Was the painting of men's nails a rare practice in the mid-20th century?
Upvote:6
Having grown up in NYC, "crossroads of the world", and lived through the mid 20th Century, I consider myself a "primary source" on such a matter. :-) :
As far as that period is concerned, at least in the Western World, the answer is a resounding No - it was not less exclusively limited to women - on the contrary. A man with painted fingernails? Few things could have been more bizarre. (Obviously I'm talking about public, 'mainstream society', not the sub-cultures of h*m*sexuals, etc, where I imagine things might have been different)
By way of analogy, consider hair styles: When the Beatles became big in 1962-3 (I was a teenager at that time) they were notorious internationally for their "long hair". Yet when you look back on their early photos, by today's standards you see nothing unusual whatsoever about their hair styles. The contemporary world has become far more open-minded about "male plumage" compared to the relatively puritanical and dour mid 20th century.
I also found this (I have not yet vetted the source) @ http://redroom.com/member/frank-sanello/writing/hermann-goring-nazi-war-criminal-drug-addict-transvestite. From this source it seems quite obvious that Göring's behavior was by no means the norm:
World War II in Drag
Göring engaged in other aberrant behavior that apparently the Gestapo didn’t think of using to blackmail him. Visiting generals at Göring's palatial hunting lodge in suburban Berlin were shocked by their host's appearance.
The second most powerful man in the Third Reich greeted guests wearing a kimono, rouge, lipstick, pancake makeup, lacquered fingernail polish, and women’s jewelry while padding about in pink, fur-lined bunny slippers.
A Report on the Banality of Evil, the subtitle of Hannah Arendt's book about Adolf Eichmann's trial in Israel in 1961, comes to mind when Göring's concept of casual dress is described.
Although many Nazis were gay, especially the purged Storm Troopers, Göring was a heterosexual transvestite who married twice, fathered a daughter, and had numerous extramarital affairs ‒ with women.
Göring’s custom of painting his finger nails continued in prison during his post-war trial at Nuremberg until the martinet American warden ordered his prisoner to remove the polish..
Prior to Germany’s defeat, Göring’s decadent lifestyle and incapacitating drug use were noted by his ally, SS chief Heinrich Himmler. When Speer tried to enlist Göring’s support in a power struggle against Hitler’s private secretary, Martin Bormann, Himmler told Speer not to waste his time. “I think it would very unwise of you to try to activate the Reichsmarschall again!”
Be that as it may, all the sources, (there are a many references to Göring's affectation, which became quite public when he was tried after the war) including the one kmlawson based the question on, single out Göring - I think that itself answers the question: It was a peculiar habit of Göring - not the norm among Nazi officers or anyone else.
In addition, Sanello's account: "wearing a kimono, rouge, lipstick, pancake makeup, lacquered fingernail polish, and women’s jewelry while padding about in pink, fur-lined bunny slippers" indicates that regarding Göring, the issue was not just painted nails, which appears to have been indeed been a custom among warrior and aristocratic classes during certain periods of history, as cited by kmlawson in his erudite answer: Göring's behavior appears to have been out and out cross dressing.
Still, one could surmise that Göring had adopted the customs of earlier societies and decided that expanding on such habits behooved him, considering his very prominent position in the Third Reich.
Upvote:7
This kind of "is X rare" is clearly difficult, since it is usually hard to quantify things like this across space and time.
@Histophile's own memories from the period and the fact that Göring's habit was singled out in a contemporary American account are suggestive that at least in US of time, this might have stood out. It doesn't tell us much about elites elsewhere, for example.
The following is left not as an answer so much as notes for anyone who wants to take this up. Now nail polish for women has become so associated with a marker of sexuality, transvestitism, or Goth culture, but I posed the question to see if anyone knew if it may not have necessarily invoked this connection in the not so distant past.
The very few number of references in books 1900-1950 on google books in variations of "he/his" "nail polish" "lacquered nails" "nail enamel" etc. suggest, as @Histophile argues, that it wasn't too common or remarked upon in English language at least. Just two examples of only a dozen or two that describe a man with colored nails:
"Here is a youth of fifty, with long grey hair, and a grey-suited man with scarlet lacquered fingernails, leading a small grimy dog." p113 Kings Cross Calling 1941
"Count Maurice tugged irritatedly at his short beard and perfumed oil from it came off onto his painted fingernails." Silver Leopard 1955 p140
Transparent nail enamel or "powder polish" seems more common:
"Men go in for powder polish and buffing or for clear, colorless liquid polish" 1946 Chain Store Age - Volume 22, Issues 1-6 - Page 337
"Customers are pleased with the lasting gloss of powder polish...Business men will appreciate the cut in manicuring time" 1934 Commercial America - Volume 31 - Page 19
Website on history of nail polish shows a 1909 advertis*m*nt of men getting nail enamel (but in this case clear - and no hint here of whether men might have wanted colored nail enamel) applied but all subsequent mentions from 1930s on are of women:
Perhaps it becomes more exclusively for women with the marketing in the first few decades of 1900s with Vogue, shift to use of a new kind of nail lacquer (invented by a woman - Michell M-something) and marketing to women by Revlon in 1930s on.
