When manufacturers host wholesalers for sales meeting, it’s not unusual for entertainment to be on the agenda. But a full-scale Broadway-type extravaganza? THAT’s entertainment! Almost 50 years ago, American Standard performed a musical at its 1969 wholesaler meeting called “The Bathrooms are Coming!” Featuring 12 original song and dance numbers, “The Bathrooms are Coming” was about starting a bathroom revolution — fighting for bathrooms that are safe, beautiful and luxurious. 

“It’s revolution!
Bathroom revolution!
Hurry now, the bathrooms are coming, the bathrooms are coming your way!”

As unusual (and pricey!) as it sounds, these elaborate “Broadway-esque” musicals were very much a thing in the “Mad Men” era. The genre known as Industrial Musical were performed at sales meetings by some of America’s best-known brands in the 1950s and 1960s, including General Electric, McDonald’s and Ford. 

These classic musicals were all but lost to history, until Steve Young, a former comedy writer for the David Letterman Show, found his first souvenir record in a thrift store. Now, they are starring in a new documentary called “Bathtubs Over Broadway,” based on Young’s book “Everything is Coming Up Profits.” Young calls industrial musicals “the final major chunk of 20th-century pop culture that had never been examined.’’ “Bathtubs Over Broadway” tracks Young’s interest and immersion into the previously unknown world of corporate song and dance, with Letterman credited as an executive producer. The documentary premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. 

The best-known song from “The Bathrooms are Coming” is “My Bathroom” including the lyrics: 

“My Bathroom is a private kind of place. A very special kind of place. The only place...where I can stay, making faces at my face.” 

Another song, “Spectra 70,” has a distinctive groovy vibe about a new bathtub. Present-day American Standard employees delight in this, especially with the brand’s recent launch of the touch-controlled Spectra eTouch shower head. 

Then there was the tune honoring American Standard wholesalers, called “The Distributors” that included these lyrics:

“If you want a bathroom, we’ll give you a bathroom!
We’re here to serve...here to serve
A pink one, a blue one, a tan one, a new one!
We’re here to serve...here to serve
Our shelves are all full, and we’re ready
The line doesn’t change, but it’s steady!
If there’s something you’re needing in plumbing and heating
We’re here to serve…
We buy the best brands!
Yes, we’re here to serve... 
We’ll meet all demands
Yes, we’re here to serve!”  

– By Gray Uhl, Brand Education for American Standard, part of LIXIL Americas