Wonderful character development!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

I kept catching this film at different parts of the movie via channel surfing, and just saw this today from the beginning. This is more than a doc on the Beatles, this is an example of honor and dignity. What a treasure Freda is...and it is refreshing to see a portrayal about honesty, honor and what it means to be a decent person.

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.

Just finished watching "Good Ol' Freda" and if you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend it. Freda was Brian Epstein's personal secretary and head of the official Beatles Fan Club for 11 years. The documentary is her story and is not a tell all which was refreshing. There are a lot of still images of the Beatles from the Cavern days as well as some video and interviews. The film follows Freda from the Cavern, where she went to see the Beatles during their lunchtime shows through to the year after their break up. There is also a good mix of music playing in the background, some Beatles tunes as well as songs they covered, performed by the original artists.If you enjoy(ed) the Beatles, I believe you will find this film both interesting and entertaining.Cheers!!

The moment that I saw Good Ol' Freda listed in the Hot Docs program, without reading the description, I knew exactly who this doc was about. That's good ol' Freda Kelly, once called the luckiest girl in the world by newspapers and teen rags, because she was the secretary to a little band called The Beatles. The title comes from the 1963 Christmas message recorded by the Fab Four for their fan club, which Kelly also ran, in which they specifically mention "good ol' Freda." Early in the film, Kelly looks at the camera and says, "Who wants to hear the secretary's story?"The answer of course is – We do, we do! All these years later, the world is still hungry for any piece of the story of The Beatles that has been left untold. And Freda Kelly is our last best hope. She has remained mum for years – she's never sold her story; rarely gives interviews; didn't cash in the treasure trove of Beatles memorabilia in her attic, instead passing it directly to fans or donating to charity. Good Ol' Freda is less a tale of The Beatles and more a tale of one woman's – a girl's actually, being only 17 when she was hired – fierce loyalty and protector of a trust given her by the four most famous men in the world.Freda Kelly was a nice Liverpudlian girl who found herself in extraordinary circumstances. She coped with those circumstances with more grace than one can imagine and has continued to do so for years. Kelly took her job very seriously, but… she was a fan first and foremost, and she still counts herself as one today. Turns out, that "luckiest girl in the world" appellation was exactly how she felt – and still does. Kelly notes that she agreed to do this doc, with some reservation, because she wants her grandson to know that she did some fun and cool stuff in the '60s. Good Ol' Freda will definitely make that possible.After the Sunday afternoon screening at TIFF Bell Lightbox, director Ryan White and producer Kathy McCabe came out on stage. The crowd applauded. The Freda Kelly came up. The audience – a packed house – leapt to its feet for a lusty round of ovation. That's the kind of affection Freda Kelly inspires and her story as told in Good Ol' Freda inspires. This doc is a must see, now at Hot Docs or anywhere else you can catch it.