Life magazine Feb, 1941 shows, unlike the 1909 ad, the emphasis on targeting women in the marketing. Other ads from 1930s show the same - at least in United States, again.
None of this speaks much to what is going on outside English speaking world of mid-20th century or practices among European or non-Europeans for example.
Of course, in much earlier times it seems to have been done by Egyptian, Babylonian, Chinese and early Roman men of warriors or aristocratic classes which was one reason I wondered if it leaked into behavior of elites much later on.
Google books links on earlier practices:
More post
- 📝 Why did the Royal Society in 1771 believe that a continent further south than Australia should exist?
- 📝 Latin/Greek for assassin
- 📝 For how long were freed slaves in Ancient Rome supposed to wear a Pileus hat?
- 📝 Can historiography be thought of as "fractal"?
- 📝 During the Battle of Britain, how prepared was the East Front?
- 📝 Why was a convicted Nazi war criminal buried with military honours?
- 📝 What are the historical equivalents of cooperative storytelling like modern role-playing games?
- 📝 Japan allying with Germany in WWII
- 📝 Did the Portuguese build any settlement around the Cape of Good Hope?
- 📝 Have any kings ever been serving admirals?
- 📝 Codification of Sharia by the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century
- 📝 What are the chances that my ancestor from Massachusetts in 1670 was a Russian Jew?
- 📝 1900s Vacation between Germany and America
- 📝 What were the legal and societal conditions concerning "interracial love" during 1870s?
- 📝 How prevalent were American disinformation campaigns during the Cold War?
- 📝 Where does George Buchanan say in “The History of Scotland” that Macbeth used (specifically) Belladonna to poison the Danes?
- 📝 Where can I find historical taxation/revenue datasets for imperial countries in the early 20th century?
- 📝 What is Adios Bruce Lee?
- 📝 What does the inscription on this sword mean?
- 📝 Did any black athletes other than Jesse Owens win any medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
- 📝 How widespread was the use of red ochre by sapiens in prehistory?
- 📝 What documented criteria (if any) did the CIA use to determine targets for political assassination during the Cold War?
- 📝 Why didn't Aboriginal Australians invent agriculture?
- 📝 What was the origin of the roles of "lieutenant" officers?
- 📝 What was the German perspective on Stalingrad?
- 📝 Why does the US House of Representatives have a ceremonial mace, but the Senate does not?
- 📝 Why did really old paintings use such bizarre, unnatural perspective/proportions?
- 📝 Why did Emperor Xian's flight from Chang'an take one year?
- 📝 Was there a way for ships to disengage from boarding actions?
- 📝 What was used for writing in 15th century Europe?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Was the painting of men's nails a rare practice in the mid-20th century?
- 📝 Why was PTSD not written about as much before the 20th century?
- 📝 How common was smoking in first half of the 20th century?
- 📝 Was the British Army a millionaire factory in the early 20th century?
- 📝 Can someone help explain this floor plan of a mid 20th century apartment?
- 📝 In the first half of 20th century, how was gold inspected for authenticity?
- 📝 What was the political consciousness of a 15th century English peasant?
- 📝 How was the linen weaving trade learnt in 18th century Scotland?
- 📝 Is the steel pan the only acoustic musical instrument to be invented in the 20th century and used widely around the world?
- 📝 What did European people of the 5th century AD eat during spring and what was the availability?
- 📝 What was it like to have type 1 diabetes in the early 20th century?
- 📝 Why was Northern Ireland mostly peaceful from the late 1920s to the mid 1960s?
- 📝 Was there anything like an African-American architectural style or symbolism at the beginning of the 20th century?
- 📝 Who are the 20th century painters on this t-shirt?
- 📝 Was the enclosure responsible for the supply of factory workers in 18th and 19th Century England?
- 📝 What was the typical range of travel of a Pennsylvanian resident for everyday life in the late 18th early 19th Century Pennsylvania?
- 📝 Was it common practice for men to kiss on the lips in 1920s USA?
- 📝 How common was gun ownership by Londoners in the early 20th century?
- 📝 What uniform is the man in this mid to late 19th century photo wearing?
- 📝 How did people 'park' their horse and buggy in early 20th century cities? How was theft prevented?
- 📝 What did Central America export in the early 20th century other than coffee and bananas?
- 📝 What was the average age of first marriage in 18th century Russia?
- 📝 What was the average size of a guild in 13th century Europe?
- 📝 What was the impact of utilitarianism upon the development of psychiatric care in 18th-19th century England?
- 📝 Who was the 18th century French eccentric who proposed the Dutch colonize SW Australia?
- 📝 Was it widespread during the 17th and 18th Century for British country people to be evicted and replaced with more profitable agriculture?
- 📝 Was there a military practice of reloading while marching/running, in Europe or America during the 18th and 19th centuries?
- 📝 What were the 20th century historical disputes?
- 📝 What was the reason of extreme anti-Communism in the first half of 20th century?
- 📝 Why did Uesugi Kenshin never marry? Was it common practice for Japanese Buddhists of the time?