Burma Shave road signs

[MoGrubb]

I got this in an email from a cousin. [i vaguely remember Burma Shave as a very young kid. I remember my parents chuckling, but I didn't know why. ]:

For those who never saw any of the Burma Shave signs, here is a quick lesson in our history of the 1930's and '40's. Before there were 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 the obligatory 5th sign advertising Burma Shave, a popular shaving cream.

Here are more of the actual signs:

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

Edited February 3, 2008 by MoGrubb

[danasgoodstuff]

I remember, barely, you could still see them once in a while when I was little.

[GA Russell]

Mo, I remember them as being funny, not about drunk driving.

[T.D.]

Only saw them a couple of times. Got a big kick out of it, having read lots about them in period American literature.

[Stereojack]

Drefinitely remember them from when I was a kid riding with my parents.

[paul secor]

Used to look for them and enjoy them when I was riding with my parents - helped pass the time on long rides.

[medjuck]

I think I only saw them once but they were often parodied in popular culture (e.g. cartoons) when I was young.

[BruceH]

Yeah, I only remember them through cartoon references. I like them (or the idea of them) though. There should be a word for having nostaglia for something that you're too young to have direct experiance of. ("Neo-stalgia"?)

[Kalo]

Never saw them on the road, but when I was young my family used to visit a transportation museum in the Boston area that displayed some of the sign sequences.

[EulaM]

We drove back to Texas when I was eight years old, and the Burma Shave signs were posted out in the deserts, on long desolate stretches of straight road. My dad loved them as they were humorous and they helped keep him awake, that was their purpose he told us, not that they were just for advertisement he said, but they were a good way to implant their brand name in your head. Brilliant really.

[Noj]