blanche-2 I suppose people my age in the UK know Freda Kelly. She certainly seems to have received a lot of publicity as "the luckiest girl in the world" when she not only headed The Beatles Fan Club but worked for Brian Epstein. Why Epstein chose her during the time she was hanging out at the Cavern listening to the group, she has no idea. But given his belief in the talent of the Beatles, I think he just had good intuition. I don't think he could have found anyone as discreet or as loyal as Freda.Freda not only became friends with John, Paul, George, and Ringo, but also with their families and became a member of the Beatles family herself. They would come in for meetings with Brian Epstein and while they sat talking with him, Freda would come in with photos and autograph books for them to sign. She said none of them ever complained about any of it.She was young and cute, so the interviewer (who was only heard once or twice) asked her if she had a more than friendly relationship with any of the guys. She wouldn't answer. "That's personal," she said. In fact she has never written a book or sold her story to a tabloid. She made this documentary for her grandson, Niall. For so many years, as a secretary, wife, and mother, she never told anyone about her past life. With her son now passed away, she says she would like little Niall to be proud of her and to know she had done something exciting.It's not everyday that a girl from Liverpool had Paul McCartney walking her to the bus, George Harrison driving her home, was able to attend formal events, and could refer to Ringo as "Ritchie". Quite a whirlwind - plus the fan club. Friends would come over to visit and she'd give them a pile of fan letters to work on. She once fired a bunch of young women she had helping her with fan mail when one of them put her own hair in an envelope when a fan requested Paul's hair. "I can't trust any of you now," she announced. As a fan herself, she wanted to be honest with anyone who wrote to them.She stayed with the Beatles until they broke up, working with them for a total of 10 years. At the end of the documentary, Ringo Starr spoke to and about Freda to the camera.Interspersed with Freda's interview are interviews with her daughter, as well as Angie McCartney, author Tony Barrow, Billy Hatton, and others. I have had the privilege of working with well-known people. And it is strange. To you, they're just people, and it can be a shock to have someone groveling at your feet because you know them. Freda had no idea how big the Beatles would be, but she always knew they would be famous. I don't suppose she could have imagined what that experience would bring to her life. It sounds like it was a thrilling time for a teenager. Or anyone else.

zjerunk 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.

jc-osms 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 she started as 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 version, 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 Beatlee, 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.

Richard Stellar This is a story about a secretary and her impact on a band that impacted society and changed the fabric of our world. Freda Kelly was taken into the hearts of the Beatle's family - she was a sister, confessor, wet nurse, and the rainbow bridge to the fans. Undoubtedly, this is the best documentary ever done on the Beatles due to the organic honesty and unvarnished recollections of a woman who avoided cashing in.I was a puddle of tears at the end. The movie impacted me on so many levels. My mother was a secretary, and with each personal victory that Freda achieved (she was 'sacked' by John Lennon, and within minutes he was on his knees begging her to come back) I was reminded of my own life, and my own mother's struggles during this same time. God bless Freda Kelly, she weathered her own personal tragedies and lived to tell this gripping tale.