Below is some information from the U.S. Legacies archives on Burma Shave.
Way back in 1925 young Allan Odell pitched this great sales idea to his father, Clinton. Use small, wooden roadside signs to pitch their product, Burma-Shave, a brushless shaving cream. Clinton wasn’t wild about the idea, but eventually gave Allan $200 to give it a try.
It didn’t take long for sales to soar. Soon Allan and his brother Leonard were putting up signs all over the place. At first the signs were pure sales pitch but as the years passed they found their sense of humor extending to safety tips and pure fun. And some good old-fashioned down home wisdom
At their height of popularity there were 7,000 Burma-Shave signs stretching across America. The familiar white on red signs, grouped by four, fives and sixes, were as much a part of a family trip as irritating your kid brother in the back seat of the car. You’d read first one, then another, anticipating the punch line on number five and the familiar Burma-Shave on the sixth.
The signs cheered us during the Depression and the dark days of World War II. But things began to change in the late Fifties. Cars got faster and superhighways got built to accommodate them. The fun little signs were being replaced by huge, unsightly billboards.
1963 was the last year for new Burma Shave signs. No more red and white nuggets of roadside wisdom to ease the journey.
His cheek
Was rough
His chick vamoosed
And now she won’t
Come home to roost
Burma-Shave
Twinkle, twinkle
One-eyed car
We all wonder
WHERE you are
Burma-Shave
A whiskery kiss
For the one
You adore
May not make her mad
But her face will be sore
Burma-Shave
When Super-shaved
Remember, pard
You’ll still get slapped
But not so hard
Burma-Shave
Published in U S Legacies Magazine February 2005
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