When Heinz Edelmann died Tuesday in Germany, obituaries lauded the graphic designer/illustrator’s contributions to the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” film — a hallucinogenic look that defined an era.
But without earlier contributions from Westporter Al Brodax, there would have been no movie — a movie which, according to the New York Times, influences music videos to this day.
Brodax was a film and TV producer. In the 1950s he helped develop “Your Show of Shows,” and oversaw production of more than 200 Popeye shorts.
In the mid-1960s he produced an animated TV series featuring the Beatles. He also produced and co-wrote the “Yellow Submarine” film.
It was Brodax’s idea to get the film’s colors and typography to dance and move — a concept that Edelmann brought to life.
So, in a way, the yellow submarine — and an entire generation of psychedelic art that followed — was launched right here in Westport.
(Al Brodax now lives in Weston, and heads the Brodax Film Group production company.)
I didn’t know this at all. One of the first films I ever watched in full, still do. Shame he passed, but incredibly influential I now see