Toothbrush moustache

The toothbrush moustache is a style of moustache in which the sides are vertical (or nearly vertical) rather than tapered, giving the hairs the appearance of the bristles on a toothbrush that are attached to the nose. It was made famous by such comedians as Charlie Chaplin and Oliver Hardy. The style first became popular in the United States in the late 19th century; from there it spread to Germany and elsewhere, reaching a height of popularity in the inter-war years, before becoming unfashionable after World War II due to its strong association with German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The association has become strong enough that the toothbrush has also become known as the "Hitler moustache".

Charlie Chaplin (pictured in 1921 as The Tramp) thought the moustache gave him a comical appearance.

In the United States

The style originally became popular in the late 19th century, in the United States.[1] It was a neat, uniform, low-maintenance style that echoed the standardization and uniformity brought on by industrialization, in contrast to the more flamboyant moustaches typical of the 19th century such as the imperial, walrus, handlebar, horseshoe, and pencil moustaches.[1]

Charlie Chaplin was one of the most famous wearers of the toothbrush moustache, first adopting it in 1914 after his first film, "Making a Living", for his Mack Sennett silent comedies.[1] In a 1933 interview, Chaplin said he added the moustache to his costume because it had a comical appearance and was small enough so as not to hide his expression.[lower-alpha 1] Adolf Hitler was a fan of Chaplin films,[3] but according to cultural historian Ron Rosenbaum, "there is no evidence (though some speculation) that Hitler modeled his 'stache on [Chaplin's]".[4] Chaplin took advantage of the noted similarity between his onscreen appearance and that of Hitler, such as in his 1940 film The Great Dictator, where he wore the moustache in a dual role, one of which parodied Hitler.[1][5]

Comedian Oliver Hardy also adopted the moustache style—using it at least as early as the 1921 film The Lucky Dog. Although Groucho Marx donned a larger moustache, novelty Groucho glasses (marketed as early as the 1940s)[6] often elicit the toothbrush.

In Germany

Adolf Hitler in 1937; his appearance was so defined by the toothbrush moustache that it became unfashionable after World War II.

The style was introduced in Germany in the late 19th century by visiting Americans.[1] Prior to the toothbrush, the most popular style was called the 'Kaiser moustache', perfumed and turned up at the ends, as worn by German emperor Wilhelm II.[1][5] By 1907, enough Germans were wearing the toothbrush moustache to elicit notice by The New York Times under the headline "'TOOTHBRUSH' MUSTACHE; German Women Resent Its Usurpation of the 'Kaiserbart'".[1][7] The toothbrush was taken up by German automobile racer and folk hero Hans Koeppen in the famous 1908 New York to Paris Race, cementing its popularity among young gentry.[1][8] Koeppen was described as "Six-feet in height, slim, and athletic, with a toothbrush mustache characteristic of his class, he looks the ideal type of the young Prussian guardsman."[8] By the end of World War I, even some of the German royals were sporting the toothbrush; Crown Prince Wilhelm can be seen with a toothbrush moustache in a 1918 photograph that shows him about to be sent into exile.[1]

Hitler originally wore the Kaiser moustache, as evidenced by photographs of him as a soldier during World War I.[9] There is no agreement as to what year Hitler first adopted the toothbrush.[1] Alexander Moritz Frey, who served with Hitler during the First World War, claimed that Hitler wore the toothbrush style in the trenches after he was ordered to trim his moustache to facilitate the wearing of a gas mask.[1][10] A 1914 photograph by Heinrich Hoffmann purports to show Hitler with a smaller moustache, but was probably doctored to serve as Nazi propaganda.[11][12] According to other sources, Hitler did not wear the style until 1919.[4][13][lower-alpha 2]

Despite the photographic evidence of his much larger moustache during the First World War, Hitler's sister-in-law, Bridget Hitler, said she was responsible for giving Hitler his toothbrush moustache before the war[1]—considered by most scholars to be fiction designed to cash in on Hitler's notoriety.[15] Bridget claimed that Adolf spent a "lost winter" at her home in Liverpool in 1912–13.[1] The two quarreled a lot, mostly, she said, because she could not stand his unruly Kaiser moustache. He cut it, as she says in her memoirs, but that in doing so—as in most things—he went too far.[1][16]

Other Nazis who wore the toothbrush style include Gottfried Feder, Heinrich Himmler, Karl Holz, Ernst Röhm, Hitler's chauffeur Julius Schreck, and an apparent body double of Hitler found in the aftermath of his death.

