‘Yellow Submarine’ Animator to Appear at SXSW

To celebrate 50 years of Beatlemania, Ron Campbell – who directed the Saturday morning Sixties cartoon The Beatles and animated the band’s 1968 film, Yellow Submarine – will appear at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.

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For one week, Campbell will have an exhibit at local gallery Wild About Music, where he’ll showcase original paintings created for the cartoon series. According to a press release, the animator-director will also create and sell new “Beatles pop art paintings” at the exhibit, which will run Saturday, March 8th, to Saturday, March 15th, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time (except Sunday, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.).

The Beatles cartoon (despite its infamously bizarre voice acting) was a massive ratings success in its time, debuting September 25th, 1965 and airing until 1969. The highly psychedelic Yellow Submarine, which recently celebrated its 45th anniversary, is generally regarded as a classic in the Beatles oeuvre, and the press release notes that producer Al Brodax credited Campbell’s animation skills for “tying [the film] together at the last minute.” 

Throughout his long career as a director, producer and animator, Campbell has worked for Hanna-Barbera, Disney Animation and Nickelodeon, helping shape cartoons like Scooby Doo, The Jetsons, Winnie the Pooh, Rugrats and The Flintstones.

The Fab Four have been honored frequently in 2014. Earlier this month, CBS celebrated the Beatles’ historic debut on The Ed Sullivan Show with The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute To The Beatles, an event featuring musical tributes and a rare performance from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.