Stuff You Gotta Watch: Bathtubs Over Broadway
Bathtubs Over Broadway distinguishes itself in the rare record collector genre by pushing the rarity off the charts. Literally. The corporate industrial musicals Late Show with David Letterman writer Steve Young loves were not created for public consumption. Companies as disparate as General Electric, Chevrolet, and American Standard commissioned these shows to motivate their sales forces (Young considers the latter’s The Bathrooms Are Coming! the genre’s standard bearer). In his hunt to collect every last one of these records, Young finds a community of actors, songwriters, and fellow collectors (including Jello Biafra) united by their involvement with these peculiarly earnest creations.
Most press about Bathtubs Over Broadway—and Young himself—would have you believe this movie is about one man’s hobby saving him from a life of disaffection and isolation. But more interesting is the juxtaposition of this community with the capitalist forces that birthed these musicals. This relationship is never explored in depth, but it hovers in the background, not invalidating but complicating what might otherwise be a straightforward feel-good film.
Review by Dave Maher. Check out the full archive of the Stuff You Gotta Watch column.