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55-621: Burma-Shave was an American brand of brushless shaving cream , famous for its advertising gimmick of posting humorous rhyming poems on small sequential highway roadside signs. Burma-Shave was introduced in 1925 by the Burma-Vita company in Minneapolis owned by Clinton Odell. The company's original product was a liniment made of ingredients described as having come "from the Malay Peninsula and Burma " (hence its name). Sales were sparse, and

110-537: A punch bowl Revere made. In 1883, Boston held a national competition for an equestrian statue of Revere. It was won by Cyrus Edwin Dallin , although his model was not accepted until 1899, and the statue was not dedicated until 1940. It stands in "Paul Revere Plaza," opposite the Old North Church. In 1896 Helen F. Moore, dismayed that William Dawes had been forgotten, penned a parody of Longfellow's poem: In 2007,

165-520: A brush bears a 'super' or 'silvertip' badger hair load is to look at the color of the bristle tips. A true 'silvertip' brush has tips that are an off-white. A 'super' brush on the other hand has bristle tips that are a more sterile, slightly greyed white; moreover, the light color of the tips does not extend as far down the shaft of the hair. Silvertip badger is the most expensive and rare type of badger hair. The tips on this hair appear white naturally, without bleaching. A "flared" bristle load results in

220-513: A chair leg before slaughtering it for its fur. Boar bristles are available cheaply from many sources. Brushes made in China or India with boar bristle are supplied wholesale, while even the cheapest wholesale Badger brush costs at least $ 10; even the cost difference between badger brushes with resin handles vs. expensive horn handles shows that, except with exotic materials such as sterling silver, special woods, ivory, bone or custom materials, badger hair

275-459: A commercial message, was a successful approach to highway advertising during the early years of highway travel, drawing the attention of passing motorists who were curious to learn the punchline . As the Interstate system expanded in the late 1950s and vehicle speeds increased, it became more difficult to attract motorists' attention with small signs. When the company was acquired by Philip Morris ,

330-468: A major advertising component until 1963 in most of the contiguous United States. The first series read: Cheer up, face – the war is over! Burma-Shave . The exceptions were Nevada (deemed to have insufficient road traffic), and Massachusetts (eliminated due to that state's high land rentals and roadside foliage). Typically, six consecutive small signs would be posted along the edge of highways, spaced for sequential reading by passing motorists. The last sign

385-412: A range of prices and gradations in quality. Comparable to traditional shaving brushes, synthetic fiber brushes can quickly create a rich lather using relatively little shaving soap or cream. The synthetic fibers dry faster than natural hair and are less sensitive to everyday use. Boar's hair brushes are relatively inexpensive, but can be of very high quality. A well-made boar brush will break in with use;

440-458: A shave soap , this effect often replaces the pre-shave routine of washing and applying lotion to the face. A shave brush also lifts facial hair before a shave, requiring less pressure from the razor. Paul Revere%27s Ride (poem) " Paul Revere's Ride " is an 1860 poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775, although with significant inaccuracies. It

495-655: A shave brush. Pure badger are badger hair brushes that use the most common hair from the underbelly of a badger , the hair which covers around 60% of a badger's body. This hair varies greatly in softness, pliability and color. Pure badger hair is usually dark in color, but fluctuates from a light tan to a near-black or silvery sheen. The hair is coarser than 'best' or 'silvertip' hair due to its larger shaft. Brushes made exclusively with pure badger hair cost significantly less than finer badger hair. Most often, pure badger brush hairs are trimmed to shape, resulting in somewhat stiff, rough ends. Best badger are brushes made with

550-493: A status symbol, and an expensive or eccentric brush was a way of asserting one's personality or even affluence. The recent rapid rise in the popularity of "wet shaving" has raised demand for high-quality and custom shaving brushes. Modern shave brushes are similar in appearance, composition and function to their centuries-old predecessors. Although a variety of different materials are still used to fashion shave brush handles, synthetic handles of nylon , urethane or plastic are

605-411: Is not harmed. A fibrous bristle load holds significant amounts of water which mix with the soap lifted from a shaving mug or scuttle . The more water a brush holds, the moister and richer a lather will be. Thicker and more emollient lather translates to less razor skipping and dragging. Bringing a shave brush across one's skin produces a mild exfoliation . Because a shave brush is most often used with

