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Murphy Martin Commentary
April 6, 2006
"Remembering"
While daydreaming
earlier this week about days past, many days past, we recalled how
times have changed. We had been exchanging emails with former
associates from our network television days when an epistle from Al
Littleson, now an executive with a San Diego TV station, got my
attention with these words: Have you noticed that stairs are
getting steeper and everything seems farther away?
Yesterday I walked to
the corner and was dumbfounded to discover how long our street had
become.
We started thinking too about things we enjoyed years ago are no
longer to be found. Running boards on cars! Fender skirts! Steering
Wheel Knobs! Rumble Seats! Gasoline just 20-cents a gallon! And when
we traveled very far we looked forward to reading Burma-Shave signs.
We are talking about the 1930s and 1940s!
Before there were Interstates ... when everyone drove on two-lane
roads...Burma-Shave signs would be posted all over the countryside
in farmers' fields. Small red signs with white letters. There would
be five signs in succession about 100 feet apart and each sign
contained one line of a four line couplet. A fifth and last sign
advertised Burma-Shave, a popular shaving cream. There may even be a
few Burma-Shave signs still around.
If you can't recall Burma-Shave specific signs ... let us jog your
memory with a few oldies:
Don't lose your head
to gain a minute
you need your head
your brain is in it!
Burma-Shave
Drove to long
Driver snoozing
What happened next
Is not amusing!
Burma-Shave
Speed was high
Weather was hot
Tire was thin
X marks the spot!
Burma-Shave
Car in ditch
Driver in tree
The Moon was full
And so was he!
Burma-Shave
Around the curve
Lickety-split
Beautiful car
Wasn't it?
Burma-Shave
Trains don't wander
All over the map
'Cause nobody sits
In the engineer's lap!
Burma-Shave
Passing school zone
Take it slow
Let our little
Shavers grow!
Burma-Shave
Do these bring back old memories? If not, you are merely a child
though you seem much younger than I was at your age. On the other
hand, people my own age seem so much older than I am.
I ran into an old friend
the other day and she has aged so much she didn't even recognize me!
She must be older than
dirt!
Murphy Martin
Keep your comments coming!
murphy@murphymartin.com
Your thoughts and comments forwarded to my website will be
appreciated.
e-mail
murphy@murphymartin.com
Previous commentaries:
"Christians vs Muslims"
"Bush Bucks Bashing"
"Early Look at 2008"
"Contrasting Memories"
"Reporter's Rough Roads"
"Another Cowboys Loss"
"People, Places and Things"
"Super Bowl Wasn't So Super"
"State of the Union"
"Is God Dead in Europe?"
"Remembering Dr. King"
"This Week in Review"
"New Year, New Challenges"
"The Party's Over"
"Merry
Christmas Rules"
"Bush
Unveils Plans"
"Border
Security Now!!!"
"Stupidity Loses Financing"
"Crisis Christians"
"They
Led the Way"
"Sadistic Saddam Hussein"
"Bourbon Street Bashing"
"Hurricane Aftermath"
"Standing Tall"
"Never a Dull Moment"
"Another Hero Laid to Rest"
"Blame Game"
"Senior Thoughts For the Young"
"Role Model Challenge"
August 18 - "Network News Anchors"
August 11 - "Now All Three Are Gone"
August 4 - "Trust in the Media"
July 28 - "Television Then and Now"
July 21 - "The Mick"
July 14 - "Forty Years and Counting"
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