'Good Ol' Freda' Might Be The Last Untold Beatles Story
The story of the Beatles is a familiar one: Four mop-topped lads from Liverpool cut their teeth in Hamburg, jumped across the pond to win the hearts of Americans on The Ed Sullivan Show, and basically changed music forever. There’s way more to that tale, of course — and it seems like every narrative has already been told a million times over.
But now, a new documentary, Good Ol’ Freda, tells the little-known story of the Beatles’ secretary, Freda Kelly. She was a teenager who also hailed from Liverpool and met the band by chance. But that coincidence ended up being an act of fate — Kelly worked as the Fab Four’s secretary and ran their fan club for over a decade.
Freda Kelly and director Ryan White join us in the studio. The film opens in New York at Sunshine Cinema tomorrow.
Interview Highlights
Freda Kelly, on why it has taken so long for her story to emerge:
I [have] had offers over the years, but I just didn’t want to do them. I just wanted to live my life as normal, as I did. But then when my grandson came along, my daughter started talking to me and other people, and I thought, “Well, before the memory box goes, I better put something down for [my grandson].”
Ryan White, on getting permission to use four Beatles songs in the movie:
It was from the very beginning: “This is going to be impossible. No one gets Beatles music.” But I wasn’t just going to throw the towel in…. It’s a total testament to Freda that record executives would take my phone calls. It’s a testament to the way Freda lived her life that time after time, we kept getting “yeses.”
Kelly, on her final letter to the Beatles fan club and reminiscing during the film’s interviews:
It actually made me sad, reading it this time, because I hadn’t read it for years… But once I started talking, [Ryan] must have had a nightmare with me. Because I’d tell a tale, and then while I’m telling a tale, I’d remember another one. One tale opened another memory box.
