Remembering Burma Shave

During the 70s, my husband and I would drive to Pennsylvania for our summer vacation and visit my parents. They lived in Beaver Falls and while the trip was long and tiring, it was always worth the energy it took to spend time with the people we loved.

The drive would usually happen in July or August, two of the hottest months to be stuck in a car with no air-conditioning. Our drive began in Lethbridge and from there we drove south to Montana and then east through that state and North Dakota into Minnesota.

Once we arrived in Minnesota, the trip was made more enjoyable because we knew that we would come upon the Burma Shave signs. These signs appeared from the mid-1920s to the late 1960s and were distributed in most of the lower forty-eight states. The signs were a series of five small slats painted red with white lettering. They were placed about one hundred feet apart and each contained one line of a four-line poem. The last slat would always end with “Burma Shave”. These signs were found along the old two-lane country roads where speed limits were set at a slower pace.  When we arrived at the Turnpike, the road became a split two-lane inter-state highway with increased speed limits which put an end to the Burma Shave signs.

The signs were often comical and usually contained a message, such as:

SPEED WAS HIGH
WEATHER WAS HOT
TIRES WERE THIN
X MARKS THE SPOT

followed by: Burma Shave. And another of my favourites was:

AROUND THE CURVE
LICKETY-SPLIT
BEAUTIFUL CAR
WASN’T IT?

Followed by: Burma Shave.

I always enjoyed our drive through Minnesota and Wisconsin. These states are blessed with lush green vegetation and rolling hills. The farmhouses we saw along our way were huddled under the shade of old trees and there was usually at least one huge red barn close by to complete the picture. In the adjoining fields, many contented cows were munching on fresh grasses obviously making rich creamy milk to produce butter and cheese.

We made a game of it. Whoever spotted the first Burma Shave sign would get to decide where we would stop for lunch. Our route took us through many small villages where there were a host of “mom-and-pop” roadside restaurants.  Actually, they were more like diners with a counter and stools to sit on.  A few had booths but they were the exception. Breakfast was our favourite because it was made with farm fresh eggs, ham cured by one of the surrounding farmers and homemade bread and muffins. The burgers and fries, or soup and salad we had for lunch were equally as tasty and also made from locally grown produce.

After our second or third time, we fell into a regular routine. Up early and on the road by 6 AM. Breakfast between seven and eight. Then stop for a coffee around ten. Lunch around noon and so on. We followed the advice of one of the signs that read,

DROVE TOO LONG
DRIVER SNOOZING
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
IS NOT AMUSING

Burma Shave.

On those narrow roads, most of which did not have a shoulder, driving was a bit of a challenge, but thankfully they were not overly busy. However, one sign did emphasize the hazards of driving on narrow roads, it went like this,

DON’T STICK YOUR ELBOW
OUT SO FAR
IT MAY GO HOME
IN ANOTHER CAR

Burma Shave.

I often think about how lucky I am to have lived through the fifties and sixties. Yes, its true, I was young and so many things were happening to me for the first time, nevertheless, I feel that I lived through some amazing times. Times of great advances and changes, such as the change from telephone party lines to everyone having their phones. Train and car travel were the norm and air travel was on the cusp and ready to take over; television even if we only had one channel; radio playing music and songs with words I could understand.

The Burma Shave signs may have been silly, but anyone who saw them got a charge out of reading them. Unfortunately, it is just another thing relegated to the history books and to my memory. To my way of thinking, those little signs were much more attractive than the huge signs now inhabiting the side of our roads. Yes, they are flashier, and some even change pictures as one drive by, sort of like a slideshow, but I prefer the modest little slats with a whimsical message such as

NO MATTER THE PRICE
NO MATTER HOW NEW
THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE
IN THE CAR IS YOU

Burma Shave.