The year was 1965. The Beatles were riding high on the charts in America and abroad. Crowds that came to see them wailed and screamed so loud that the band could barely hear themselves play. Beatlemania was in full force and there was only one thing missing from the big picture – an animated series, of course!

By 1965, The Beatles had transformed from their moptop look, but this cartoon chose to capture them more as they appeared when they first set foot on American soil. The animation was simplistic and the voices were not provided by the Fab Four. Rather, prolific voice artist, Paul Frees provided the voices of John and George, while Lance Percival mimicked Paul and Ringo.

Truth be told, The Beatles had absolutely nothing to do with the cartoon production, other than provide the music. Almost ever Beatles song recorded before 1966 was featured in the cartoon series and each episode was actually a visual representation of one particular song. Occasionally, there were even sing-along versions, complete with lyrics at the bottom of the screen, presumably for the younger viewers who perhaps didn’t know every single lyric as their older siblings did.

The cartoon series came out of the gate strong, as did everything remotely related to The Beatles. By the second season, things had cooled a bit but the series did manage a four-year run, although the last two seasons consisted mainly of reruns, ironically under the revised title of The New Beatles.

The Beatles weren’t overly fond of the cartoon themselves, but that didn’t stop them from allowing the cartoon’s animators at King Features to animate their feature film in 1968, Yellow Submarine. But, regardless of their feelings, nobody could argue that the cartoon had some great music and some might even say, a bit of charm. It’s still fondly remembered by anyone who remembers living in a time when the world revolved around the four lads from Liverpool.