BURMA SHAVE AND MY FRIEND WILL CARTER
By Bill Cherry, Dallas Broker-Realtor
My 43rd Year Selling Texas
Meet me on the web at www.billcherrybroker.com
If you're old enough to remember World War II, and your daddy had a car that he wasn't afraid to take out on the two lane highway to Grandma's house in Louisiana, you remember the Burma Shave signs.
They were a set of three single signs stuck in the ground along the highway, two of which made up a clever poetic couplet. The third always said, "BurmaShave." Here's one:
DON'T STICK YOUR ELBOW OUT SO FAR
IT MAY GO HOME IN ANOTHER CAR.
BURMASHAVE
You get the idea.
Well, my friend Will Carter grew up in Dallas' Oak Cliff and his daddy had a sign painting shop. Trying to make all of the money he could, Will's daddy submitted the bid with Burma Shave to paint and install all of their highway signs in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
So while the boys were at school, Mrs. Carter cut the wood panels for the signs and painted the background color on them. Then Mr. Carter would hand letter the clever sayings on them. When the boys got home from school, they would put the poles on them. About once a week or so, they would load up the old truck and start down a farm to market road or a highway installing the signs.
When Will died a few years ago, he died suddenly. And Will had made it quite clear to his family that he wasn't sure he believed in God or the Hereafter. They figured he haunt them if they got a minister to do his funeral. But they were pretty sure Will would approve of me doing it. And they thought he would like for me to play the piano -- popular music, not hymns -- while the guests arrived.
So that's what I did, and then I told about Will. But I knew Will knew me to be a very devout Christian...an Episcopalian, and I decided that I couldn't just let him have his way on this. So, I did read the Episcopal burial service, then all of the morners joined me in saying the "Lord's Prayer." I'm confident Will now knows The Truth, has accepted it, his sins have been forgiven, and he's There.
Here are some Burma Shave signs of the past, compliments of my high school coach, Richard Schiebel:
TRAINS DON'T WANDER ALL OVER THE MAP
CAUSE NOBODY SITS IN THE ENGINEER'S LAP
BurmaShave
SHE KISSED THE HAIRBRUSH BY MISTAKE
SHE THOUGHT IT WAS HER HUSBAND JAKE
BurmaShave
DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD TO GAIN A MINUTE
YOU NEED YOUR HEAD YOUR BRAINS ARE IN IT
BurmaShave
DROVE TOO LONG DRIVER SNOOZING
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT IS NOT AMUSING
BurmaShave
BROTHER SPEEDER LET'S REHEARSE
ALL TOGETHER GOOD MORNING, NURSE
BurmaShave
CAUTIOUS RIDER TO HER RECKLESS DEAR
LET'S HAVE LESS BULL AND MORE STEER
BurmaShave
SPEED WAS HIGH WEATHER WAS NOT
TIRES WERE THIN X MARKS THE SPOT
BurmaShave
THE MIDNIGHT RIDE OF PAUL FOR BEER
LED TO A WARMER HEMISPHERE
BurmaShave
AROUND THE CURVE LICKETY-SPLIT
BEAUTIFUL CAR WASN'T IT?
Burma Shave
NO MATTER THE PRICE NO MATTER HOW NEW
THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE IN THE CAR IS YOU
BurmaShave
A GUY WHO DRIVES A CAR WIDE OPEN
IS NOT THINKIN' HE'S JUST HOPIN'
BurmaShave
AT INTERSECTIONS LOOK EACH WAY
A HARP SOUNDS NICE BUT IT'S HARD TO PLAY
BurmaShave
BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL EYES ON THE ROAD
THAT'S THE SKILLFUL DRIVER'S CODE
BurmaShave
THE ONE WHO DRIVES WHEN HE'S BEEN DRINKING
DEPENDS ON YOU TO DO HIS THINKING
BurmaShave
CAR IN DITCH DRIVER IN TREE
THE MOON WAS FULL AND SO WAS HE.
BurmaShave
PASSING SCHOOL ZONE TAKE IT
SLOW LET OUR LITTLE SHAVERS GROW
BurmaShave
Meet me on the web at www.billcherrybroker.com
;)
;)