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660-399: Is the costliest element of a brush. It is common for boar-hair brushes to have part of the bristles dyed to resemble badger hair. Brushes with nylon-only bristles are available. Horse hair brushes are coming back, after a hiatus of nearly 100 years following an anthrax scare around World War I . Material for horse hair shaving brushes is cut from the horse's mane or tail, and the animal

715-776: The Colonial Revival Movement of the 1870s. In 1875, for example, the Old North Church mentioned in the poem began an annual custom called the "lantern ceremony" recreating the action of the poem. Three years later, the Church added a plaque noting it as the site of "the signal lanterns of Paul Revere". Revere's elevated historical importance also led to unsubstantiated rumors that he made a set of false teeth for George Washington . Revere's legendary status continued for decades and, in part due to Longfellow's poem, authentic silverware made by Revere commanded high prices. Wall Street tycoon J. P. Morgan , for example, offered $ 100,000 for

770-534: The Eurasian badger and the hog badger . Badger brushes are often referred to as two band, or three band. Perhaps all badger hair fibers have three bands, but those used in the brushes conceal the lighter bottom band. Nonetheless, both types of bristle make desirable shaving brushes. Lower-quality brushes are often machine made and the bristles may be trimmed, resulting in sharp, prickly tips. Synthetic shave brushes, most often made using nylon bristles, are available in

825-837: The Interstate 44 in Missouri rest area between Rolla and Springfield (which has old Route 66 building picnic structures), the Forney Transportation Museum in Denver , Colorado and the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia . The complete list of the 600 or so known sets of signs is listed in Sunday Drives and in the last part of The Verse by the Side of the Road . The content of

880-662: The New York City Subway system contains a piece of public art inspired by the Burma-Shave ads; Norman B. Colp's The Commuter's Lament, or A Close Shave consists of a series of signs attached to the roof of the passageway, displaying the following text: Several highway departments in the United States use signs in the same style to dispense travel safety advice to motorists. Several writers of doggerel and humorously bad poetry (such as David Burge ) often use "Burma Shave" as

935-399: The 'silvertip' brush's fluffy appearance and lends the brush its ability to hold a large amount of water. Due to its water retention capacity, a 'silvertip' brush can create well-formed shaving lather quickly and easily. Some manufacturers such as Plisson, Simpsons and Rooney sell shaving brushes in a grade beyond silvertip. While the names these companies give this 'extra silvertip' vary,

990-797: The Charles River when, in reality, he was rowed over by others. He also did not reach Concord that night. Another inaccuracy is a general lengthening of the time frame of the night's events. The majority of criticism, however, notes that Longfellow gave sole credit to Revere for the collective achievements of three riders (as well as other riders, whose names do not survive to history). In fact, Revere and William Dawes rode (via different routes) from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that British troops were marching from Boston to Lexington to arrest them and seize Patriot weapons stores in Concord. Revere and Dawes rode toward Concord, where

1045-479: The Night Before Christmas written by Ken Young was transmitted to the mission, which referenced "A Burma-Shave sign saying ' Kilroy was here '." Shaving brush The modern shaving brush may be traced to France during the 1750s. The French call a shaving brush blaireau or "badger, because high-end brushes use badger hair." Quality of these brushes differed greatly, as materials used to fashion

1100-532: The Old North Church and climbing its tower on April 5, 1860. He began writing the poem the next day. It was first published in the January 1861 issue of The Atlantic Monthly . It was later re-published in Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn as "The Landlord's Tale" in 1863. The poem served as the first in a series of 22 narratives bundled as a collection, similar to Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales , and

1155-462: The book made little impact, it was written for his best friend, Charles Sumner , an activist abolitionist politician with whom he would continue to share common cause on the issues of slavery and the Union. "Paul Revere's Ride" was published in the January 1861, issue of The Atlantic magazine on December 20, 1860, just as South Carolina became the first state to secede from the United States . The poem

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1210-461: The bristles begin to split at their tips, resulting in a brush that is very soft but has considerable backbone. Unlike badger hair and synthetic fibers, boar bristles absorb water, so the brush should be soaked before use. Badger hair brushes come in a variety of grades, but there is not an industry standard that specifically defines grades of badger hair. Generally speaking, though, there are basic classifications that many manufacturers use to describe

