Burma-Shave
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
brand of brushless shaving cream
Shaving cream
Shaving cream is a substance that is applied to the face or wherever else hair grows, to provide lubrication and avoid razor burn during shaving. Shaving cream is often bought in a spray can, but can also be purchased in tubs or tubes. Shaving cream in a can is commonly dispensed as a foam or a gel...
, famous for its advertising gimmick of posting humorous rhyming poems on small, sequential, highway-billboard signs.
History
Burma-Shave was introduced in 1925 by the Burma-Vita company, owned by Clinton Odell. The company's original product was a linimentLiniment
Liniment , from the Latin linere, to anoint, is a medicated topical preparation for application to the skin. Preparations of this type are also called balm...
made of ingredients described as coming "from the Malay Peninsula and Burma." Demand was sparse, and the company sought to expand sales by introducing a product with wider appeal.
The result was the Burma-Shave advertising sign program, and sales took off. At its peak, Burma-Shave was the second-highest selling brushless shaving cream in the United States. Sales declined in the 1950s, and in 1963 the company was sold to Philip Morris
Altria Group
Altria Group, Inc. is based in Henrico County, Virginia, and is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. It is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations...
. The signs were removed at that time. The brand decreased in visibility and eventually became the property of the American Safety Razor Company.
In 1997, the American Safety Razor Company reintroduced the Burma-Shave brand with a nostalgic shaving soap and brush kit, though the original Burma-Shave was a brushless shaving cream, and Burma-Shave's own roadside signs frequently ridiculed "Grandpa's old-fashioned shaving brush."
Roadside billboards
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The exceptions were New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, and Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
(deemed to have insufficient road traffic), and Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
(eliminated due to that state's high land rentals and roadside foliage). Typically, six consecutive small signs would be posted along the edge of highways, spaced for sequential reading by passing motorists. The last sign was almost always the name of the product. The signs were originally produced in two color combinations: red-and-white and orange-and-black, though the latter was eliminated after a few years. A special white-on-blue set of signs was developed for South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
, which restricted the color red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
on roadside signs to official warning notices.
The billboards were used in an episode of Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
's Radio show, this particular episode being aired in 09/17/1950. Jack and Mary are sitting in a gondola
Gondola
The gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian Lagoon. For centuries gondolas were the chief means of transportation and most common watercraft within Venice. In modern times the iconic boats still have a role in public transport in...
whilst in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Mary sees a grouping of the Burma-Shave billboards along the canal.
This use of the billboard
Billboard (advertising)
A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers...
was a successful advertising gimmick during the early years of the automobile, drawing attention and passers-by who were curious to discover the punchline. As the Interstate
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
system expanded in the late 1950s and vehicle speeds increased, it became more difficult to attract motorists' attention with small signs. When the company was acquired by Phillip Morris
Altria Group
Altria Group, Inc. is based in Henrico County, Virginia, and is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. It is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations...
, the signs were discontinued on advice of counsel.
Some of the signs, instead of directly advertising the shaving cream, featured public safety messages (usually about speeding).
Examples of Burma-Shave advertisements are at The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin
Spring Green, Wisconsin
Spring Green is a village in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,444 at the 2000 census. The village is located within the Town of Spring Green.-Geography:Spring Green is located at ....
. Re-creations of Burma-Shave sign sets also appear on Arizona Highway 66, part of the original U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66 was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year...
, between Ash Fork, Arizona and Kingman, Arizona
Kingman, Arizona
Kingman is located in a desert climate on the edge of the Mojave Desert, but its higher elevation and location between the Colorado Plateau and the Lower Colorado River Valley tempers summer high temperatures and contributes to winter cold and rare snowfall. Summer daytime highs reach above 90 °F ...
(though they were not installed there by Burma-Shave during its original campaigns) and on Old U.S. Highway 30 near Ogden, Iowa. Other examples are displayed at The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford, a National Historic Landmark, , in the Metro Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, USA, is a large indoor and outdoor history museum complex...
in Dearborn, Michigan
Dearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
and the Virginia Museum of Transportation
Virginia Museum of Transportation
The Virginia Museum of Transportation is a museum devoted to the topic of transportation located in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A..- History :...
in Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
.
