The Burma Shave company used to make roadside signs to advertise their shave cream. These were placed along the road in a sequence, inviting motorists to read their message as they drove by. First appearing in 1927, the signs were continually updated with new jingles through 1963. I model the late 1920s and so a set of Burma Shave signs just barely fits into my era.
I've been considering adding a set to my National Model Railroad Build Off 2023 diorama but have yet to decide if I'll include one. It is the sort of detail that may or may not fit depending on how the scenery evolves. Ditto telegraph poles, but that's another topic. Anyway, I found this archive of Burma Shave jingles, nicely organized by year:
http://burma-shave.org/jingles/
If you are a stickler for prototype accuracy, now you can sleep well knowing your roadside advertisements are appropriate for your era. Whether or not they fit your locale is up to you to determine. Perhaps the book mentioned on the jingle page can help you there. I like to know I'm close enough but I won't lose any sleep using a jingle from the wrong year, and some are funnier than others. The selection from the 20's is limited and none are railroad related.
I hope the readers of this blog might find this site useful or at least get a chuckle from some clever ads.
No comments:
Post a Comment