Another icon has been apped out
By BILL DUNCAN
The Elder Statesman
In this era of everything on instant demand, little wonder that one of America’s icons has disappeared from our roadside. I speak, of course, about the famous Burma Shave signs that once entertained us with rhymed philosophy as we drove the byways.
Obviously, no one today is driving slow enough to read the signs, a string of one sentence posted at internals to give a subtle message – yet one of great importance.
Here are some samples:
A man who drives
while he is drunk
should haul his coffin
in his trunk.
-Burma Shave
Each message was signed “-Burma Shave,” but there was no other advertising.
Don’t loose your head
to save a minute
you need your head
because your brains are in it.
Around the curve
lickety split
it was a beautiful car
wasn’t it?
Don’t stick your elbow
out to far
it might ride home
in another car.
Passing cars
where you can’t see
may get you
a glimpse of eternity
Drove too long
driver snoozing
what happened next
is not amusing.
Had instructions
to drive carefully
to protect our little
tax deductions.
These once subtle messages to slow down and smell the roses have gone the way of the milkman, laundryman and the iceman and only the memory of them remains in those of use old enough to have seen them along the roadway of life.
(Bill Duncan can be reached at bduncan@nrtoday.com or by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470.)