In her first ever interview, Freda Kelly, the devoted and loyal secretary to The Beatles, takes us on a thoroughly enjoyable trip back to the very beginnings of the band. For a period of 11 years, from 1962, Kelly worked for Beatles manager, Brian Epstein and took care of all things related to the band’s fan club. Described as ‘the most coveted girl in the world’ in an article at the time, Kelly witnessed first hand the rise of the most famous band of the 20th Century. As one of the last surviving members of the ‘inside circle’, we’re chuffed good ol’ Freda has sat down to tell us her story.
In her first ever interview, Freda Kelly, the devoted and loyal secretary to The Beatles, takes us on a thoroughly enjoyable trip back to the very beginnings of the band. For a period of 11 years, from 1962, Kelly worked for Beatles manager, Brian Epstein and took care of all things related to the band’s fan club. Described as ‘the most coveted girl in the world’ in an article at the time, Kelly witnessed first hand the rise of the most famous band of the 20th Century. As one of the last surviving members of the ‘inside circle’, we’re chuffed good ol’ Freda has sat down to tell us her story.
Directed by Ryan White, a long time family friend of Kelly, Good Ol’ Freda proclaims no new shocking revelations about The Beatles or salacious gossip. Instead, poignant, personal memories about events that took place and about “the lads from Liverpool” as she calls them. Good Ol’ Freda is a film about The Beatles family and their families, which Kelly was undoubtedly an integral part of. It is also about her family and a request from the son she lost. Today, she dedicates her legacy and this film to her grandchild.
The scene was Liverpool, south side, it was 1961, and Freda Kelly was 17 and fresh out of secretarial school. She was a regular at the local hang out The Cavern Club where the boys played close to three hundred gigs, Kelly went to over two hundred of them. She met the band when she got chatting after one of their shows. A big fan of The Beatles already, she said she had a photograph of them above her work desk, the other girls had Elvis and Cliff Richard on theirs. “I knew they were going to make it big, just how big I didn’t know,” she says.
It was a job millions of young girls wanted, everybody wanted to be that close to The Beatles. Kelly was a true admirer, she had an early personal connection as a fan without being an over the top fanatic. In the film Kelly’s daughter says of her “my mum is the most private person I’ve ever met in my life.” Others in the film say she was a trusted confidant, an obvious choice for the job then. Brian Epstein’s job offer on Penny Lane that fateful day marked a life changing moment for this young girl from Liverpool.
This documentary is charming and an easy watch. Kelly is entertaining, cute yet cheeky. She doesn’t hold much back and it’s the personal relationships about each Beatle and their families that she opens up about that make the film. “Paul did anything you asked, John was a man of many moods, but was always himself, he never put an act on, George was thoughtful and quietly spoken and Ringo was very shy but handsome,” she says. She admits to having fancied them all, this would change on a daily basis. “I was 17 and I did have crushes on them. One day George would offer me a lift home and I’d think, oh, I like him! Then the next day, Richie (Ringo) would ask about my dogs, then I’d think, oh I like him.” When questioned by the filmmaker if she went out with any of them, she replies with a twinkle in her eye and grin, “pass, there are stories but I don’t want anybody’s hair falling out.”
A Liverpool girl herself, Kelly understood the band's backgrounds. Their families lived within walking distance of her house. According to Paul McCartney’s stepmother, Angie, "The Beatles saw her as a sister and (their) families saw her as a daughter.” Kelly visited Ringo’s mother every week for egg and chips, she says Elsie was the closest she’s had to a mother figure. Kelly’s mother died when she was 18 months old. Angie, she talks about as “vivacious and young, John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi was stern and old school… The Harrison’s enjoyed fame the most.” Kelly became the link between each of the families and individual Beatle.
Named the fifth Beatle, manager of the band and entrepreneur, Eppy she calls him, is an important figure. His management style has been attributed to the band’s success. She talks of his legendary tantrums, yet efficiency at getting things done. Kelly talks about the shock and devastation about news of his death in 1967. It had a profound effect on everyone and ultimately was the break-up of The Beatles. The fan frenzy that was Beatlemania in 1964 and 1965 was the time thousands of letters arrived every day.
The band became so famous, that fan mail received was addressed by name and city only, one envelope reads: To George Harrison, Liverpool, England. Kelly’s tales about the fans and fan mail requests are magic moments in the film. As a true testament to her dedication to the job and the band, she says it took her three years until after the job ended to reply back to each and every last fan letter. She would write 2 or 3 a night, she was married with two children at the time.
Good Ol’ Freda includes never seen before footage, newspaper print, personal photographs, original Beatles music and of course loads of fan mail. Kelly says “I could’ve been a millionairess if I had kept everything… the records, autographs and photograph I have given away to fans.”
Fifty years later, Freda Kelly is still a secretary, for a legal firm, she’s been there 21 years, she laughs, “this current job is not as exciting as the last one.” As the secretary to The Beatles, she was a respected employee and dear friend who was loved by the boys, their families and others attached or related to them.
This is a story of innocence in a time of innocence of a true fan and dedicated, tireless worker.
28/09/201405:00pm