R.I.P. “Yellow Submarine” Producer Al Brodax (1926-2016)

R.I.P. “Yellow Submarine” Producer Al Brodax (1926-2016)

November 26th, 2016

Jerry Beck

Longtime King Features animation producer Al Brodax passed away Thanksgiving evening. The news was announced on Facebook by Beatle cartoon historian (and Brodax friend) Mitchell Axelrod this evening.

While his best known screen credit may be as producer (and co-writer) of the ground breaking 1968 animated feature, Yellow Submarine, Brodax had a vast career in film and TV.

After a distinguished career in the military, Brodax spent the 1950s developing TV series for The William Morris Agency, and wrote scripts for early TV productions out of New York. During the decade of the 1960s Brodax was the producer of all TV and movies for King Features Syndicate, producing hundreds of cartoons (and writing a few in the process) featuring Popeye The Sailor, Krazy Kat, Beetle Bailey and Snuffy Smith.

With Bob Kane (Batman) he co-created Cool McCool, a secret agent spy spoof for NBC Saturday morning in 1966. He negotiated for the rights to turn The Beatles into cartoons for ABC – a popular series that ran for three years. Brodax was instrumental in conceiving the idea of a Beatles animated feature – and film partially agreed to by the rock group to fulfill a three picture deal with United Artists.

Brodax also produced the live action Blondie sitcom in 1968 for CBS. Brodax moved on from King Features in the 1970s, working freelance for several producers – including producing animation for the series Animals Animals Animals (1975) for ABC and as a Hollywood consultant to Marvel Comics in the 1980s.

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.

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