Up Periscope Yellow: The Making of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine

by Al Brodax

Overview

(Limelight). Al Brodax was the producer and co-author of the ground-breaking animated film, Yellow Submarine . In this book he recalls a frenzied, madcap escapade that came to be reflected in an enduring piece of screen history. In addition to Al and The Beatles, the "cast" included more than a dozen animators, platoons of inkers, background artists, soundmen, cameramen, and various essential expediters. They produced, aside from the film, more than a dozen pregnancies and one or two marriages. This generously illustrated book is a special gift to fans of the Beatles, of Yellow Submarine and of spirited, flavorful writing about movies. (267 pages, 8 x 9.33 )

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879109929
Publisher:	Limelight Editions
Publication date:	08/01/2004
Series:	Limelight
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 0.77(d)

Table of Contents

	Prologue	1
1.	In the Beginning	3
2.	Hot Ticket, Short Option, Long Odds	21
3.	Baby, You're a Rich Man	31
4.	In the Shadow of the Dorch	37
5.	Help! They Need Somebody	45
6.	Writers ... the Short List	63
7.	Getting It Together	91
8.	The Crucible ... August 1967-July 1968	127
9.	And in the End	259

Editorial Reviews

Judging from the fan fury that greeted the use of the Beatles' "Revolution" in a Nike commercial 15 years or so ago, and given the high artistic esteem they are held in, it's easy to think the Fab Four exist somewhere outside of commerce, where popular music is untouched by financial concerns. But Yellow Submarine's producer and co-writer Brodax, in his telling of the story behind the production of the psychedelic animated film (and the Saturday morning schlocktoon that preceded it), reminds readers that the world's biggest rock stars were definitely big enough to fuel a variety of different merchandising and moneymaking projects. As Brodax reveals, Yellow Submarine had scheme written all over it. Conceived as a relatively painless way to satisfy the band's three-movie contract with United Artists, the film's animation was begun even before the production team had a script. That was only the first of many hurdles; there was also an unreliable, make-their-own-schedule animation team, the finicky and stoned-flighty Beatles and the London pub where most of the production meetings took place. But somehow, it all came together to create a cherished animated film that is greater than the sum of its parts. Given that so much of Brodax's narrative describes one meeting or another, his style is an engaging mix of self-conscious Brooklynese and a Carnaby Street Austin Powers-esque slang ("Smashing, absolutely, altogether smashing!"), which carries the story along with authority and at a breezy clip. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly