In the town where he was born, lived a man who sailed to Long Beach, and he told us of the Beatles in the land of parody.

Since the 1960s, the Beatles have been a staple of adoration and music, which led Walter Santucci to think of them in another way — as the perfect candidate for a parody.

In his animated short film, “It’s a Lovely Day,” accompanied by the song of the same name by the Detroit Illharmonic Symphony, Santucci pokes fun at the Beatles’ classic “Yellow Submarine.”

The two-minute-long cartoon will be shown before the North American re-release of “A Hard Day’s Night” on July 4 in 15 cities, including here in Long Beach at the Art Theatre.

“A few weeks after we finished ‘Lovely Day,’ the summer re-release of ‘Hard Day’s Night’ was announced and I thought the films would play well together,” Santucci said. “Since all the theaters showing it were independent art houses, I knew they’d be approachable. So we talked to several and most liked the idea.”

Santucci said while Beatles parodies and tributes have been done in the past, he thought that, as an animator, a “Yellow Submarine” style cartoon would be refreshing.

He said his original idea was to reunite key members of the creative team behind the 1978 television special, “The Rutles,” which mocked the career of the Beatles.

“A friend posted the ‘Yellow Submarine Sandwich’ clip from ‘The Rutles’ on Facebook and his post immediately lit up with positive comments and likes—and I thought a full-length feature reboot could be really successful, especially since the Disney reboot of Yellow Submarine had just been scrapped,” he said. “So, I kicked some concepts around then tried (and ultimately failed) to put that together.  By then, I was itching to animate something in that style, so I applied it to the Detroit Illharmonic song.”

“It’s A Lovely Day” is Santucci’s fourth film that will show at the Art Theatre. He said he read about the Art a few years ago then approached them with the idea of a screening of one of his short films.

“I think it’s really encouraging the way the Art and other independent cinemas are embracing non-studio content,” Santucci said. “It is going to help evolve the art of cinema.”