Remember Burma Shave Roadsigns?

" Years ago, the Burma Shave shaving cream company put up road signs all
along the highway throughout the country.  The signs were spaced a few hundred
yards apart and were designed to be read one line after the other as you traveled
down the highway.  In the fifties and sixties each time we went anywhere in the car,
I can remember my brother and me diligently looking for them and memorizing them."
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How It all began.

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 Inventing the product, Burma Shave,  by Grandfather Odell
was not the key to success, and the product almost died several
times because of poor marketing.
Then one day, Allan Odell came up with a suggestion.  He
suggested roadside signs like the ones he had seen on road
trips when he was out trying to sell Burma-Shave.  However, his
father, Clinton Odell, would not hear of such an idea, and was
sure that the boy was just homesick because of all the traveling
he was doing.  Allan continued to lobby for his idea and finally
his father gave in and gave him $200 to try out his idea.

The year was 1925, and the automobile had people beginning to
take to the roads of America.  Second-hand boards were
purchased, cut into 36-inch lengths, and painted.  The original
signs did not have a rhyme.  Typically, four consecutive signs
would read:

SHAVE THE MODERN WAY
FINE FOR THE SKIN
DRUGGISTS HAVE IT
BURMA-SHAVE

Allan put up his first signs in a farmer's field along Route 35,
between Albert Lea and Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1925.  After
erecting a dozen sets of signs, orders started pouring in when
travelers asked druggists about that shaving cream they saw
mentioned on some funny signs.  Within weeks, drug stores
began running out of Burma-Shave, and ordering more.  The
next year, Allan and his brother Leonard set up more signs,
spreading across Minnesota and into Wisconsin, spending
$25,000 that year on signs.  Orders poured in, and sales for the
year hit $68,000.

During WW II, homesick GI's would erect Burma-Shave look-alike
signs in Alaska, Germany, and even Antarctica!   Eventually,
about 7,000 sets of verses were posted along highways in 45
states.  A sign crew with just 8 trucks maintained all the signs.
 The road men calling themselves "PHD's" (Post-Hole Diggers)
changed the verses at least once a year and replaced any broken
signs.  Most farmers were more than willing to allow the signs to
be erected on their land, for little more than a case of the
product each year.  The little Burma-Shave company grew to $3
million in annual sales.

Nearly everyone who drove on America's highways from the
1930's to the 1960's knew of the signs.  Or as one of the poems
said:
IF YOU DON'T KNOW
WHOSE SIGNS THESE ARE
YOU CAN'T HAVE
DRIVEN VERY FAR

But eventually times changed.  America's countryside shrank
due to superhighways and faster cars.  Huge billboards
outshouted the little signs.
In 1963 the Odell Family sold their company to Philip Morris, Inc.
 It would become American Razor Products.
With television in every living room it was decided that the little
signs were an advertising  thing of the past.
The signs remain in the memory of people who can recall a
different, less hurried way of doing business in America.

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1929 thru 1933 Found on the net
Every shaver
Now can snore
Six more minutes
Than before
By using
Burma-Shave
Your shaving brush
Has had its day
So why not
Shave the modern way
With
Burma-Shave
Early to bed
Early to rise
Was meant for those
Old fashioned guys
Who didn't use
Burma-Shave
The one horse shay
Has had its day
So has the brush
And lather way
Use
Burma-Shave
Hello druggist
I don't mean maybe
Yes
Sir!
That's the baby
Burma-Shave
Shaving brush
All wet
And hairy
I've passed you up
For sanitary
Burma-Shave
The tube's
A whopper
35 cents
Easy shaving
Low expense
Burma-Shave
From New York town
To Pumpkin Holler
It's half a pound
For
Half a dollar
Burma-Shave
You'll love your wife
You'll love her paw
You'll even love
Your mother-in-law
If you use
Burma-Shave
Give the guy
The toe of your boot
Who tries
To hand you
A substitute for
Burma-Shave
When the jar Is empty
Wife begins to sing
"For spices, jam & jelly
That jar is just the thing"
Burma-Shave
The millionth man
Has joined
Our ranks
Of happy shavers
Many thanks!
Burma-Shave
1955 thru 1959 The ones I remember

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He saw the train
     And tried to duck it.
     Kicked first
     The gas
     And then the bucket.
     Burma Shave.

