Brake & Front End Retro: Burma Shave Style

Click picture for readable text
of the April 1931 page

The founder of BRAKE & FRONT END, Edward S. Babcox was originally an ad man for Firestone. In the first issues, he would start out with what some people might call a poem. Taken out of the context of the times when it was written, the reader might be confused, but when you look at the phenomenon of Burma Shave signs that started in 1925, it all makes sense.
The Burma Shave advertising campaign used four or five consecutive billboards would line highways, so they could be read sequentially by motorists driving by. This use of the billboard was a highly successful advertising gimmick, drawing attention and passers-by who were curious to discover the punch line like: He played/ a sax/ had no B.O. /but his whiskers scratched/ so she let him go/ Burma-Shave.
Edward’s editorial takes the Burma Shave gimmick to another level.