In my travels promoting my book "Beatletoons - The Real Story Behind The Cartoon Beatles", many people have asked me the same really good question. It is "why do you have such a passion for the Beatles cartoon series?" I thought long and hard about that question and I have come up with an answer. But in order to explain, I have to take you "back through the midst of time" (apologies to Sir Paul for using his tour line).

Our story begins in January of 1962 when a boy named Mitchell (that's me) was born. I was born with multiple birth defects. Now, I don't want anyone saying "awwwwww", I tell you this because it figures into the story. We lived in Queens, New York. Although my parents were in their twenties, they were very "hip" parents and when The Beatles invaded our shores a couple of years later, they really liked what they heard. In fact, my father's friend Bernie owned the record shops in a department store called Times Square Stores (TSS) that was nearby. Whenever a Beatles record was scheduled to come out, we would have it way before anyone else would (thank you Bernie, wherever you are).

Even at the tender age of two, I was hooked on The Beatles. I have pictures to prove it. I was always a big lover of cartoons and in September of 1965 when The Beatles cartoon series premiered, I was in heaven. How much sweeter could it get, cartoons filled with Beatles music. According to my mom, I would sit and sing every note of every song in each episode and giggle at the antics of the cartoon Beatles. Life was grand as my whole family sat around the RCA console with the record player in it and listened to each glorious new Beatles song and then every Saturday I could be amused by the Fabs in a special way that my parents couldn't. What a time! I definitely don't remember the details from each episode from the 1965 airings, but I certainly remember the episodes when they were in syndication in the early 1970's, which is where our story continues.

1970 brought a lot of changes to my life. Not only did The Beatles break up, my parents divorced and I was having a hard time dealing with it! Then in 1971, my Aunt and Uncle passed away in a plane crash and all hell broke loose. My 4 cousins were now my brothers and sisters and I moved from my Queens home to suburbia, in Long Island. What a rough time I was having. I had to change schools as well and make new friends. I found that when it came to my birth defects, kids were especially cruel and I heard some of the worst things you could imagine. I was NOT having the easiest of times. And then...

One Monday morning as I was getting ready for school, I was watching Channel 5 and there they were, The Beatles cartoons! On my screen I saw the opening scene of the door in the hallway with the four heads of the Beatles sticking out looking to see if the coast was clear of girls. The instrumental break of "A Hard Day's Night" was playing and then as soon as The Beatles opened another door and the girls popped out, the opening words of "Can't Buy Me Love" would play and the Beatles cartoon fun began! I remember crying because, at that time, it was the only thing I could hold on to and that made me feel secure. The Beatles cartoons made me feel the innocence of a few years gone by that would never ever return. Sometimes I would miss the bus on purpose just to watch the full half hour, which did NOT make my mother happy. But that didn't matter because I was "home." (if that makes sense). The Beatles cartoons were my "guardian angels" so to speak. They always gave me a great feeling and put me at ease in "times of trouble." Each Beatles cartoon episode made me feel like I was part of their adventures and took me away from all of the turmoil that my home life was in at that time. I would be transported to Africa, Hollywood, Paris, London, Japan and other far away places, and with The Beatles no less. That is why they hold such a special place in my heart!

The A Hard Day's Night Beatles Toon

My recollections of the cartoons from their syndication showings are engrained in my brain. All of the episodes, silly but fun, bring back a flood of great memories. But there are some standout episodes for one reason or another. I remember watching the episode for "A Hard Day's Night" and getting just as scared as the group did when they were in the haunted castle trying to rehearse in peace and quiet. The episode for "Not A Second Time" always struck me as being badly animated because I always thought The Beatles were SO tiny looking. This is the episode where Ringo straps crocodiles to his drums because he thinks it's the girl fans dressing up in croc costumes trying to get a hold of them. Paul was drawn especially terribly. His long eyelashes make him look like he is in drag! And the episode for "Mister Moonlight" always made me laugh. I hated this song back then and when the song starts in this episode, it's PAUL that sings the opening line instead of John and they made his mouth move in a way that sort of looks like Bill Murray in the movie Caddyshack! At the end of the episode, The Beatles are still singing the song OUTSIDE of a submarine while the sub is fully underwater. It's hilarious! In "Bad Boy" the animators drew Paul playing RIGHT HANDED!

The episode for "Twist and Shout" is a fun one. In that episode The Beatles try to help a young artist and give her inspiration by.... singing, what else?! This episode holds a special place for me because (and don't ask me why) after seeing Ringo play the "pop art" drum set, it made me want to play the drums, which I have now been doing since I was 10. One thing that really stood out to me even back then was the opening for the third season. I sat in amazement seeing the group looking very different than I'd seen before. Now they had moustaches in this opening. I remember asking my mom, "Who are those guys in The Beatles cartoon?" And the song was not the usual number one song. It was "And Your Bird Can Sing" which was an LP cut. GREAT SONG, but not one everyone was used to hearing on the radio at that time. Now, that opening is my favorite with all of the silliness and the serious looking Beatles of 1967. You can tell that the animators had a ball making that opening. All of the faces that they drew are great looking. And the episode for the song "And Your Bird Can Sing" is memorable in its own right. The Beatles are on a bird hunt to try and catch a singing bird before it puts them out of business. Very colorful backgrounds and the song packs a rock and roll punch that stills send chills down my spine every time I hear it! When I watch the cartoons now, I always laugh when I think that the cartoon Beatles could at times be normal citizens that get into everyday situations while the REAL Beatles couldn't go to the bathroom without being harassed.

A long time has passed now and all of my birth defects have been corrected surgically and life is great. My book "Beatletoons" came out in late 1999 to very nice reviews (thanks to all). I got married in 2000. I have two beautiful children, Spencer and Stephanie. They both LOVE the Beatles cartoons and the group in general. We have a DVD player in our car for the kids and now instead of Barney and The Wiggles, they ask me to put in my DVD of the Beatles videos and they sing EVERY word to every song. You can't help but laugh out loud when you hear a 7 year old and a 5 year old singing EVERY LYRIC of "Eight Day's A Week" and clapping in perfect sync at the "hold me, love me" part of the song.

That is my biggest argument to Apple when speaking about a release of the cartoons on DVD and video. They keep telling us how they are targeting a younger market with CD releases like "Beatles 1." How much younger could you get than little kids watching cartoons filled with glorious Beatles music?! The new video game for 2009 sounds okay but ya know, not everyone in this world owns a video game player or even LIKES video games, but I betcha 99% of this world owns a TV set and a DVD player! I think they would garner a whole new generation of Beatles fans without even trying! I am a persistent man and I will keep "bugging" The Beatles (or at least their management) about a series release. Stay "tooned."

So the next time you are watching or thinking about the Beatles cartoons and pass them off as silly, utter nonsense, remember the old saying that one man's trash is another man's treasure! Those silly little awful Beatles cartoons kept a young boy sane and helped me to "take a sad song and make it better."

You can email Mitchell to get an autographed copy of his book or just talk Beatles toons at Beatletoon@aol.com.

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Published December 5, 2008

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