12/22/2022
Story Time 📰
Though most people of today’s generation have never even heard of Burma-Shave, ask anyone who lived from the 1920s to the early 1960s, and you will most likely bring up a few memories and tales from that vintage era.
To market Burma-Shave, Allan Odell devised the concept of sequential signboards to sell the product. Allan Odell recalled one time when he noticed signs saying Gas, Oil, Restrooms, and finally a sign pointing to a roadside gas station. The signs compelled people to read each one in the series and would hold the driver’s attention much longer than a conventional billboard.
In the fall of 1925, the first sets of Burma-Shave signs were erected on two highways leading out of Minneapolis. Sales rose dramatically in the area, and the signs soon appeared nationwide.
Burma-Shave sign series appeared from 1925 to 1963 in all of the lower 48 states except for New Mexico, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Nevada. Four or five consecutive billboards would line highways, so they could be read sequentially by motorists driving by.
At their height of popularity, there were 7,000 Burma-Shave signs stretching across America. They became such an icon to these early-day travelers that families eagerly anticipated seeing the rhyming signs along the roadway, with someone in the car excitedly proclaiming, “I see Burma-Shave signs!” Breaking up the monotony of long trips, someone once said, “No one could read just one.”
🏎 1957 MERCEDES-BENZ 300SL ROADSTER
📸
Join us for the 33rd Annual Copperstate 1000 Rally | April 15 - 19, 2023 - Applications are now live on mensartscouncil.com
The Copperstate 1000 kick-off and public Cars & Coffee is Sunday, April 16, 2023 at ☕
#911
