Remembering Burma Shave

 Although it's been almost 50 years since Burma Shave signs last graced American roadsides, memories of them linger for lots of people.  If you know where to look - and I'll show you a few places - you can pick up a lot of Burma Shave info on the web.

Burma Shave was made in Minneapolis, so it's not unusual that it made a list of 150 topics that were included in the MN 150 exhibit at the Minnesota History Center.  Click on the link below to get to their homepage.  Then type in a search for the term "Burma Shave" for links to a host of references to the product and their ad campaign.
www.minnesotahistorycenter.org

Another Midwestern museum to celebrate Burma Shave and its unique advertising campaign is Milwaukee's Eisner American Museum of Advertising and Design.  A set of Burma Shave signs is part of the decor for their Midwest Express Theater.  From their homepage - www.theeisner.com - go to the Exhibits button to take a virtual tour and check it out for yourself.  Thanks to Don Milne of www.RoadTrip62.com for the heads-up on this cool site!

Building on an article he wrote for the December, 1965 issue of American Heritage magazine - www.americanheritage.com/content/verse-side-road - Frank Rowsome, Jr. wrote the definitive history of Burma Shave - The Verse by the Side of the Road.  Both article and book give some history of the company and their advertising.  They also help to explain why people from the Burma Shave era were so enthralled by these diminutive messages.

If you've seen a few of the Burma Shave jingles and would like to see more, try a visit to www.Burma-Shave.org for access to the whole list from 1926 through 1963.  They've got other links to more Burma Shave-iana for the curious fan.

As we have here in Buena Vista, the Burma Shave idea sometimes gets revived in other places. One example is Our Iowa magazine's campaign to install Burma Shave-type signs in each of Iowa's 99 counties.  The Quad City Times' Bill Wundram addressed this in a July 7, 2011 editorial. http://qctimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/bill-wundram/verse-by-the-side-of-the-road-is-back/article_aabd9eba-a90d-11e0-ad0f-001cc4c03286.html

You can see that this little slice of Americana retains quite a following.  For a taste of this "history,"  why not take a side trip to Buena Vista and check out its latest offspring?