From 1991 to the present, Dr. Bob Hieronimus has sought out and interviewed all the principal Co-Creators of “The Beatles Yellow Submarine”. Most of these exclusive interviews were broadcast as unique specials on 21st Century Radio. For a complete list and ordering instructions to purchase tapes of these radio specials, send an SASE to Hieronimus & Co., P.O. Box 648, Owings Mills, MD 21117.
Interviews with the key Yellow Submariners include the following:
Heinz Edelmann - Art Director
Charlie Jenkins - Special Effects
Erich Segal - Writer
Roger McGough - Supplemental Writer
John Clive - Voice of John Lennon
Paul Angelis - Voice of Ringo Starr and Chief Blue Meanie
Lance Percival - Voice of Old Fred
Sir George Martin - Music Director
Bob Balser - Animation Director
Jack Stokes - Animation Director
Al Brodax - Producer
Jack Mendelsohn - Supplemental Writer
Millicent McMillan - Edelmann's assistant
Allison De Vere - Backgrounds
John Coates - Line Producer
Norman Kauffman - TVC Archivist/Partner and Yellow Submarine tea boy
Key Animators Dave Livesey, Geoff Loynes, Alan Ball, Mike Stuart & many others
As an artist and trained symbologist, Bob Hieronimus was captivated by the explosion of color and image that burst from the screen in 1968 under the title of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine. Since then his quest has been to locate and interview every living person who participated and influenced this film, the results of which he is compiling into a book scheduled for publication by 2002. Bob believes The Yellow Submarine captures the Beatles essential message of brotherly love and peace in a vehicle for succeeding generations. By using powerful symbolic and mythological images to tell the story, the Yellow Submarine also reflects the Hero's Journey and the quest for enlightenment in a popular format.
Since he has interviewed all the principle contributors many times over the past 10 years, his rendition of the complicated history of this influential film will be the most accurate ever published. The current working title is "Inside the Yellow Submarine: The Making of the Beatles Animated Classic". Dr. Bob's Yellow Submarine research can currently be seen in Beatlefan , Animation World Network, Goldmine and many other publications. He hopes that with Apple's planned re-release of this film in 1999, audiences will once again be inspired by its powerful message that "All You Need Is Love".
WHY THIS CARTOON FILM IS SO IMPORTANT
As a symbolic artist with an intense belief in the power of the visual image, Dr. Bob considers the film, Yellow Submarine , to be a kind of good will talisman that can transform the energy of the "blue meanies" (no matter who they are in the current generation), turn enemies into comrades, and inspire us all to be guided by Love.
As you learn more about how this landmark in animation was created, under enormous stress and difficulty, you can also begin to see how the creation of the Yellow Submarine can serve as an inspirational symbol for any of your own personal creational challenges. Just like in J.R.R. Tolkien's mythologies, it reminds us that the unlikely heroes who stick to their ideals are able to surmount a mountain of doom and a Goliath of opposition, and succeed beyond all possible hopes.
30TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY FOR THE CREATORS OF THE YELLOW SUBMARINE
The Creators of the Beatles Yellow Submarine Celebrated Its 30th Anniversary with a Party and Live Radio Broadcast of "The Zoh Show" From The BBC on October 14, 1998!
Click here to see images from the event!
The Beatles Yellow Submarine film premiered to mass hysteria 30 years ago this year, and in celebration, Hieronimus & Co., Inc. and TVC of London co-sponsored a Yellow Submarine Reunion Party on October 14, 1998. Zoh Hieronimus broadcast her program live from the party which was held at the BBC in London and beamed to the States exclusively to WCBM, Baltimore (www.wcbm.com). Over 100 of the co-creators of this beloved film were gathered at the party including Erich Segal--Author of the Screenplay (and later a little novel called Love Story); John Coates--Line Producer and Co-Director of TVC London where the film was made; the actors who provided the voices of the Beatles--John Clive and Paul Angelis, and many more of the animators, background artists, camera operators and so on.
