Good Ol' Freda

Oi, Freda Kelly. I feel lucky to have been alive enough to realize the truly important and exciting pivotal time it was for Liverpool and to experience The Beatles from the Cavern Club to the Magical Mystery Tour bus through Freda's generous and sincere recollections. This documentary is truly moving, funny, and exciting. Freda was a busy working girl, and loyal to the bone, entrusted to steer fans away from the band, fans of whom she does not once speak ill about (there had to be some crazies). The Beatle newsletter maintained and written by her captured not only Beatlemania (the new age of a fan base) but the culture of work for women (not real different to today). Really nice clip of Ringo today. Don't be shy anymore, Freda. THANK YOU!

As a lifelong Beatles fan, it was both interesting and enjoyable to learn the story of the Beatles secretary and fan club organiser Freda Kelly, who amazingly, we learn got the job at age only 17.

A Liverpudlian like the group members, she started off as just a fan, regularly attending the group's Cavern gigs, thus falling into the orbit of not only the group, but their manager Brian Epstein who offered her the job a million Beatles fan would have craved. This simple, uncomplicated documentary tells her insider story. Don't expect any major revelations, now, as then Freda is the soul of discretion, even when hinting that she went out with one of the boys, but there are plenty of nice insights into the gathering maelstrom of their massive success and her special relationship not only with John Paul George and Ringo but also their families.

Related in the form of interconnected interviews with her, her daughter and other Liverpool contemporaries, interspersed with archive footage and a contemporary soundtrack mixing Beatles tracks with original versions of some of the band's early cover versions, she comes across as honest, faithful, discreet, hard-working and loyal. She seems to have benefited not a whit financially from the experience, although I bet her attic full of mementos is worth a few bob.

Of course it would have been nice if both of the surviving Beatles, Paul or Ringo, had actively contributed to the story, but Starr does at least pay her a glowing tribute over the end credits.

After the fan club disbanded in 1972, with Paul pointedly not wanting to be referred to as a Beatle anymore, she quietly resigned her position in a meeting attended by Ringo and George. Of the stories she tells, George seems to be the friendliest.

A pleasant low-key documentary then, sure to be of interest to Beatles fans around the world.

There probably isn't much to know about the Beatles that hasn't already been revealed in the forty-odd years since they disbanded, and if there were, their former secretary Freda Kelly probably wouldn't tell you. There is some nice information on the Beatles' early career, most notably on their days at the Cavern Club, but this is not so much a documentary about the Beatles as a documentary about what it's like to run a fan club for a cultural phenomenon.

What makes the movie so enjoyable is Freda herself. The distinctly unglamorous woman is wonderfully likable, and it is charming to hear her talk about the pains she took to make sure fans got what they wanted (she continually emphasizes that she was a fan herself). She also tells a little of the Beatles' relatives and varying incidents such as one in which George drunkenly fires her.

But the heart of the movie is Freda, whose loyalty and caring make her surprisingly compelling.

There are a lot of sources for information on the Beatles; this movie is less an insider's view of them than a look at the experience of being an insider. And that turns out to be very interesting.

I urge all Beatles' lovers who enjoyed Freda Kelly's story to try and see "Arena: produced by George Martin";it completes this one which features a very interesting portrayal of Brian Epstein Freda Kelly referred to as "Eppie".

It's a wonderful magical mystery tour through the past,as Freda opens her archives in her attic (she gave away most of her items to fans in the first half of the seventies when the fan club closed down .considering the large amount of letters (which grew exponentially over the years ) and other stuff she could have sold,she could be a millionaire today ,as she says; just take a look at the prices on ebay.

Hired at 17 by Epstein,Freda was her secretary,and we get a fly-on- the-wall account of the Beatle mania years; Freda always stayed in the shadow,it was her friend who demanded her wage should be raised .But her anecdotes are a treat to hear:Ringo's nine letters ,Lennon 's metaphor of the desert island where Freda would be safe with "Eppie",the devoted Harrison family always here to give a helping hand,the Moody Blues episode where she was almost "fired" .

When she left the greatest musical phenomenon of the sixties,Freda had to continue to earn her living ;she never complained ,although she got a raw deal :her son Timothy prematurely died and she deeply moves us when she says that she did not tell him much about her past (which almost every English girl envy);the birth of a grandson makes her change her mind and spawn this absorbing documentary.

She never wrote a book ,but this movie will replace it for Beatles' fans .Although she was bruised by her son's death ,she does mention all these people ,part of the legend ,who died well before their time: Epstein,Lennon and Harrison,Moe Cox and Linda McCartney, Derek Taylor....

Let her take you down and you 're going to memory lane,where everything is real.

This is not a tell-all movie. It's about Freda, from Freda herself, who thought herself the luckiest girl in the world.

When you think you've seen every documentary about the Beatles or Beatles phenomenon, along comes this absolutely charming film about the member of their organization almost solely responsible for the unbridled love their fans felt for them on a global scale.

Freda clearly loved them as family, and never stopped loving them. It's as if she's speaking of her brothers. As she tells her story, you'll be transported back in time, and you'll feel that excitement you felt when you first discovered the Beatles. Freda's loyalty never waned, and the joy and glow she felt in her job and relationship with the boys just radiates off the screen.