Joy of Roadside Signs

Some folks save stamps, art glass or 1950stores.Father Odell was skeptical but finally
Chevys; but I cotton to roadside signs -consented. In 1926, he gave his son $200 for
particularly Mail Pouch barns and Burma Shavelumber with which to build a dozen sets of signs
ditties.My yard and bank account are much toofor two roads into Minneapolis.Allan hurried to
small for the real things. However, my memoryinstall them before winter froze the ground. The
and computer files have ample capacity.Backfirst series-signs were straightforward:Save
when two-lane highways and 50 MPH cars wereModern WayFine For The SkinDruggists Have
the norm, motorists had time to enjoy theItBurma Shave Druggists sent rush-orders for the
scenery.Welcome diversions were Mail Pouchcream. On this basis, Clinton Odell sold 49 percent
Barns to count, and Burma Shave signs toof the company's stock to raise money for a sign
read.Speed limits in the second quarter of theshop.Sites for series-signs along straight, country
twentieth-century - my formative years -- wereroads were rented from farmers. There had to
leisurely. Free-standing "bill boards" were not yetbe enough space between signs to allow easy
cost effective for advertisers.Bridging thereading at 50 miles per hour - then considered the
advertising gap was the Bloch Brothers Tobaccotop, safe speed.Burma Shave expanded, and
Co. of Wheeling, W.Va.Aaron and Samuel Blochexpanded again, to meet demand.No one
were grocers who also made cigars. Theyremembers who conceived the style of catchy
retrieved tobacco cuttings, flavored them withwitticisms. The earliest remembered was:With In
licorice and introduced it in 1884 as chewingThis ValeOf Toil And SinHead Grows BaldBut Not
tobacco.They also had advertising instincts. TheyYour ChinBurma Shave The resulting fervor over
named and packaged their product in a softthe roadside verses is considered the most
container styled after the familiar and respectedsuccessful advertising campaign of all time.It was
U.S. mail pouch.As competition increased, the Blochthe right technique for the roads of that day.
brothers in 1910 began painting their brand nameThey continued popular until discontinued in 1963.
and slogan in large letters on rural barns alongBy then, increased driving speeds and proliferation
well-traveled roads.Farmers were a segment ofof out-door signage by others made Burma
consumers partial to chewing tobacco inasmuchShave verses less effective.Prior to World War II,
as fire-lit tobacco was a hazard around barns.BlochBurma Shave signs were cultural icons. People
"field agents" solicited advertising rights oncollected the verses. On family trips, my mother
strategic farm routes - mostly in theread them aloud to entertain father and we
Midwest.Farmers readily signed up in return for ayoungsters.When the company's advertising
choice of about $5 annually -- depending upondepartment ran out of ideas, it conducted a
location and bargaining skills -- free tobacco,contest to obtain new verses. More than 50,000
magazine subscriptions or a pocket watch.Afterentries were submitted.The verses featured safe
company reps had lined up a dozen or so barns indriving and romantic advice as well as whisker
an area, two-man painting crews known as "wallwisdom.Odell was careful not to offend, but some
dogs" moved in.If the barns were close together,of the romantic ones occasionally raised an
and in good repair, a crew could paint two signs aeyebrow or two.I still remember one that made
day.The crew leader viewed the barn surfaceMother pause, Dad laugh, and we kids giggle:Dinah
from the road to gauge the size of lettersDoesn'tTreat Him RightIf He'd
needed. These he lined in by eye and spottedShaveDinah-might!Burma Shave The hidden
with a dab of paint in the color desired.His helpermeaning probably would have been missed if the
followed to lather on a thick mixture of white-leadexclamation point hadn't made it explicit.One year
paste thinned with linseed oil and gasoline andthe American countryside was flooded for a year
colored with appropriate dyes.Painters earnedwith this series:Free OfferRip A FenderOff Your
from $50 to $125 a week. They furnished theirCarMail It InWin A JarBurma Shave. To the
own paint, brushes, ladders truck and lodging.company's surprise, it was flooded with fenders
They were assigned territories they couldscavenged from junkyards and toys. However,
maintain.At the peak of chewing tobacco use inOdell was pleased to pay off.Odell took great
1930, Mail Pouch had 20,000 barns under contractpride in the commendations he received from
and enjoyed 65 percent of the producthighway safety officials for Burma Shave safety
market.Under the impact of "eye pollution,"tips like this:Past SchoolsTake It SlowLet The
Congress in 1965 enacted the HighwayLittleShavers GrowBurma Shave The sale of
Beautification Act. This banned all commercial signsshaving cream, of course was the primary
within 660 feet of a federally fundedobjective. Whisker witticisms dominated the
highway.Barns with Mail Pouch signs were classifiedverses:Whale Put JonahDown The HatchCoughed
as commercial advertisements. Many thousandsHim UpCause He ScratchedBurma Shave No one
were demolished. In their places are eyesoreknows how many different verses were put on
billboards readable from across a proscribed stripsign sets - one collector has catalogued
of featureless ground.It is estimated that there600.Certainly this is only a fraction of the 60-year
are only 2,000 original Mail Pouch barns remaining -history of the campaign. My own collection
objects of pilgrimages by history buffs andconsists of about 150.At the peak, there were
photographers. Smile While DrivingAnother35,000 Burma Shave signs throughout the United
roadside advertiser, pre-billboard days, was BurmaStates.After World War II, electric razors became
Shave. This was a soothing, pleasant smellingpopular. Highway speeds increased to the point
whisker lubricant that replaced shaving mugs, soapthat leased space for wider-spaced signs was
and brushes.According to the Eisner Museum ofprohibitive and distracting.The signs were taken
Advertising and Design, the product began in 1925down in 1963. Sales of Burma Shave plummeted
as Burma-Vitae liniment. This allegedly wasand the product was discontinued.The company
concocted by the father of Clinton Odell from awas sold to the American Safety Razor
recipe sent by a sailor-friend in the Orient.ClintonCompany in 1997. It reintroduced the wonderful
Odell was a lawyer at Minneapolis, Min. The linimentshaving cream for old-timers who still like to
did not sell well so he asked a chemist friend, Carlshave with it and recall favorite Burma Shave
Noren, to improve the patent medicine. Hissallies.Sorry, aficionados, I use electric.Lindsey
formula 143 turned the medicine into a slushyWilliams is a Sun columnist who can be contacted
cream ideal for use with the new "safetyat:Website: with several hundred of Lin's Editorial &
razors."Odell's sons, Leonard and Allan, set aboutAt Large articles written over 40 years.Also
selling the new product re-named Burma Shave.featured in its entirety is Lin's groundbreaking
However, it also did not sell well.Young Allanbook "Boldly Onward," that critically analyzes and
suggested they advertise with a series of small,develops theories about the original Spanish
related signs. He had seen them along a road whileexplorers of America.
peddling the "brushless" shaving cream to drug