Today, many complain about roadside billboards, calling them boring and an eyesore. In past eras, highway advertising was much more interesting.

This year marks the centennial of Route 66, and it’s also the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the Burma-Shave signs, a series of five or six simple signs that entertained motorists with rhyming poems.

The Burma-Shave signs, which were a staple on American highways from 1926 to 1963, were a marketing bonanza for the company and became part of the allure of car travel in the era.

The sequential signs hawked Burma-Shave, a line of shaving products created in 1925 by the Burma-Vita Co. of Minneapolis. The company’s first product was a liniment made from ingredients “from the Malay Peninsula and Burma,” giving rise to its catchy name.

That led to Burma-Shave brushless shaving cream, which, at its height, was the second-best-selling brushless shaving cream in the United States.

Part of the company’s success – and consumer familiarity – was the signs, which measured 18 inches by 40 inches, and were normally spaced 100 feet apart.

The signs, usually red and white, were often placed in rented fields adjacent to the roadway and were bolted in place. The last sign in each series usually bore the words “Burma Shave,” which evolved into the last line of the rhyme.

The concept was the brainchild of Allen Odell, whose father, Clinton, had founded the company. A Smithsonian Institution source writes that Allen was inspired by sequential signs leading to a gas station in Illinois, each hawking a product offered there. Each of those signs in sequence read “Gas,” “Oil,” and “Restrooms,” with a fourth sign pointing to the station itself.

Allen mentioned the idea to family and friends, none of whom shared his excitement. His father was also lukewarm, but Allen was finally given $200 to test the idea.

Though dates vary, many state that the first Burma-Shave signs were placed on U.S. Route 65 near Lakeville, Minnesota, in September 1926. Not long after, the company began receiving increased orders from pharmacies near the signs, wanting more of the product.

Additional signs were placed as a result, and eventually 7,000 Burma-Shave signs were found across the continental 48 United States, except for Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona. Ironically, the latter two states are among the eight on the alignment of Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Over 600 verses were posted throughout the run of the Burma-Shave signs, including some of these favorites:

Does your husband / Misbehave / Grunt and grumble / Rant and rave / Shoot the brute some / Burma-Shave.

A shave / That’s real / No cuts to heal / A soothing / Velvet after-feel / Burma-Shave

These signs / We gladly / Dedicate / To men who’ve had / No date of late / Burma-Shave

Starting in 1935, Burma-Shave signs often had wry messages of driver safety, such as:

Keep well / To the right / Of the oncoming car / Get your close shaves / From the half-pound jar / Burma-Shave

Hardly a driver / Is now alive / Who passed / On hills / At 75 / Burma-Shave

It’s best for / One who hits / The bottle / To let another / Use the throttle / Burma-Shave

Past / Schoolhouses / Take it slow / Let the little / Shavers grow / Burma-Shave

Over time, Burma-Shave held contests to let consumers suggest rhymes for new signs, offering a $100 prize for selected verses.

By 1947, the company was selling over $6 million in products, but sales were flat for the next seven years before declining. Some also believe the signs were less effective with increased highway speeds and the interstate highway system, which made it difficult to read the signs while passing.

In 1963, Burma-Shave ended up under the control of Philip Morris, whose attorneys apparently decided that reading roadside signs while driving was a safety hazard. No new signs were created after that, and they disappeared entirely by 1966.

Philip Morris sold Burma-Shave to the American Safety Razor Co. in 1968, and the brand disappeared until 1997, when a line of shaving cream and brushes under the Burma-Shave name was reintroduced.

Though the Burma-Shave shaving brush was intended as a nostalgic throwback, it was actually a historical error, as the company was best known for brushless shaving cream. The product has since disappeared from the market.

Replica Burma-Shave signs are found along historic Route 66 near Towanda, Illinois, as well as a rest area along Interstate 44 in Missouri. There are also signs on Arizona State Highway 66 from Ash Fork to Kingman. Officials for that state freely admit it was not home to the original signs.

Recreated Burma-Shave signs are also found near Sublette in Lee County, as well as on various other highways and transportation museums nationwide.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.