Toothbrush moustache

Toothbrush moustache
The toothbrush moustache is a style of moustache in which the sides are vertical (or nearly so), often approximating the width of the nose and visually resembling the bristles on a toothbrush. First becoming popular in the United States in the late 19th century, the style spread to Germany and elsewhere. It was made famous by comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and Oliver Hardy before reaching its height of popularity in the interwar years. By the end of World War II, the style had become unfashionable due to its strong association with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, leading to it being colloquially termed the 'Hitler moustache.
After World War II, the style was worn by some notable individuals, including several Israeli politicians and American real-estate developer Fred Trump. It has also appeared in works of popular culture including motion pictures, as well as political imagery—usually explicitly eliciting the association with Hitler. A number of variants of the style also developed during the 20th century.
19th century to World War II
In the United States
The toothbrush originally became popular in the late 19th century, in the United States. 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.
English comic actor Charlie Chaplin was one of the most famous wearers of the toothbrush style. After wearing a full moustache for his 1914 film debut (Making a Living for Keystone Studios), he sported a prop toothbrush moustache for his next film, Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)—the debut of his Tramp character. Chaplin said he chose the toothbrush style because it had a comical appearance and was small enough not to hide his expression. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was a fan of Chaplin films, but according to cultural historian Ron Rosenbaum, "there is no evidence (though some speculation) that Hitler modeled his 'stache on [Chaplin's]". 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.
Prominent American animation producer Max Fleischer wore a toothbrush moustache . Comedian Oliver Hardy also adopted the moustache style—using it at least as early as the 1921 film The Lucky Dog. American actor Fred Kelsey flaunted a toothbrush , while in the mid-1930s bit-part player Brooks Benedict thickened his mid-mustache, evoking the style (flanked by pencil-thin sides). Although Groucho Marx wore a larger moustache, novelty Groucho glasses (sold ) often elicit the toothbrush. It has been occasionally claimed that American film producer Walt Disney donned a toothbrush, but his nose-width moustache lacked the characteristic steep sides.
Clarence D. Martin, the 11th governor of Washington state (1933–1941), sported a toothbrush during his tenure. A number of associates of American company Heinz were photographed wearing the style at a 1940 convention in Montreal.
In Germany
The style was introduced in Germany in the late 19th century by visiting Americans. 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. 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]". 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. 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." 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. German serial killer Peter Kürten (1883–1931) took up the style and eventually reduced it to only the philtrum.
Hitler sported the toothbrush by the early 1920s, although there are dubious claims that he practiced doing so earlier. His sister-in-law, Bridget Hitler, tenuously claimed that he spent the winter of 1912–13 at her home in Liverpool, 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. As evidenced by photographs, Hitler wore the Kaiser moustache as a soldier during WWI. 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. A 1914 photograph by Heinrich Hoffmann purports to show Hitler with a toothbrush, but this was probably doctored to serve as Nazi propaganda. Some sources claim Hitler wore the style as early as 1919, but he is more widely thought to have debuted it during the early meetings of the Nazi Party (formed in 1920). 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."
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 before switching to his more familiar pencil moustache. Spanish general Francisco Franco, the dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975, wore the style throughout the 1930s. In a 1936 political cartoon, New Zealand artist David Low portrayed Soviet leader Joseph Stalin forging a toothbrush (along with a regular haircut) to mirror Hitler. The moustache style also garnished some Nazis in Chile c. WWII.
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, but some notable people continued to wear it. American real-estate developer Fred Trump, the father of former U.S. president Donald Trump, sported a variant (exposing his lower philtrum) from as early as 1940 until perhaps 1950, despite beginning to obfuscate his German ancestry during the war. 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, wore a similar style—displaying an explicit toothbrush later in life.
The toothbrush moustache was utilized in popular cartoon works as early as 1947, e.g. in Harry Hanan's pantomime comic Louie, which focuses on the everyday trials of a domestic loser. The 1955 Warner Bros. cartoon The Hole Idea features characters with the style; caricatures of it resembling outgrown nasal hair appear in Rocky and Bullwinkle (1959–1964), Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, and The Pink Panther (1964–1980). The early 1960s American animated sitcom The Jetsons features a character with the moustache—George Jetson's boss, Cosmo Spacely. Additionally, American comic-book artist Steve Ditko's original design for Spider-Man character J. Jonah Jameson includes the style; most later cartoon depictions of the character maintain a version of it.
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) sometimes invoked the style, most notably on a lunatic class of character known as Gumbys, who shout absurd phrases and commonly clap bricks. 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.