Don't stick your elbow
                                            Out too far.
                                            It may
                                            Go home
                                            In another car.
                                            Burma Shave.
His crop of
Whiskers
Needed reaping
That's what kept
His Lena leaping
Burma-Shave
The blackened forest
Smoulders yet
Because
He flipped
A cigaret
Burma-Shave
Grandpa knows
It ain't too late
He's gone
To git
Some widder bait
Burma-Shave
The big blue tube's
Just like Louise
You get
A thrill
From every squeeze
Burma-Shave
The monkey took
One look at Jim
And threw the peanuts
Back at him
He needed
Burma-Shave
Substitutes
Can let you down
Quicker
Than a
Strapless gown
Burma-Shave
Cattle crossing
Means go slow
That old bull
Is some
Cow's beau
Burma-Shave
(This was our favorute)
Does your husband
Misbehave
Grunt and grumble
Rant and rave?
Shoot the brute some
Burma-Shave
. The draftee
Tried a tube
And purred
Well whaddya know
I've been defurred
Burma-Shave
Drinking drivers--
Nothing worse
They put
The quart
Before the hearse
Burma-Shave
Said farmer Brown
Who's bald
On top
Wish I could
Rotate the crop
Burma-Shave
Passing cars
When you can't see
May get you
A glimpse
Of eternity
Burma-Shave
Don't leave safety
To mere chance
That's why
Belts are
Sold with pants
Burma-Shave
Many a forest
Used to stand
Where a
Lighted match
Got out of hand
Burma-Shave
If daisies
Are your
Favorite flower
Keep pushin' up those
Miles-per-hour
Burma-Shave
He lit a match
To check gas tank
That's why
They call him
Skinless frank
Burma-Shave
Hardly a man
is now alive
who topped
this hill
at 95!
Burma Shave.
A beard
                                            That's rough
                                            And overgrown
                                            Is better than
                                            A chaperone
                                            Burma Shave.
Said Juliet
                         to Romeo
                         If you
                         won't shave
                         Go homeo
                         Burma Shave.
No lady likes
     to dance
     or dine
     accompanied by
     a porcupine!
     Burma Shave.
No more him.
                                            No more her.
                                            They kissed
                                            While going
                                            90 per.
                                            Burma Shave.
If you must sample
                         Her pucker paint,
                         You'd better drive
                         Where the
                         Traffic ain't.
                         Burma Shave.
At school zones
                         Heed instructions.
                         Protect
                         Our little
                         Tax deductions.
                         Burma Shave.
Proper distance
                         To him was bunk.
                         They pulled him
                         Out of
                         Someone's trunk.
                         Burma Shave.
Although insured,
     Remember Kiddo,
     They don't
     Pay you,
     They pay your widow.
     Burma Shave.
Car in ditch,
                         Driver in tree,
                         The moon
                         Was full,
                         And so was he.
                         Burma Shave.
Around the curve
                                            Lickity split,
                                            Beautiful
                                            Car
                                            Wasn't it..?
                                            Burma Shave.
She put a bullet
     Through his hat,
     But he's had
     Closer shaves
     Than that!
     With Burma Shave.
The weather was clear,
     The cars was whizzin',
     The fault
     Was hers
     The funeral his'n.
     Burma Shave.
Train approaching
                         Whistle squealing,
                         Pause --
                         Avoid that
                         Run down feeling.
                         Burma Shave.
Thirty days
     Hath September,
     April, June
     And the speed
     Offender.
     Burma Shave.
Grandpa's beard
                         Was stiff and coarse.
                         And that's what caused
                         His fifth
                         Divorce.
                         Burma Shave.
Ben met Anna,
     Made a hit,
     Neglected
     Beard
     Ben-Anna split.
     Burma Shave.
School ahead,
                                            Take it slow,
                                            Let the
                                            Little
                                            Shavers grow.
                                            Burma Shave.
If you pass
                                            On the yellow line,
                                            Hope the funeral's
                                            Yours,
                                            Not mine.
                                            Burma Shave.
My job is
                         Keeping faces clean
                         And nobody knows
                         De stubble I've seen
                         Burma Shave.