Examples
The complete list of the 600 or so known sets of signs is listed in Sunday Drives and in the last part of The Verse by the Side of the Road. The content of the earliest signs is lost, but it is believed that the first recorded signs, for 1927 and soon after, are close to the originals. The first ones were prosaic advertisements. Generally the signs were printed with all capital letters. The style shown below is for readability:- Shave the modern way / No brush / No lather / No rub-in / Big tube 35 cents - Drug stores / Burma-Shave
As early as 1928, the writers were displaying a puckish sense of humor:
- Takes the "H" out of shave / Makes it save / Saves complexion / Saves time and money / No brush - no lather / Burma-Shave
In 1929, the prosaic ads began to be replaced by actual verses on four signs, with the fifth sign merely a filler for the sixth:
- 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
Previously there were only two to four sets of signs per year. 1930 saw major growth in the company, and 19 sets of signs were produced. The writers recycled a previous joke. They continued to ridicule the "old" style of shaving. And they began to appeal to the wives as well:
- Cheer up face / The war is past / The "H" is out / Of shave / At last / Burma-Shave
- Shaving brushes / You'll soon see 'em / On the shelf / In some / Museum / Burma-Shave
- Does your husband / Misbehave / Grunt and grumble / Rant and rave / Shoot the brute some / Burma-Shave
In 1931, the writers began to reveal a "cringe factor" side to their creativity, which would increase over time:
- No matter / How you slice it / It's still your face / Be humane / Use / Burma-Shave
In 1932, the company recognized the popularity of the signs with a self-referencing gimmick:
- Free / Illustrated / Jingle book / In every / Package / Burma-Shave
- A shave / That's real / No cuts to heal / A soothing / Velvet after-feel / Burma-Shave
Along with the usual jokes, a regional contest spawned several signs in 1933, held during football season:
- Within this vale / Of toil / And sin / Your head grows bald / But not your chin - use / Burma-Shave
- Hit 'em high / Hit 'em low / Follow your team / Over WCCO / And win a prize / Burma-Shave
In 1935, the first known appearance of a road safety message appeared, combined with a punning sales pitch:
- Train approaching / Whistle squealing / Stop / Avoid that run-down feeling / Burma-Shave
- Keep well / To the right / Of the oncoming car / Get your close shaves / From the half pound jar / Burma-Shave
A punning reference to another well-known drug store product 1936:
- Riot at / Drug store / Calling all cars / 100 customers / 99 jars / Burma-Shave
- Smith BrothersSmith BrothersThe Smith Brothers were makers of cough drops.-Biography:William Wallace Smith I and Andrew Smith were...
/ Would look immense / If they'd just / Cough up 50 cents / For half pound jar / Burma-Shave - Free! Free! / A trip / To Mars / For 900 / Empty jars / Burma-Shave
Self-referencing signs continued in 1937, along with puns:
- You've laughed / At our signs / For many a mile / Be a sport / Give us a trial / Burma-Shave
- If harmony / Is what / You crave / Then get / A tuba / Burma-Shave
Another safety message from 1938:
- Don't take a curve / at 60 per / we hate to lose / a customer / Burma-Shave
Safety messages began to increase in 1939, as these examples show. (The first of the three is a parody of "Paul Revere's Ride
Paul Revere's Ride (poem)
"Paul Revere's Ride" is a poem by an American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775.-Overview:...
" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
.)
- Hardly a driver / Is now alive / Who passed / On hills / At 75 / Burma-Shave
- Past / Schoolhouses / Take it slow / Let the little / Shavers grow / Burma-Shave
- If you dislike / Big traffic fines / Slow down / Till you / Can read these signs / Burma-Shave
1939 also saw more puns for the product:
- A peach / Looks good / With lots of fuzz / But man's no peach / And never wuz / Burma-Shave
- I proposed / To Ida / Ida refused / Ida won my Ida / If Ida used / Burma-Shave
In 1939 and subsequent years, demise of the signs was foreshadowed, as busy roadways approaching larger cities featured shortened versions of the slogans on one, two, or three signs — the exact count is not recorded. The puns include a play on the Maxwell House
Maxwell House
Maxwell House is a brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Foods. Introduced in 1892, it is named in honor of the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. For many years until the late 1980s it was the largest-selling coffee in the U.S. and is currently second behind...
Coffee slogan, standard puns, and yet another reference to the "H" joke:
- Good to the last strop
- Covers a multitude of chins
- Takes the "H" out of shaving
1940 saw an early reference to the idea of a designated driver
Designated driver
The terms "designated driver" and "designated driving" refer to selecting a person to remain sober, as the driver of a vehicle, while others are allowed to drink to excess . A designated driver is a person who abstains from alcohol on a social occasion in order to drive his/her companions home safely...