1265-454: The brush. A shave brush's price is usually determined more by its bristle load than any other factor, except for brushes with very exotic handles. The most expensive brushes often use exotic materials in the handle. The bristles are fixed together into a knot that is installed into the handle. The best quality brushes are hand knotted. Badger and boar brushes are the most commonly found animals used for shaving brush fibers. Badger species include

1320-535: The company sought to expand sales by introducing a product with wider appeal. The result was the Burma-Shave brand of brushless shaving cream and its supporting advertising program. Sales increased; at its peak, Burma-Shave was the second-highest-selling brushless shaving cream in the US. Sales declined in the 1950s, and in 1963 the company was sold to Philip Morris . Its well-known advertising signs were removed at that time. The brand decreased in visibility and eventually became

1375-434: The earliest signs is lost, but it is believed that the first recorded signs, for 1927 and soon after, are close to the originals. The first ones were prosaic advertisements. Generally the signs were printed with all capital letters. The style shown below is for readability: As early as 1928, the writers were displaying a puckish sense of humor: In 1929, the prosaic ads began to be replaced by actual verses on four signs, with

1430-433: The ends do not have to be cut to shape. A super badger brush is more expensive than either 'best' or 'pure'. While some call this hair 'silvertip', it is often highly graded 'pure' hair bleached on the ends to resemble silvertip. Though it is composed of 'pure' badger hairs, 'super' is graded and sorted to such a degree that its performance is superior to that of 'best'. The brush is not prickly. One way to determine if

1485-430: The fifth sign merely a filler for the sixth: Previously there were only two to four sets of signs per year. 1930 saw major growth in the company, and 19 sets of signs were produced. The writers recycled a previous joke. They continued to ridicule the "old" style of shaving. And they began to appeal to the wives as well: In 1932, the company recognized the popularity of the signs with a self-referencing gimmick: In 1935,

1540-464: The finer and more pliable hairs from 20 - 25% of the badger's body. It is longer in length and lighter in color than 'pure' badger hair. A 'best' badger brush is more densely filled with hair than the 'pure' badger brush and will produce a correspondingly greater lather. However, some wet shavers argue that the variance between the quality of a 'pure' and a 'best' badger brush is negligible. Best badger and better quality brush hairs are often fit so that

1595-406: The first known appearance of a road safety message appeared, combined with a punning sales pitch: Safety messages began to increase in 1939, as these examples show. (The first of the four is a parody of " Paul Revere's Ride " by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow .) In 1939 and subsequent years, demise of the signs was foreshadowed, as busy roadways approaching larger cities featured shortened versions of

1650-467: The form of a series of 5 rhyming stationary signs (a take-off of Burma-Vita ad campaigns beginning 1926+). Turned political, the expression burma-shaving is several signs of rhyming prose for political messaging of a jokey or scornful nature, e.g., refer to McCain's campaign against Obama, to catch the attention of passing motorists for political campaigning. During the Apollo 8 mission, a parody of ' Twas

1705-570: The hair tips clump together in little groups and after lathering up, it will seems that the soap in the knot cannot be fully rinsed away. There is no standard for this feature, so every person will have to feel it himself, especially when rubbing the wet shaving brush knot near the lips, where the skin is more sensitive. North American badger hair is not appropriate for shaving brushes. Commercial badger hair comes from mainland China, which supplies knots of hair in various grades to brush makers in both China and Europe. In rural areas, badgers multiply to

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1760-410: The handles varied from the common to the exotic. It was not uncommon for handles to be made of ivory, gold, silver , tortoiseshell , crystal , or porcelain . The more expensive brushes used badger hair, with cheaper ones using boar 's or horse's hair. In the 1800s, the folding-handle straight razor design made it practical for men to shave themselves rather than visit a barber. A shave brush became

1815-477: The last line of their poems to indicate their non-serious nature. The word burma-shave was used Apr 2011 in Canada , "enlisted the help of an old friend to burmashave near the corner of Pembina," to describe a gathering of people holding a sign or signs and waving to traffic by the side of the road (a common sight during election campaigns). The term Burmashaving may specifically describe rural American highway signage in

