Toothbrush moustache

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.

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.

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]

• Thomson and Thompson

Notes

Citations

• Media related to Toothbrush moustaches at Wikimedia Commons