:
- It's best for / One who hits / The bottle / To let another / Use the throttle / Burma-Shave
More safety slogans in 1941, along with ads:
- Don't stick / Your elbow / Out so far / It might go home / In another car / Burma-Shave
- At intersections / Look each way / A harp sounds nice / But it's / Hard to play / Burma-Shave
- From / Bar / To car / To gates / Ajar / Burma-Shave
- Broken romance / Stated fully / She went wild / When he / Went wooly / Burma Shave
Possibly the ultimate in self-referencing signs, leaving out the product name. This one also adorns the cover of the book:
- If you / Don't know / Whose signs / These are / You can't have / Driven very far
The war years found the company recycling a lot of their old signs, with new ones mostly focusing on World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
"propaganda":
- Let's make HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
/ And HirohitoHirohito, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...
/ Feel as bad / as Old BenitoBenito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
/ Buy War Bonds / Burma-Shave - Slap / The Jap / With / Iron / Scrap / Burma-Shave
1947:
- Don't lose / Your head / To gain a minute / You need your head / Your brains are in it / Burma-Shave (repeated in 1963)
- Car in ditch / Driver in tree / Moon was full / And so / Was he / Burma-Shave
- I use it too / The bald man said / It keeps my face / Just like / My head / Burma-Shave
- In Cupid's little / Bag of trix / Here's the one / That clix / With chix / Burma-Shave
1950:
- He tried / To cross / As fast train neared / Death didn't draft him / He volunteered / Burma-Shave
- My job is / Keeping faces clean / And nobody knows / De stubble / I've seen / Burma-Shave
- Her chariot / Raced 80 per / They hauled away / What had / Ben Hur / Burma-Shave
1951:
- Drinking drivers / Don't you know / Great bangs / From little / Binges grow? / Burma-Shave
- Proper / Distance / To him was bunk / They pulled him out / Of some guy's trunk / Burma-Shave
1952:
- Pedro / Walked / Back home, by golly / His bristly chin / Was hot-to-Molly / Burma-Shave (repeated in 1963)
- The wolf / Is shaved / So neat and trim / Red Riding Hood / Is chasing him / Burma-Shave
- Missin' / Kissin'? / Perhaps your thrush / Can't get thru / The underbrush — try / Burma-Shave
- A chin / Where barbed wire / Bristles stand / Is bound to be / A no ma'ams land / Burma-Shave
1953:
- Around / The curve / Lickety-split / Lovely car / Wasn't it? / Burma Shave
1955
- Dinah doesn't / Treat him right / But if he'd / Shave / Dyna-mite! / Burma-Shave
- The big blue tube's / Just like Louise / You get / A thrill / From every squeeze / Burma-Shave
- To change that / Shaving job / To joy / You gotta use / The real McCoy / Burma-Shave
- The monkey took / One look at Jim / And threw the peanuts / Back at him / He needed / Burma-Shave
- Slow down, Pa / Sakes alive / Ma missed signs / Four / And five / Burma Shave
1959's ads included perhaps the worst of the "cringe-worthy" safety slogans:
- Said Farmer Brown / Who's bald / On top / Wish I could / Rotate the crop / Burma-Shave
- This cooling shave / Will never fail / To stamp / Its user / First-class male / Burma-Shave
- Don't / Try passing / On a slope / Unless you have / A periscope / 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
1960 saw the last group of original signs until 1963:
- Henry the Eighth / Sure had / Trouble / Short term wives / Long term stubble / Burma-Shave
- Ben / Met Anna / Made a hit / Neglected beard / Ben-Anna split / Burma-Shave
- Dim your lights / Behind a car / Let folks see / How bright / You are / Burma-Shave
- Angels / Who guard you / When you drive / Usually / Retire at 65 / Burma-Shave
1963 was the last year for the signs, most of which were repeats, including the final slogan, which had first appeared in 1953:
- Our fortune / Is your / Shaven face / It's our best / Advertising space / Burma-Shave
One sign considered, but never used:
- Listen birds / These signs cost / Money / So roost a while / But don't get funny / Burma-Shave
- (year unknown) Here lies / Heaven's neophyte / signaled left / then turned right / Burma-Shave
Special promotional messages
- Free offer! Free offer! / Rip a fenderFender (vehicle)Fender is the US English term for the part of an automobile, motorcycle or other vehicle body that frames a wheel well . Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road spray from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire. Fenders are typically rigid and can be...
off your car / mail it in / for a half-pound jar / Burma-Shave
-
- A large number of fendersFender (vehicle)Fender is the US English term for the part of an automobile, motorcycle or other vehicle body that frames a wheel well . Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road spray from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire. Fenders are typically rigid and can be...
were received by the company, which made good on its promise.- Free — free / a trip to Mars / for 900 / empty jars / Burma-Shave
- One respondent, Arlyss French, who was the owner of a Red Owl grocery store, did submit 900 empty jars; the company replied: "If a trip to Mars you earn, remember, friend, there's no return." The company, on the recommendation of Red Owl's publicity team, sent him on vacation to the town of MoersMoersMoers is a German city on the left bank of the Rhine. Moers belongs to the district of Wesel...
