| Some folks save stamps, art glass or 1950
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| | stores.Father Odell was skeptical but
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| Chevys; but I cotton to roadside signs -
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| | finally consented. In 1926, he gave his
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| particularly Mail Pouch barns and Burma
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| | son $200 for lumber with which to build a
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| Shave ditties.My yard and bank account
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| | dozen sets of signs for two roads into
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| are much too small for the real things.
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| | Minneapolis.Allan hurried to install them
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| However, my memory and computer files
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| | before winter froze the ground. The first
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| have ample capacity.Back when two-lane
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| | series-signs were straightforward:Save
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| highways and 50 MPH cars were the norm,
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| | Modern WayFine For The SkinDruggists Have
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| motorists had time to enjoy the
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| | ItBurma Shave Druggists sent
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| scenery.Welcome diversions were Mail
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| | rush-orders for the cream. On this basis,
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| Pouch Barns to count, and Burma Shave
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| | Clinton Odell sold 49 percent of the
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| signs to read.Speed limits in the second
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| | company's stock to raise money for a sign
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| quarter of the twentieth-century - my
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| | shop.Sites for series-signs along
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| formative years -- were leisurely.
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| | straight, country roads were rented from
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| Free-standing "bill boards" were not yet
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| | farmers. There had to be enough space
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| cost effective for advertisers.Bridging
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| | between signs to allow easy reading at 50
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| the advertising gap was the Bloch
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| | miles per hour - then considered the top,
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| Brothers Tobacco Co. of Wheeling,
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| | safe speed.Burma Shave expanded, and
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| W.Va.Aaron and Samuel Bloch were grocers
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| | expanded again, to meet demand.No one
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| who also made cigars. They retrieved
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| | remembers who conceived the style of
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| tobacco cuttings, flavored them with
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| | catchy witticisms. The earliest
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| licorice and introduced it in 1884 as
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| | remembered was:With In This ValeOf Toil
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| chewing tobacco.They also had advertising
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| | And SinHead Grows BaldBut Not Your
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| instincts. They named and packaged their
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| | ChinBurma Shave The resulting
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| product in a soft container styled after
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| | fervor over the roadside verses is
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| the familiar and respected U.S. mail
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| | considered the most successful
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| pouch.As competition increased, the Bloch
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| | advertising campaign of all time.It was
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| brothers in 1910 began painting their
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| | the right technique for the roads of that
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| brand name and slogan in large letters on
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| | day. They continued popular until
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| rural barns along well-traveled
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| | discontinued in 1963. By then, increased
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| roads.Farmers were a segment of consumers
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| | driving speeds and proliferation of
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| partial to chewing tobacco inasmuch as
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| | out-door signage by others made Burma
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| fire-lit tobacco was a hazard around
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| | Shave verses less effective.Prior to
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| barns.Bloch "field agents" solicited
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| | World War II, Burma Shave signs were
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| advertising rights on strategic farm
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| | cultural icons. People collected the
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| routes - mostly in the Midwest.Farmers
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| | verses. On family trips, my mother read
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| readily signed up in return for a choice
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| | them aloud to entertain father and we
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| of about $5 annually -- depending upon
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| | youngsters.When the company's advertising
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| location and bargaining skills -- free
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| | department ran out of ideas, it conducted
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| tobacco, magazine subscriptions or a
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| | a contest to obtain new verses. More than
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| pocket watch.After company reps had lined
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| | 50,000 entries were submitted.The verses
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| up a dozen or so barns in an area,
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| | featured safe driving and romantic advice
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| two-man painting crews known as "wall
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| | as well as whisker wisdom.Odell was
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| dogs" moved in.If the barns were close
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| | careful not to offend, but some of the
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| together, and in good repair, a crew
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| | romantic ones occasionally raised an
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| could paint two signs a day.The crew
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| | eyebrow or two.I still remember one that
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| leader viewed the barn surface from the
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| | made Mother pause, Dad laugh, and we kids
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| road to gauge the size of letters needed.