1870-470: The militia there. Longfellow's poem is credited with creating the national legend of Paul Revere, a previously little-known Massachusetts silversmith . Upon Revere's death in 1818, for example, his obituary did not mention his midnight ride but instead focused on his business sense and his many friends. The fame that Longfellow brought to Revere, however, did not materialize until after the Civil War amidst

1925-549: The militia's arsenal was hidden; they were joined by Samuel Prescott , a doctor who lived in Concord and happened to be in Lexington. Revere, Dawes, and Prescott were stopped by a detachment of British troops in Lincoln on the road to Concord. Prescott and Dawes escaped, but Revere was detained and questioned and then escorted by three British officers back to Lexington. Of the three riders, only Prescott arrived at Concord in time to warn

1980-400: The most common even with the most expensive shave brush manufacturers. Benefits of synthetic handles include a lesser chance of breakage and resistance to damage by moisture. A limited number of consumers prefer natural materials such as wood or exotic materials such as tortoiseshell. A shave brush's handle, regardless of its material composition, rarely affects the overall performance of

2035-416: The pilot episode (" Genesis ") of Quantum Leap . The long-running series Hee Haw borrowed the style for program bumpers , transitioning from one show segment to the next or to commercials. The Flintstones episode "Divided We Sail" has Barney Rubble reading messages on a series of buoys that say, "If You're Queasy riding on the wave, just open your mouth. Shout Terra Firma Shave." The final episode of

2090-406: The poem emphasize not the poem's overall quality of writing, but its many historical inaccuracies. For example, the poem depicts the lantern signal in the Old North Church as meant for Revere, but actually the signal was from Revere: the historical Paul Revere did not receive the lantern signal, but actually was the one who ordered it to be set up. The poem also depicts Revere rowing himself across

2145-458: The point of becoming a crop nuisance, and village cooperatives are licensed by the national government to hunt badgers and sell the hair to processors. Procter & Gamble stopped using badger hair in its Art of Shaving products following a PETA investigation of several badger-hair farms and brush-making factories in Shijiazhuang, China, and a video that showed a worker beating a badger with

2200-581: The popular television series M*A*S*H featured a series of road signs in Korea "Hawk was gone, now he's here. Dance til dawn, give a cheer. Burma-Shave" . Roger Miller 's song "Burma Shave" (the B-side to his 1961 single "Fair Swiss Maiden") has the singer musing that he's "seen a million rows of them little red poetic signs up and down the line", while reciting rhymes in the manner of the ads. Tom Waits ' song "Burma-Shave" (from his 1977 album Foreign Affairs ) uses

2255-435: The properties remain fairly consistent between manufacturers as compared to the 'ordinary silvertip' brush. These brushes differ in appearance (the tip is whiter and extends further down the shaft; additionally, the hair under the tip is pure black as opposed to dark grey in color) and feel (the extra silvertip feels slightly firmer and less "prickly" on the face when lathering). Another feature that badger bristles may show are

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2310-593: The property of the American Safety Razor Company . In 1997, the American Safety Razor Company reintroduced the Burma-Shave brand with a nostalgic shaving soap and brush kit, though the original Burma-Shave was a brushless shaving cream, and Burma-Shave's own roadside signs frequently ridiculed "Grandpa's old-fashioned shaving brush." Burma-Shave sign series first appeared on U.S. Highway 65 near Lakeville, Minnesota , in 1926, and remained

2365-401: The quality of hair used in their brushes. The most common gradations of badger hair are "pure" badger, "best" badger, and "super" or "silvertip" badger. While some companies insist on using other gradations (for example, Vulfix 's high-end brushes distinguish between "super" and "silvertip"), these three are commonly accepted among wet shavers and are most often used to describe the quality of

2420-621: The same sentence, symbolically pulling the actions of the Revolution into modern times and displaying an event with timeless sympathies. Longfellow's poem is not historically accurate but his "mistakes" were deliberate. He had researched the historical event, using works like George Bancroft 's History of the United States , but he manipulated the facts for poetic effect. He was purposefully trying to create American legends, much as he did with works like The Song of Hiawatha (1855) and The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858). Modern critics of

