J.J. Sedelmaier
America’s road sign legends
Burma-Shave's rhyming ads turned highway billboards into poetry, and changed advertising -- and America
In a simpler time, when automobiles went slower and the pre-Eisenhower highway system in the United States was less developed, there was a popular advertising campaign that ran from 1927 until 1963. It consisted of rhymed messages sequentially staked on the right side of the road, all ending with the advertiser’s name, “Burma-Shave.”
Examples of vintage Burma-Shave road signs, including a blue South Dakota version. (Ray Crockett photo)
These red ads (one state, South Dakota, insisted that they be dark blue to keep them from conflicting with the red reserved for warning notices) usually consisted of five signs. For example: “DON’T PASS CARS/ON CURVE OR HILL/IF THE COPS DON’T GET YOU/ MORTICIANS WILL/BURMA-SHAVE.”
Some slogans touted Burma-Shave as a pre-aerosol “brushless” shaving cream—a cream you could scoop out of a jar and lather onto your face without relying on an old-fashioned brush and moistened soap in a mug.
("Thoroly"? I guess if the word doesn't fit the composition, change the spelling. . .)
In 1925, Clinton Odell, a Minneapolis lawyer, took the liniment his father created and transformed it into a brushless shaving cream. He named his company Burma-Vita—Burma, because most of the essential oils in the liniment were from the Burmese portion of the Malay Peninsula, and Vita from the Latin for “life”: “Life from Burma.”
Some of Burma-Shave’s primary “brushless shaving cream” competitors were Barbasol and Noxema.
The company was sold to Philip Morris in 1963, and all the signs were removed soon thereafter. As a testament to the campaign’s cultural significance, a set of signs was donated to the Smithsonian, where it still resides. But the brand eventually petered out. After being sold yet again (this time to the American Safety Razor Company) and then reintroduced in 1997, it never regained a hold in the market.
A history of the Burma-Vita Company, written by Frank Rowsome Jr. and illustrated by Carl Rose, was published by the Stephen Greene Press in 1963.
By the early 1960's, the rising costs of road-sign maintenance (as well as new and more effective ways of advertising) sounded the death knell for the Burma-Shave signs.
The following pages from Frank Rowsome Jr.’s book list all the road-sign Burma-Shave phrases produced from 1927 to 1963.
7Up’s branding revolution
How "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda" became one of America's most popular soft drinks
I became interested in pop bottles (I grew up in the Chicago area where we all said “pop”) and related stuff when I was about 12 years old. I had gone inside an old garage that was attached to a neighborhood house that was being torn down and inside was a cache of un-returned pop bottles that must have dated from the 1940-’50s period. I took one of each type home (about 20 of ‘em) and yes, still have them to this day. I really got off on all the different labels and colors of glass and because I used to like to read old magazines I actually recognized most of the brands that were no longer around or had changed their design. I’ll go into this more in a future post, but wanted to lay some sort of a foundation for this piece, which is exclusively on 7Up, with a special focus on their branding efforts of the 1950s.
Pop culture’s Rosetta Stone
A company know for its memorable full-page comic book ads continues to influence graphic design today
In the wake of Chicago’s “C2E2″ 2012 ComicCon at McCormick Place, it seems fitting that I do a piece on an aspect of comic books that everyone even remotely acquainted with the realm knows well – the Johnson Smith & Co. of Detroit. You may not recognize the firm’s name, but I’ll bet you know some of its wares, its advertisements, and have seen its influence on pop culture and graphic design. This is a company that’s been around since 1914 and after having had locations in Chicago, Racine, Wis., and Detroit, it continues to this day in Bradenton, Fla. Jean Shepard called the Johnson Smith Co. catalog “the Rosetta Stone of American Culture.”
Disney’s animation guide
The father of film cartoons looked to this 1920s how-to book for inspiration
When the word “Disney” is mentioned, it’s almost impossible to separate it from the craft of motion picture cartoons. Whether it’s used to describe a multinational entertainment corporation, or it alludes to Walt Disney the man, it’s easily synonymous with the technique of film animation. This was obviously not always the case. In 1920, animated cartoons were well known and part of a growing and thriving movie industry, but this is also when the 19-year-old Walt Disney was just beginning as a cartoon filmmaker in Kansas City, Mo. This post presents one of the important reference pieces he used as a catalyst to learn and expand his knowledge of animated cartoons.
Drawing “Pinocchio”
A fascinating book traces the work of an early Disney sketch artist
Albert Hurter working on "Pinocchio" in 1939 In 1948 Simon and Schuster published a book titled “He Drew As He Pleased.” It’s a tribute to Albert Hurter, an inspirational sketch artist who worked at the Walt Disney Studio from 1931 until his death in 1942.
A Superman art mystery
The hero's first novel features drawings both by the comic book's co-creator and by some unnamed artist
I used to spend a lot of time as a kid visiting antique (actually, “junk”) shops. It was like visiting a museum, except you pick up stuff and hold it. One of the things I found (probably around 1972) was a book by author George Lowther from 1942 about Superman. I’d never heard about this novel and considering the amount of time I spent obsessing about comic books, I was surprised and puzzled by it all of a sudden popping up! It would take quite a few years and the availability of the Internet before I could find out anything substantial about it. Basically, it was a rare book but unless it was in beautiful condition with a dust jacket it didn’t command an outrageous price. It’s interesting to note that Lowther, in this, Superman’s first novelization and first story credited to someone besides Jerry Siegel, was responsible for defining Superman’s birth, early life, and the first detailed description of life on doomed Krypton. He also officially named Superman/Kal-El’s parents Jor-El and Lara ― who’d previously been known as Jor-L and Lora…
Page 1 of 5 in J.J. Sedelmaier
