Chaplin Mustache in Modern Day Society?

[Undertow]

Waaaaaaaaa


the hideous little moustache has been causing irritation way back then, it's nothing new!



from The Coshocton Tribune Dec 7 1920

Wow, that's ridiculous. I should hope society has improved to the extent that a judge can't throw someone out of their courtroom simply based on a personal distaste for particular facial hair styles.

On the other hand, I guess I've heard many stories to the contrary.

 

[Bugsy]

Hi,

This is a question that has been floting in the
back of my mind for a long time and I just
decieded to ask it:

What would you think the reaction of someone would be
if they saw someone in modern day society with a chaplin
mustache/ Toothbrush Mustache? (and they had
a fedora, homburg, or even bowler on with a suit and
other dressy items on?)

The Hitler image is so ingrained by this time, that a toothbrush mustache would probably be misunderstood, and could possibly offend.

 

[Derek Cavin]

As a joke I suggested to the guys on my softball team that I sport a toothbrush mustache for the last game of the season (and mine with the team). They all laughed, but thought it would be in poor taste (so did I of course).

 

[ssfilez]

What a wonderful imagination you have! Seeing a man sporting the "Chaplin-look" may probably have me staring, laughing, then I will eventually forget about it. If that person wishes to look that way then, by all means, let him be.

 

[Effingham]

Fortunately, Stalin didn't ruin the bushier, full mustache. Although lots of porn stars in the seventies tried to do so. (I think there's a reason it's called a pornstache.)

I kinda wish the pencil-thin upper lip mustache (think Errol Flynn or Nick Charles) would come back.

 

[Yeps]

I kinda wish the pencil-thin upper lip mustache (think Errol Flynn or Nick Charles) would come back.

I tried my best at that. Didn't work very well. I looked rather silly. Who knows, I will try again, maybe it will work better.

 

[S_M_Cumberworth]

Ron Mael of the band Sparks wore a toothbrush mo right through the 70s and 80s. I don't get the impression anyone ever thought he was a Hitler-lover, just that he was an oddball.

You beat me to it. But I've also got pics:

I also think he pulls it off ok. But perhaps it's because of his oddball persona, like DAJE said. During live performances, he would play stiffly and without expression.

Sparks actually jokes about it in a song, titled, appropriately enough, 'Moustache':

I tried a handlebar design
My Fu Manchu was real fine
My Ronald Colman made 'em blink
My Pancho Villa made 'em think
But when I trimmed 'em real small
My Jewish friends would never call

 

[Nick D]

I tried my best at that. Didn't work very well. I looked rather silly. Who knows, I will try again, maybe it will work better.

Facial hair can continue to mature into your 30s, so don't give up hope.

 

[scottyrocks]

Fortunately, Stalin didn't ruin the bushier, full mustache. Although lots of porn stars in the seventies tried to do so. (I think there's a reason it's called a pornstache.)

I kinda wish the pencil-thin upper lip mustache (think Errol Flynn or Nick Charles) would come back.

The Hitler mustache became very popular in that industry, although grown in a different spot. On members of the other gender.

 

[Undertow]

You beat me to it. But I've also got pics:

Wow, he kinda looks like Daniel Day Lewis here, no?

 

[Yeps]

Facial hair can continue to mature into your 30s, so don't give up hope.

That is what I am hoping for. Then again, I do not have anything against my upper lip, and don't mind leaving it unadorned. I would just like to have options.

 

[Charlie Huang]

I rather despise the Nazis for using the swastika as their symbol. The swastika has been a symbol of luck in the East for millenia and now it is rather tainted and raped. The symbol is still used in the Far East but you can't get away with wearing it in the West regardless of the cultural/religious context unless you want to risk being called a Nazi or offending someone unintentionally, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

 

[Yeps]

I rather despise the Nazis for using the swastika as their symbol.

Of all the things to despise nazis for... I kid.

 

[Charlie Huang]

Of all the things to despise nazis for... I kid.

It would be rather foolish to suggest that I don't despise them for [ list the usual things to despise the Nazis for here ] by default...

