Give Us Back/Our Burma Shave

"Remember the one that went, HENRY THE EIGHTH / SURE HAD / TROUBLE / SHORT TERM WIVES / LONG TERM STUBBLE?

And who could forget this one? CAUTIOUS RIDER / TO HER/RECKLESS DEAR / LET'S HAVE LESS BULL / AND LOST MORE STEER.

If you were born before 1955, you grew up with Burma-Shave signs. Perhaps you never actually shaved with the stuff, but chances are good you cracked a smile as the red-and-white signs whizzed past on your family's vacation to the mountains or along your route to the nearest town...

Whiskers, safe driving, and romantic humor continued as the hallmarks of the Burma-Shave ad campaigns, with road safety edging out as a favorite theme by the early 1940's. PAST / SCHOOLHOUSES / TAKE IT SLOW / LET THE LITTLE SHAVERS GROW / BURMA-SHAVE succinctly managed to deliver a public service message, delight carloads, and advertise simultaneously....

One study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania claimed that the Burma-Shave signs were a singularly successful means of slowing speeders. This 1955 series captures the unique ability of the ads to both gently admonish drivers and pitch their product in the final sign: SLOW DOWN, PA / SAKES ALIVE / MA MISSED SIGNS FOUR/ AND FIVE / BURMA SHAVE."