I’ve used this photo of Prudence Bury-Fuchs before, but I’m so taken with it I’m posting it again.
Prudence Bury-Fuchs
On August 13, 1994, I posed a question on Usenet. “Who was girl with Patty [sic] Boyd?”
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
From: (Astrid)
Date: 19 Aug 1994 19:53:08 GMT
Local: Fri, Aug 19 1994 3:53 pm
Subject: Re: Who was girl with Patty Boyd?
(Douglas Pratt) writes:
>For obvious reasons, Patty Boyd has always been a part of the Beatles
>story. But I’ve always wanted to know who the brunette girl is who’s
>sitting across from her in the train in A HARD DAY’S NIGHT. She’s one of
>the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. Does anybody have any info on
>her?
>- Doug Pratt
Here was the first clue.
Astrid
Aug 19 1994, 5:02 pm
I didn’t post this earlier because I couldn’t remember where it was, but
I finally found it last night. In the Hunter Davies book, (p. 201 in my
1985 paperback version; It’s toward the beginning of Ch. 24: Britain and
Back to the U.S.A.) Pattie is quoted as saying that George “came into our
carriage later and talked to Pru and me. She was the other schoolgirl in
the film.” Well, there were really several other schoolgirls in the film,
but I would assume that she was talking about the one in that scene with her.
It’s not much, but at least it’s a name.
—
Leigh Meydrech
“Pru” was her name. Then on the 26th, there was the rest of the answer.
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
From: Katherine Hardy
Date: 26 Aug 1994 00:36:00 GMT
Subject: Girl with Patty Boyd
The girl with Patty Boyd in A Hard Day’s Night was Pru Hooper. Her husband
was the good looking baccarat dealer in the casino scene.
This is why, when I asked about lovely Prue back in May, I said I believed her name is Hooper. Here’s a short explanation from Terry Hooper.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/OCT/TerryHooper.flv 440 330]
“I had a wife” he says???? Excuse me??? He sounds as though he’s saying “I had a cat!” Frankly, I’m quite taken aback by his tone. No wonder Prue didn’t stay with him. But at least Hooper confirms what I was originally told.
For 14 years that was all I knew about Prudence Hooper, until Janis appeared this past August 4 with the missing piece of information — Pru’s present last name. Thank you again, Janis (Lia Pamina’s old Net handle).
Prudence has a LinkedIn listing. Who among ye is brave enough to contact her? If Prue and Pattie ever appear together in America, I’m sure they could name their price.
