Thursday, June 9, 2011

Ode to A Pencil Thin Mustache


Okay, I admit it, those idiosyncratic pencil mustaches are an acquired taste. No actor worth his salt would dare have one today. (At least none that I can name off the top of my head.) He'd be laughed off the red carpet. When you do spot a little furry line under an aquiline nose, above sultry etched lips, you think: must be for a movie role. Yup. These little attention getters have definitely gone out of fashion. Let's face it, a pencil thin mustache goes with slicked back hair, a sleek pin-striped suit and a nice pair of correspondent shoes but maybe not so much with t-shirt, baggy shorts and flip flops.

Although Johnny Depp could probably carry that look off. (I think he could probably carry anything off. Reason why I'm thinking he will make something special of THE THIN MAN once they find the right person to play Nora. The trick to playing period, I'm convinced, is to appear as if you are NOT playing period. To look as if this is naturally how you dress.  No matter what is called for, you must appear as if this your  every day way of dressing. I'm convinced if you master that, you can wear anything on screen. Reason why it all works for Depp.)

I pine. I pine for the tonsorial splendor ot the 1930's and 40's. Back then, a pencil thin mustache could belong to the most dastardly of sleazy villains or the most dapper of dashing heroes. The pencil thin showed no favorites though it did, in certain cases, show a marked preference for the sneer. And of course, dark hair was essential. I mean, a blond pencil thin mustache had no drama, no oomph, no exclamation, no 'look at me' intent.

Back then, who had the best examples of pencil thin panache? Feast your eyes on the following:



Gilbert Roland. The most elegant of Latin screen legends. Not quite a major star. But not quite a nobody either. He was, to my way of thinking, the man who never aged. In fact, as the years passed, he only got better and better looking.Obviously he'd found the fountain of youth and took a sip or two.(Or he kept a portrait up in the attic which did his aging for him.) And far as I know, he always kept his mustache.


William Powell. Remembered for his insouciant portrayal of Nick Charles in THE THIN MAN movies. He was born to play the dashing, dapper, martini guzzling, wise-cracking detective opposite Myrna Loy as his lucky, indulgent wife, Nora. If he ever shaved his lip, I don't remember it.


Robert Donat. One of the few actors who looked just as good without a mustache as with. Though he did appear a bit more dapper with. Remembered most, I suppose, for his role as an innocent man on the run from a bunch of dangerous spies AND the cops in Hitchcock's early classic, THE 39 STEPS, a film in which Donat was the epitome of cool under pressure.


Clark Gable. The King. A super star who basically kept his sexy take-charge persona from beginning to end. While he did, occasionally, appear mustache-less, I don't believe it ever worked very well for him. Without that furry lip, Gable appeared oddly vulnerable and ill at ease.I think that mustache gave him strength, i.e. the Samson complex.


Basil Rathbone. Another actor who could appear with or without. Though he tended to play the villain when he was with 'stache. As Sherlock Holmes he was without and it did nothing to rob him of his strength. He had a finely boned face and an intelligent brow, that always helped when he appeared without.


Vincent Price. Now here was an actor who, without his mustache, appeared on screen as weak, lily-livered and in general need of being smacked about. It was the most remarkable transformation. Add the mustache and he was suddenly in command of a situation or at least able to give the impression that he was. My favorite Vincent Price role? The sleazy, oily, Shelby Carpenter in LAURA - sans mustache.


Errol Flynn. Another superstar,  but one whose looks didn't hold up as well as Gable's. While he was 'in'  looks he was magnificent on screen, mostly with mustache. Though in THE SEA HAWK (his first starring role) and CAPTAIN BLOOD, two early swashbuckling films in which he dazzled - he appeared without the 'stache. Later, the mustache became part of his dashing, on-screen persona.


Warren Williams. Never a huge star, he often played business types, detectives, lawyers (Perry Mason) and other assorted stalwart men with chiseled profiles. I am a big fan of Williams, mostly because of his role in GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 where he played opposite Joan Blondell and his role as Julius Caesar in CLEOPATRA opposite Claudette Colbert.


Ronald Colman. A Golden Age star with, at one time, the most recognizable speaking voice in films. Colman had that inchoate, elegant air of the movie-star down pat - but to me, he always looked better with the 'stache than without. THE PRISONER OF ZENDA is my favorite of his many films. Though LOST HORIZON comes in a close second.


Tom Conway. Brother to the more famous actor, George Sanders. I will always remember Conway as the lead in The Falcon B-movie mysteries in which he 'literally' took over for Sanders who originated the role. And of course, who can forget  Conway as the oh-so-elegantly sleazy psychiatrist in CAT PEOPLE? Not me.


And finally, have you ever met anyone who didn't like David Niven and his snappy little mustache? Hardly remember ever seeing him without - it served him very well in a long and varied career. A man and actor who made being a bon-vivant on screen, a good thing. LOVED him as Colonel Race in Agatha Christie's DEATH ON THE NILE and as the bemused, self-important drama critic in PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES with Doris Day, and as the world traveller (by balloon) with Shirley MacLaine in AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS. And even when he went strictly dramatic, i.e. in GUNS OF NAVARONE or playing opposite Kim Hunter in Michael Powell's wartime fantasy, STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN, he was entirely believable. (Without 'stache' if I'm remembering correctly which is always a chancy proposition at best.) You would never think an actor with such a specific look could be so utterly fabulous is so many varied roles. But you'd be wrong.

