It only takes a moment to know that Words and Music by Jerry Herman, the 90-minute documentary by Amber Edwards, is a smash-hit. To see Herman sitting in the audience of The Ed Sullivan Show and introduced as “the youngest composer- lyricist on Broadway” lets us be optimistic. Could Edwards have possibly acquired more archival film material?

Has she ever. Amber has found some pure gold, much of which she cheerfully credits to musical theater historians as Ken Bloom, Kenneth Kantor, and Frank Vlastnik. They, along with ace musical director Don Pippin, opened their vaults (and hearts) to share some dynamite material for the $320,000 film.

Anything from Hello, Dolly!? Of course! There’s the colorful title song in black-and-white, when Channing and Company went down to the White House and worked a MUCH smaller stage to entertain Mr. and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson. There’s Mary Martin singing the title song to a Tokyo audience – in Japanese, yet. Mame? Yup, the title number from the Winter Garden is there to show why it was so exciting.

But certainly there’s no footage from Dear World, you say. Don’t be so sure. There’s a nice moment where Kurt Peterson nods assertively after Angela Lansbury’s Countess Aurelia insists that “One person can change the world.” There’s Aurelia losing her mind and spinning around enough to throw a whirling dervish out of whirl. There are also some nice scenes of Lansbury putting on her dour make-up in order to become the Madwoman of Chaillot.

Mack & Mabel shows that while there weren’t “Hundreds of Girls” in Gower Champion’s production, there sure seemed to be in comparison to the less-populated musicals of today. We see Joel Grey (and, in a later production, Jason Graae) cavorting in The Grand Tour. For La Cage aux Folles, there are not only some on-stage goodies, but also the recording session where everyone is so happy to be singing, “The Best of Times.” Mirabile dictu, there’s even material from Sketchbook, the musical that Herman wrote when he was studying at the University of Miami. And it’s a lot of fun, too.

Alas, there’s no movie footage of Herman’s first Broadway show Milk and Honey, but there are plenty of terrific photos that suggests it was more opulent than we might have expected from first-time producer Gerard Oestreicher. Other still photos reach back to the production of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn that Herman staged, choreographed, costumed, and designed for camp.

Music abounds, as cast albums are carefully coordinated with the footage so we get a better feeling of what these shows were really like. Michael Feinstein also sings “A Penny in My Pocket,” the pleasant number that used to bring the first act of Dolly to a close, before “Before the Parade Passes By” was added.

We’re taken to Herman’s modest boyhood house in Jersey City. It wasn’t far from the home of Phyllis Newman, who recalls an early Herman effort about the pain that fashion models endure when wearing constricting clothing: “Dior, Dior, I’m black and blue,” she sings. “My 34 is a 22.”

Many celebrities also weigh in on Herman’s importance. While there is sadness in seeing Fred Ebb so sickly-looking, we have to be glad he was still alive then to add to the mix. There’s a backhanded compliment from Arthur Laurents, who says, “There’s nothing in Mame that’s true, but Jerry believes it is.” Carol Channing’s best moment occurs when she recalls that Gower Champion, flush with the news of Dolly’s unanimous raves, asked her, “Isn’t this better than sex?” Channing says, in her trademark voice, “Well, I wouldn’t know.”

Charles Nelson Reilly tells of the life-changing moment Herman had when they were both in a supermarket and “Shalom” was Muzaked all over the store. George Hearn, the original Albin/Zaza in La Cage, recalls that the producers offered to provide the dress and heels for his audition. He also expresses surprise on how Boston, long-known as a blue-nosed town, embraced the show. Finally, he tells the story of a woman who was waiting in line to buy for tickets at the Colonial, and suffered a heart attack – but wouldn’t leave in the ambulance until someone promised to keep her place in line.

But nobody says it better than Miles Krueger, who opines, “If you had a fatal disease when you went in to one of Jerry Herman’s shows, you were cured when you came out.” Of course it’s hyperbole, but there are very few true musical theater enthusiasts who don’t know what he means. And speaking of hyperbole: None of the celebs, from Bloom to Leslie Uggams, substantiates the Twentieth Century Fox claim on the Hello, Dolly! trailer that the film would be “a hundred times more exciting on the screen.”

Herman gets a good deal of on-screen time, too. He defends his optimism (“I’m a builder. I just can’t help it”) and admits that, “I didn’t write ‘I Am What I Am’ as a political statement. I was writing for the character.” He also tells why “took” is the most important word in “It Only Takes a Moment.” He discloses that the title song of Mame is “a Southern spoof of cakewalks.” That eight months had to pass before he could find the right way to write what would become the haunting, “I Won’t Send Roses.” The saddest observation, though, occurs when Herman admits, “I haven’t written half as much as I should have.” (He’s right.) Finally, he’s frank in stating that he’s both gay and HIV-positive.

Though created for New Jersey Network, Words and Music by Jerry Herman will air on PBS, perhaps in the fall, perhaps in early 2008. But for those who can’t wait – and who can blame them? -- it will be screened at the Sarasota Film festival in April, 92nd Street Y in May, the Museum of Television and Radio in June, and the Kennedy Center in September. Those who attend will undoubtedly agree that it’s the best of times.