Nostalgia & History > Burma Shave Signs

I'm sure there are more than a hand full of TO members that remember Burma Shave. 

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 contain 1 line of a 4 line couplet......
And the obligatory 5th sign advertising Burma Shave, a popular shaving cream.

I'm only posting the two that deal with trains just because I had nothing better to do this morning.

HE SAW THE TRAIN
AND TRIED TO DUCK IT
HE KICKED THE GAS
AND THEN THE BUCKET !!
Burma Shave

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

Regards, John

I have all 660+ Burma Shave jingles in my Archives.  There were some that could never be used because they were considered too risque" for the times !

How many of you remember that PENTREX used to sell shaving cream sets from Burma-Shave ??  Tis true !

KRK

Those signs helped my brother and I learn to read!!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

I recently drove old 66 from Seligman to Kingman thru Peach Springs and Hackberry.  Someone has started posting Burma Shave signs along the old road.  I wish I had written them down but believe I saw at least 5.

Norm

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

Those with an interest in Burma Shave signs may enjoy reading The Verse by the Side of the Road (1965) by Frank Rowsome, Jr.  At the moment, Amazon has 18 new copies available.

The last time I saw a Burma Shave sign in its native habitat (on a roadside) was in 1958, heading westward (northbound) on US 101 near Calabasas CA:

Within this vale
Of Toil and Sin
Your head grows bald
But not your chin.
Burma Shave

For many year, we had "The Verse by the Side of the Road" on sale at the Orange Empire museum bookstore, and for a special event, a member posted some replica signs along the museum driveway:

Train approaching,
Whistle squealing.
Pause.  Avoid
That run-down feeling,
Burma Shave

(I think "that run-down feeling" was borrowed from a patent-medicine ad)
 

About the only Burma Shave signs I can remember was back in the late 50s, when I was 10-ish.  Along US 31 while travelling northbound from Scottville to Manistee MI, was this:

Around the corner
And over the hill
His car made 70
He never will
Burma Shave

You can see modern replica Burma-Shave signs along old 66 in Arizona to this very day  I've  driven by several in the last few months but never took a photo.  Perhaps I should.

Ed.

Sign series hanging in one barn at IRM.  I don't know if they are originals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxNX5FLHLhE

John thanks for posting brings back memories when my mother would read off Burma Shave signs while I stood on the drive line hump in the back seat of my Dad's 1949 Dodge Sedan.

There used to be one of these sets as you entered the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.  It's been nearly 25 years since I saw it, but it went something like:

Heed this warning
If you'd be spared
Trains don't whistle
Because they're scared
Burma Shave

On a somewhat related note, I notice a driveway along the tracks near Buckley, Illinois, that seemed to have several signs at intervals along it.  That got me to wondering what sort of Burma Shave signs would go in such a location.  I quickly came up with the following:

Turn around
No trespassin'
Protected by
Smith & Wesson
Burma Shave

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Hey Ken, it's funny you should mention Pentrex and the shaving paraphenalia they sold.  Just last week I was just going through my boxes of RR magazines and I came across a full color catalog Pentrex sent me back in the late 1990's or early 2000's and it was nothing but fancy shaving accessories.  It was a beautiful 6-8 page full color heavy card stock catalog. I hadn't looked at it since they first sent it to me. It never made sense to me - selling RR videos and shaving kits, but so nice I never threw it away.  LOL

Greg

One of the Burma Shave verses went:
Shaving brushes
You'll soon see 'em
On a shelf
In some museum.

Ironically, the company that bought the rights to the Burma Shave trademark used it on shaving accessories--including brushes.