daacache.blogg.se - The Verse by the Side of the Road by Frank Rowsome Jr.

"In the first decade the strangest natural enemies of Burma-Shave signs were horses.

One of my favorites, combining my love of black humor and puns, is:

Some of the Burma-Shave signs were public-safety and road-safety messages, rather than explicit advertisements for shaving cream.

Short enough to read during the first half of a Sunday NFL game. So the actual text, in my edition, is only 68 pages.

But nearly half of that is an appendix featuring the text of every Burma-Shave sign ever produced. 1 A typical set would feature six signs, spaced apart for reading by passing drivers, with messages such as:Īs I said, it's a short book at only 121 pages. It is, as the title explains, the history of Burma-Shave's rhyming roadside advertising signs, which could be found all across the United States in the middle of the 20th century and still have a firm place in our popular culture and collective memory. It was first published in 1965 and has gone through many printings and editions over the years, including a 25th anniversary edition in 1990, so used copies are plentiful and available for just a couple bucks, in most cases. He is the author of Verse by the Side of the Road: The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles, They Laughed When I Sat Down, and Trolley Car Treasury: A Century of American Streetcars.A short and enjoyable book I finished recently is The Verse by the Side of the Road: The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles, written by Frank Rowsome Jr. Why were the Burma-Shave jingles so universally loved? Because they were light-hearted and humorous in hard times and war times."-Bov Swift, Knight News ServiceĪbout the Author Frank Rowsome, Jr., was an American writer and editor who worked for Popular Science magazine and a respected chronicler of advertising in the 20th century. and as you down the list, preferably reading aloud, it might evoke visions of 1940 Chevies, roadside diners, signs that said EATS. "Rowsome's volume indexes each of the 600 jingles.

You can have them all, always, in your own library with this book. The signs are gone now, except for one set on permanent display at The Smithsonian. The whole story is in this book, plus all the jingles used. In 1963 the last signs were taken down, ending the most famous outdoor advertising venture ever."- 1977 Minnesota Almanac

Book Synopsis "In the fall of 1925, young Allan Odell conceived the idea of using consecutive signs along the roadside.