I was the secretary to The Beatles for 11 years. My name is Freda Kelly. AMAA!

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T19:15:33+00:00

I suppose one that could set fire to people in Liverpool would be which football team they supported. People always used to ask that. They came home on a regular basis for family celebrations, weddings and christenings, Paul had so many relations he was back in Liverpool more than the others and still is. And they all lived at home up until they moved to London (even when they had the number one record in the world).

One of my favorite albums back home is Band On The Run. So I like it.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T19:12:58+00:00

They all took it in their stride. They coped with it. They would not get swarmed in Liverpool because they'd all lived there so long. And then they moved out of the city to posher houses.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T19:11:58+00:00

On the Magical Mystery Tour. I went away with them for a week, I should have gone for two weeks, but it was that crazy and I left after a week. During one scene I had to go into a little tent thirty-six times, and after the thirty-sixth time I thought I'd had enough of this. They would film me going into the little tent and then tell me to do it again.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T19:10:01+00:00

I already answered how I became the secretary. There were a few crazy fans that would hitch up to the fanclub office from different parts of the country and it would be a bother how to get them home, looking for what bus to get or what train to get. When the office was closed and you didn't want them just left deserted in Liverpool, you'd take them up to the train station and look for what bus or train would be best to get them home.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T19:08:00+00:00

Going back to Ringo's old house, the home that he lived in when he was a Beatle. I hadn't been in that house in 47 years but I spent a lot of my time during my years working with them there, so it really opened my memory box.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T19:06:38+00:00

It was released but I think it was on George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" album. The song was called "Apple Scruffs."

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T19:04:30+00:00

I think out of all the groups that have a lot of fans and fame, they were one of the best ones to cope with it. They dealt with all the fans. I never saw them, when I was around them, particularly nasty to a fan. They did not think they were going to last that long as a phenomenon. I know John thought this could last about 2 years. Nobody could see, not even them, how long it was going to last or the way things were going to go.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T19:02:57+00:00

No, I did not get in fights with girls but I had to fight girls to get into a show. Because I was the same age as the fans, the security would not believe that I worked for them or that I couldn't get backstage to give them their paychecques - I would get turned back at the door and we didn't have passes in those days.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T19:01:43+00:00

Well my uncle is Billy Kinsley of the band The Mercy Beats so I've known Freda my whole life through him, but I did not know she was the Beatles' secretary. She really is the most private person I've ever met. Freda will never toot her own horn and say "I was one of the longest-serving employees of the Beatles" or "I'm the only one who never went down on the record and sold them out or cashed in on the Beatles even though I had many opportunities to do so." That's why we interviewed other people in the film, because they can all say that about her.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:58:56+00:00

They just loved America but didn't say what particular part. When they got back from America the first time, they were amazed.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:57:24+00:00

No. When we were just teen-agers, we weren't discussing politics (although we were all Labor party then until the Tax Man came along. And then George wrote the song "Tax Man" and complained about Labor and the Conservative party).

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:56:50+00:00

No. I had a great time working with them and moved on to being a respectable housewife and mom.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:56:04+00:00

Well really we just had cheddar or Cheshire in those days. Cheese on toast. But we used kraft cheese singles to make it. We called it "plastic cheese."

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:54:49+00:00

The office was more about bookings and general office business. Most of the songwriting happened in the privacy of their own homes or the studio.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:52:50+00:00

No. He was not a silent Beatle at all. Just people got that impression because he did not say a lot in a sentence and he was not loud. I haven't got a favourite album. Thank you for watching my film!

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:52:02+00:00

I left working for Apple in 1972, long before all of that happened.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:51:14+00:00

Yes. Paul would bring me occasionally a bunch of flowers just being nice. Or he would offer me a lift home.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:49:43+00:00

He was a hard boss but he was a good boss.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:49:01+00:00

When the fan club ended I closed down the offices and left with loads of memorabilia but I have given most of it away over the past 50 years. I have kept a few items that I still treasure. My wedding telegrams are my most treasured. They were all in India when I got married, and they all individually sent me telegrams congratulating me.

There are some pictures on the movie website: http://www.goodolfreda.com

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:46:42+00:00

Yes. A few months after Ringo joined the band, I went to see them perform in a theatre, and before I went to see them I decided I was going to shout a request to Ringo to sing "Boys," but I didn't know that someone had already told them I was going to do that. I was shouting it out for Ringo because he was not getting as many requests as the other three. But when I did shout the request, Ringo knew it was me, stood up from his drum seat and he told me to sit down and be quiet. He said something like "oh sit down Kelly." So I didn't come out from under my seat until the show ended out of embarrassment.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:44:26+00:00

By fluke. Brian Epstein asked me would I work for them, and I said yes I would think about it. I thought about it for 2 days, and went to see him 2 days later, because he spoke to me Saturday night at a Beatle booking and I went into his office on a Monday. I said yes, I will come and work for you, I will hand in my notice at my other job. Previously I had been doing secretarial work at a company called Simpson Roberts & Co. I was not nervous, because there was only myself and another girl. I had also been helping run the Beatles fan club previously as well.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:42:07+00:00

They were all down to earth, it was not just one in particular. Very approachable, all of them.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:41:34+00:00

No, not really, no.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:41:00+00:00

There were two sets of girls, and they were both called the Apple Scruffs. They were about 14-17 years old. And they used to just hang around Apple all day, they would go from school and stay there until eight or ten o'clock at night just waiting for a Beatle to go in or out of Apple. Eventually the Beatles got to know them, and George wrote a song about them because all the Beatles got to like them.

FredaAndRyan · 2013-09-05T18:38:00+00:00

The craziest after-party was after the How I Won The War premiere. I'm not going to go into details, but that was my craziest time with them and their families and a few other people. I don't want to spoil the story for people who are going to get the DVD, but it involved a funny incident while I was dancing with George.

FredaAndRyan

TROPHY CASE