Spring has sprung
The grass has riz
Where last year's
careless drivers is
If you are of a certain age, you might recall that "verse" was posted on consecutive roadside signs and was followed by one more.
It was an advertising campaign for a brushless shaving cream back in the day and the rhyming signs were a delight to drivers and their passengers plying the roads around the nation.
You can find the whole story here.
For some reason that particular rhyme has always stuck in my mind and pops up every spring.
Kind of like these blossoms that popped up on trees in the neighborhood, perhaps too early and ended up scattered in the streets when the temperatures cooled and the winds came back.
I used to buy it in the cans, long, long after the signs disappeared, usually the cheapest shaving cream on the shelf.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the chewing tobacco on the barns in In-Din-Nana...they used to pay famers to let them paint their barns.
The Almighty Google tells me it was Mail Pouch.
DeleteI Texas our version was: "Spring has sprung, Fall has fell, Summer's here, and it's hot as hell."
ReplyDeleteWith a wife and 3 daughters, by the time I had my turn in the bathroom(s) there was no hot water left. I had no choice but to learn to shave with a Norelco. :)
My mother, a writer, used to get involved in a variety of contests. She even won a car. But I thought one of her greatest triumphs was when Burma Shave paid her to use one of her "sayings". It was, if I remember correctly: "Drunken driving, nothing worse. They put the quart before the hearse." We always got a kick out of seeing that on the highway.
ReplyDeleteI always remember the Alka Seltzer jingle. Pop, Pop, Fizz, Fizz - oh what a relief it is!
ReplyDeleteI remember Burma-Shave but not the slogan. The Alka Seltzer one is still in my head.
ReplyDeleteThere were also those barn roofs and sides-Mail Pouch, Red Man and Rock City. Those poor blooms look pitiful.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of the Burma Shave signs, but I don't think I ever saw them myself. I do remember the barn roofs here in Missouri painted with advertisements for Onondaga Cave and Meramec Caverns.
ReplyDeleteBurma Shave signs made long auto drives tolerable!
ReplyDeleteMy parents always took the family on road trips and yes, I remember those signs very well. My mom would keep her eye out for them and we all enjoyed reading them. Great memories.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever actually seen a Burma-Shave sign, but I've read about them. Funny that you remember that rhyme!
ReplyDeleteYou can still find those signs on Old Rt 66 between Ash Fork and Kingman. Some are new and some look pretty old.
ReplyDeleteOne of my Facebook followers posted a photo yesterday of one near Seligman.
DeleteSome tree blossoms like that end up the same way here.
ReplyDeleteI've vaguely heard of Burma-Shave at some point.
Burma Shave rhymes and Mail Pouch barn signs I remember seeing in Great Lakes state long long ago.
ReplyDelete