Pencil Mustache

[Fletch]

Mal Hallett, Boston's biggest name band leader.

 

[dhermann1]

Well, what actually got me started on this was this pic from the "Best Hat Movies" thread. I thought the guy with the mustache was Sam Levene, but it ain't.

I think there's also a shot of Ward Bond in the background of one of the other shots in that group.
Anyhow, this is what good old Sam Levene (The Thin Man, Nathan Detroit on B'way, etc., etc.) looked like:
http://www.mmgcollectibles.com/images/109/1095407f.jpg
The former mayor of Buffalo, Frank Sedita, has a pretty good skinny 'stache:
http://freenet.buffalo.edu/bah/h/mayors/4/source/16.html
But you got a point with Sonny Liston, too. Anyway, I just think the skinny mustache (pencil mustache if you want to get technical) is a severely overlooked appurtenance of the well dressed Golden Age dude. I mean look at all the mens' fashion pix of the day. Sadly, we equate it with sleaziness nowadays. I just started growing another one, and when it was about 10 days old, I was shaving in the shower Monday morning, I thoughtlessly started at my accustomed spot on my upper lip and POW! Oh, no! I shaved off my mustache! I'm starting it again next weekend.
So, any other candidates?

 

[BJBAmerica]

I'm with Thomas G......My vote goes to David Niven:

 

[Phog Allen]

It has to be Errol Flynn.

Regards, Todd

 

[Feraud]

Gable!

dhermann1, you have to post a picture of the 'stache when it grows in.

 

[Teacher]

I'm just not a pencil mustache fan. I understand the aesthetic -- the trim, neat, '30s and '40s look -- but it's not something I could go for.

 

[Flivver]

The pencil moustache may be the ultimate vintage "accessory" for men. Nothing evokes the golden era better than a guy wearing a thin mustache. Kind of the same sophisticated effect a lady achieves when she wears seamed stockings.

The thin mustache appears to have been most popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Why even Bing Crosby sported one for a short while in the late 1920s. By the 1940s, the style began to wane. By the 1950s, the only men who wore pencil moustaches were the older guys who had originally grown them back in the 20s or 30s. It was very unusual to see a younger guy wearing one in the 1950s.

There seem to be an endless variety of thin mustache styles. In the 1920s, a popular style was the waxed-end variety worn by Mal Hallett (from Fletch's post). This style was very popular with the more stylish college boys (I suspect because their flapper girlfriends liked the style). In the 1930s, the most popular style appears to have been the Clark Gable version (what guy didn't want to look like Gable in the 1930s).

But today, mustaches in general seem to be very out of style...particularly the big bushy style favored by the Baby Boomers in the 1970s. Maybe the Fedora Lounge gents can be instrumental in bringing back the sophisticated thin moustache as a new look that today's young guys have never seen.

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

Going for a real one

Sorry gents. I figure if you're going to wear a moustache, wear a real one.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Sorry gents. I figure if you're going to wear a moustache, wear a real one.

I read once a pencil moustache was considered the most masculine, because most men can grow enough hair to feature some wild, bushy something, but you have to have a strong and dense growth if you cut the hairs so short on such a narrow band, and people still see it.

(For the records, I think I don't qualify - not dense enough, kind of gap in the middle, and anyway, I nearly look like a have a moustache even when I'm clean-shaven, because the dark roots show.)

.

 

[imoldfashioned]

William Powell is definitely the tops, but after that I'd vote for Flynn with Gable close behind.

I wish this style of mustache was more popular, I see it so rarely.

 

[Fletch]

But today, mustaches in general seem to be very out of style...particularly the big bushy style favored by the Baby Boomers in the 1970s.

"Style" might not be the word, exactly, but the neatly trimmed bush style today is an emblem for a certain kind of conservative, workingclass masculinity. It's popular with uniformed police or firefighters, whose hair styles are more regulated than they once were. Think also of right-of center political commentators like G. Gordon Liddy or Cal Thomas.

 

[Phog Allen]

William Powell is definitely the tops, but after that I'd vote for Flynn with Gable close behind.

I wish this style of mustache was more popular, I see it so rarely.

