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 interwar years, before becoming unfashionable after World War II due to its strong association with 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 post-war years, the style was worn by some notable individuals, including several Israeli politicians and American real-estate developer Fred Trump. Since the immediate post-war years, it has also appeared in works of popular culture including films, cartoons, and comedy, as well as political imagery—usually explicitly eliciting the association with Hitler.

19th century to World War II

In the United States

The toothbrush 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]

English-American film comedian Charlie Chaplin was one of the most famous wearers of the toothbrush style. After wearing a drooping moustache in his first film, Making a Living, he began wearing a prop toothbrush moustache in 1914.[2][3] 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] Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was a fan of Chaplin films,[5] but according to cultural historian Ron Rosenbaum, "there is no evidence (though some speculation) that Hitler modeled his 'stache on [Chaplin's]".[6] Chaplin took advantage of the noted similarity between his onscreen appearance and that of Hitler in his 1940 film The Great Dictator, where he wore the moustache in a dual role, one of which parodied Hitler.[1][7][lower-alpha 2]

Prominent American animation producer Max Fleischer wore a toothbrush moustache c. 1919.[9][10] 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)[11] often elicit the toothbrush. American film producer Walt Disney is sometimes claimed to have worn the style (1920s–1930s),[12][13][14] but his facial hair was a more traditional (i.e. notched) moustache limited to the width of the nose.

Clarence D. Martin, the 11th governor of Washington state (1933–1941), donned a toothbrush during his tenure.

In Germany
Adolf Hitler in the early 1920s; his appearance was so defined by the style that it had become unfashionable by the end of World War II.

The style was introduced in Germany in the late 19th century by visiting Americans.[1] Previously, the most popular style was the imperial moustache, also known as the "Kaiser moustache", which was perfumed and turned up at the ends, as worn by German emperor Wilhelm II.[1][7] 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 [Kaiser moustache]".[1][15] 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][16] 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."[16] 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] German serial killer Peter Kürten (1883–1931) took up the style and eventually reduced it to only the philtrum.[17][18]

Hitler sported the toothbrush by the early 1920s, although there are dubious claims that he practiced doing so earlier.[1] His sister-in-law, Bridget Hitler, tenuously claimed that he spent the winter of 1912–13 at her home in Liverpool,[1][19] during which time the two quarreled, mostly because she could not stand his Kaiser moustache; she reputedly persuaded him to cut it, resulting in him fashioning a toothbrush.[1][20] As evidenced by photographs, Hitler wore the Kaiser moustache as a soldier during WWI.[21] Alexander Moritz Frey, who was in the same regiment as Hitler, claimed that the latter donned the toothbrush in the trenches after he was ordered to trim his moustache to facilitate the wearing of a gas mask.[1][22] A 1914 photograph by Heinrich Hoffmann purports to show Hitler with a toothbrush, but this was probably doctored to serve as Nazi propaganda.[23][24] Some sources claim Hitler wore the style as early as 1919,[6][25] but he is more widely thought to have debuted it during the early meetings of the Nazi Party (formed in 1920).[1][lower-alpha 3] In 1923, his future publicist Ernst Hanfstaengl (who later adopted the style) advised him to lose the toothbrush, to which Hitler replied, "If it is not the fashion now, it will be later because I wear it."[28][1]

Anton Drexler, a mentor of Hitler, wore a notched version of the toothbrush. Friedrich Kellner, a Social Democrat who campaigned against Hitler, also wore the style. Many notable Nazis besides Hitler donned it, including Heinrich Himmler, Karl Holz, Ernst Röhm and Hitler's chauffeur Julius Schreck. Additionally, an apparent body double of Hitler was found wearing the style in the aftermath of the dictator's death close to the end of World War II.

Other places

The toothbrush was quite popular in the Soviet Union in the early 20th century. A Chaplin-influenced clown named Karandash had a version of it. Many Soviet officers and soldiers wore it up until World War II. In more unique displays, Commander Pavel Dybenko paired the style with his beard and Major General Hazi Aslanov wore a variant covering only the philtrum.

English author George Orwell wore a toothbrush during the early 1930s. Spanish general Francisco Franco, the dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975, wore the style throughout the 1930s. It also garnished some Nazis in Chile c. WWII.

