Ron Campbell

            On Sunday morning when I got up my new humidifier was dry but couldn’t have been for long because the humidity was over 60. I have to remember to put water in it before bedtime. 

            I revised my translation of the seventh verse of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian, and that’s half the song. 

            I memorized the third verse of “Flagrant délire” (Flagrant Delirium) by Serge Gainsbourg. The rest of the song is just repetition of the second and third verse and then the third is repeated by the chorus but slightly differently and so I have to figure out the sequence. I might have the whole song nailed down on Monday. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar during song practice. It went out of tune about three times and it sounds a bit rattly because the action is too low. I’m reluctant to take it to be adjusted right now. Maybe before Christmas. Tomorrow I’ll play my Kramer. 

            I weighed 87.45 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since October 31. 

            I sanded a bit more of the kitchen side of the bathroom door frame. 

            I weighed 88.2 kilos before lunch. That’s the highest it’s been in the early afternoon since October 13. 

            I took a siesta and slept half an hour longer than usual so I didn’t leave for my bike ride until 17:00 and sunset, plus it was raining a bit and so it was extra dark. It wasn’t coming down very hard but I would have gotten wet if I went all the way downtown and so I only rode as far as Bloor and Ossington. 

            I weighed 88.05 kilos at 17:45. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:15. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Vomit of the Star Eater” from September 6 to 9. On September 6 and 9 I played it on my Martin Road Series acoustic guitar. On September 6 the take at 11:45 was the best one so far but there was traffic noise. On September 9 the take at 10:45 was okay. On September 7 and 8 I played it on my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar. On September 7 the take starting at 22:30 was okay until I started fumbling on the third verse. On September 8 the take at 22:00 didn’t sound horrible but I fumbled once and the action was low so the guitar sounded rattly.

            I spent about fifteen minutes working on re-learning to play “Paranoiac Utopia”. I didn’t do too badly on the first and second verses but I’m still screwing up the chord sequence for the chorus.

            I made pizza on multigrain sandwich bread with a sliced ground beef burger and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching episodes 17 and 18 of The Beatles cartoon series. 

            In story 1 of episode 17, the Beatles are travelling off the coast of Japan in an old junk which John and Paul are rowing. They come ashore to rest when John and Paul see a beautiful ship piloted by a lovely woman. They are enchanted and run to it but an ancient looking man stops them and warns them not to go aboard the ghost ship Ah Na or they will sail permanently into the enchanted lagoon. John comes to his senses but Paul goes to the ship anyway and into Ah Na’s arms. As the ship heads for the enchanted lagoon the song “Anna” is playing. The other Beatles pursue the boat to rescue him while Paul is intoxicated by love. The Beatles climb aboard and Ah Nah summons her warriors but they run away from Ringo saying he’s one wild drummer. They rescue Paul and take him back to the hotel but when he enters the elevator the door closes and he is alone with Ah Nah. 

            The first singalong is to “Matchbox”, which was written by Carl Perkins but lyrically derived from Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “Matchbox Blues”. The second singalong is to “Thank You Girl” which was written by John and Paul. 

            In story 2 of episode 17, John is showing the other Beatles paintings in a museum in New York but they are bored. They sneak off to look for a party in Greenwich Village and a party finds them. It’s full of Beatniks painting, writing poetry and playing bongos and waiters on skateboards. John comes looking for them and when they see him coming they disguise themselves as Beatniks and play “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”, which was written by John. When John finds the others he announces he’s quitting the band to become a Beatnik. 

            In story 1 of episode 18, the Beatles are travelling in Hawaii when John introduces the others to a box that expands into a trailer that they can live in while travelling instead of hotel rooms. Everything is automatic and the kitchen pops out at the touch of a button as do the beds. Their garbage disposal is a goat. As they are travelling they find the villagers evacuating because of an active volcano. The native drummers are playing to make the volcano spirits happy so it won’t erupt. Ringo is inside the trailer and starts playing his drums to help them but ends up hitting a switch that unhitches the trailer and he goes rolling down the mountain to the tune of “Matchbox”. When it approaches a tunnel Ringo accidentally hits another switch that collapses the trailer. It rolls up the side of the volcano and then expands over the mouth to block any lava flow. The natives now think the Beatles are the volcano spirits and bring them food to their trailer. But then the volcano erupts and the trailer launches into the sky and far away with them in it. 

            The first singalong is to “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”. The second singalong is to “Help”, which was written by John with some help from Paul.

            In story 2 of episode 18 The Beatles are in France and their manager tells them they’re getting fat from all the French food they’ve been eating and so now have to be locked in their hotel room. John calls the fire department and when they bring a ladder to their window they escape. They have no money for food so they enrol in a cooking school so they can get free meals. Armand the director is out and so when the Beatles arrive they serenade the straight laced secretary Margarite with the song “Thank You Girl” and she takes off her glasses and lets her hair down to begin dancing. They also clean up the school and when Armand returns he’s impressed by the Beatles and by the new Margarite.

            Both episodes and many others of The Beatles cartoon series were co-directed by Ron Campbell, who in 1958 started animating Australian TV commercials. Because of the success of The Beatles series he went on to direct The Smurfs, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, The Big Blue Marble, Sesame Street, Darkwing Duck, and Rugrats to name a few. He and his colleague Duane Crowther animated about twelve minutes of Yellow Submarine. When he retired he became a pop artist and made paintings along the themes of some of his more famous animations.