produced by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and his wife Janice Karman. Tim Hill, director of the second Garfield feature film, will direct.

[via Toon Zone]