Post–World War II

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's philtrum-covering variant

After World War II, the style fell from favour in much of the world due to its strong association with Hitler.[1] The style remained somewhat fashionable in post-war Japan well into the later years of the Shōwa era. This was likely due to the fact that Hitler was the nation's wartime-ally and Japan's emperor, Hirohito, famously sported a similar mustache.

The 1960s American animated sitcom The Jetsons features a character with the moustache style, George Jetson's boss, Cosmo Spacely. Additionally, American comic-book artist Steve Ditko's original design for Spider-Man supporting character J. Jonah Jameson sports a toothbrush moustache, apparently meant to make him seem Hitleresque and thus antagonistic; most subsequent comic and cartoon appearances of the character maintain the style or a variant thereof.[lower-alpha 3]

Keyboardist Ron Mael of the American rock band Sparks maintained a toothbrush moustache throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s. Upon achieving mainstream success in the UK in 1974 with the song "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", it was noted by The Economist, "A whole generation switched on Top of the Pops, saw Ron Mael's moustache, and ran out of the room, crying, 'Mum! Dad! Hitler's playing the piano on Top of the Pops!'"[17][lower-alpha 4] Referencing the resemblance of Mael's brother and Sparks lead vocalist Russell Mael to singer Marc Bolan, John Lennon allegedly phoned his former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr while watching Top of the Pops and proclaimed, "Marc Bolan's doing a song with Adolf Hitler on the television!"[18]

An extreme variant of the toothbrush moustache narrows it to the philtrum only, a style most notably worn by former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe from as early as 1976 to as late as 2016.

Protest sign comparing Donald Trump (and his social media use) to Hitler

In 2009, English comedian Richard Herring created a stand-up show titled Hitler Moustache while sporting the facial-hair style to see if he "could reclaim the toothbrush moustache for comedy  it was Chaplin's first, then Hitler ruined it."[19]

In May 2010, American basketball star Michael Jordan appeared in a Hanes commercial sporting a hybrid of the toothbrush and pencil moustache,[20] along with a soul patch. This prompted Jordan's friend Charles Barkley to say, "I don't know what the hell he was thinking and I don't know what Hanes was thinking. I mean it is just stupid. It is just bad, plain and simple."[21]

In the 2015 documentary Cobain: Montage of Heck, it was revealed that in 1992 Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain invoked a Hitler moustache (via fake eyelashes) while wearing a dress to mock a pejorative letter to the editor about his wife, Courtney Love.[22][23][24]

In more recent years, the moustache style has been used satirically and for protest purposes, maligning politicians perceived to be acting like Hitler.[25][26] In 2021, Amazon changed its app logo following complaints that part of the design, meant to look like a piece of tape sealing a box, resembled a Hitler moustache.[27]

Notable wearers

See also

References

Notes

  1. Chaplin said: "It all came about in an emergency. The cameraman said put on some funny make-up, and I hadn't the slightest idea what to do. I went to the dress department and decided I wanted everything to be a mass of contradictions. So I took a bowler hat, an abnormally tight jacket, an abnormally loose pair of trousers, and some dirty, raggedy shoes. This was who I wanted my character to be; raggedy but, at the same time, a gentleman. I didn't know how I was going to do the face, but it was going to be a sad, serious face. I wanted to hide that it was comic, so I took a little toothbrush mustache. And that mustache was no concept of the characterization – only saying that it was rather silly. It doesn't hide my expression, after all, and is now my signature mustache."[2]
  2. An official document dated 1921 shows Hitler with a more traditional moustache.[14]
  3. In Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy, Jameson (J. K. Simmons) instead wears a full or pencil moustache.
  4. The 1982 Sparks song "Moustache" included the lyrics, "And when I trimmed it very small / My Jewish friends would never call."

