Former ‘Late Show’ comedy writer Steve Young with some of the records in his unusual collection.

“Down the rabbit hole” is an apt metaphor for the journey Steve Young describes in the documentary Bathtubs Over Broadway, which was featured this week at the Sedona International Film Festival. But Young appears to have emerged in a better place after finding a lot of joy and laughs along the way.

Bathtubs was born from the snarkiness of The Late Show with David Letterman, where Young, a comedy writer, was tasked with locating fodder for a recurring bit about Dave’s supposed record collection. While combing used-record stores for goofy LPs, Young came across recordings of Broadway-style performances commissioned by American businesses in the 1950s, 60s and 70s for corporate events.

These productions sang the praises of bathroom fixtures, diesel engines, tractors and the like. Though they may have motivated the earnest salesmen gathered at the time, they appear ridiculous through modern eyes – which made them perfect for Letterman’s schtick.

But if the story ended there, the documentary would be just as short as a Letterman bit.

The so-called industrial musicals paid the bills for countless composers, musicians and performers struggling to make it in New York.

The so-called industrial musicals paid the bills for countless composers, musicians and performers struggling to make it in New York. Florence Henderson, Chita Rivera and Martin Short, among others, attest to this in the film.

Young became fasciated with learning the whos, hows and whys of these productions. Because the public never was meant to hear these songs, or see the performances, many weren’t preserved. There wasn’t much information available.

Here, Bathtubs takes there first of several turns that maintain audience interest for 87 minutes.

Young joins the small world of collectors who focus on this subniche of the vintage-vinyl market, sharing their glee at unearthing a rare recording of some wacky, weird, wonderful corporate production. Case in point: The song “My Bathroom Is a Private Kind of Place” – which Young calls his gateway drug – from the 1969 industrial musical The Bathrooms are Coming, created for plumbing manufacturer American Standard. The collectors are an eclectic mix, and their giddiness about their discoveries gives the documentary an additional 10-to-20 minutes.

The film takes its sharpest turn, however, when Young starts to track down the composers, lyricists and performers whose names appear in the credits. The genuine thrill Young gets from meeting these folks, along with the joy they exhibit at having their long-forgotten work recognized, injects a human element into Bathtubs that raises it above being just a long-running gag.

Young told this story in his 2013 book, “Everything’s Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals.” Afterward, he teamed up with filmmaker Dava Whisenant, a former Late Show colleague, to create Bathtubs. (Earlier this month, Wisenant and cowriter Ozzy Inguanzo won the Writers Guild Award for Documentary Screenplay.)

The film’s pièce de résistance, something that couldn’t be done in a book, is a full-scale musical dance number including many of the folks featured in the film – even the collectors – set to a snappy new song Young wrote with Hank Beebe, who cowrote the 1966 Detroit Diesel production Diesel Dazzle.

It’s enough to make audience members exit the theater with a snap in their step and a smile on their face.

Click here for a list of upcoming screenings.

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Stu Robinson practices writing, editing, media relations and social media through his business, Phoenix-based Lightbulb Communications. 

Tags: Bathtubs over Broadway, Broadway, Dava Whisenant, David Letterman, Everything’s Coming Up Profits, Hank Beebe, industrial musicals, Ozzy Inguanzo, Steve Young, The Late Show