(often pronounced "Mars" by foreigners) near DuisburgDuisburg- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...
, North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
- A large number of fenders
Political burmashaving
The word "burmashaving" is used in CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to describe politicians holding signs and waving to traffic by the side of the road, a common sight during election campaigns. One of the first to use the phrase was Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia
The Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia, registered under the Nova Scotia Elections Act as the "Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia", is a moderate right-of-centre political party in Nova Scotia, Canada....
premier
Premier (Canada)
In Canada, a premier is the head of government of a province or territory. There are currently ten provincial premiers and three territorial premiers in Canada....
John Buchanan
John Buchanan
John MacLennan Buchanan, PC, QC is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th Premier of Nova Scotia from 1978 to 1990 and as a member of the Senate of Canada from 1990 to 2006.-Early life:...
, who would stand at the end of a long line of party signs and wave to morning traffic.
Popular culture
Movies and television shows set in the 1950s (either "period pieces" or time-travel plots) have used the Burma-Shave roadside billboards to help set the scene. Examples are Bonnie and ClydeBonnie and Clyde (film)
The film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
, A River Runs Through It
A River Runs Through It (film)
A River Runs Through It is an Academy Award winning 1992 American film directed by Robert Redford and starring Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer, Tom Skerritt, Brenda Blethyn, and Emily Lloyd...
, The World's Fastest Indian
The World's Fastest Indian
The World's Fastest Indian is a 2005 New Zealand biographical film based on the Invercargill, New Zealand speed bike racer Burt Munro and his highly modified Indian Scout motorcycle...
, Stand By Me
Stand by Me (film)
Stand by Me is a 1986 American drama film directed by Rob Reiner. Based on the novella The Body by Stephen King, the film takes its title from the Ben E. King song of the same name, which plays over the end credits.-Plot:...
, and the pilot episode ("Genesis") of Quantum Leap. The long-running series Hee Haw
Hee Haw
Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...
borrowed the style for program bumpers
Commercial bumper
In broadcasting, a commercial bumper, ident bumper or break-bumper is a brief announcement, usually two to 15 seconds that can contain a voice over, placed between a pause in the program and its commercial break, and vice versa...
, transitioning from one show segment to the next or to commercials.
- Tom WaitsTom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
' song "Burma-Shave" (from his 1977 Foreign AffairsForeign Affairs (album)Foreign Affairs is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1977 on Elektra Entertainment. It was produced by Bones Howe, and features Bette Midler singing a duet with Waits on "I Never Talk to Strangers".-Production:...
album) uses the signs as an allegory for an unknown destination:
- I guess I'm headed that-a-way, Just as long as it's paved, I guess you'd say I'm on my way to Burma-Shave
Ironically (given the propensity of Burma Shave signs to dispense road-safety messages) both of the song's protagonists die in a car crash.
- Chuck SuchyChuck SuchyChuck Suchy is a folk musician, songwriter, and working farmer from Mandan, North Dakota. Among his albums are Much to Share , Dancing Dakota , Dakota Breezes , Same Road Home , Different Line of Time , Evening in Paris , and Unraveling Heart .One of his folk ballads, featured on his Much to Share,...
's song "Burma Shave Boogie" (from his 2008 Unraveling Heart album) incorporates several of the Burma Shave rhymes into its lyrics.
- The 1952 animated cartoon Rabbit SeasoningRabbit SeasoningRabbit Seasoning is a 1952 Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. It is the sequel to Rabbit Fire, and the second entry in the "Hunting trilogy" directed by Jones and written by Michael Maltese...
begins with Daffy DuckDaffy DuckDaffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
posting signs luring hunter Elmer FuddElmer FuddElmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
to Bugs BunnyBugs BunnyBugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
's hole in the ground. A series of signs is written in Burma-Shave style verse:
- If you're looking for fun / You don't need a reason / All you need is a gun / It's rabbit season!
- The billboard rhymes were an occasional talk topic among the characters of M*A*S*H, particularly Hawkeye Pierce and B. J. Hunnicutt. In "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" (the show's final episode) there is a scene where Hawkeye returns to the camp, greeted by a series of road signs:
- Hawk was gone / Now he's here / Dance 'til Dawn / Give a Cheer / Burma-Shave
- Saga of the Swamp Thing #26 ends with a drunk man crashing his car into a tree near a Burma Shave billboard.