23 comments:

  1. I think the pencil thin mustache is swell, and I can't decide which one is best among all those handsome chaps. Tonsorial splendor, oh, yeah. Show me a guy in a suit.

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  2. An embarrassment of riches, Jacqueline. A virtual embarrassment. ;)

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  3. First of all, I love pencil thin mustaches. There is something rather sexy about them. I think it's what made Powell and Price as good looking as they were.

    Errol Flynn though is in a whole other league for me. There is no way that man ever looked bad, but he was down right hot with the mustache. Oh so sexy.

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  4. Hello Yvette:
    Now who could resist all of these splendid 'matinée idols' with or without their moustaches? But perhaps to know who they are is to 'date' us [and we think of ourselves as Peter Pan!].

    Happy Friday!

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  5. What a funny coincidence! I was recently watching some old Dick Van Dyke Show episodes (with Mary Tyler Moore) on Netflix (I could watch them all day long!) and the funniest side splitting episode is the one where Laura gets her toe stuck in the faucet in a hotel bathroom! Rob is on the other side of the locked door painting a David Niven mustache on his face with Laura's eyebrow pencil - only it's indelible ink! It's hilarious! They go on an on about debonair David Niven and his mustache!!! You've got to see it if you haven't already. One of my favorite episodes!

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  6. Of course two other famous mustaches--funny precisely because they're NOT pencil thin--are those of Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx. I'm impressed with the ones you found.

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  7. Ryan: Yeah, but you know, Ryan, you sort of have to live up to the aura of the pencil thin. It is a demanding master. HA!

    Flynn was so good looking, especially early on. I loved him in CAPTAIN BLOOD and those westerns, DODGE CITY and, I think, SAN ANTONIO....sigh!

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  8. Jane and Lance: It sure does date us. Ha! But what the heck, they were Movie Stars then. They had faces then...!

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  9. It's all about coincidence in the Blogosphere!! Ha! I don't remember that episode.I'll have to look it up. That was a great show!

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  10. Robin: Groucho's mustache wasn't even real - at least in the movies. I didn't even realize that until I was older. :)

    But this time out I was concentrating on the idiosyncratic Pencil Thin. You wouldn't think there were that many different types of mustaches. But there are. :)

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  11. Who would have thought? It never dawned on me to appreciate pencil-thin mustaches.

    However, where would David Niven, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, William Powell and the others have been without them? It contributed to that IT factor.

    Now, Johnny Depp looks great with that moustache, but he'd look good any way he wants to look, without or without a mustache, a beard, even hair.

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  12. Kathy: I'm with you about Johnny Depp's attractions. Ha! I love him as the ditzy Captain Jack Sparrow.

    And I have a feeling I'm going to love him as Nick Charles and hopefully he'll wear a pencil thin.

    Swoon!

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  13. Yvette, I adored your cavalcade-of-stars salute to pencil-thin mustaches on dapper actors! When I saw and very much enjoyed Woody Allen's new comedy MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, I was delighted to see my favorite contemporary actor Adrien Brody playing Salvador Dali in find comedic form! Since Brody was playing the younger Dali, hanging out with the Surrealists, he had a pencil-thin mustache (as opposed to the wild-and-crazy 'stache Dali sported in later years), and he looked ever so dashing, if I do say so myself! :-)

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  14. In my mind, Dorian, I can 'see' Adrien Brody with a pencil-thin. He can definitely carry it off. One of the few 'today' actors who can.

    I've heard so many many good things about this new Woody Allen film. I am definitely going to add it to my 'save' queue.

    Can't wait to see it. :)

    Glad you enjoyed my 'cavalcade of stars'. HA!

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  15. You know, looking at these guys, I'm thinking a pencil thin mustache is the only way to go if a guy's going to sport a mustache. A thicker mustache without a goatee kind of looks like a 70's porn star but these guys do look dashing.

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  16. Lisa: I agree. But a pencil thin is a great responsibilty. It gives a man an 'air' of something or other. An 'air' he must then live up to. :)

    I so dislike that fuzzy mustache, goatee thing. Except maybe on Johnny Depp. On Johnny I can stand just about anything. Ha!

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  17. Film/A/V this week, Yvette? Would this be your choice?

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  18. How could you forget the immortal Douglas Fairbanks?

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    1. Well, my only excuse is: I couldn't include EVERYONE. :)

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  19. A little late to the party, but Flynn did sport a stache' in THE SEA HAWK, although it was so thin, you probably never saw it.

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    1. I never did. :) But now I'll look for it.

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  20. Trying to find the appropriate pencil thin for my mug. Thinking the classic Roland Gilbert. The hat is the perfect addition. However, try to find a hat with a 4"+ silk band these days!

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