STEVE YOUNG
Comedy writer and collector extraordinaire
I did not know this Steve Young (he is not the former NFL quarterback) until a couple of weeks ago. I was reading a blurb about an upcoming cinema event about a documentary film starring Steve (he would probably say others were the stars!)
The promotional material noted that Steve was a comedy writer for the Late Night with David Letterman show. He worked on the show for 25 years. One segment he brought to the show was to scour bargain bin vinyl in New York for interesting or weird music. While searching he found the strange and hilarious world of industrial musicals. Many of the country’s largest companies created these shows for their employees, including GE, American Standard, Johnson & Johnson, John Deere and several others. These musicals mimic a Broadway show, except the audience was managers and salespeople. The songs would tout how great the company’s products were and how great it was to work there.
Steve realized that these records contained comic gold. Many had a plot that ultimately led to selling of a company’s products or services. At first, he thought they were just an easy target to make fun of. However, he noted that a few days after listening to the vinyl, he was singing these songs!
Steve become hooked by the catchy lyrics and soon he began collecting vinyl as well as film of these musicals.
He would go to old record stores in search of these treasures. Eventually he found many albums on eBay for sale. He would routinely outbid others for the goods. Many of them had notations such as “not for commercial use”. They were typically given as souvenirs to the employees that attended the management or sales meeting.
Ultimately, he became the world’s authority with respect to industrial musicals.
Steve and a fellow collector named Sport Murphy (he called Steve a “rival”) wrote a book called “Everything’s Coming Up Profits”. The book chronicles the magical, weird and funny world of industrial musicals.
One of the many interesting things about these musicals was the talent involved. Some of these were written by Broadway writers like John Kander and Fred Ebb, the team behind “Cabaret” and “Chicago.” The acting group included such names as Hal Linden, Florence Henderson and Martin Short. For the actors, it was a great way to work and hone their craft. Martin Short gives industrial musicals credit for his success.
This brings me back to the documentary I saw – “Bathtubs over Broadway”. The movie detailed Steve’s crazy passion for this little-known genre. As Steve continued his quest for more content (vinyl and film), he travelled across the US to find composers, actors, actresses and others involved in the industry. A lucky break led him to Patt Stanton who performed in many musicals including one for American Standard. This musical was titled “The Bathrooms are Coming!” A “classic” song was “My Bathroom”. It is listed in iTunes with many others in three volumes of songs from many different industrial musicals.
Steve met and became friends with a whole cast of characters. His discussions with the composers and actors were interesting and full of humor.
I would recommend the movie! The writer/producer/director attended the screening. The movie has been picked up by Focus Features. No more information was available about distribution of the film at this point in time.
One highlight of the film (spoiler alert!) was the number at the end of the film. It starred Steve and many of the people he met through his travels in one last role. It was well written with amazing choreography!
The best moment of the night, however, was Steve Young in person. He answered several questions and then was given a guitar. He played and sang a couple of his favorites that were not in the movie.
An interesting night learning about something I knew little of until recently. Fun!
A real, cool story indeed!
Here are some places to find more information:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/golden-age-industrial-musicals/id786474070