ROADSIDE HUMOR FROM YESTERYEAR

     For those who never saw any of the Burma Shave signs, here is a quick lesson in our roadside history of the 1930's and '40's.

     Before there were interstate highways everyone drove on old 2-lane roads. Burma Shave signs would be posted all over the countryside in farmers' fields - five small red signs, with white letters, about 100 feet apart, each containing 1 line of a 4 line couplet. The obligatory 5th sign advertised Burma Shave, a popular shaving cream that came in a half-pound jar and cost a half dollar. (The only company with more sales was Barbisol.) 
     The job, managed by John Kammerrer, kept eight trucks and 38 employees busy posting the signs from one side of the country to the other, then repeating annually.
     Once the company advertised a 'Trip to Mars" for the person collecting the most Burma Shave jars. "Frenchie" French collected 900 and won the trip - to Mars, a town in Germany.

     The company held contests annually and paid $100 for the best roadside humor couplets accepted. The Rev. Ewing A. Beard wrote the most jingles. 

    

DON'T STICK YOUR ELBOW
OUT SO FAR
IT MAY GO HOME
IN ANOTHER CAR.

Burma Shave

TRAINS DON'T WANDER
ALL OVER THE MAP
'CAUSE NOBODY SITS
IN THE ENGINEER'S LAP.

Burma Shave

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

Burma Shave

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

CAUTIOUS RIDER
TO HER RECKLESS DEAR
LET'S HAVE LESS BULL
AND A LITTLE MORE STEER.

Burma Shave

SPEED WAS HIGH
WEATHER WAS NOT
TIRES WERE THIN
X MARKS THE SPOT.

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

NO MATTER THE PRICE
NO MATTER HOW NEW
THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE
IN THE CAR IS YOU.

Burma Shave

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

Burma Shave

AT INTERSECTIONS
LOOK EACH WAY
A HARP SOUNDS NICE
BUT IT'S HARD TO PLAY.

Burma Shave

BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL
EYES ON THE ROAD
THAT'S THE SKILLFUL
DRIVER'S CODE Burma Shave

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

Burma Shave

CAR IN DITCH
DRIVER IN TREE
THE MOON WAS FULL
AND SO WAS HE.

Burma Shave

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

When the stork
Delivers a boy
The whole darn place
Jumps for joy!
Burma Shave

If you have
A double chin
You have two good reasons
To begin using
Burma Shave

If these bring back old memories

then you're old as dirt..LIKE ME!

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