Charlie Chaplin (pictured in 1921 asthe Tramp) thought the moustache gave him a comical appearance.
Thetoothbrush moustache is astyle of moustache in which the sides are vertical (or nearly so), often approximating the width of the nose and visually resembling thebristles on atoothbrush. First becoming popular in the United States in the late 19th century, it later spread toGermany and elsewhere. Comedians such asCharlie Chaplin andOliver Hardy popularized it, reaching its heyday during theinterwar years. By the end ofWorld War II, the association withNazi leaderAdolf Hitler made it unfashionable, leading to it being colloquially termed the "Hitler moustache".
After World War II, toothbrush variants were worn by a small number of notable individuals, e.g. American real-estate developerFred Trump (who wore a split variant), and former president of ZimbabweRobert Mugabe (covering only thephiltrum). Remaining strongly associated with Hitler over subsequent decades, it was usedsatirically in works of popular culture and political imagery, including motion pictures, comic books, and 1970s-erarock and roll.
The toothbrush originally became popular in the late 19th century, in the United States.[1] It was a neat, uniform, low-maintenance moustache that echoed the standardization and uniformity brought on by industrialization, in contrast to the more flamboyant styles typical of the 19th century such as theimperial,walrus,handlebar,horseshoe, andpencil moustaches.[1]
English comic actorCharlie Chaplin was one of the most famous wearers of the toothbrush style. Shortly after wearing a full moustache for his 1914 film debut (Making a Living forSouthern California'sKeystone Studios), he sported a prop toothbrush moustache for his first film asthe Tramp,Mabel's Strange Predicament (thoughKid Auto Races at Venice was the first released).[2][3][4] After selecting a wardrobe, he added a moustache after recalling that producerMack Sennett was expecting him to be older; Chaplin felt that the toothbrush had a comical appearance and was small enough not to hide his expression.[a][6] Within a few years of the Tramp's debut, the look was being copied;[7] by 1920, Chaplin allegedly entered and lost a Chaplinlook-alike contest, having omitted his signature moustache.[8] Chaplin incorporated the noted similarity between the Tramp andNazi Party leaderAdolf Hitler[9][b] in his 1940 filmThe Great Dictator, playing both a Tramp-likeJewish barber and aparody of Hitler.[11] This was Chaplin's final appearance with the moustache.[12]
Prominent American animation producerMax Fleischer wore a toothbrush moustachec. 1919.[13][14] ComedianOliver Hardy also adopted the moustache, using it at least as early as the 1921 filmThe Lucky Dog. American actorFred Kelsey flaunted a toothbrushc. 1925–1939,[15][c] while in the mid-1930sbit-part playerBrooks Benedict thickened his mid-mustache, evoking the toothbrush style (flanked by pencil-thin sides).[16] AlthoughGroucho Marx wore a larger moustache, noveltyGroucho glasses (soldc. 1940s)[17] often elicit the toothbrush. It has been occasionally claimed that American film producerWalt Disney donned a toothbrush,[18][19][20] buthis nose-width moustache lacked the characteristic steep sides.Frank Churchill, composer for a number of Disney films, sometimes styled one.[21]
The toothbrush moustache was introduced to 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 emperorWilhelm II.[1][23] By 1907, enoughGermans were wearing the toothbrush moustache to elicit notice byThe New York Times under the headline "'TOOTHBRUSH' MUSTACHE; German Women Resent Its Usurpation of the [Kaiser moustache]".[1][24] The toothbrush was taken up by German automobile racer and folk heroHans Koeppen in the famous1908 New York to Paris Race, cementing its popularity among young gentry.[1][25] 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 youngPrussian guardsman."[25] By the end ofWorld 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] It was also fashioned by GermanSocial Democratic politician and two-timechancellor of Germany (1920, 1928–1930)Hermann Müller, as well as German serial killerPeter Kürten (1883–1931), who eventually reduced it to only the philtrum.[26][27]
Adolf Hitler in 1923; his appearance was so defined by his moustache that it became unfashionable by the end of WWII.
