Hi,
At least B-S was trying to get folks to chase the best shave. Chase them right into the drug store and buy B-S, anyway!
But, yes, they must have been. You had KCG over here with the Old Type and his blades. And, then the New Improved, and then the New. And the Gem bunch over there. And 53 other razor companies everywhere else hawking theirs as better than the others. And, brushes all over and soaps all over and, well, just like it is today with the online supplies. Only in the drug stores.
As time marched on, they whittled down and down and down. By the time I could pay attention, there was Gillette and Schick for the most part. And double edged, and single edged, and injectors and bands and then - two blades on one side from both Schick and Gillette.
Soaps, we had Yardley, and Old Spice and Williams and canned stuff from Barbasol and Schick had one with a heater that their can went in. That's what I recall from when I was a kid. Oh, and Norelco was out there with Santa on a shaver with three heads sliding down a mountain with shaving cream on it.
So, in 76, I began shaving. Dad gave me a pre war Tech and an old Rubberset brush and I used his Schick Platinum DE blades and his Yardley soap. Then, the Shaving Apocalypse began. Yardley was the first to go. Dad switched to Old Spice.
Then, during the mid 80s, it all went away in a few months from the grocery stores. It was all still there in the drug stores. Then, in the late 80s, it began to disappear completely. All in favor of the now 3-bladed carts. And the canned stuff. Old Spice went away. I used the Gillette Brush Plus for a while. That was goo in a can in a handle with a tube running up into the brush head. Well, until they killed that off, too. Then, Palmolive cream. Blades I got from the surgical supply store. Eventually, I couldn't even find Palmolive and moved to farm-made soaps.
Happily we are back to chasing thru piles of stuff searching for that perfect shave.
And, I never did notice where Burma-Shave was ever in my sights. The history I can find is that B-S sold to ASR in 1964 and they kept it going for quite a while. But, no date is shown for when they dropped it for good. I can't say I ever saw it on the drug store shelves when we were in there to pick up soap or blades.
I do see all sorts of packaging for it on Ebay where it looks to me it was still around in the 1970s. By the styling of some of them, anyway.
And B-S was in there trying an oddball way of getting your attention to buy theirs instead. And, they gave away the jingles with the product and so we have them with use still.
I might have to pick one jingle and fabricate a set of signs and post them alongside my half mile long driveway.
Stan
At least B-S was trying to get folks to chase the best shave. Chase them right into the drug store and buy B-S, anyway!
But, yes, they must have been. You had KCG over here with the Old Type and his blades. And, then the New Improved, and then the New. And the Gem bunch over there. And 53 other razor companies everywhere else hawking theirs as better than the others. And, brushes all over and soaps all over and, well, just like it is today with the online supplies. Only in the drug stores.
As time marched on, they whittled down and down and down. By the time I could pay attention, there was Gillette and Schick for the most part. And double edged, and single edged, and injectors and bands and then - two blades on one side from both Schick and Gillette.
Soaps, we had Yardley, and Old Spice and Williams and canned stuff from Barbasol and Schick had one with a heater that their can went in. That's what I recall from when I was a kid. Oh, and Norelco was out there with Santa on a shaver with three heads sliding down a mountain with shaving cream on it.
So, in 76, I began shaving. Dad gave me a pre war Tech and an old Rubberset brush and I used his Schick Platinum DE blades and his Yardley soap. Then, the Shaving Apocalypse began. Yardley was the first to go. Dad switched to Old Spice.
Then, during the mid 80s, it all went away in a few months from the grocery stores. It was all still there in the drug stores. Then, in the late 80s, it began to disappear completely. All in favor of the now 3-bladed carts. And the canned stuff. Old Spice went away. I used the Gillette Brush Plus for a while. That was goo in a can in a handle with a tube running up into the brush head. Well, until they killed that off, too. Then, Palmolive cream. Blades I got from the surgical supply store. Eventually, I couldn't even find Palmolive and moved to farm-made soaps.
Happily we are back to chasing thru piles of stuff searching for that perfect shave.
And, I never did notice where Burma-Shave was ever in my sights. The history I can find is that B-S sold to ASR in 1964 and they kept it going for quite a while. But, no date is shown for when they dropped it for good. I can't say I ever saw it on the drug store shelves when we were in there to pick up soap or blades.
I do see all sorts of packaging for it on Ebay where it looks to me it was still around in the 1970s. By the styling of some of them, anyway.
And B-S was in there trying an oddball way of getting your attention to buy theirs instead. And, they gave away the jingles with the product and so we have them with use still.
I might have to pick one jingle and fabricate a set of signs and post them alongside my half mile long driveway.
Stan