Everything's Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals

(Hardback)

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Description

From the 1950s into the 1980s, American businesses commissioned a vast array of lavish, Broadway-style musical shows that were only for the eyes and ears of employees. These improbable productions were meant to invigorate, motivate, and educate the sales force to sell tractors, typewriters, bathtubs, insurance, soda, air-conditioners, and a thousan

Reviews

"A wildly entertaining, gorgeous tribute to a world we never knew existed. Anyone interested in American history, music, or culture should buy this book by the fistful." --Dave Letterman "The world of industrial musicals is magical, weird, and funny. Mssrs. Young and Murphy escort you into that world with panache and not nearly enough guilt. Like Steve, I amassed a collection of these records--souvenirs of the days when corporations were rich enough to care about the morale of their employees--and like him, I thought I was 'the only one.' Now these idiots have spent serious time and energy producing a freaking book on the subject. Humor them. Buy this book and let it change your life." --Harry Shearer "As a veteran of many an industrial, I can attest that Everything's Coming Up Profits is accurate as well as fascinating and hysterical. If I had friends, I'd tell them about it." --Martin Short "All Singing! All Dancing! All Selling! This delightful history reveals the corny glories of corporate America's fling with motivational musicals, and its vintage graphics are like a peek at an alternate world where the hit songs were about Ford tractors." --James Lileks, author The Gallery of Regrettable Food "Young and Murphy map us to a nether-universe Brill Building located at the intersection of Madison Avenue and Tin Pan Alley. The songcraft is stupefyingly absurd, but thanks to this book a lot of product music has outlived the products." --Irwin Chusid, WFMU Radio, author Songs in the Key of Z

Author Bio

Steve Young is a writer for The Late Show with David Letterman. He has also written for The Simpsons. Sport Murphy is a writer, artist, and musician who has released albums on the Kill Rock Stars label.