Industrial Musicals
7:00PM
“The Bathrooms Are Coming”? “Diesel Dazzle”? “Got to Investigate Silicones”? When Letterman writer Steve Young began finding obscure corporate musicals while gathering albums for the “Dave’s Record Collection” segment, he had no idea of the journey he was beginning. Now, twenty years and one book later, Steve is the world’s authority on the bizarrely entertaining shows created for company conventions and sales meetings from the 1950’s to the 1980’s. He’s been a guest on NPR’s “Fresh Air” and Dave Letterman’s “Late Show,” he does presentations at conventions and festivals, and he loves to screen ultra-rare films from his collection. Thrill to in-house musical propaganda from General Electric, Kellogg’s, Citgo, American-Standard, Purina, and more, with Steve’s informative and hilarious commentary. It’s a secret world of Americana that will astonish, amuse, perplex—and make you want to get out there and sell something!
With special Portland guest Hank Beebe. Working alone or with his late partner Bill Heyer, Hank wrote many of the finest industrial musicals for America’s top corporations during the “golden age” of the 1950’s to the 1980’s. He also has hundreds of sacred choral works to his credit, as well as a prodigious number of other songs and shows. Hank has been a Portland resident since 1982.