Talk:Toothbrush moustache

Hitler's mustache

Who was first wearing this type of moustache? I always thought Chaplin used this style to ridicule Hitler not the other way round. See "This moustache is most famous for having been worn by film star Charlie Chaplin and later by dictator Adolf Hitler." It would be nice to see some facts :-)

• Chaplin was wearing his moustache in character on film as far back as 1914, long before Hitler became a public figure. I also rather doubt that Hitler chose his mustache after Chaplin. It is true that Chaplin used the similarity to great effect in The Great Dictator.--Pharos 09:19, 13 March 2006 (UTC)
• Hitler did choose his mustache after Chaplin; on a TV show featuring several well-known comedians (dead and alive) they said Hitler was a fan of Chaplin and deliberately shaved his mustache in the same way. Jerkov 20:46, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

• I've also read that Hitler deliberately modelled his moustache after Chaplin's. Can't recall exactly where I read this, but it was likely a primary source such as one of Albert Speer's books. In any case, Hitler was known to have been a fan of Chaplin—he had a print of The Great Dictator (which was otherwise banned in Axis territories) sent to him for his own private viewing. It's recorded that he saw the film twice. —Psychonaut 22:31, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

HItler's fascination with "The Little Tramp" during his days in Vienna, to the point of copying the moustache and trenchcoat, etc, is talked about in William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rifter0x0000 (talk) 18:15, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

It's very likely that Hitler modelled his mustache after Gottfried Feder. --84.149.249.32 02:25, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

I have always been under the impression that the style was not unusual in the 1920s and 1930s. In photos from the late 1920s and early 1930s, I've seen quite a few moustaches that look like less-bushy versions (i.e. narrow but not as dense); the version made famous by Adolf Hitler, Charlie Chaplin, and Oliver Hardy is denser/bushier than most. Brianlucas 23:12, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

It's been reported in The Telegraph and UKTV History that Hitler wore a fuller moustache prior to 1915, and had to trim the ends off so it would fit under the gas masks worn by troops in the First World War. Apparently he left the bushier bit in the middle intact. Brianlucas 23:12, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Dennis M Giangreco, a noted military historian at the United States Army's Command and General Staff College says (in reaction to that Telegraph item):[1]

I have no doubt that this tale will gain currency simply by being repeated a lot, but moderately trimmed mustaches extending fully across the upper lips did not impede the wearing of WWI gas masks ... The shape of the fuzz on Hitler’s face is simply his personal fashion statement.

Read the whole thing for more detail. Cheers, CWC 14:26, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Cultural implications

It would be interesting to know - although it is a probably unknowable now - what a toothbrush moustache meant at the end of the nineteen century, and in the early part of the twentieth century. How common was it? What did it say about the person wearing the moustache? Why did Chaplin and Hitler choose to wear such moustaches? Were they common amongst poor people, were they a sign of self-discipline, was there a military regulation that favoured them over other moustache styles? From what I have read Hitler was ridiculed in Britain for his moustache, so it was presumably a Central European rather than British style. Time magazine mentions Gottfried Feder's moustache in [this article] from 1941, so presumably by that time the style was notorious in the US as well. Has anybody written on this kind of topic, that we could reference? -Ashley Pomeroy 22:39, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't think the moustache meant anything. It was probably just a random trend because a lot of people seemed to of had them in the early twentieth century. Chaplin just chose a random moustache style with his clothes when he went into films in 1914 and Hitler adopted the moustache because people told him he looked like Chaplin. I know Hitler thought Chaplin was Jewish and didn't really like him (although he thought The Great Dictator was pretty funny), but he thought the moustache would endear him to people. The British probably ridiculed Hitler for his moustache because they needed to make fun of Hitler somehow.

Before his rise to power Hitler was ordered to trim his mustache in order for gas mask issued to the German soldiers would fit properly.

Removed some

I just removed James Joyce from the list on this page, since the man had no toothbrush moustache at all! -The Bold Guy- 12:04, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm surprised to see that this article is relatively unaffected by vandalism. I half-expected to see George W. Bush, Barack Obama, etc. in the list of people wearing this type of mustache. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit disappointed, though. :P 76.95.40.6 (talk) 08:13, 27 May 2009 (UTC)