How could I have forgotten William Powell?!!! He was super cool. I might break this into two categories when I think of the style. First up would be the more adult or mature image of William Powell or David Niven. Class, class, class. The second category would be more toward the rake or adventurer. Flynn is absolute tops here. A second would go to Carey Elwes. Yep, he might not have acted in the Golden Age but he could have easily. His Flynn like personage and accompanying thin mustache in The Princess Bride was right on image. Neat topic guys. It makes me want to grow the thin mustache.

Regards, Todd

 

[dhermann1]

Angie the Ox

I was looking for the digital original of the shot, but all I have is a scan of a crummy print on an envelope. Anyhoo, this is yours truly as Angie the Ox, in a community theater production of Guys and Dolls couple of years ago. I only had two lines, but about five of my ties were featured. Here's one mean lookin' mug wid a cooool 'stache, don't ya think?

I'll try to get the original.

 

[Spitfire]

A new contender:

Leo Mathiesen - Famous danish jazzbandleader from the 40s.

 

[Smithy]

Robert Stanford Tuck - Battle of Britain "ace", and a slight Errol Flynn lookalike

 

[imoldfashioned]

Robert Stanford Tuck - Battle of Britain "ace", and a slight Errol Flynn lookalike

I just googled him--fascinating man and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw he survived the war.

 

[HungaryTom]

Pencil moustache - in Hungary

He was the most popular magician in Hungary:

Pencil moustache and dandysm were his trademark-when pencil was out of fashion too.

Rodolfo (*1911-1987)

http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kép:Rodolfo2.jpg

Rodolfo coin:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Hungarian-M...oin-token_W0QQitemZ220133017666QQcmdZViewItem

Old Hungarian Magician Rodolfo magic coin token.Size 33mm/dia In excellent condition."Watch my hands, because I'm cheating" - he said, and one wonder came after the other. Unnoticeably nipped small objects from the pockets of the audience, read their minds, and used more then 5000 magic tricks. He was the greatest Hungarian magician known, and was mentioned with the greatest magicians of the century in a book in the USA. Rodolfo was born in Budapest as the son of a Nagyfuvaros street typesetter on May 16th 1911. His parents named him Rezso Gács. A Chinese bead vendor taught the young, "marveling at the world", "have a finger in every pie" kid his first magic trick. The next day, while he was showing off his fresh knowledge to his friends, he caught the eye of the famous Hungarian actor Arpad Odry as he was walking by. Arpad Odry, who himself liked magic tricks and by the way happened to be the President of the Hungarian Magicians Association took the young kid with the skilled hands under his wings. The training of the artist who become world famous under the name of Rodolfo was long and extensive. For years they only took up the basics and have not stepped forward to the advanced knowledge. He started his career in 1930 at the Capital City Grand Circus, Budapest, and the news of his talent soon arrived to foreign lands where he also became well know. He entertained audiences in London, Lausanne, Paris and Berlin among other cities. Later he thought his knowledge at the Artist Academy and other renowned institutions. He also wrote a book on his magic art and have made a magic kit that become many children's favorite game. Magic wasn't only a career for him but a life form. Even after the age of 70 he still practiced 4 hours every day in front of a 6 feet mirror, making sure that every movement was perfect. He was a humble artist - and nothing proves that more than the fact that he performed with the same perfection to the poorest audiences just as on the shiny stages and famous places. He practiced for every performance like his life depended on it. During the world war it seemed like he was a wizard as he was always able to get smile on the faces of crippled solders in the army hospitals walking from bed to bed. But his life was not wizardry but hard work, willpower, and struggle that at the end resulted in the magic, the miracle. His creed was, that: "The artist who is satisfied with himself, is not an artist anymore. He is dead."

 

[Smithy]

I just googled him--fascinating man and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw he survived the war.

His biography "Fly for your Life" is excellent if you want to learn more about him.

 

[Fletch]

A new contender:

Leo Mathiesen - Famous danish jazzbandleader from the 40s.

Take it easy boy boy
Let the others do the work for you...
The anthem of the Scandinavian social welfare state.

 

[Smithy]

Take it easy boy boy
Let the others do the work for you...
The anthem of the Scandinavian social welfare state.

Surely Trygdekontor haven't got such a jazzy motto now...