[Dixielandjazz] Industrial musicals - Fresh Air, NPR

[domitype .]

That reminds me somewhat of the epic "OMAHA" done in 1958 by Stan Freberg.
It was actually a commercial for Butternut Coffee -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUDvhVDOquE

Dave Richoux


On Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 2:23 PM, Robert Ringwald <rsr at ringwald.com> wrote:

> Sales Take Center Stage: To Boost Morale, Companies Burst Into Song
> NPR's Fresh Air, November 5, 2013
> Why would someone write a sentimental ballad about a bathroom? For the
> same reason
> someone would write a rousing song about tractors: So the song could be
> used in what's
> called an industrial musical.
> These musicals were like Broadway shows, but they were written and
> performed for
> corporate sales meetings and conventions from the 1950s to the 1980s. The
> lyrics
> were all about the products being sold and how to sell them. Some of them
> were lavish
> and costly, even though they'd be performed only once.
> And as ridiculous as the songs were, they were often written and performed
> by really
> talented people: John Kander and Fred Ebb, who wrote the songs for the
> musical Cabaret,
> did an industrial. And a few had lyrics by a young Sheldon Harnick, who
> co-wrote
> the songs for the Broadway hits Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello! and She
> Loves Me.
> Harnick and actor-singer John Russell performed in dozens of these
> musicals, and
> Steve Young has co-written a new book about the genre, called Everything's
> Coming
> Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals.
> Young is also a writer for The Late Show With David Letterman, where for a
> while
> he was the writer in charge of the regular feature "Dave's Record
> Collection."
> Harnick, Russell and Young joined Fresh Air's Terry Gross to talk about
> the genre's
> history.
> 44-minute segment:
> http://www.npr.org/2013/11/05/243204830/
>
>
> -Bob Ringwald K6YBV
> www.ringwald.com
> 916/ 806-9551
>
>