Thread: Wayne Baldwin's Amazing Story: Baldy's Eual Eldred Baldwin

  1. #901
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    Sorry to hear of your friend passing, Wayne, but great to see your story continue. Yeah, Smitty, Burma Shave signs, for sure. Tom Waits wrote a great song back in the 70s called, "Burma Shave." You can see it online.

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    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    We did not see any of the cliff dwellings Smitty, but I do remember the Burma Shave signs very well. Us kids would look out the window when my Dad or Mom would holler "Burma Shave!" I'm sure they were in other places, but the only ones I can recall are US 59 going to Houston, US 281 going to San Antonio and points north, but mostly out west on US 90 and parts of Route 66. That's where the really stood out in the landscape.

    Have to check out that song Steve. I put up a "Burma Shave" type spaced sign back in the second election for Obama down one of our country roads. Somebody messed with it a couple of times, but I think most people enjoyed it.

    I don't want to get sidetracked again on this thread, but I think a lot of young kids have no clue what a "Burma Shave" was. I don't know anyone that ever used Burma Shave, but before TV and mass media, they sure had a clever way to advertise. Except maybe it was mostly in the desert or in the west. Do any racers from the East ever remember these signs?

    PS.

    These are "Green" signs. I had a bunch of paint I needed to get rid of. I don't dump stuff like that. I was an original environmentalist. Why pay to add a hardener into paint, then throw it in a dump? Use it up for a good cause.
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    Team Member smittythewelder's Avatar
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    MAD magazine, the preferred reading of dorky 15-year-old boys in the late-fifties/early-Sixties (MAD actually had some very talented people in those days) of course had to do their own little send-up of the Burma Shave signs (just imagine a row of the signs, receding into the distance along a lonely road):

    "Her guy's whiskers
    . . . . just don't faze her
    . . . . . . . . He shaves with
    . . . . . . . . . . an electric razor
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . Why bother with
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Burma Shave




    (Wayne, I don't want to sidetrack your thread. Let me know when you've seen this, and I'll delete it)

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    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Don't delete it Smitty. Your stuff adds to this thread. You're just a little older than me and bring up things that I remember. I had planned to do some Burma Shave stuff way back when, but business got very busy, then it quit and I kind of slacked off this thread. It was me that was the threat of getting it sidetracked by posting my Obama signs. I did that in 2012 because I had remembered the impact of driving along and seeing the first one, then everyone inside read each sign as we came to it. I thought it would help get my message across.

    I said I didn't want to get sidetracked on the political stuff as a warning, but I did want to send a demonstration to the younger generation of what the Burma Shave signs were all about. Maybe Bill Van knows of some from his area, but I don't remember seeing them in the Midwest.

    You keep on what you're doing Smitty as far as adding to what was going on in those days.



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    BoatRacingFacts VIP John Schubert T*A*R*T's Avatar
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    Wayne,

    I sure remember them out East but could have been when traveling west to the Mid West nationals, SO & Alky or south. Can someone post a picture of one? Maybe googling for an old picture. I can try later today.

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    The Burma Shave signs started in the 1920's and last until 1963 when the company was sold to Philip Morris who was supposed to remove the 7000 sets of signs.
    Eventually, the signs spread to every state, with a few exceptions. No “official” signs appeared in Arizona, New Mexico, or Nevada because of low traffic density. Massachusetts received no signs because winding roads and excessive foliage made it hard to find enough locations to justify placing them there.

    David
    Old Race Boats Still Flip You Out

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    BoatRacingFacts VIP John Schubert T*A*R*T's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Schubert T*A*R*T View Post
    Wayne,

    I sure remember them out East but could have been when traveling west to the Mid West nationals, SO & Alky or south. Can someone post a picture of one? Maybe googling for an old picture. I can try later today.


    http://burma-shave.org/jingles/

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    Team Member smittythewelder's Avatar
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    Any of you who were kids in those days will remember this: riding in the back of the family car maybe with other sibs on a vacation trip, and seeing a row of Burma Shave signs coming up . . . on the wrong side of the road . . . so of course you twist around in your seat (bench seat, no seatbelts) and read the signs in reverse order, trying to memorize them and then shout out the jingle in the correct order before your brother can do it!! (Life's pleasures could be so simple then . . . ).

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    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Remember Sonny, The Rabbit's Foot Didn't Save the Bunny

    I was sure that was a Burma Shave sign, but did not see it listed..." Remember Sonny, The Rabbit's Foot Didn't Save the Bunny." I always like that one... This wasn't Berma Shave, but I always got a laugh out of it, it was near Salton Sea....The first sign said, "Jesus Saves." The next sign said, "Green Stamps."

    I also remember Whiting Brothers signs for gas....

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Hill View Post
    I was sure that was a Burma Shave sign, but did not see it listed..." Remember Sonny, The Rabbit's Foot Didn't Save the Bunny." I always like that one... This wasn't Berma Shave, but I always got a laugh out of it, it was near Salton Sea....The first sign said, "Jesus Saves." The next sign said, "Green Stamps."

    I also remember Whiting Brothers signs for gas....
    I remember a couple of signs along the road that said "Jesus Saves........Moses invests" Wall Street I think.........
    Charley Bradley


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