DR. BOB'S SPEECH AT THE YELLOW SUBMARINE ANNIVERSARY
Without TVC of London The Beatles Yellow Submarine film would have been a 90 minute "Flintstones" and the planet would have resoundingly walked out of the theaters long before it ended. It would have been a serious embarrassment to the planet's greatest ever rock and roll band!Why wasn't it a 90 minute cartoon that no one would have wanted to sit through once? Because its Director, George Dunning, was determined to make it much more than that. But without the brilliant crew at TVC and those they hired from around the world, the film would never have been what it is today.
I'm greatly saddened that I never met George Dunning, who died in 1979. I'm greatly saddened that the film's main man, the originator of Yellow Submarine art, Heinz Edelmann, was too ill to join us this evening. Those of you who have worked with Heinz and have told me of his brilliance and enormous capacity for hard work, know that the film would not have been a landmark feature animated film without him. I'm also greatly saddened that Charlie Jenkins, the film's special effects genius, couldn't be with us tonight, because of work deadlines. It took seven years to locate this elusive perfectionist in Buenos Aires, and we never would have found him without the help of Key Animator, Mike Stuart!
INSURMOUNTABLE ODDS DEFEATED
How did this animated film classic "come to be" under such severe restrictions of less than a one million dollar budget, and an impossible deadline of just 11 months, and the incessant attempt by its producers to hold down expenses? That's what took me over 20 years and a small fortune to learn. I could not have done it without the help of my beloved partner in this life, Zoh M. Hieronimus, who made certain that my account of its history could be told. Without Zoh, this 30th year reunion would have been but a dream. You know, if Zoh had been the producer this film, the co-creators wouldn't have had to see some of their best ideas left undone!Since my first interviews with some of you about eight years ago, I have learned not only how you did it, but WHY you did it. Your obvious love for the planet's greatest rock and roll group, is in truth the "why".
The Beatles united the planet with their music. They gave hope to America that the kind of massive corruption we've come to see in the world's political, military and economic systems cannot crush the human spirit. We, in America, have seen the conspiracies to murder those who dared to lead the way, JFK, MLK, RFK and many others. These murders were not carried out by lone gunmen, but by established powers who stop at nothing to maintain the status quo and their corporate military agenda. It is MY opinion that John Lennon's murder came about by those same Blue Meanies.
Dr. Erich Segal, a Yellow Submarine script writer told me about his work on the film. "I enjoyed it as an interlude in my life... but when you think about it... the whole story is marked with tragedy. In the middle of filming, Brian Epstien's death. The emotional break up of the Beatles themselves. The ultimate death of John Lennon. It's not really a happy story. But what we have as our compensation is the heritage of what they left us. And that lives forever."
THE YELLOW SUBMARINE LIVES FOREVER
Speaking of forever, in the Beatles extraordinary Anthology video series we hear George Harrison remark: "The Yellow Submarine film goes for every generation, every baby you know, a 3-4 year old goes through the Yellow Submarine ." Everyone I've interviewed agrees with George Harrison, and so do I.Last December 1997, the rock band Oasis produced a video from their "Be Here Now", album called "All Around The World." If you've seen it already you know it was inspired by the Yellow Submarine film. Recently we talked with the team who created the video, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and they confirmed that this video was a conscious tribute to the Yellow Submarine film. 30 years later and the film continues to inspire one of the most popular rock groups of today!
Thank you for joining us. We are especially thrilled to know that Apple is in the process of bringing new life to the film which hopefully will be re-released in early 1999 and in interviewing those co-creators who were responsible for its co-creation. Obviously without Neil Aspinal's insight, this legendary film would have continued to be lost in a sea of holes.
Thank you also to the BBC Studios at Maida Vale, and in particular Brendan Barbour, for hosting this historic 30th year reunion for the Yellow Submarine crew.
We all do, indeed, live in a Yellow Submarine.
Thank you.