Burma-Shave signs give Salem its own slice of 'Americana'

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

SALEM ? ?The monkey?took one?look at Jim?and threw?the peanuts?back at him.?

Sounds like to us who have been around a generation or two like Burma-Shave signs.

And that is the jingle on the signs erected Tuesday along Henry County Road J20, about one-and-one-half miles east of Salem on the north side of the road.

Salem took the initiative and became the Henry County community awarded the Burma Shave signs, a promotion of ?Our Iowa? magazine.

Last year the staff of the magazine announced the program to its 75,000 subscribers, offering to post a single set of the humorous signs in each of Iowa?s 99 counties. Readers were urged to nominate their town and provide reasons why it would be the best site.

Salem, largely through the efforts of Jim Dean, jumped at the opportunity and applied and was approved. Local representatives chose the aforementioned jingle from a list of original Burma-Shave rhymes. The last of the six signs near Salem carries the ?Our Iowa? magazine logo as sponsor of the program.

Ron Overburg donated the tractor and digger to dig the post holes. Erecting the signs were Steve Feehan, Chuck Kramer, Dick Myers and Dean.

Each county has a different jingle and the magazines hopes to have signs in every county soon.

The background of the Burma-Shave signs is as interesting as the jingles. Allan Odell, according to a news release, launched the roadside rhymes in 1925 with $200 he borrowed from his father, who owned the Burma-Vita Company.

Odell began the sign campaign as a unique way to promote the family?s brushless shaving cream. At first his father was hesitant about this ?new fangled advertising idea.? But, reluctant to discourage an ambitious son, he went along with it.

He wrote the original jingles himself and personally erected the first set of signs in southern Minnesota along U.S. Highway 65 near Albert Lea.

The signs quickly caught the attention of drivers ? and buyers. The idea not only worked, it became an American institution.

Each set of rhyming lines was broken into short snippets and placed on sequential signs that could be read by motorists traveling up to 50 miles-per-hour. The last line always said, ?Burma-Shave? in its flourished logo. The lighthearted jingles added a smile and a lift to driving tips a half century and longer ago. A couple of the typical jingles follows:

?Hardly a driver?is now alive?who passed?on hills?at 75.?

?To kiss a mug?that?s like a cactus?takes more nerve?than it does practice.?

Odell kept a flashlight, pencil and pad next to his bed to write down ideas for jingles, many of which came to him in the middle of the night.

For almost four decades, the signs dotted the American countryside. At one time there were 7,000 sets of Burma-Shave signs in 45 states. Many regarded them as ?a slice of Americana.? Many promoted safe driving:

?A guy who drives?his car wide open?is not thinkin??just hopin.??

Everyone in the car read them aloud ? so often that many people can still recite their favorite jingle today.

As highways improved and interstates crisscrossed the country, the signs unfortunately become more of a blur than a buzz. Beyond 60 miles-per-hour they proved hard to read, which eventually led to the demise of both the signs and the company.

Staff members at ?Our Iowa? magazine made their selections for sign placement based on a number of criteria. First and key was the proposed location of the signs ? preferably along a route where there is a lot of traffic, but near a town where the traffic would be slower. Also judged with the community?s commitment to maintaining the site ? trimming grass and weeds regularly, keeping the signs standing straight, etc.

To assume the latter, the magazine staff is selecting a ?secret subscriber? in every county to regularly check on that community?s set of signs and report on how they?re being maintained.

Now Iowans can look forward to cruising past jingles like this: ?Ben met Anna?made a hit?neglected beard?Ben-Anna split.?