Podtalk: Chicago Beatle Fan Fred Ciba Anticipates ‘Get Back'

CHICAGO – One of the most highly anticipated music documentaries will finally see the light of screen this 2021 Thanksgiving weekend. “Get Back” by director Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings Series) is a three-part film chronicling the making of the “Let It Be” album, The Beatles second-to-last (but released last). Contrary to the “Let It Be” film, the series went through all the filmed material and created a whole new work, filled with a bit of acrimony – near the end of their amazing ten years together – and a lot of joy. It was about the music, don’t you know. The Beatles “Get Back” will stream in three parts on Disney+ November 25th, 26th and 27th.

And what about a fan of the Beatles from back in their day? Fred Ciba of Wilmette, Illinois, is a self-described “Beatlemaniac” who has been following the made-in-Britain group since they made their bow to America on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February of 1964. Fred grew up in the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago, and proved his Beatle bonafides from 1964 through 1969 (January of ‘69 is the setting for “Get Back”) by attending Beatle concerts in Chicago in 1965 and ’66 and visiting London in 1968, where he shopped at the Apple Store … The Beatles brief foray into retail … and became a card carrying member of where The Beatles began, the Cavern Club. He has resided in Wilmette with his wife Kim since 1972.

Beatle Fred Ciba: Circa 1964, 1969 and Present Day
Photo credit: Fred Ciba

Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com talked to “Beatle Fred” about his journey with the Fab Four in the following Podtalk, and what he’s anticipating in “Get Back.”

In an 1990 documentary clip from “The Beatles in Chicago,” Fred Ciba is a teenage Ringo Starr …

REVIEWS of all THREE PARTS of The Beatles “Get Back” …

PART ONE … click CHALLENGES [23].

PART TWO … click REDEMPTION [24].

PART THREE … click DELIVERANCE [25].

[26]	By PATRICK McDONALD [27] Editor and Film Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com [26]