Though he wasn’t even alive to see Wings in their 1970’s, arena-rocking heyday, documentary filmmaker Ryan White grew up with what he believed, was an intimate knowledge of The Beatles’ legendary Liverpool years. That’s because the talented yank spent much of his childhood traveling to the working class home of the iconic band to visit a beloved aunt and uncle, themselves vital participants in this magical, momentous time.
Ryan’s uncle is a founding member of The Mercybeats, early 60’s contemporaries of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, and his aunt worked for the fabulous foursome’s rapidly growing fanclub during those innocent, formative years. Yet most of what Mr. White thought he knew about this period would be turned upside down by a charismatic and soft-spoken legal secretary whom everyone around the neighborhood knew simply as Good Ol’ Freda.
How did you come to know Freda Kelly?
“I knew Freda for many years because she was in (my aunt’s and uncle’s) group of friends and would come to family events. However, I just thought that she was my aunt’s charming, sweet friend who was a secretary at a law firm. I did not know that she was The Beatles’ secretary during the entire decade that they were together.”
How did you find out?
“About three years ago, she and a producer, Kathy McCabe, who is a lifelong friend of Freda’s, approached me, (because) as you see in the film, Freda had finally reached that point in her life where she felt that she wanted to go down on record to leave this story as a legacy for her family, but it was important for her to do it with a team that she felt comfortable with. I am incredibly lucky to be the documentary filmmaker in her inner circle.”
Aside from your familial connections, you seem to have a huge in interest people who give 100% of themselves to something without seeking glory (White’s 2010 documentary, Pelada explored the intense and overlooked world of pick up soccer around the globe)… What is it about this topic that fascinates you?
“I’m really interested in stories on the fringe and people whose stories don’t normally get told. And so when I began to discover Freda’s story, I was so compelled, not only with her storytelling ability – she’s a killer storyteller – but also the scope with which she had served The Beatles. She was there from beginning to end and always chose to live in the shadows, and chose, after The Beatles disbanded, to live this life of anonymity. She played such a crucial role in the early success of The Beatles but never sought any recognition. This was a completely untold perspective on the band as well as the story of a really incredible woman.”
Do you think a person like Freda could exist in today’s modern music industry?
“I don’t know if that could exist today. It’s a different world and the work that Freda was doing doesn’t exist anymore – she was handwriting letters to individual Beatles fans, sending out locks of their hair, or having them chew gum and sticking it on letters to send to girls worldwide.”
“Freda was only 17 when she got hired for this job (by fabled Beatles manager, Brian Epstein), and before The Beatles there really wasn’t any predecessor for this type of worldwide musical phenomenon. So in many ways, her and her small team had to create the model of how to deal with that, and I think that model established for posterity how you deal with that mania.”
Despite her sweet side, Freda also displays a fastidious nature when it comes to her work…
“Freda’s tough. She is very sweet and charming, but there are two sides to her and she can be very tough. I think that’s probably why she was able to last so long as a 17-year-old girl thrown into Beatle mania. When she needs to be tough she can, and that came out often during interviews with other people.”
Why then, didn’t she demand more money?
“I often get asked, why is Freda still a working secretary? and, Why didn’t the Beatles help her out?, and my answer is always, Freda didn’t want that. Freda’s had the option, with her own agency, to make a lot of money off The Beatles. She could have written a tell-all book, she could have sold a lot of the fanclub memorabilia, but she chose not to. She’s chosen to live a non-Beatles life and I think that is just part of her DNA.”
Did you sense any resentment, say from her daughter about this?
“No. Her daughter is the same way (as Freda). It’s funny too, because when her daughter came to the SXSW world premier, she came up to me afterwards and said, 95% of that film was completely new to me. Even as the closest person to Freda in her life, she wasn’t aware of most of the stories in the film or of the level at which her mom served The Beatles.”
How is Freda handling the fanfare that this film is receiving?
“She’s very adventurous and enjoying the process of getting this film distributed. She’s been to Canada, The US, Korea, Japan… as it is unveiled at Film Festivals. She told me, I had that amazing decade (with the Beatles), and then I had an amazing 40 years where I raised a family and lived a very regular life, and now I’m getting to relive all those years again. It’s like a second youth!”
Speaking of youth, she casually mentions sex without mentioning it in the film, but did she ever talk about drug use with any of The Beatles?
“No, there are certain things that Freda says, look, these are well told in Beatles books and movies, and a bunch of it is really exaggerated and untrue! From the very beginning she said, there are certain things that I’m not going to talk about, and if you are interested in talking about them, then I don’t want to do this. And honestly, I wasn’t interested in talking about them, because I wanted to make a character piece about her. I did say to her though, it’s fine if there are certain things off limits, but we need to establish why you won’t talk about them, and I think that’s why in the film that theme of loyalty and dedication shine through.
Was it a conscious decision not to mention the fan-favorite Abbey Road Sessions, or did it just not fit into Freda’s narrative?
“It didn’t fit the story. There were certain things I would’ve loved to bring up in the film, but Freda wasn’t directly related to them. Freda only speaks to things that she absolutely remembers and was a part of. She’s not someone who would speculate about what was going on. If you ask her, she’ll say, I wasn’t there, I don’t know, next question.”
You have accomplished something that few filmmakers ever have… How difficult was it to secure The Beatles catalogue for this film?
“Getting Beatles music is almost unheard of, so I knew that it would be impossible from the very beginning, but I figured that I’d just try and expect that I wasn’t getting it. It took almost two years to line up and it was a total testament to Freda that we pulled it off. I’m probably the luckiest Beatles filmmaker in the world though, because my film was about Freda Kelly and not just about the Beatles’ music and or their life and times.”
Your film presents memory in an extremely poignant way, especially of one’s youth, because even though we haven’t all worked for The Beatles, everyone has that one summer, or that fabulous year, that brings a twinkle to his or her eyes…
“Definitely, there are elements of Freda’s story that are universal and everyone can relate to in some way. One of my favorite lines is at the end of the film, when she says, I don’t know why they picked me. I was taken along for the 10-year crazy ride and dropped off where I began. Freda’s still in a very similar place to where she was when she started that job, and a lot of people would say, Why didn’t you jump forward? Why aren’t you rich? Why aren’t you famous? Freda doesn’t see the worth in that thinking. She’s very happy with where she is and what she experienced.”
Good Ol’ Freda opens in Los Angeles, and is available on ITunes and VOD on September 6th. It opens in New York and select cities on September 13th.
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