There are dubious claims that Adolf Hitler began wearing the toothbrush prior to the early 1920s (when it was first reliably documented).[1] His sister-in-law,Bridget Hitler, tenuously claimed that he spent the winter of 1912–13 at her home inLiverpool, England,[1][28] 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][29] A 1914 photograph byHeinrich Hoffmann purports to show Hitler with a toothbrush, but this was probablydoctored to serve asNazi propaganda.[30][31] As evidenced by photographs, Hitler wore the Kaiser moustache as a soldier during WWI.[32] AuthorAlexander Moritz Frey, who served as a medic 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 agas mask;[1][33][34] although Frey's story is unproven, Hitler indeed had a blinding encounter withpoison gas during WWI—causing his hospitalization at the war's very end.[35][d] Other sources claim Hitler wore it as early as 1919.[37][38]
Hitler is generally thought to have incorporated the toothbrush as a trademark of his appearance during the early meetings of the Nazi Party (formed in 1920).[1][39] According to cultural historianRon Rosenbaum, "there is no evidence (though some speculation)" that Hitler modeled his moustache on Charlie Chaplin's.[37][b] In 1923, Hitler's future publicistErnst Hanfstaengl advised Hitler to lose the toothbrush, to which he replied, "If it is not the fashion now, it will be later because I wear it." Hanfstaengl subsequently adopted the style.[40][1] In1932, Hitler wore the toothbrush narrower on bottom.[41] In 1933 (the year Hitler became chancellor), the Nazis began to lambast Chaplin as "non-Aryan" inanti-Semitic propaganda, though Chaplin was not Jewish.[9] According to Hitler's bodyguardRochus Misch, Hitler "loved" Chaplin films, a number of which he watched at histeahouse near theBerghof (builtc. 1936).[42] By the height ofWorld War II, Hitler's toothbrush moustache was such a defining feature of his appearance that it was assumed he would be unrecognizable without it and that he could use this logic to evade capture by theAllies.[43] In her posthumous memoir, Hitler's secretaryChrista Schroeder (d. 1984) claimed that Hitler said in the mid-1920s that the moustache offset his purportedly oversized nose.[44] His nose was notablyengorged only close to the end of WWII.[45][46]
The toothbrush was quite popular in the Soviet Union in the early 20th century. A Russian-born, Chaplin-influenced clown namedKarandash ('the pencil') had a version of it. During World War II, Karandash entertained Soviet troops by mocking theAxis powers.[50][51] Amongst other Soviet military displays, CommanderPavel Dybenko paired the style with his beard and Major GeneralHazi Aslanov wore a variant covering only the philtrum.[52]
In live-action motion pictures, Soviet actorYevgeny Morgunov wore a toothbrush in the 1967 comedy filmKidnapping, Caucasian Style. The live-action British sitcomOn the Buses (1969–1973) features a comedic villain with it, while the British sketch comedy seriesMonty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974) invoked it on occasion, most notably on a lunatic class of characters known asGumbys, who shout stupid phrases and commonly clap bricks;[98] a version appears in 2014'sMonty Python Live (Mostly), and in October 2019 (Python's 50th anniversary), aworld record was attempted in London for the most people dressed as Gumbys.[99] The 1979 Italian filmThe Humanoid features an apparentDarth Vader rip-off with a blocky shadow in the toothbrush region.[100] Amongst other spoofs of Hitler in his work, American Jewish comedianMel Brooks donned the moustache (as Hitler) in the 1983music video for "The Hitler Rap".[l][m]Michael McKean's character briefly wears it in the American mockumentaryThis Is Spinal Tap (1984). Between 1985 and 1989, the British children's television drama seriesGrange Hill featured an authoritarian teacher played byMichael Sheard (who also portrayed Hitler in several productions) with a toothbrush.[23]
In May 2010, American basketball starMichael Jordan appeared in aHanes commercial sporting a hybrid of the toothbrush and pencil moustache,[108] along with asoul patch. This prompted Jordan's friendCharles 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."[109] The moustache and Jordan's use of it are referenced in a 2015Key & Peele sketch.
In the Australian comedy seriesDanger 5 (2012–2015), the titular spies wear a patch with a mustachioed skull during their postwar pursuit of Hitler.[110] A silhouette of the style appears on posters for Hitler-related films such asLook Who's Back (2015) andThe Last Laugh (2016), as well as theHistory Channel investigative seriesHunting Hitler (2015–2018; 2020). In a 2016 episode ofThe Cyanide & Happiness Show, Hitler only shoots off his moustache at the end of WWII, but chokes to death on it decades later. In a 2025 special, Australian-American comedianJim Jefferies said he sometimes fashioned the style privately to mock Hitler,[111] but did notsalute himself.
