Beatles cartoon stills

[JoJo]

This is from the intro to episode 37, and this was the same as other episodes. (low budget) However this business with the Astin Martin and the black car only came in the later episodes, I'll have to track down the exact timeframe. Also At the beginning, Ringo, Paul and John run a race, and Ringo runs into the center of the frame with "2" displayed prominantly on his shirt.

But the weird thing is Paul and a blond girl driving through the streets of the city late at night, and a sinister black sedan follows them with the licence plate "get him", followed by a cartoon "boom". Another hmmm moment..

[DarkHorse]

Great find.

I wonder what the publishing date on those is.

[-Wings-]

tinyurl.com/6q4g3

Here's an interesting site about the Beatles cartoon that ceased to be a few years ago, but the text is still viewable through archive.org.

It says the last seven episodes were made in the fall of '67 (episodes 33-39), so the timeframe is spot on if this was intended as a Paul is Dead clue.

[Doc]

JoJo----you deserve a medal. You are an honorary archeologist. Great find.

Amazing that this was made (the cartoon above).

[TotalInformation]

Paul and a blond girl

[-Wings-]

From the link above, here's an interview with Richard Jones, an animator on the show:

7. The scripts were written and storyboarded in the States by King Features, or associates, subject to Beatle representitive approval. I have no proof of this, it is what I was told.
8. We did not have any say in the scripts, they were taken as read by the time we had received them. Sometimes wew were allowed to draw incidental characters.

So in theory, while this project was divorced from the actual Beatles, they could have notified a representative to tell King Features to insert this car chase scene into the intro of the show. I think it's pretty telling that it was only added in the later episodes. Why? What would be the point?

Great work again JoJo. Can you say for sure what the first episode to feature it was?

[TotalInformation]

So in theory, while this project was divorced from the actual Beatles

Lennon once gave an interview where he said all the main ideas in the Yellow Sub movie were his.

Also, imdb.com lists a screenwriter who was uncredited on film; a Liverpool poet who had known the Beatles for a long time.

[JoJo]

Yes, the possible Sylvie connection did occur to me. I'll have to go back and look at the cartoons until I find the first one with this new intro. Btw, I'm also pretty sure that this new intro coincided with the first appearance of the mustached Paul, making it even easier to date. (for our purposes)

When I have a chance, a few more frames from the intro, having to do with the French army on the battlefield...Another interesting choice.

[JoJo]

A good source of info at: www.beatlefans.com/cartoons.htm

As I was looking through the episodes, the first one to feature the "get him" business and the older bearded versions of the Beatles (photo stills in the beginning, not the cartoon versions of the guys) was episode 27. Apparently that was the start of a second season, although they didn't make too many after a big first season.

The French army fighting with I guess the inhabitants of one of their arab colonies is also featured in the beginning, here:









Now... the cartoon featured a "singalong", where the words would flashed on the screen, along with a slide show that sorta loosely told the story. I happened along one for Paperback Writer.. Wanna be creeped out?? (in order as the stills appeared, one right after the other)