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.