Roy Loney, co-founder of American rock band Flamin' Groovies, flaunted a toothbrush moustache on the cover of a 1971 live album. Keyboardist Ron Mael of American band Sparks wore the style (inspired by Chaplin, not Hitler). 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. While watching this, John Lennon reputedly phoned his former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr and told him he was watching Hitler perform (with the lead singer of T. Rex, to boot). Additionally, the cover of the 1974 debut album by American art-rock band the Residents features a graffitied version of Meet the Beatles! with Lennon given a toothbrush moustache.
Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe wore the philtrum-only style from as early as 1976 to as late as 2016.
Amongst other spoofs of Hitler in his work, American Jewish comedian Mel Brooks donned the moustache (as Hitler) in the 1983 music video for "The Hitler Rap". Between 1985 and 1989, the British children's television drama series Grange Hill featured an authoritarian teacher played by Michael Sheard (who also portrayed Hitler in several productions) wearing the toothbrush style.
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.
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 comedyit was Chaplin's first, then Hitler ruined it." Herring wore the moustache for about a week, during which time he was anxious about the judgements he thought were being made of him.
In May 2010, American basketball star Michael Jordan appeared in a Hanes commercial sporting a hybrid of the toothbrush and pencil moustache, 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."
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. 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.
Into the 21st century, the moustache remained a poignant symbol of satire and protest, maligning people in power perceived to be acting like Hitler. 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 wore it. Nevertheless, the toothbrush continued to be widely derided as eliciting the association with Hitler. Even shadows cast down by the nose are generally considered to sully portraits.
Other notable wearers
Europe
Dobri Bozhilov (image)
Dragiša Cvetković (image)
Charles de Gaulle (image)
Douglas Valder Duff (image)
Alois Eliáš (image)
Milan Gutović (image)
Jean-Marie Loret
Ludwig von Mises
Hermann Obrecht (image)
Waldemar Pabst (image)
Wilhelm Pieck
Marcel Pilet-Golaz (image)
Ferdinand Sauerbruch (image)
Walter H. Schottky (image)
Kurt Schuschnigg (image)
Jean Sibelius
Mehmed Spaho (image)
Georgios Tsolakoglou
Adolf Windaus (image)
Yordan Yovkov (image)
Szmul Zygielbojm (image)
Nazi Germany
Karl Maria Demelhuber (image)
Sepp Dietrich (image)
Irmfried Eberl (image)
August Eigruber (image)
Hermann Esser (image)
Gottfried Feder (image)
Edmund Glaise-Horstenau (image)
Ernst-Robert Grawitz
Jakob Grimminger
Erich Koch (image)
Hans Krebs (image)
Hinrich Lohse (image)
Emil Maurice (image)
Artur Phleps (image)
Lothar Rendulic (image)
Gerd von Rundstedt (image)
Fritz Sauckel (image)
Otto Skorzeny (image)
Julius Streicher (image)
Franz Ritter von Epp
Christian Wirth (image)
Kurt Zeitzler (image)
Soviet Union and successor states
Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov (image)
Ivan Bagramyan (image)
Aleksandr Bezymensky (image)
Naftaly Frenkel (image)
Leonid Govorov (image)
Paolo Iashvili (image)
Avetik Isahakyan (image)
Ahmad Javad (image)
Vladimir Karpov
Yevhen Konovalets (image)
Semyon Krivoshein (image)
Bogdan Kobulov
Leonid Kubbel (image)
Grigory Kulik (image)
Genrikh Lyushkov (image)
Vasil Mzhavanadze (image)
Ivan Panfilov (image)
Roman Ivanovich Panin (image)
Pavel Rotmistrov (image)
Minay Shmyryov (image)
Genrikh Yagoda (image)
Georgy Zhukov (image)
State of Israel
Yitzhak Ben-Aharon (image)
Eliyahu Dobkin (image)
Levi Eshkol (image)
Yitzhak Shamir (image)
Moshe Sharett (image)
Zalman Shazar (image)
Yisrael Yeshayahu (image)
Other regions
Subhi Bey Barakat (image)
Siad Barre (image)
Hulusi Behçet (image)
Abdalá Bucaram (image)
Carlos Castillo Armas (image)
Arthur Compton (image)
Charles Culley (image)
Immanuvel Devendrar (image)
Edward M. Fram (image)
Ahmad al-Ghashmi (image)
Sadegh Hedayat (image)
Gustavo Jiménez (image)
Amanullah Khan (image)
Fumimaro Konoe (image)
Frank McGee (image)
Davud Monshizadeh (image)
Ihsan Nuri (image)
Julius Nyerere (image)
Abdul Karim Qassem (image)
Sayyid Qutb (image)
Ramakrishna Ranga Rao (image)
Mahmud Salman (image)
Bakr Sidqi (image)
Rafael Trujillo (image)
See also
Cats That Look Like Hitler
Hitler teapot
List of facial hairstyles
References
Notes
Citations
Adolf Hitler
Charlie Chaplin
Moustache styles
Nazi symbolism