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 allfemale 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 OpDocs 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
CoProducer: Jeremy Lambert
Cinematography: Brandon Somerhalder
Editor: Monica Salazar
Composer: Nicholas JacobsonLarson
Assistant Editor : Lisset Mendoza
First Assistant Camera: Haley Watson
Production Sound Recordist: Geoffrey Fyfe
Colorist: Stephen Derluguian
ReRecording Mixer: Sean Higgins
Archival Coordinator: Sarah Stewart
Associate Producer: Caley Fox Shannon
PostProduction Supervisor: Dillon Brown
PostProduction Coordinator: Elizabeth Brooke
Supervising Editor: Federico Conforti
Sound Effects Editor: Tom Boykin
Additional Orchestration L Roger Julià Satorra
Scoring Mixer: Brad Haehnel

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OpDocs is the New York Times’ awardwinning series of short documentaries by independent filmmakers. Learn more about OpDocs and how to submit to the series. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@NYTopinion).