They All Love a ‘Yellow Submarine’: Very Young Beatles Fans Sing Along

NEW YORK — For Melissa Watson, a lifelong Beatles fan who has a refrigerator covered with memorabilia from 25 years of Beatles conventions, a “Yellow Submarine” singalong in Greenwich Village was worth the trek from Long Island.

On Saturday morning, she and her loved ones were among 50 families, most with young children, gathered inside, away from the rain, to watch “Yellow Submarine” in celebration of its 50th anniversary and sing along to “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “Eleanor Rigby” and more. Most were New Yorkers, but some, who were visiting for the weekend, traveled from as far as Montreal. One girl had come with her grandmother.

The exclusive screening was part of Film Forum Jr., a series of family-friendly movies on weekend mornings at the theater. “Yellow Submarine” is filled with coded drug references, as befits a rock film from 1968, but it works on a kids’ level as well. It tells the story of Pepperland, at risk of being taken over by the music-hating Blue Meanies. Cartoon versions of the Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, though it is not their speaking voices in the movie), ride a submarine to the land and help save the day with their music.

“A friend and I went to the very first show on the day it opened in Times Square,” Bruce Goldstein, director of repertory programming at Film Forum, said. “The kids’ reaction on Sunday was the same as it was 50 years ago — except that we did the singing on the way out of the theater.”

Watson, her brother and four children took up almost the whole back row of the theater on Saturday morning. They usually bond over the Beatles by playing the video game “The Beatles: Rock Band,” but on this morning they were ready for the show; Watson and her daughter both wore pink button-downs branded with white stars reading “The Beatles.”

“I love all the albums,” Watson said, especially the song “Yellow Submarine.”

Her daughter Laura, 16, said she liked the Beatles’ diverse repertoire. Her oldest daughter, Emily, 19, said that they grew up listening to the group and that she usually wins the Rock Band competitions.

Michael Gartland, a speechwriter from Washington Heights, 44, had brought his children, Zora, 2, and Henry, 5, along, after rain spoiled their plans for Coney Island. Henry had loved “The Wizard of Oz,” so Gartland thought he might like this one too.

A Beatles fan, Gartland said he would sing along if he “could remember the words.”

But he did not need to rely on his memory; the lyrics played across the scenes in the movie. During the screening, children sat on their parents’ laps. Most adults sang, and children occasionally chimed in and swayed side to side during classics like “Yellow Submarine” and “All Together Now,” which McCartney has said was created with children and their singing habits in mind (the song spells out part of the alphabet). A little girl in yellow Crocs wandered around, almost dancing to “All You Need Is Love.”

Nick Jaeger, 40, and Brenna Thomas, 40, said they had been on a road trip a few weeks before, when their son, 5, started singing along to “Yellow Submarine.” He had learned the song from his music teacher at school.

At the screening, he sat eagerly, ready to sing.

Among the most animated in the crowd were Amanda Zinoman, 55, and her son, Jonah, 8. The two laughed, sang along and clapped during various songs, including “All Together Now.”

“I love the music,” Zinoman said, explaining that they frequently listen to and sing Beatles’ songs

“My favorite was the Blue Meanies,” Jonah said, grinning in the lobby after the show.