2475-507: The signal across the river in Charlestown and be ready to spread the alarm throughout Middlesex County, Massachusetts . The unnamed friend climbs up the steeple and soon sets up two signal lanterns, informing Revere that the British are coming by sea. Revere rides his horse through Medford , Lexington , and Concord to warn the patriots. Longfellow was inspired to write the poem after visiting

2530-490: The signs as an allegory for an unknown destination. (" I guess I'm headed that-a-way, Just as long as it's paved, I guess you'd say I'm on my way to Burma-Shave ") Chuck Suchy 's song "Burma Shave Boogie" (from his 2008 album Unraveling Heart ) incorporates several of the Burma Shave rhymes into its lyrics. The pedestrian passageway between the 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal and Times Square–42nd Street stations in

2585-762: The signs were discontinued on advice of counsel. Some of the signs featured safety messages about speeding instead of advertisements. Examples of Burma-Shave advertisements are at The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin . Re-creations of Burma-Shave sign sets also appear on Arizona State Highway 66 , part of the original U.S. Route 66 , between Ash Fork, Arizona, and Kingman, Arizona (though they were not installed there by Burma-Shave during its original campaigns), and on Old U.S. Highway 30 near Ogden, Iowa. Other examples are displayed at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan ,

2640-408: The signs, most of which were repeats, including the final slogan, which had first appeared in 1953: A number of films and television shows set between the 1920s and 1950s have used the Burma-Shave roadside billboards to help set the scene. Examples include Bonnie and Clyde , A River Runs Through It , The World's Fastest Indian , Stand By Me , Tom and Jerry , Rat Race , M*A*S*H and

2695-508: The slogans on one, two, or three signs – the exact count is not recorded. The puns include a play on the Maxwell House Coffee slogan, standard puns, and yet another reference to the "H" joke: The war years found the company recycling a lot of their old signs, with new ones mostly focusing on World War II propaganda: A 1944 advertisement in Life magazine ran: 1963 was the last year for

2750-423: The so called “gel tips”, a combination of two distinct traits: a little “hook” in many hair tips and a gel, slick sensation of the knot tips when wet. When dry, the shaving brush knots with gel tips are not fully recognizable: the presence of little hooks is not sufficient to provide the second, and also most distinct trait: the “slick”, soapy feeling. The feeling of gel tips can be discerned pretty easily: once wet,

2805-409: Was almost always the name of the product. The signs were originally produced in two color combinations: red-and-white and orange-and-black, though the latter was eliminated after a few years. A special white-on-blue set of signs was developed for South Dakota , which restricted the color red on roadside signs to official warning notices. This use of a series of small signs, each of which bore part of

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2860-498: Was attempting to dissolve social tensions. The phrase "Hardly a man is now alive" was true as one of the last men alive at the time of the historical event had only recently died. Jonathan Harrington , the young fifer for Lexington's militia during the battles of Lexington and Concord , died at the age of 96 in 1854, a few years before the poem was written. It is unknown if Longfellow would have known this information. The poem fluctuates between past and present tense, sometimes in

2915-572: Was first published in the January 1861 issue of The Atlantic Monthly . It was later retitled " The Landlord's Tale " in Longfellow's 1863 collection Tales of a Wayside Inn . The poem is spoken by the landlord of the Wayside Inn and tells a partly fictionalized story of Paul Revere. In the poem, Revere tells a friend to prepare signal lanterns in the Old North Church to inform him whether British forces will come by land or sea. He would await

2970-444: Was meant to appeal to Northerners' sense of urgency and, as a call for action, noted that history favors the courageous. Longfellow, who often used poetry to remind readers of cultural and moral values, warns at the end of the poem of a coming "hour of darkness and peril and need", implying the breakup of the Union, and suggests that the "people will waken and listen to hear" the midnight message again. By emphasizing common history, he

3025-524: Was published in three installments over 10 years. Longfellow's family had a connection to the historical Paul Revere. His maternal grandfather, Peleg Wadsworth , was Revere's commander on the Penobscot Expedition . When the poem was written in 1860, America was on the verge of Civil War over the issue of slavery. Longfellow first came forward publicly as an abolitionist in 1842 with the publication of his Poems on Slavery . Though he admitted

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