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. Dad 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.

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, became part of a family trip . 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. There were no more red and white nuggets of roadside wisdom.

As befits such an important part of American culture, one set is preserved by the Smithsonian Institution. It reads:
Shaving brushes
You'll soon see 'em
On a shelf
In some museum
Burma-Shave
Here are a few examples:

His cheek
Was rough
His chick vamoosed
And now she won't
Come home to roost
Burma-Shave

The place to pass
On curves
You know
Is only at
A beauty show
Burma-Shave

On curves ahead
Remember, sonny
That rabbit's foot
Didn't save
The bunny
Burma-Shave

Twinkle, twinkle
One-eyed car
We all wonder
WHERE you are
Burma-Shave 

These signs
We gladly
Dedicate
To men who've had
No date of late
Burma-Shave

A guy
Who drives
A car wide open
Is not thinkin'
He's just hopin'
Burma-Shave 

A whiskery kiss
For the one
You adore
May not make her mad
But her face will be sore
Burma-Shave

His brush is gone
So what'll we do
Said Mike Robe I
To Mike Robe II
Burma-Shave

If your peach
Keeps out
Of reach
Better practice
What we preach
Burma-Shave

When Super-shaved
Remember, pard
You'll still get slapped
But not so hard
Burma-Shave

Burma-Shave
Was such a boom
They passed
The bride
And kissed the groom

To kiss
A mug
That's like a cactus
Takes more nerve
Than it does practice
Burma-Shave

The whale
Put Jonah
Down the hatch
But coughed him up
Because he scratched
Burma-Shave

Violets are blue
Roses are pink
On graves
Of those
Who drive and drink
Burma-Shave 

Candidate says
Campaign
Confusing
Babies kiss me
Since I've been using
Burma-Shave

My job is
Keeping faces clean
And nobody knows
De stubble
I've seen
Burma-Shave 

Doesn't
Kiss you
Like she useter?
Perhaps she's seen
A smoother rooster!!
Burma-Shave

No use
Knowing
How to pick 'em
If your half-shaved Whiskers stick 'em
Burma-Shave

He tried
To cross
As fast train neared
Death didn't draft him
He volunteered
Burma-Shave

Her chariot
Raced 80 per
They hauled away
What had
Ben Her
Burma-Shave

She will Flood your face
With kisses
'Cause you smell
So darn delicious
Burma-Shave