Fred Trump (c. 1950)

Post–World War II

By the end of World War II, the style had fallen from favour in much of the world due to its strong association with Hitler,[1] but some notable people continued to wear it. American real-estate developer Fred Trump, the father of former U.S. president Donald Trump, sported it from as early as 1940 until perhaps 1950, although during the war he began concealing his German ancestry.[29][30][31] Several politicians of Israel (formed as a state in 1948) flaunted the style, some for much of their careers. Austrian chancellor Julius Raab exhibited it in 1955 while negotiating for restored independence. Hitler's dentist, Hugo Blaschke (d. 1959),[32] wore a similar style—displaying an explicit toothbrush later in life.[33]

The style was utilized in cartoon works as early as 1947, e.g. in Harry Hanan's pantomime comic Louie,[34][35][36] which focuses on the everyday trials of a domestic loser.[37] The animated series Rocky and Bullwinkle (1959–1964) as well as Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy manga and anime series (c. 1960s) feature stylized representations of the moustache resembling outgrown nasal hair.[38][39] The early 1960s American animated sitcom The Jetsons features a character with the 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 antagonistic; most subsequent cartoon appearances of the character maintain the style or a variant thereof.[lower-alpha 4]

The live-action British sitcom On the Buses (1969–1973) features a comedic villain with the style, while the British sketch comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974) features a lunatic class of character with the style known as Gumbys, who shout absurd phrases and commonly clap bricks.[40] A version appears in 2014's Monty Python Live (Mostly), and in October 2019 (the 50th anniversary of Monty Python), a world record was attempted in London for the most people dressed as Gumbys.[41]

Inspired by Chaplin (and disregarding associations with Hitler), keyboardist Ron Mael of the American rock band Sparks maintained a toothbrush moustache throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s.[42][43] The band received mainstream attention in 1974 with "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", popularized via British music television series Top of the Pops.[44] While watching this, John Lennon allegedly phoned his former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr and referenced the similarity of Mael's appearance to Hitler.[lower-alpha 5] The 1982 Sparks song "Moustache" includes the lyrics: "And when I trimmed it very small / My Jewish friends would never call," referencing the association with Hitler and his role in enacting the Holocaust. The band once had a booking to perform on a French television show cancelled due to Mael's moustache.[42] In later years, Mael wore a pencil-variant of the toothbrush.[43]

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's philtrum-covering variant

Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe wore the philtrum-only style from as early as 1976 to as late as 2016.

Between 1985 and 1989, the British children's television drama series Grange Hill featured an authoritarian teacher played by Maurice Bronson (who also portrayed Hitler in several productions) wearing the toothbrush style.[7]

In a 1992 home movie, 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. This was featured in the 2015 documentary Cobain: Montage of Heck and shared online to promote the film.[45][46][47]

In Mike Judge's 2006 comedy film Idiocracy, the society of a greatly dumbed-down future believes that Charlie Chaplin, not Hitler, led the Nazis. In 2009, English comedian Richard Herring created a stand-up show titled Hitler Moustache in which he wears the facial-hair style in an attempt to "reclaim the toothbrush moustache for comedy – it was Chaplin's first, then Hitler ruined it."[48] Herring wore the moustache for about a week, during which time he was anxious about the judgements he thought were being made of him.[7]

In May 2010, American basketball star Michael Jordan appeared in a Hanes commercial sporting a hybrid of the toothbrush and pencil moustache,[49] 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."[50]

In 2014, a photograph of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel provoked online amusement due to the former's pointing finger casting a Hitleresque shadow onto the latter's face.[51] Late that same year, Southern All Stars frontman Keisuke Kuwata briefly donned a toothbrush moustache during a televised performance, prompting online speculation as to the reason.[52]

Into the 21st century, the moustache remained a poignant symbol of satire and protest, maligning people in power perceived to be acting like Hitler.[53][54][55] Some facial-hair-themed websites attempted to reclaim the style as appropriate to wear again—especially variations diverging from the strictly rectangular version made famous by Hitler—emphasizing that some notable individuals wear it.[12][56] Nevertheless, the toothbrush continued to be widely derided as eliciting the association with Hitler.[lower-alpha 6] Even midday shadows cast by the nose are generally considered to sully photographic portraits.[59]

Other notable wearers

Europe (excluding Nazis)

Israel

Nazi Germany

Soviet Union and successor states

Other regions

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Toothbrush moustaches.

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."[4]
  2. Chaplin did not again wear the toothbrush, acting in only four more films—all post-war talkies.[8]
  3. An official document dated 1921 shows Hitler with a more traditional moustache.[26] A photograph from c. 1923 shows him with the toothbrush.[27]
  4. In Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy, Jameson (J. K. Simmons) instead wears a full or pencil moustache.
  5. According to the 2021 documentary The Sparks Brothers, Lennon said (referencing the resemblance of Mael's brother and Sparks lead vocalist Russell Mael to the lead singer of T. Rex), "Marc Bolan's doing a song with Adolf Hitler on the television!"
  6. E.g., 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.[57] Additionally, in an episode of the 2023 Scooby-Doo spin-off Velma, rain causes one of Fred's fake eyelashes to swim under his nose in a series of events making him resemble the Nazi dictator.[58]

Citations

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