Shami Media Group Selects Aug. 16 For The DVD Debut Of Director Robert Greeson’s The Beatles: Scream and Shout

Documentary filmmaker Robert Greeson’s labor of love, The Beatles: Scream and Shout (aka: 31 Days that Changed American Forever) will be available for music fans — especially fans of the “Fab Four” — to enjoy on DVD on Aug. 16 courtesy of the Shami Media Group. 

MVD Entertainment Group will be providing its sales and distribution expertise.

During the late summer of 1964 The Beatles returned to the United States — they had appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9 — for a whirlwind 31-day concert tour.    Filmmaker Robert Greeson has assembled both contemporary footage of fans (often screaming at decibel levels unsafe for human ears) and skeptics (some of the interviews are a real hoot), plus concert footage, to tell the story of this history-making string of live coast-to-coast concerts.

The proceedings kick off on Aug. 19 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.  Although The Beatles were the headlines, this was more or less a typical rock’n’roll live concert presentation from the period … The Bill Black Combo, The Exciters (known for “Tell Him” and “Do-Wah-Diddy”), The Righteous Brothers (who were just starting out) and Jackie DeShannon (“Needles and Pins” was her 1963 hit) were also on the venue.   

The Beatles performed 12 songs to a sold-out Cow Palace (over 17,000 screaming fans) — songs included “Twist and Shout,” “All My Loving,” “She Loves You” and finishing up with “A Hard Day’s Night” and a cover of Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally.”  Of note, with few exceptions, these 12 numbers would be repeated throughout the tour.

The next night they were in Las Vegas (arriving from San Francisco at one in the morning to be greeted by over 2,000 fans at McCarran Field).  Promoters originally planned for a 700 seat showcase in the Congo Room at the Sahara Hotel, but were overwhelmed with the response and quickly moved the concert to the 8,000-seat Convention Center (two sold-out performances).   Liberace greeted them backstage and it proved to be the only time that all four of The Beatles would perform together in Las Vegas.

This was just the beginning.   During the 31-day concert tour they would play at the

Hollywood Bowl, the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Forest Hills, the State Fair Coliseum in Indianapolis — a jump up to Canada (Toronto and Montreal) — Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New Orleans (plus others) and finishing up at the Paramount Theatre in New York City on Sept. 20.

The last stop on the tour was a charity concert benefiting United Cerebral Palsy of New York City.  There were only 3,600 seats, but there were over 100,000 fans in the streets outside in Times Square.

Beatlemania was born and Greeson captures this historic music moment with his film, The Beatles: Scream and Shout.  A must-own for Beatles fans!