The Fall of the Moustache

[LizzieMaine]

In the '70s, even square old Dick Tracy got on the moustache bandwagon --

(His police colleagues held him down and shaved it off by force.)

 

[ChiTownScion]

I had a beard back in the days when I first got into the Hobby (Civil War reenacting). This was about 1994.

 

[ChiTownScion]

And about the same time I posed with my son- clowning around to Mom's amusement, as usual. He turns 28 tomorrow, so I really feel ancient.

The beard/ moustache was popular with ladies who knew me socially: Dear Wife said that it was "like kissing a horse blanket," and they made me look too old. So, they were shaved off and never returned.

 

[Fading Fast]

In the '70s, even square old Dick Tracy got on the moustache bandwagon --

(His police colleagues held him down and shaved it off by force.)

I hope you are kidding - that looks terrible as if Gable and Tracy had a kid together.

 

[Fading Fast]

Now that I think of it, with his face filled out a bit like it is now, Selleck would make an excellent movie Stalin. Somebody get on that.

I met Tom Selleck a few years ago. He is one big dude. I'm 6'1" and he towered over me, also, he is a big boned, big framed guy. Even if he wasn't a movie star - you'd notice him in any room.

From what I've read, Stalin was a short, stocky, compact guy, but also one that could command a room with his presence. Still, I don't see Selleck playing Stalin.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I hope you are kidding - that looks terrible as if Gable and Tracy had a kid together.

That's entirely legit. Chester Gould seemed to be losing his finer marbles in the '70s, and there was all kinds of weird "mod" stuff going on in the strip. Tracy even got a new sidekick, mod-type cop "Groovy Grove." Groovy also had a bizarre moustache to go with his creepy, androgynous eyes.

Even as a little kid, I knew that this was wrong.

 

[MisterCairo]

And about the same time I posed with my son- clowning around to Mom's amusement, as usual. He turns 28 tomorrow, so I really feel ancient.

The beard/ moustache was popular with ladies who knew me socially: Dear Wife said that it was "like kissing a horse blanket," and they made me look too old. So, they were shaved off and never returned.

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I mean this as a compliment - you were really rocking the Wolfman Jack look there!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Uh. Mr. Selleck? There's a Mr. Stalin on the line? He says something about "who is this kulak who thinks he can expropriate my moustache??"

" Hey, schmucks.....I was there first !."

 

[Fading Fast]

That's entirely legit. Chester Gould seemed to be losing his finer marbles in the '70s, and there was all kinds of weird "mod" stuff going on in the strip. Tracy even got a new sidekick, mod-type cop "Groovy Grove." Groovy also had a bizarre moustache to go with his creepy, androgynous eyes.

Even as a little kid, I knew that this was wrong.

That's a hard one to figure out - what the heck were they thinking. My best guess, the late '60s was a massive explosion to the status quo and, in the '70s, the status quo was desperately trying to either pick up the pieces and put it all back together (good luck with that) or adapt to the new world, which as this shows, most didn't have a clue how to do.

Think of all those standard cop / PI shows like Mannix or Cannon where they'd have a, basically, pre-late-'60s hero grow out his sideburns or interact in some "cool" way with a hippie or flower child, etc. - even have him sprinkle in some words like "groovy" or "man" or switch out of his sport coat and tie and wear a cardigan or turtleneck now and then (or in the closing scene when he was "relaxing" at home or at a restaurant or bar). I didn't have the framework to understand it like I do now, but as you said, even as a kid, you knew something was "off" or odd about it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's the same thing that was going on in the 90s when suddenly you started to hear aging boomer men with spray tans trying to spout hip-hop slang -- my old radio boss and his ridiculous "Yo, whut it izzzzzzzzzz" every morning. When a generation begins to sense that it is becoming passe, it will go to great lengths to try and seem relevant. The early '70s were the golden age of this in popular culture -- too many aging entertainment figures of the passing generation were desperately trying to seem "with it" without much more than a Sunday-supplement sense of what "it" was. I remember seeing Benny Goodman, of all people, on TV at some point in the 70s with hair down to his collar and big fuzzy sideburns, and feeling really embarassed for him. At least he didn't grow a big moustache.

 

[Zombie_61]

It's the same thing that was going on in the 90s when suddenly you started to hear aging boomer men with spray tans trying to spout hip-hop slang -- my old radio boss and his ridiculous "Yo, whut it izzzzzzzzzz" every morning...

In this part of the world, one of the worst and most prevalent examples of this was the series of "Wassup" Budweiser commercials that began in 1999.

Almost everyone I knew at the time began using this specific "greeting", and it was a little surreal to answer the phone at work and have a customer greet me in this manner. I was guilty of this myself on occasion, but I would only reciprocate if someone else initiated it; it was often worth a laugh that would lighten a particularly miserable day. Fortunately it died off as soon as Budweiser, whether intentionally or unintentionally, began parodying their own ad campaign by producing commercials that showed just how ridiculous it was.

