1959 Oldsmobile industrial musical - RARE & AWESOME - Florence Henderson
$
60
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Description
If you've seen "Bathtubs Over Broadway" or read "Everything's Coming Up Profits," you know that private pressing "industrial musical" souvenir albums are some of the rarest and weirdest records in existence. These motivational musicals were only for dealers, salesmen, distributors and other industry insiders at sales meetings and conventions, and the souvenir vinyl records were not available to the public. And many of these shows boasted outstanding music and performances along with the bizarre corporate subject matter.
I'm the collector and historian profiled in the documentary "Bathtubs Over Broadway," and the co-author of "Everything's Coming Up Profits - The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals." I'm thinning out my stash of duplicates, and offering an assortment of records that range from the scarce, to the very rare, to the "you'll probably never encounter this again."
This one is the 1959 Oldsmobile dealer announcement show from late summer of 1958, "Good News About Olds," starring Bill Hayes and a pre-"Brady Bunch" Florence Henderson.
Oldsmobile was a leading innovator in the industrial show field in the 50's, and by 1958 all the car companies had followed their lead and were putting on musical extravaganzas at their new model year introductions. For their '59 show, Oldsmobile adapted the 1927 musical "Good News" and did rewrites of the songs. Oldsmobile was classy enough to get permission for this, unlike many companies that put on parody musicals and hoped word wouldn't get back to the original composers.
In addition to some straight-on love songs and plot carried over from the 1927 show, there are a couple of crackerjack industrial tunes that didn't come from "Good News." One, written by Luther Henderson (no relation), is "Maximize You, Minimize I." Florence sings about the need for a salesman to be self-effacing when dealing with a customer: "You gotta see that car through your customer's eyes -- think of what you'd want when it's YOU who buys."
The other standout number is "Talk About A Rocket," which is clearly inspired by the "Rock Island" opening number of the 1957 Broadway hit "The Music Man." Bill Hayes delivers a blistering, lengthy, detailed patter about the new Oldsmobile line. And "good news" -- unlike most industrial show tunes, a slightly altered version of "Talk About A Rocket" made it over the wall and out to the wider world in the form of a live commercial in October of 1958: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHuVpjHh1XU
The '59, '60, and '61 Oldsmobile show souvenir records all were issued without jackets, for some reason. They're always found in miscellaneous plain covers or sleeves. Luckily the vinyl on this one is extremely clean and plays very well.
A great item for industrial show collectors, Broadway fans, Oldsmobile buffs, and aficionados of weird vinyl.
I interviewed Florence for "Bathtubs Over Broadway" and she said she was very proud of the Oldsmobile dealer shows she did. She went so far as to tell me "I'd put those Oldsmobile shows up against anything on Broadway." Would you agree? Put in your bid and see what you think!
Check out my other listings for many more killer examples of this deliciously strange and secret slice of American musical and corporate history, including another Florence Henderson/Bill Hayes Oldsmobile show.
Buyers of multiple records get a break on shipping charges.
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