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| | giggle:Dinah Doesn'tTreat Him RightIf
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| These he lined in by eye and spotted with
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| | He'd ShaveDinah-might!Burma Shave
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| a dab of paint in the color desired.His
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| | The hidden meaning probably would have
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| helper followed to lather on a thick
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| | been missed if the exclamation point
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| mixture of white-lead paste thinned with
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| | hadn't made it explicit.One year the
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| linseed oil and gasoline and colored with
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| | American countryside was flooded for a
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| appropriate dyes.Painters earned from $50
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| | year with this series:Free OfferRip A
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| to $125 a week. They furnished their own
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| | FenderOff Your CarMail It InWin A
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| paint, brushes, ladders truck and
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| | JarBurma Shave. To the
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| lodging. They were assigned territories
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| | company's surprise, it was flooded with
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| they could maintain.At the peak of
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| | fenders scavenged from junkyards and
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| chewing tobacco use in 1930, Mail Pouch
| |
| | toys. However, Odell was pleased to pay
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| had 20,000 barns under contract and
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| | off.Odell took great pride in the
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| enjoyed 65 percent of the product
| |
| | commendations he received from highway
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| market.Under the impact of "eye
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| | safety officials for Burma Shave safety
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| pollution," Congress in 1965 enacted the
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| | tips like this:Past SchoolsTake It
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| Highway Beautification Act. This banned
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| | SlowLet The LittleShavers GrowBurma Shave
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| all commercial signs within 660 feet of a
| |
| | The sale of shaving cream, of
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| federally funded highway.Barns with Mail
| |
| | course was the primary objective. Whisker
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| Pouch signs were classified as commercial
| |
| | witticisms dominated the verses:Whale Put
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| advertisements. Many thousands were
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| | JonahDown The HatchCoughed Him UpCause He
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| demolished. In their places are eyesore
| |
| | ScratchedBurma Shave No one
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| billboards readable from across a
| |
| | knows how many different verses were put
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| proscribed strip of featureless ground.It
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| | on sign sets - one collector has
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| is estimated that there are only 2,000
| |
| | catalogued 600.Certainly this is only a
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| original Mail Pouch barns remaining -
| |
| | fraction of the 60-year history of the
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| objects of pilgrimages by history buffs
| |
| | campaign. My own collection consists of
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| and photographers. Smile While
| |
| | about 150.At the peak, there were 35,000
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| DrivingAnother roadside advertiser,
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| | Burma Shave signs throughout the United
|
| pre-billboard days, was Burma Shave. This
| |
| | States.After World War II, electric
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| was a soothing, pleasant smelling whisker
| |
| | razors became popular. Highway speeds
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| lubricant that replaced shaving mugs,
| |
| | increased to the point that leased space
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| soap and brushes.According to the Eisner
| |
| | for wider-spaced signs was prohibitive
|
| Museum of Advertising and Design, the
| |
| | and distracting.The signs were taken down
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| product began in 1925 as Burma-Vitae
| |
| | in 1963. Sales of Burma Shave plummeted
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| liniment. This allegedly was concocted by
| |
| | and the product was discontinued.The
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| the father of Clinton Odell from a recipe
| |
| | company was sold to the American Safety
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| sent by a sailor-friend in the
| |
| | Razor Company in 1997. It reintroduced
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| Orient.Clinton Odell was a lawyer at
| |
| | the wonderful shaving cream for
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| Minneapolis, Min. The liniment did not
| |
| | old-timers who still like to shave with
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| sell well so he asked a chemist friend,
| |
| | it and recall favorite Burma Shave
|
| Carl Noren, to improve the patent
| |
| | sallies.Sorry, aficionados, I use
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| medicine. His formula 143 turned the
| |
| | electric.Lindsey Williams is a Sun
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| medicine into a slushy cream ideal for
| |
| | columnist who can be contacted
|
| use with the new "safety razors."Odell's
| |
| | at:Website: with several hundred of
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| sons, Leonard and Allan, set about
| |
| | Lin's Editorial & At Large articles
|
| selling the new product re-named Burma
| |
| | written over 40 years.Also featured in
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| Shave. However, it also did not sell
| |
| | its entirety is Lin's groundbreaking book
|
| well.Young Allan suggested they advertise
| |
| | "Boldly Onward," that critically analyzes
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| with a series of small, related signs. He
| |
| | and develops theories about the original
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| had seen them along a road while peddling
| |
| | Spanish explorers of America.
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| the "brushless" shaving cream to drug
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| |
|