 

[SGTROCK]

Even frank Sinatra succumbed with his Beatle song versions and cheesy hairpiece/sideburns. Respect to the WWII generation who kept the class of their generation. Something completely ridiculous when an older gentleman tries to emulate the poor taste of contemporaries who dismiss the previous generation in a petulant classless temper tantrum.

 

[scottyrocks]

'80s mustaches are passe in the way that '70s leisure suits are. Both out of date, and just a little bit creepy now.

Of course, this does not apply for everyone. Some of the handlebars and other extended staches are unusual enough to be cool in their own right. And guys like Selleck? He'll always look good with his trademark stache.

Famous guys with staches either defined the look, or the stache had a contributing factor their popularity, even if a little.

Who knows - maybe goatees and the overall unshaven look will be looked upon with derision in another 10 to 20 years.

 

[SGTROCK]

Visiting my Grandparents in West Virginia mountains in the 1970s it was common knowledge that a person with a mustache represented a city slicker and could not be trusted. Full beard was okay or clean shaven but nothing in between. The only way to pull off a stache is with very dark black hair hence why the Mexicans revolutionaries looked so natural with one.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Who knows - maybe goatees and the overall unshaven look will be looked upon with derision in another 10 to 20 years.

Goatees existed in one form or another long before their semi-recent resurgence in popularity, and I suspect they'll continue to exist long after we're all gone and forgotten. Except for actors doing so for a role, the "overall unshaven" look--particularly when it's obvious that the person is wearing it deliberately and not simply because they haven't had time to shave or are taking a break from shaving for whatever reason--has always met with derision. As Keith Richards commented when George Micheal adopted this look, "Shave and go home."

 

[ChiTownScion]

I mean this as a compliment - you were really rocking the Wolfman Jack look there!

Saw him in person! He was getting off of a red eye from LA when I was at the airport to pick up a relative. Poor guy looked so exhausted, I didn't dare go up and tell him how much I enjoyed his work.

 

[Willybob]

If you can grow a big thick bushy mustache, I SAY JUST DO IT!

Don't make a decision about that choice based on the lame opinions of those around you. Who cares what others think. They make disparaging assessment without any logical thought but instead pressure you to do something their way because of how some small aspect of society "Feels" about it. Resist I say, and grow that mustache long and thick. Unless of course you don't want to. Then don't. Societal pressure is a bad thing and must be resisted. Its what makes you feel good that counts. Unless the pressure comes from your wife. Then you better do what your told.

I grew my first mustache and beard senior year in high schoot. A little thin and fuzzy but workable. As I got older it thickened up and got darker. I ditched the beard and kept the mustache when I started applying for jobs. four years after high school. I accepted a job that required I look high school age so for 11 months I kept it off. That was the first and last time I did not have a mustache. That was 32 years ago.

Iv'e had a full beard or two over the years but my wife told me It made me look too much like my brother so it stays off now. She was never fond of my brother.

I was told early in my career that the reason cops keep mustaches is so they can play with it while talking to a suspect, thereby having the hands at the ready if the suspect decides to throw a punch. What say you Lieutenant Dangle?

Iv'e allowed my mustache get so long that I could pull it down to the bottom of my chin. And yes I have waxed it. It's kinda like a guy with thinning hair doing a comb over. Add a little wax, comb it to sides and Bam!, its three times thicker. Don't even try to tell me Tom Selleck doesn't wax. Beside wax keeps it out of my milk and keeps it from getting caught in a soda can pull tab. Ouch! No one has ever made a 1980s or porn star like comment to me about mine.

I'm not ashamed of my Mustache, and you shouldn't be either.

Some people just have to have a mustache. Take Sam Elliott. Thats the only way a mustache is supposed to be... unless of course its not for you. Then Its not. No pressure.


Mr Elliott's mustache is great. But have you seen him without it? He's got this long upper lip that comes to a point in the middle. He looks like a turtle. He's got to hide that lip. He'll probably hunt me down and beat me up now.


Now about those hipster dudes. Thats another story.

Oh wait. Hipster's are COOL.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Take Sam Elliott. Thats the only way a mustache is supposed to be...

" Non, non, non, mon ami.....zis iz ze wey a moostache shood be"

 

[LizzieMaine]

 

[ChiTownScion]

Poor Wilhelm. I always have maintained that if Princess Victoria had enjoyed a more healthy birthing procedure and he's not sustained all of that pain in his childhood that came from his withered arm, he might have enjoyed a more pleasant personality. A nice guy- like his brother, Prince Heinrich: the world might have been spared a lot of anguish.