- The night can make / A man more brave / But not more sober / Burma-Shave
- The pedestrian passageway between the Times Square and Port Authority Bus Terminal stations in the New York City subway system contains a piece of public art inspired by the Burma-Shave ads; Norman B. Colp's The Commuter's Lament, or A Close Shave consists of a series of signs attached to the roof of the passageway, displaying the following text:
- Overslept, / So tired. / If late, / Get fired. / Why bother? / Why the pain? / Just go home / Do it again.
- In 1994 and 1995, nostalgia magazine Reminisce used Burma-Shave style advertising signs on two-lane, non-interstate highways to promote their magazine. Two of the jingles read:
- Today's Kids / Sure Missed a Treat / No Moonlight Rides / In a Rumble Seat / Reminisce Magazine
- We Played Marbles / And Climbed In Trees / Now Kids Can't Play / Without Batteries / Reminisce Magazine
- Some highwaysFlorida Highway PatrolThe Division of the Florida Highway Patrol is a division of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the law enforcement agency charged with ensuring the safety of the highways and roads of the state.-History:...
in the state of Florida use a similar technique for public service announcementPublic service announcementA public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
s and to advertise SunPassSunPassSunPass is an electronic toll collection system in use by the State of Florida and was originally created by the Florida Department of Transportation's Florida's Turnpike...
.
Books
In "Bread in the Wilderness," the celebrated Catholic monk Thomas Merton notes that those Americans whose exposure to poetry is limited to "Burma Shave rhymes along our American highways may find it rather hard to get anything out of the Psalms."The Verse by the Side of the Road: The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles by Frank Rowsome Jr. gives a full history of the Burma-Shave sign campaign, and its impact on popular culture. The book also lists all 600 of the campaign's signs. In the book, the author laments the passing of the Burma-Shave signs using a self-referential jingle from 1940:
- If you / Don't know / Whose signs / These are / You can't have / Driven very far
The book's illustrator, Carl Rose, has his own lament:
- Farewell, O verse / Along the road / How sad to / Know you're / Out of mode / Burma-Shave
In Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob is an English American writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is most famous for his long-running novel series set in the fictional realm of Xanth.Many of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best...
's On a Pale Horse
On a Pale Horse
On a Pale Horse is a fantasy novel by Piers Anthony, first published in 1983. It is the first of eight books in the Incarnations of Immortality series...
, Hell advertises using Burma Shave-style ads, such as a picture of a seductively dressed woman with the text:
- See this outfit / Don't you scoff / You know where / She takes it off
American Gods
American Gods
American Gods is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel by Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on a mysterious and taciturn protagonist, Shadow. It is Gaiman's fourth prose novel, being preceded by Good Omens ,...
by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
contains a scene where the main character "Shadow" visits the famous House on the Rock
House on the Rock
The House on the Rock, originally opened in 1959, is a complex of architecturally unique rooms, streets, gardens and shops designed by Alex Jordan, Jr...
roadside attraction in Wisconsin; inside the warehouses Shadow notices and remarks on the Burma-Shave signs on display.
- Life is Hard / It's Toil and Trouble / Keep your Jawline / Free from Stubble / Burma-Shave
as well as
- He undertook to overtake / The road was on a bend / From now on the Undertaker / Is his only friend / Burma-Shave
In The Time Traveler's Wife
The Time Traveler's Wife
Once their timelines converge "naturally" at the library—their first meeting in his chronology—Henry starts to travel to Clare's childhood and adolescence in South Haven, Michigan, beginning in 1977 when she is six years old...
by Audrey Niffenegger (2003) the protagonist, Clare (age 17), is doing a crossword puzzle with her grandmother and gives the clue: "Don't stick your elbow out so far." to which her grandmother replies "Burma Shave. Before your time."
Page 797 in the first-edition paperback of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest
Infinite Jest
Infinite Jest is a 1996 novel by David Foster Wallace. The lengthy and complex work takes place in a semi-parodic future version of North America, and touches on tennis, substance addiction and recovery programs, depression, child abuse, family relationships, advertising and popular entertainment,...
contains the sentence "Even Hal's late father was too young really to remember Burma-Shave signs." Though James Incandeza, the character in question, would certainly have been alive during the heyday of the Burma-Shave roadside campaigns.
Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
's short story "One more for the road," from the collection of the same name
One More for the Road
One More for the Road is a collection of 25 short stories written by Ray Bradbury.-Contents:# "First Day"# "Heart Transplant"# "Quid Pro Quo"# "After the Ball"# "In Memoriam"# "Téte-á-Téte"# "The Dragon Danced at Midnight"# "The Nineteenth"...
, is about an author inspired by the Burma-Shave road signs.