Video Description

It’s hard to say what, exactly, was in the water in Liverpool in the early 1960s that wound up producing the Merseybeat sound and hundreds of groups of varying success. Four teenagers caught the scene by surprise and found screaming fans at every turn. Their names were Mary, Sylvia, Pam and Val. It wasn’t only their sound that turned heads. They were The Liverbirds, Britain’s first all-female rock ’n’ roll band. Sitting down with surviving members Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders, you’d never know these two exceedingly charming Scouse (that means they come from Liverpool) matriarchs rocked a tour with The Rolling Stones. Lent their instruments to The Kinks. Rolled joints for Jimi Hendrix. John Lennon himself told them that girls don’t play guitar. Well, John, they did. Imagine that. “Almost Famous” is a special Op-Docs series of short films directed by Ben Proudfoot featuring people who nearly made history — only to fall short. These are tales of overcoming disappointment at its most epic, from an astronaut who never flew to a superstar who never was. See more from the "Almost Famous" series: https://nyti.ms/2EuGTsK Credits Director: Ben Proudfoot Featuring: Mary Dostal, Sylvia Wiggins Producers: Gabriel Berk Godoi, Abby Lynn Kang Davis Co-Producer: Jeremy Lambert Cinematography: Brandon Somerhalder Editor: Monica Salazar Composer: Nicholas Jacobson-Larson Assistant Editor : Lisset Mendoza First Assistant Camera: Haley Watson Production Sound Recordist: Geoffrey Fyfe Colorist: Stephen Derluguian Re-Recording Mixer: Sean Higgins Archival Coordinator: Sarah Stewart Associate Producer: Caley Fox Shannon Post-Production Supervisor: Dillon Brown Post-Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Brooke Supervising Editor: Federico Conforti Sound Effects Editor: Tom Boykin Additional Orchestration L Roger Julià Satorra Scoring Mixer: Brad Haehnel More from The New York Times Video: Subscribe: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n Watch all of our videos here: http://nytimes.com/video Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nytvideo Twitter: https://twitter.com/nytvideo ---------- Op-Docs is the New York Times’ award-winning series of short documentaries by independent filmmakers. Learn more about Op-Docs and how to submit to the series. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@NYTopinion).