In 2014, a photograph of Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu and German ChancellorAngela Merkel provoked online amusement due to the former's pointing finger casting a Hitleresque shadow onto the latter's face.[112] Late that year,Southern All Stars frontmanKeisuke Kuwata briefly sported a toothbrush moustache during a televised performance, prompting online speculation as to the reason.[113] In 2025, far-right conspiracy theoristAlex Jones flaunted the style while arguing thatDemocrats are both far too quick tocall others Nazis and also are Nazis.[114][115] Later that same year, while discussinga purported 1954 photograph of Hitler inColombia, podcasterJoe Rogan suggested that it was incredulous that anyone with knowledge of WWII would don the moustache.[116]
Into the 21st century, the moustache remained a poignant symbol of satire and protest, maligning people in power perceived to be acting like Hitler.[117][118][119] The style remains legal in Germany, despite the country'sgeneral ban onNazi symbols.[85] Some facial-hair-themed websites attempted to reclaim it as acceptable to wear again—especially variations diverging from the strictly rectangular version made famous by Hitler—emphasizing that some notable individuals have worn it.[18][120] Nevertheless, the toothbrush continued to be widely derided as eliciting the association with Hitler.[121][122][n][o]
^Chaplin said in 1933: "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. ... It doesn't hide my expression, after all."[5]
^abUpon first seeing Hitler in newsreels, Chaplin assumed that his look alluded to the Tramp.[10]
^TheHistory programThe World Wars embellishes the gas-mask story by omitting the commanding officer; executive producer Stephen David claimed that Hitler actually "shaved the mustache while he was in the hospital".[36]
^According to one FBI report, the allegedly escaped Hitler had shaved the toothbrush, with his exposed philtrum suggesting the appearance ofbuttocks.[63] The Chilean team photographeda ranking man with a slight philtrum toothbrush (lending a buttlike appearance).[61]
^A photograph purportedly taken in 1954 inColombia (northern South America) depicts the supposedly living Hitler with his trademark moustache—possibly only a prop the dictator used in hiding.[64]
^Later in life, Lee trimmed his own moustache nearly down to toothbrush width, ostensibly to keep from tickling his wife.[78]
^Mael maintained a toothbrush throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s.[90][91]
^Further, 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. The band once had a booking to perform on a French television show cancelled due to Mael's moustache.[90] In later years, Mael wore a pencil-variant of the toothbrush.[91]
^Intelligent Life editorTim de Lisle gambols that "a whole generation ... saw Ron Mael's moustache, and ran out of the room, crying, 'Mum! Dad! Hitler's playing the piano on "Top of the Pops"!'"[92]
^In Brooks's 1967 filmThe Producers, an actor (in an intentionally bad play) wears the moustache as the primary visual indicator that he is portraying Hitler.
^A woman wears a toothbrush in one shot of the rap video, as an extension of herNazi chic outfit.[101] Additionally, inSpaceballs (1987), astunt double for Princess Vespa briefly appears with the moustache.[102]
^A participant in theJanuary 6 U.S. Capitol attack had a toothbrush;[123] in 2021, tech companyAmazon changed its app logo following complaints that part of the design—meant to look like tape on a box—resembled a Hitler moustache.[124] In 2022, professional wrestlerNash Carter was fired after a photo surfaced of him wearing a toothbrush and performing a Nazi salute.[125]
^In an episode of the 2023Scooby-Doo spin-offVelma, rain causes one ofFred's fake eyelashes to swim under his nose in a series of events making him resemble the Nazi dictator.[126]
^Chaplin, Charlie; Hayes, Kevin (2005).Charlie Chaplin: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi. p. 15.ISBN978-1578067022.
^Chaplin, Charles (1964). My Autobiography, p. 154. "I was undecided whether to look old or young, but remembering Sennett had expected me to be a much older man, I added a small mustache, which I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression."
^"The Opportunist".Hitler. Season 1. Episode 1. 2016. 22 minutes in.American Heroes Channel.Hitler, caught on camera here at a right-wing rally in May 1919 ...
^An official document dated 1921shows Hitler with a traditional moustache. A very early depiction of him with the toothbrush isa photograph from c. 1923.
^Rowling, J. K. (2000). "Bagman and Crouch".Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.... his narrow toothbrush moustache looked as though he trimmed it using a slide rule.
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