Thread: Burma Shave

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I think some here will like this..

Remember these? For those who never saw the Burma Shave signs, here is a quick lesson in our history of the 1930's and '40's. Before the Interstates, when everyone drove the old 2 lane roads, Burma Shave signs would be posted all over the countryside in farmers' fields. They were small red signs with white letters. Five signs, about 100 feet apart, each containing 1 line of a 4 line couplet, and then the traditional 5th sign advertising Burma Shave, a popular shaving cream.

Here are some of the actual signs:

DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD
TO GAIN A MINUTE
YOU NEED YOUR HEAD
YOUR BRAINS ARE IN IT
Burma Shave

DROVE TOO LONG
DRIVER SNOOZING
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
IS NOT AMUSING
Burma Shave

BROTHER SPEEDER
LET'S REHEARSE
ALL TOGETHER
GOOD MORNING, NURSE
Burma Shave

SHE KISSED THE HAIRBRUSH
BY MISTAKE
SHE THOUGHT IT WAS
HER HUSBAND JAKE
Burma Shave

THE MIDNIGHT RIDE
OF PAUL FOR BEER
LED TO A WARMER
HEMISPHERE
Burma Shave

AROUND THE CURVE
LICKETY-SPLIT
BEAUTIFUL CAR
WASN'T IT?
Burma Shave

SPEED WAS HIGH
WEATHER WAS HOT
TIRES WERE THIN
X MARKS THE SPOT
Burma Shave

A GUY WHO DRIVES
A CAR WIDE OPEN
IS NOT THINKIN'
HE'S JUST HOPIN'
Burma Shave

THE ONE WHO DRIVES
WHEN HE'S BEEN DRINKING
DEPENDS ON YOU
TO DO HIS THINKING
Burma Shave

And my all time favorite:

PASSING SCHOOL ZONE
TAKE IT SLOW
LET OUR LITTLE
SHAVERS GROW
Burma Shave

Yeah, Mike, I remember the Burma Shave signs well from the very early 50's. My parents had moved from Texas to Missouri, and we'd make regular trips "back home" to visit family, catching Route 66 a bit into Oklahoma and running it down almost to Amarillo before peeling off on Farm/Market roads. The Burma Shave signs provided a break in the monotony, and as a kid just learning to read were a learning tool, too. Good memories of simpler times....

I don't remember them as a youngster here in New England. But we loved seeing them when we would go to Indiana to visit family. The whole family would read each one in unison, sign by sign.. good fun!

We'd make our semi-annual trek down to Grandpa's place in Kansas during the '50s and all the usual happenings for a kid in the back seat; identifying makes of cars, noting license plates from around the country, and Burma Shave signs often at the edge of corn fields. Roger and I may have read some of the same signs!?!

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

We'd make our semi-annual trek down to Grandpa's place in Kansas during the '50s and all the usual happenings for a kid in the back seat; identifying makes of cars, noting license plates from around the country, and Burma Shave signs often at the edge of corn fields. Roger and I may have read some of the same signs!?!

Likely true, Bob, likely true.

Originally Posted by 34_40

I don't remember them as a youngster here in New England. But we loved seeing them when we would go to Indiana to visit family. The whole family would read each one in unison, sign by sign.. good fun!

Mike, an interesting point in their history, the signs were put up in most of the lower 48, but there were a few states down in the SW (NM, AZ, NV) that did not get them because the traffic volume was deemed too low; and Massachusetts -

eliminated due to that state's high land rentals and roadside foliage.

Lawyers recommended that they be removed from the roadside in the '60's because of the potential for liability, fearing that drivers might claim they were "distracted" by the signs....

That's interesting Roger.. high rentals and foliage.. and liabilities & lawyers had a presence back then!

I also remember a whole movement to eliminate / control advertising and billboards along our highways.. I remember a photo in Life or Post showing a section of highway and all you could see was advertising on both sides and 15 / 20 feet high.

Oh yeah, that "movement" was driven by Lady Bird Johnson's "Beautify America" Bill, which put limits on billboards, required "junkyards" to be fenced to block them from view, and on, and on. Lot's of good done, but some heavy handed rules, too, as I recall.

When I was a kid, once or twice a year my cousin Dennis and I would get to ride along on a cattle buying trip "out West" with Grandpa and Uncle Jake. Watching for Burma Shave signs was part of the entertainment on the trip!!! Whoever spotted the most signs first got to choose what the dessert was for dinner that night at the restaurant. I'll never forget those trips and all the good road games. BTW, when I won dessert was always hot apple pie with cinnamon ice cream!!!! Going to the Indy 500 with Dad was the same game, same rules, same prize. By about '63 or so most of the signs had disappeared.

Brings back memories of going on summer vacations with my Grandparents. Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah, especially in the Rockies- - - I owe them so much and tried to pass it on to my children !

Here's a couple that I remember and why I remember these two, I don't know.

Clancey's whiskers tickled Nancy
Nancy lowered the boom on Clancey
Burma Shave !

"my favorite"
He lit a match to check gas tank
That's why they call him skinless Frank
Burma Shave !

Seems a few of us remember these most in the context of a trip or vacation. And we all have fond memories of those times!

From the time I was about 6 years old until I was about 18 I remember taking the Greyhound bus from Philadelphia to Toronto for many summers since we spent a lot of summers with my cousins up there. Maybe because they had stops in several towns along the way, the bus didn't take the interstate so one of the entertaining things we did was read the Burma Shave signs along the roads of northern Pennsylvania and New York.

We didn't have the signs here in Canada and the first I remember hearing about them was Roger Miller's song. Here is a youtube of it:


www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRgwhDQ8AJU




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Burma Shave Tom Waits - YouTube