The Beatles continue to break records over 50 years after they 'invaded' the shores of the United States to become the greatest rock band. When they authorized production of a cartoon, they made history yet again.
When ABC began production of The Beatles, they became the first "real" people to be the subject of an animated series.
The show aired on ABC's Saturday morning cartoon lineup, with each episode centering on one of the band's hit songs. The band was too busy to participate in the series, so two voice actors were hired to provide their voices.
Paul Frees provided the voices of John and George. A veteran voice actor, Mr. Frees was the voice of Boris Badenov on Rocky & Bullwinkle and the Ghost Host in DISNEYLAND's Haunted Mansion.
Lance Percival provided the voices of Paul and Ringo. Best known in the United Kingdom, Mr. Percival also worked on Yellow Submarine where he provided the voice of Old Fred. (The Fab Four themselves provided their own voices on that project.)
The show's producers took the public persona of each Beatle and exaggerated it, which meant that Ringo was portrayed as a lovable buffoon and John as a sarcastic jokester. It is said that the Beatles themselves were not happy with the show at first, but grew to like it in the later years.
As the band's music grew more complex and psychedelic, it grew harder to make a children's cartoon around it. New episodes stopped being made in 1967 and the show ended its run on ABC in 1969. The show has since aired in syndication, on MTV and on Disney Channel, but has never been made available on DVD.
