There’s another Kelly besides Larissa to talk about. “Good Ol’ Freda,” the documentary about Beatles Fan Club secretary Freda Kelly, gets my best possible recommendation and it is now streaming on Netflix. Here’s Freda talking to CNN.
Category: Beatles
50 years 50
FREDA!
The story of Beatles Fan Club secretary Freda Kelly is now a documentary.
V-J Day
This year there’s a second V-J Day in August, because today the Beatles expert and author Bruce Spizer has released a digital edition of his groundbreaking book, long out of print, The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay.
The e-book is a PDF with almost 500 pages, and there are so many pictures that I can’t believe the file is only 60 MB. This is not a book for the casual Beatles fan. For serious fans it’s been unavailable for years, and a reprinting wasn’t possible because the original plates were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. I couldn’t even look at Denro’s copy, because his was lost in the flood at his house! Used copies have been going for hundreds of bucks, but now, for only $50, here’s an updated version, and it’s a must-have for frustrated fans like myself.
Have a Bury Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Prue,
Happy Birthday to Prue,
Happy BIRTH-day, dear Prudence,
Happy Birthday to Prue!
The Sixties didn’t really kick into full swing until 1965. That was when the Beatles movie HELP! was released, the Beatles played Shea Stadium for the first time, and on September 1, 1965, British designer Mary Quant’s Youthquake fashion show introduced her miniskirts to America. One of the models on that trendsetting day was none other than Prue Bury, who is on the right in this newspaper photo. By Christmas, miniskirts and go-go boots were everywhere on American TV.
Prue married Terry, her first husband, in early 1965, then they moved to New York City. Before leaving England, Terry reprised his croupier role from A Hard Day’s Night in an episode of the TV series Danger Man, or Secret Agent as it’s called in the United States. Here are some clips that I spliced together.
[flv:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Video/2013/04/DangerMan.flv 512 384]
I get a chuckle from seeing in the credits that, along with Terry’s name there is, of course, a Pratt.
Happy birthday, Prue!
Better Slate than never
The online magazine Slate.com has a Beatles blog. They’re late getting to the party, and I don’t how long they’ll keep it going, but it’s always good to see general media outlets showing interest in the boys, now that we’re fifty years into Beatlemania.
A few posts ago I mentioned Ringo’s Premier brand drum kit — the one that predated his famous Ludwig drums. The kick drum had a squeaky pedal, as can be heard quite clearly on the Please Please Me album, especially in the twin-track stereo recording.
In the picture above is Ringo’s original drum kit, with his name on it, from his days playing with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. A couple of months later, as seen below, the first official Beatles logo, as originally designed by Paul, was introduced. It didn’t last long, however, because a few months later it was replaced with the classic Beatles logo that was designed by Ivor Arbiter, and delivered with Ringo’s Ludwig drum kit.