 

[Stearmen]

Schicklgruber

I rather despise the Nazis for using the swastika as their symbol. The swastika has been a symbol of luck in the East for millenia and now it is rather tainted and raped. The symbol is still used in the Far East but you can't get away with wearing it in the West regardless of the cultural/religious context unless you want to risk being called a Nazi or offending someone unintentionally, etc.

We have a show here in the States called Outsourced, the main character is an American sent to India to oversee the phone bank in India, they sell novelty items, so lots of cultural miscommunication. One episode was during Diwali Day, the main character comes in to the office in time to see the workers rasing a Swastika pennant over his desk, the head Indian is telling the others "higher, higher" while using his right hand to gesture. The American of course freaks out over it! Crass, but funny. Technically, the mustache on the lip or other parts should be called a Schicklgruber! Hitler's father changed his name.

 

[S_M_Cumberworth]

We have a show here in the States called Outsourced, the main character is an American sent to India to oversee the phone bank in India, they sell novelty items, so lots of cultural miscommunication. One episode was during Diwali Day, the main character comes in to the office in time to see the workers rasing a Swastika pennant over his desk, the head Indian is telling the others "higher, higher" while using his right hand to gesture. The American of course freaks out over it! Crass, but funny. Technically, the mustache on the lip or other parts should be called a Schicklgruber! Hitler's father changed his name.

That's a shame. Had he stayed 'Schicklgruber', a lot of crises might have been averted. It would be difficult to build a movement with a name like that. People simply wouldn't listen to you.

Can you imagine? 'Heil Schicklgruber!' It just isn't catchy enough.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

Have anyone ever seen a man with such a mustache after WWII? Unfortunately the toothbrush mustache has become the number one recognized feature of Hitler, i mean, you could make a toothbrush mustache on any stick-figure and everyone would think Hitler.

Can this be considered a Chaplin/Toothbrush mustache? If so, pictures taken between 1972 and 1975:

 

[Edward]

"Chaplin" moustache

No. James71 nailed it. These were ruined in May, 1945 for white dudes. Well, really, they were ruined in January 1933, weren't they?

In retrospect, yes, but it took a while before everyone caught on...

Honstly, the image of hitler is so ingrained into western society that I believe it will be at least a few generations until its acceptable again. Once everyone alive now is a generation or more gone. It wont be until WW2 is considered ancient history.

After all, lots of hollywood stars sported the Caesar hair cut.

Good Luck Emblem

I agree about the Swastika also! Our own Colorado Air National Guard used the Swastika as their unit emblem before the war, to honor Native American tribes of the South West! Now it is the Cougher. Also, Raoul Lufbery of the Escadrille Lafayette, Spa-124, had the upright version in three positions on one of his Spad VIIs! Now, in any form it is considered a NAZI insignia.

Tha'ts the truly fascinating thing about the swastika as a symbol: its independent occurrence in indigenous cultures that couldn't possibly have been aware of each other.

 

[Benny Holiday]

"Tha'ts the truly fascinating thing about the swastika as a symbol: its independent occurrence in indigenous cultures that couldn't possibly have been aware of each other."

The swastika is a variant of the cross symbol, which goes as far back as ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization itself, where it was used as a symbol of sun worship and can be seen on many wall carvings and stelae from the ancient world. It spread through the ancient east and was still going strong in Roman times, there are even mosaics depicting gladiators with the cross surrounded by a sun circle in the sky above the gladiators.

 

[PeterGunnLives]

"Tha'ts the truly fascinating thing about the swastika as a symbol: its independent occurrence in indigenous cultures that couldn't possibly have been aware of each other."

The swastika is a variant of the cross symbol, which goes as far back as ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization itself, where it was used as a symbol of sun worship and can be seen on many wall carvings and stelae from the ancient world. It spread through the ancient east and was still going strong in Roman times, there are even mosaics depicting gladiators with the cross surrounded by a sun circle in the sky above the gladiators.

The 2006 movie "One Night with the King," an adaptation of the Biblical story of Esther, had the evil genocidal villain and his posse using decorative swastika symbols, something that would only be seen as an overt display of evil to modern, Western audiences. That just made me go

I tried my best at that. Didn't work very well. I looked rather silly. Who knows, I will try again, maybe it will work better.

When the topic of mustaches comes up in my circle of acquaintances, most seem to agree that a pencil mustache looks "creepy" or "gross" for some reason.