Citations

  1. Rich Cohen (November 2007). "Becoming Adolf". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014 via reprint in The Best American Essays 2008.
  2. Chaplin, Charlie; Hayes, Kevin (2005). Charlie Chaplin: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi. p. 15. ISBN 978-1578067022.
  3. Rochus Misch (2014). Hitler's Last Witness: The Memoirs of Hitler's Bodyguard. Frontline Books. p. 70. Hitler loved Charlie Chaplin films
  4. Rosenbaum, Ron (2000). The Secret Parts of Fortune: Three Decades of Intense Investigations and Edgy Enthusiasms. Random House. p. 495. ISBN 978-0-375-50338-2.
  5. Tom Geoghegan (August 25, 2009). "Is wearing a 'Hitler' moustache a good idea?". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  6. Giddins, Gary (June 18, 2000). "There Ain't No Sanity Claus". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  7. "'TOOTHBRUSH' MUSTACHE.; German Women Resent Its Usurpation of the 'Kaiserbart'". The New York Times. October 20, 1907. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  8. "Germany Awaits Lieut. Hans Koeppen; From Emperor to Subaltern His Running of the Protos Car Has Aroused Enthusiasm". The New York Times. July 18, 1908. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  9. "The Rise of Hitler". The History Place. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  10. Paterson, Tony (May 6, 2007). "Hitler was ordered to trim his moustache". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  11. Kellerhoff, Sven Felix (October 14, 2010). "Berühmtes Hitler-Foto möglicherweise gefälscht". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved September 30, 2011.
  12. "Famous Hitler photograph declared a fake" Sydney Morning Herald (20 October 2010). Accessed 22 March 2022.
  13. "The Opportunist". Hitler. Season 1. Episode 1. 2016. 22 minutes in. American Heroes Channel. Hitler, caught on camera here at a right-wing rally in May 1919 ...
  14. "Adolf Hitler In The Period 1890-1929". Avax News. Archived from the original on August 29, 2019. Accessed March 22, 2022.
  15. Hamann, Brigitte (2010). Hitler's Vienna: A Portrait of the Tyrant As a Young Man. Tauris Parke Paperbacks. p. 198. ISBN 978-1848852778.
  16. Bridget Dowling (1979). My Brother-in-Law Adolf.. Written in 1930s and published posthumously in 1979.
  17. Jasper Rees (May 6, 2008). "Story of Their Lives: Sparks Will Fly". Intelligent Life. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014 via The Economist.
  18. The Sparks Brothers, 2021
  19. Herring, Richard (July 31, 2009). "'There isn't a "New Offensiveness"'". The Guardian. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  20. Michael Frissore. "Michael Jordan's Hitler Moustache". Slurve. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012.
  21. Trey Kerby (June 9, 2010). "Charles Barkley says what we're all thinking about MJ's mustache". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on August 4, 2014. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  22. Hill, Logan (January 25, 2015). "8 Things We Learned from the Kurt Cobain Doc at Sundance". Esquire. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  23. Lockett, Dee (April 28, 2022). "Kurt Cobain Once Dressed Up As Hitler in a Dress to Defend Courtney Love Against Hate Mail". Vulture. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  24. Rossignol, Derrick (April 27, 2015). "Kurt Cobain + Courtney Love Mock Hate Mail in '92 Home Video". Diffuser.fm. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  25. Heller, Steven; Anderson, Gail (2016). The Graphic Design Idea Book: Inspiration from 50 Masters. Quercus Publishing. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-78067-993-8.
  26. Ziv, Stav (October 19, 2017). "Trump photo with Hitler mustache was an 'unfortunate incident,' local Ohio paper apologizes". Newsweek. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  27. Gartenberg, Chaim (March 1, 2021). "Amazon shaves app icon mustache that raised eyebrows". The Verge. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  28. Francisco Franco at dpa-newslab.com
  29. Jakob Grimminger at hitler-archive.com
  30. Vladimir Karpov at Commons
  31. Jean Sibelius at sibelius.fi
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